The Magic of Mixed Media: Layered Acrylic Stenciling & Gesso Resist

[@joycemeyer8393]

Love the pansy image and how you enhanced it. It matches your book perfectly.

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@joycemeyer8393 It really is perfect isn’t it? Thank you so much Joyce!

[@kerynokeeffe9133]

Thank you, Kathleen. You always provide such valuable instruction and demonstrations! Lucky you to receive that wonderful photo! No wonder you were excited as it’s perfect for the journal. Love and big hugs! 😀💞

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@kerynokeeffe9133 Aww - thanks so much Keryn! I appreciate you! Love and big hugs back!!

[@lindahowe2293]

What a great idea for using the mountains of scrap card stock! Thank you, Kathleen 😊

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@lindahowe2293 thanks so much Linda! I’m glad you came by!

[@ShinyBubbbbles]

Your voice is so soothing. Thank you for the wonderful ideas!

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@ShinyBubbbbles My pleasure- I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching!

[@nancysale188]

Thank you for another great lesson. You teach well. Blessings....

[@BeAgainBooks]

You are very welcome Nancy! Thanks for coming by!

[@Sheamarie]

Lovely, thank for great instruction. Thank you for sharing.

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@Sheamarie Thank you so much! I’m glad you found it helpful.

[@carolbeeding4270]

😍❤️ thank you for showing these techniques.

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@carolbeeding4270 My pleasure Carol - thank you for your steady support of me!

[@dawnklein106]

You are an inspiration. Plain and simple. Yes, I could see the embossing on the pocket!

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@dawnklein106 I’m so glad you are still with me Dawn - thank you so much for the steady support. I worry a little about my very old friends who might be getting bored with me, haha.

[@dawnklein106]

@@BeAgainBooks Nooooooo. Rest assured you are never boring!

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@dawnklein106 well that’s a relief to me, thanks for that!

[@craftinontheback40]

so fun always love watching you create

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@craftinontheback40 Thanks so much my mixed media queen! High praise from you and I appreciate it.

[@JanSims-p9x]

Love the butterfly on the pansy. Very creative. :)

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@JanSims-p9x Thank you! ☺️

[@irenecasalino7406]

Thank you for sharing!

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@irenecasalino7406 My pleasure Irene! Thank you for watching.

[@cottonconfetti]

Thanks for the inspiration, Kathleen, l feel a boho journal coming along ...

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@cottonconfetti Oh good Davina! Have fun!! Thanks for coming by!

[@mindybeveridge8377]

Thank you for sharing these ideas. This video was very helpful! As always I enjoy watching you work.

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@mindybeveridge8377 I’m glad you think so MIndy! Thank you!

[@nancypyter1511]

What a nice technique to the pansy Kathleen and now I need to use my stencils more! Looks very pretty friend!🥰

[@Bront-ki2im]

Beautiful. ☺️

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@Bront-ki2im Thanks very much Bront!

[@daricet.2958]

This was great Kathleen…very informative. The results were beautiful!❤

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@daricet.2958 Thanks very much Darice! I’m so glad you came by!

[@abbyculver2588]

Beautiful! 😍

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@abbyculver2588 Thank you my dear!

[@thebrowndragonfly]

Oh I love these ideas. Thank you!

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@thebrowndragonfly My pleasure! I’m so glad you came by!

[@creativenana]

Great tutorial

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@creativenana Thanks so much Nana!

[@lindaspaperworks]

Hi Kathleen. Both of these techniques turned out so pretty. Thanks for the demonstration of both of them. The pansy butterfly stencil really enhanced the photo. And I learned something about gesso. I didn't realize it would resist. I remember when I took oil painting classes a million years ago, we would coat beaver board (is that the name of it?? Masonite, maybe? that brown stuff) with gesso as a base to paint on. I guess oil paint is different. So good to know that it resists inks and acrylics, and I love the results. Thanks so much for all of the knowledge you share with us. Have a great week!

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@lindaspaperworks I’m so glad you’ve come by Linda - thank you! Gesso is an interesting medium. It’s composition includes acrylic polymers, so it “matches” well with acrylic paints and it’s primary purpose is as you describe, as a primer for canvas or board or even some plastics or glass to give a “tooth” to the surface that you want to paint. So you can paint over it with a solid or heavy body acrylic. I’ve actually done that a number of times, on covers usually, but it does tend to chip off if you aren’t careful, so I try to seal it well. It resists when the acrylic paint is watery or thinned, or when using fluid acrylic inks that are more transparent. Watercolors or gel stains also work with this technique.

[@lindaspaperworks]

@@BeAgainBooks Thank you, Kathleen. That is so interesting. I need to experiment with it.

[@wallcreekandrea5196]

Fantastic video and instructions which are useful for any kind/style of journal. I have tried heavy gesso which works like a fine texture paste, however, it is hard to get any fine detail done with it. Normal gesso sponged would definitely work better! Thanks for sharing, Kathleen!

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@wallcreekandrea5196 My pleasure Andrea! Thanks so much for watching.

[@sharminikamalikajayawarden7541]

Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful 💚💙🤍 I love it and will definitely try it. It will be my first project using gesso. Hope all’s well with you. Just to say what I’ve been up to. I joined some fb groups and I just completed a weekly challenge and a Bingo challenge. I’m enjoying all of it very much 😊. Most importantly, I’m about to finish the second journal I was creating a long with the large one I uploaded. It’s great fun and I’m also in to another smaller journal which is going to be very colorful 😊. Thanks 🙏 very much for all of the great inspiration you’ve given me 💖.

[@BeAgainBooks]

Thank you so much Sharmini! And thanks for the update - I so glad you are enjoying your creative self!

[@sharminikamalikajayawarden7541]

@@BeAgainBooksyou’re so welcome, Kathleen 💗 ❤️ 🙏 🙏

[@markpaige4795]

❤

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@markpaige4795 Thank you Karen!

[@joycemccullough7856]

Thanks so much for sharing your techniques. Love how it turned out. A little hard for me with the pansy being upside but ove it anyway! 💚💙

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@joycemccullough7856 oh gosh Joyce!! No idea that the pansy was upside down , haha! Good grief! Thanks for watching!

[@gemmalclarke]

Thank youuuuuuuuuuu Kathleen!! I love your mixed media techniques and I hope your watchers are able to give them a go as I would love to see more of this from you 😀🤩 I love how you explain things and keep it simple so it seems achievable for a beginner but always why you do and use certain things. I was wondering about the stencil though - I heard that there is a flat side and a not so flat side and the flat side should be face down when using the stencil. It can be very hard to see but it’s there- helps with less seeping through?! Also, I am totally going to gleefully say 'Pounce' when I am using the stencil with my sponge - love it! "I am pouncing...oh yeah"! 😚

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@gemmalclarke Hey there Gemma! Thanks so much for coming by. I’m thinking about your “flat” question. There is usually a “right” side to a stencil, but I’m not sure what you mean by flat. Both sides can be stenciled interchangeably. However, you may be referring to what I think of as a cut side or the top side of the stencil. If you have ever cut your own stencil you’ll know what I mean. When you cut a stencil, the knife pushes the material down as it cuts, so there is a tiny bit of material that pushes out from the bottom of the cut edge. This happens especially if the knife is not sharp. You can often see this on a die cut - there is a front and a back on a die cut and as the die gets a little worn through use, or if you are cutting through a double thickness, this becomes more apparent. But good stencils are cut with a precise sharp tool and this doesn’t really affect the stencil performance. In my experience with stencils, the problem with seepage is most often from using media that is too thin OR perhaps the stencil is warped in spots and it doesn’t stay completely flat on the base material. I try to be careful when I clean my stencils, but after a while a stencil can get worn out and warped. To get a reliably clean stenciled image you need to use a thin, flat stencil with paint that has a pastier texture and a skillful “pounce,” haha. Taping a stencil usually helps also. That doesn’t always happen in my junk journals though. Thanks so much for your thoughts!!

[@Mommyoffive4Him]

Love these techniques!! I have to keep these all in mind as I am now trying to gather many things for a journal that I am making my 18yo daughter. I would love any of your input on the "Twee" aesthetic! It is a new term for me but everything I read leans to a quirky hipster eclectic feel. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated, Kathleen! You have always been my go-to for inspiration and creativity! Thank you for all your inspiring tutorials!

[@BeAgainBooks]

@@Mommyoffive4Him Thank you Kerri! This sounds like such a fun project! I don’t have many thoughts about how to achieve “twee”, but I immediately think of Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter. I think she would be an inspiration, for sure, and probably her picture would go up first on my mood board, haha. Honestly, my best advice would be to send you to the video I did a year ago or so about making a “concept journal.” A Concept Journal? - What is That? kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHeWkpKQhs6dmc0 It details the process I go through when I have a kind of undefined concept that I want to express in a journal. And I would make a mood board, haha. Now you have me thinking about making a twee journal, haha. The words I would use to clarify the concept in my mind would be whimsical, day-dreamer, youthful, unsophisticated, retro (think motifs like rotary telephone, pop bottles, 70s fashion, owls and mushrooms, haha), patterns like stripes and pokadots and geometric prints and plaids, textures like hand-knit or crochet, herringbone and boucle yarns. Luckily, the thrift stores often have twee kinds of cards and paper goods. Very sentimental and sweet. Look for things from the early 70s and even into the early 80s. You might get lucky and find an old Seventeen magazine. That’s what comes to mind off the top of my head. I have a few pieces of ephemera that I would be happy to send along if you’ll contact me through a message on Etsy. Good luck with this!