Saturday, February 4, 2012

Book Study - All Purpose White Craft Glue

On NGS group, we're doing a study of Darlene Olivia McElroy & Sandra Duran Wilson's book "Surface Treatment workshop" This week we're looking at the section "All Purpose White Craft Glue". This technique adds a colored, crackled texture over you art work.  
Start with a painted or decorated surface, let dry. I choose a piece down with the Rinse Aid technique.
 Paint a layer of All Purpose White Craft Glue over the surface. The authors say the thicker the layer, the bigger the cracks.
 While the glue is still wet, use a clean, dry paintbrush to apply acrylic paint over the glue layer. The authors say that the direction you apply the paint is the direction that the cracks will appear. The authors also say not to overwork the paint. I'm not sure what that means, so I used a very light layer of light green acrylic paint. Let dry. The authors say you can use a hair dryer on low to speed up the process. I let mine air dry.
Here's my first sample:
 Another technique is to add water droplets. I started with yellow acrylic paint on watercolor paper, let dry, paint on white craft glue
 Next, painted over a layer of red acrylic paint using a clean, dry paint brush. Then sprinkle water over the paint while still wet. And let it dry.
 The water adds some interesting effects to the crackled surface.
Another technique is to vary the direction of applying the acrylic paint layer. I started with another rinse aid background.
 Painted white craft glue over the surface, then painted a layer of silver acrylic paint with a dry, clean paint brush, going in a variety of directions. I used a thicker layer of acrylic paint in this sample. Let it dry.
 Here's how it turned out:
The authors also discus doing this technique with interference paint over a dark background, feathering the edges for a smoother appearance, and repeating the technique with complementary colors.
Update: I went back and read what I did before in white craft glue crackle. In Julia Andrus' book "Paper Transformed"  she instructed us to wait until the glue was tacky before applying the acrylic paint over the surface. I think that worked much better than applying the paint while the glue was still wet.

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