Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Rusty Skin

I have rusty skin.  And I'm perfectly fine with that.
I picked up a new book not long ago, and it has a lot of interesting techniques to try.  There is one section about making "skins".  I'm familiar with spreading acrylic paint, letting it dry, then peeling it off to use for a collage element.

But I was intrigued with possibly making a rusty skin by spreading soft gel medium over a rusty object.  I got my rusty object (if you've read this blog from the beginning, you might recognize this object which I found in the road in front of my house once.  My guess is that it is an old tractor foot pedal.)  I spread the medium on the back side and waited for it to dry (about 5 hours, with the help of a fan blowing on it).  I liked seeing veins of rust showing through as it dried.



When I finally peeled it off, I was a little disappointed that it was mostly black from the blacker parts of the metal, not the pretty rusty brown.  But it IS a soft, flexible, usable skin, as the book promised.

I wanted to try again for the perfect rusty color, and spread a thinner layer on the other side of the object.  It was still drying when I took pictures, so I don't have the finished skin, but I don't think it will be what I am looking for either.  I'm sure I'll try this again though.  I just have to find the right rusty objects!

While waiting for things to dry, I spied my journal on the table where I had stamped with wallpaper last week.  I decided to put masking tape on the pages, sponge color around the tape, then peel off the tape.  I am seeing some great places for journaling on these pages!


I like having a lot of projects on the back burner.  But I think I'm going to need a bigger stove, with a lot more burners!

(Forgot to mention the book that has the rust technique.  It is Surface Treatment Workshop by McElroy and Wilson.  I was so taken with all the techniques that fill this book, I paid full price at the bookstore, rather than waiting to order from amazon!)

2 comments:

Bonnie said...

I'm a big fan of rust, too. Thanks for the book recommendation. Love your masking tape idea for journaling space. Thanks for sharing your ideas!

SarahS said...

I've had that book on my "wish-list" for a while - looks like I should move it up to the top! I have the image transfer workshop book that they wrote and it's good too.
p.s. looks like I need to find some embossed wall paper!