I am so excited to share this tutorial with you today! I was playing with Mod Podge and an idea I had the other week and decided to take pictures of the process. So, since it turned out really cute, I put together a little tutorial for ya :)
First, Have you ever heard of Dimensional Magic? It's a Mod Podge Plaid product. I use it to make my Scrabble Tile pendants. I have a tutorial to make those here.
Plaid has now come out with two different Dimensional Magic formulas. One in Glitter Gold and one in Glitter Silver. I've used it before while designing projects for Plaid for the winter CHA show, but I had a new idea I wanted to try.
Here is my Mixed-Media on canvas, "Freedom":
Let's get started...
Here are the basics...there are a few other optional supplies, but I'll show you as we go along.
These paint colors: New Leaf Green, Pink Balloon, Jamaican Sea, and Vintage White (I also used Burnt Umber) If you don't have these colors, no worries, use what you have on hand.
These are items you can find around your house. Be creative here! One of my favorite things to use is the back of a piece of shelf liner. That's the one the second from the left. I reuse these over and over.
1. Rip out several book pages and adhere them to the canvas with Mod Podge. Overlap and allow some of the edges to wrap around the edges of your canvas. Smooth out with your hands and don't worry if you have some bubble, add character! Let this dry or you can use your hair dryer to speed things up :)
2. Ok, now raid your husband's stash of sand paper, unless you have your own, and sand away the edges of paper that is extending the edge of your canvas. Make sure you sand downward in one direction.
3. Water down some blue paint and give your canvas a "wash" of color.
4. This is where the fun begins! Randomly paint your canvas with splotches of color...even do the drippy thing by putting some paint on the top (while holding your canvas vertically) and spray with your water bottle to allow the paint to drip down.
Keep playing with layers of color until you're happy. If you put too much paint, simply wipe some off with a paper towel. I like to use watered down paint as not to cover the text completely.
5. Add texture with your findings. I used some Burnt Umber with my shelf liner, Vintage White with my bubble wrap, and Pink with my wallpaper flower.
If you are wondering where the circles are that you see in my completed canvas, well, they were an afterthought....skip down to step 14 and I will show this step, which actually makes more sense to do now if you want.
6. Give the front edges a wipe of distress ink. I used Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Ranger. If you don't have that one, use any brown ink pad or you can use some of the Burnt Umber paint.
7. Take a damp paper towel and wipe away some of the ink to give it soft distress.
8. Paint the edges of the canvas with watered down Burnt Umber. Sorry no pic of this step.
9. Grab a piece of paper and a pencil and draw a whimsical bird. I drew mine about 4-1/2 inches from the tip of his beak to the end of his tail and 2 inches up and down, from the middle of his back to his belly (If you can't get it right, just let me know and I'll make a template and send it to you :)
*This part is important....hold your drawing up to a window if you don't have a light box and trace your bird on the other side going over your pencil lines. You should have the same drawing with lines on both sides of your paper.
10. Rip and tear pieces of paper and glue them down over your drawing until your bird is totally covered. Make sure to overlap your papers and cover your pencil lines.
11. Turn your paper over and cut out your bird. TaDa! Isn't that fun? Cut out a wing and a heart and glue them to your cute little bird. Give your bird an eye, I happened to use a flower with a nice circle in the middle that worked perfect for her eye.
12. Cut a strip of paper from your book pages. I used musical notes from an old hymnal I got at Goodwill. Distress it as you like and glue it down. Refer to my completed canvas for placement. Glue your birdie down too.
13. This part will really make your bird pop! Trace around your bird and paper strip with a charcoal pencil then use your finger to smear, or blend in the charcoal.
14. Notice the circles? I added them as an after thought, but should have done that before I glued down my bird. Oh well, that's part of the fun! You can also add some doodles on the edges if you want. Just have fun with it...there's no right or wrong here.
Use a small top and dip it into a puddle of paint then imprint it on the canvas. You can add some pink paint inside the circles.
15. This step is optional :) Add a butterfly cutout to the top right of the canvas (I printed mine from the internet) or a sticker or rub-on will do. Then paint the heart and the butterfly with Folk Art Hologram Extreme Glitter. This will add a nice sparkle.
16. Lightly draw on a bird cage with a light brown pencil.
17. Give your canvas a coat of Mod Podge, the edges too, and let it dry.
18. Now this is really fun! Trace over your birdcage lines with the Dimensional Magic. This will need to dry for several hours, so go take a coffee break or maybe a little nap.
19. With a tiny brush in one hand and a slightly damp paper towel in the other, paint the edges of your glittered lines with Burnt Umber then wipe some of the paint away with yoru paper towel. This will give your cage more pop.
20. You're almost done. Decide on your wording and type them up using one of your favorite fonts. Print them off and give them a spray of Workable Fixatif or, if you don't have that, hairspray will do the trick.
21. Outline your lettering in black charcoal then add a few doodles here and there if you want. I used my Souffle 3-D Opaque Ink pens, but you can use Sharpies just as well.
I hope you had fun creating this little mixed-media art piece with me! I'm working on a different one and will be sharing it real soon.
For those of you who want to purchase a print mounted on wood of this piece, they are now available in my Etsy Shoppe.
