Book Study - Pastes

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 "Pastes". The authors are referring to molding or modeling pastes. They describe hard, flexible and light molding pastes and different ways you can use them to create texture. I have played with light molding paste before, as that is the only kind I have. This link will take you to all the posts where I've used light molding paste somewhere in the post (remember to scroll down to see more than this post 

repeated).

Today, I played with a few of the techniques described in the book. Prepare your surface with paint as desired. (I'm using a gum arabic resist background) Apply molding paste through a stencil and let dry. If desired, you can mix some acrylic paint into the molding paste before applying. Read the label to determine appropriate ratio of paint to molding paste).

 Once the molding paste has dried, you can color it with a glaze or paint. I used gold Lumiere paint.

I used the same gold Lumiere paint on a stamp to add to the background. You can see that the paint looks different on the molding paste, than on the painted background.

Another technique is to lightly coat a prepared surface (used blue Distress ink over card stock) with molding paste. While the molding paste is still wet, mark the surface to create designs. I used a stylus, but you could use a pencil, toothpick, chopstick, plastic fork, palette knife, etc. Let dry.

 Color the surface as desired, I used a bronze Perfect Pearls Mist.

The texture of the molding paste creates a very different look of the Perfect Pearls Mist, than over plain or painted card stock.

Another way to create texture with the molding paste is to press a foam stamp into the molding paste coated on your surface, and lift off the molding paste. (I made a foam stamp by cutting out fun foam with a die cut and gluing it on to clear plastic left over from packaging).

I used the same foam stamp to lift off more of the molding paste, removing the paste from the stamp each time. Let dry. Created a glaze with q. nickel azo gold and acrylic glazing liquid and painted over the entire surface and let dry.

Again, not how the painted background  shows off the glaze differently than the molding paste does.

You can also apply molding paste to your background with a foam stamp. If you want a thick layer of molding paste, apply a thick layer (but not too thick or it will smear as you press down the stamp) to the stamp and press into your surface. I used a pearlized gesso background, and used the molding paste that was on the foam stamp as I lifted it off the molding paste above.

 This turned out to be a very light layer of molding paste. Let dry.

 Used the same glaze as above, then used a paper towel to rub off some of the glaze from the background. Let dry.

 This is very faint, as the molding paste layer is very thin.

See the book for ways to use the hard and flexible molding pastes along with helpful tips.