Random Play

Sometime a girl's just gotta play.  No plan, no goal, no instructions. Below is just that. 

The only thing I had in mind was to try using paint as a resist.  I saw Tim Holz demo his distress paint used as a resist.  I bought only one color of the distress paint, Antique Linen, because he said it's the closest to the color of a manilla tag.  So, that's how most of these started out, using linen colored paint dabbed through a stencil, on a couple of cheap file folders.

This one does show how the paint acts as a resist.  It also shows where the paint blobbed in the middle of the design.  The metallic spray in the top left corner is much prettier in person by the way.

This is another file folder where I tested my sprays before spraying the other folder.  I also blotted my wet stencil here.  Later, I cut out three hearts from window screen repair tape.  They are naturally sticky, so I can move them around to see if I want to use them.

 

 This is another file folder where I blotted my stencils after spraying on the one in the next photo.

 My cheap file folders were a little too cheap - they warped and curled from the wetness.  I switched to glossy photo paper, just to see what it would look like.  I tried to tone down the color some with spritzes of water, but the ink had already dried and nothing happened.

 This is also photo paper, a piece I had blotted stencils on .  I really wanted a runny look, and since the water wasn't working, I tried bleach (I didn't have straight bleach, and used a bathroom cleaner that contains bleach. NOTE:  As always, if you are using bleach, use in a well-ventilated area.)

I sprayed bleach, then water, and it did begin to run a little.  I had forgotten I also had some paint on this before I sprayed on it.  When I started to blot off the excess water, it pulled some of the color and paint off.  Some of the paint that remains has a kind of crackle look.

I'm sure these will end up as "parts" in a collage some day.  And I'm sure I'll play more with the photo paper in the future.  It reacts so differently, there are discoveries just waiting to happen!