Friday, November 25, 2011

Book Study - Plaster Gauze

 On NGS group, we're doing a study of Darlene Olivia McElroy & Sandra Duran Wilson's book "Surface Treatment workshop" . This weeks' section is using plaster gauze. I had lots of fun playing with this.
In the book the authors used plaster gauze over a mask. I mainly work with ATCs and wanted to try the gauze with smaller objects, I started with two butterfly charms. Cut the plaster gauze into strips long enough to cover the surface.
 One strip at a time, dip them into warm water and place them over the surface, overlapping the edges. Use your fingers to press the plaster gauze down , smoothing them and blending them together. Allow it to dry completely.
 
 The outside doesn't look like much,
 But the inside image picked up more detail than I thought it would, cool!!!!
 The authors mentioned that you can create "sculptures" using plaster gauze and molds. Do the same method as with the charms above. Remove when the plaster as dried.
 I love how the plaster gauze picks up all the detail and it's light weight.
 I had some wing charms that I also had made molds out of . The top two sets are the plaster gauze over the charms and the bottom two are the plaster gauze in the molds.
 Another technique mentioned in the book, is to cut the plaster gauze into shapes and adhere them together (by getting them wet). Let dry.
 You can see the dried  shape on the left, on the right, I painted gold Lumiere paint over the surface.
 On the other, I painted with blue acrylic paint, and when it dried, painted the raised areas with gold Lumiere paint.
 Another technique in the book is to use gel mediums over the plastic gauze to create a waxy faux encaustic look. Took one of the plastic wrap backgrounds made earlier and placed a wet strip of wet plaster gauze over the surface. I pulled the plaster gauze apart a bit and used a paper towel to soak off some of the plaster.
 Once the plaster gauze dried, painted with q. nickel azo gold.
 When the paint dried, coated the surface with soft gel medium.
I enjoyed all these techniques and there are more ways to use the plaster gauze in the book.

3 comments:

  1. It does look like fun to play with!
    Chrissy

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  2. Very Cool!!!!!! Guess I'll have to stop at Walgreens soon!

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  3. OMG!! Now I have to go get some plaster gauze.......these items have turned out wonderful Carol!

    Shell~Alaska♥

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