Book Study - Making Your Own Specialty Gels

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 "making your own specialty gels". The authors say you can make your own specialty gels by adding elements (sand, sawdust, broken shells, kitty litter, shredded paper, herbs, tea leaves, coffee grounds, etc) to gels, gesso, paste or mediums. Be careful to keep the binder in larger part than the element added.

First prepare you surface, I'm using a rock candy distress stickle collage background for my base. Painted on medium matte gel.

While gel is wet, add additive. I'm using coffee grounds lightly press the additive into the gel. I was a bit heavy handed with the coffee grounds. Let dry. The authors mention that elements from nature, such as coffee grounds, tea leaves and herbs, will not be archival.

When gel dries, shake off the excess of the added element. The authors recommend using acrylic spray or craft glue to seal the additive. I used cheap white glue.

 Dried:

The authors also state that the gel can be applied through a stencil before adding the additive. I'm using a pulled paper background. Be sure to remove and clean the stencil before the gel dries.

 I made the mistake of applying my additive (mica dust) after removing the stencil instead of before.

 So some of the mica dust stuck to the surface outside of the small circles. I didn't used a fixative to seal the mica dust

 The authors also mentioned using small beads as an additive. I used medium matte gel and small beads over a soap resist background.

For other tips and examples, see the book!