Know Your Paints - March Mixed Media

 

Welcome to a new Mixed Media challenge!

For this month's tutorial, I want to talk a bit about paint. I don't know about you, but I have an obsession with paint. As soon as I discover a new one, I have to try it out, and promptly order it in several colors. If you have more self-control than I do (and good for you!), the array of paints out there might leave you scratching your head about where to spend your hard-earned scrappy budget. So today I have a little paint primer for you (pun intended), featuring many of the paints available in the Flying Unicorn Store.

 

The first thing about paint, is whether it is water-based or acrylic (a plastic that is water soluble when wet and waterproof when dry). Acrylics can give you more control, whereas watercolors give a more organic feel to your project. Watercolors are easier to blend, but acrylics are colourfast when dry. You can write or doodle on top of watercolors when they are dry, whereas you will need special writing tools to write on acrylics. Unless you strongly prefer one style over another, chances are both watercolors and acrylics deserve a space in your scrappy stash.

To illustrate the differences and similarities of these paints, I added some strips of book paper and metal tape to my journal pages so that you can see the differences in opacity and which paints work on metal.

 

Splash of Color - Silks and Twinkling H2Os

Silks and Twinkling H2Os (or "Twinks") come in the same gorgeous array of colors, so you might be at a loss when deciding which one to buy.

Silks - Silks are an acrylic glaze. They are semi-transparent, shiny and dry water proof.

Twinkling H2Os - Twinks are a dry puck watercolor paint. You can paint with them by applying water to a brush and rubbing it over the puck, but the best effect comes from spritzing them with water, letting them sit until they reach a honey consistency, and then painting them on. Because they are water-soluble, you can further dilute them with water to lighten the colour.

Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze and Glimmer Glam

Glimmer Glaze - Glimmer Glaze is a water-soluble paint with a sheen to it.

Glimmer Glam - Glimmer Glam is water-soluble paint packed with chunky glitter.

 

Rub N Buff

 

Rub N Buff - Rub N Buff is a water-based antiquing paint - it can be rubbed on directly from the tube, and burnished once dried.

 

Viva Decor Inka Gold

 

Inka Gold - Inka Gold comes in a puck of thick, waxy paint. It can be applied directly with your finger, or you can mix some with water for thinner coverage. When dried, you can burnish it for a great shine. Great for covering metal.

 

 

Shimmerz

 

Shimmerz - Shimmerz are water-based and packed with chunky glitter for a lot of shine. You can add extra water to dilute the colour.

 

Texturez - Texturez are thick and full of grit. They are perfect for stencilling, or for painting on with your finger or a palette knife.

 

Dazzlerz - Dazzlerz are thick, creamy, and packed with shine. They are perfect for stencilling, and can also be watered down to increase their transparency.

 

Dimensionz - Dimensionz have the same gorgeous shimmer as Dazzlerz, in a bottle with a nozzle, so that you can apply them as pearls or paint them on.

 

 

Viva Decor - Pearl Pens - gorgeous colors, and perfect little pearls!

 

Ranger - Liquid Pearls - the original for gorgeous, pearlescent pearls.

 

 

Clearsnap - Smooch - Smooch comes with its own paintbrush right in the bottle. Check out Denise's WCYDW for some great tips on using your Smooch paints.

I hope you'll play along with us this month! We'd love to see your art journal pages and mixed media projects here (sorry, no layouts - there are plenty of other great layout challenges elsewhere on the forum). The challenge will close at 5pm EST on April 14th, and the winner (selected by random.org) will have 7 days to claim their prize. All other Standard Rules apply.

Here is the fantastic RAK up for grabs:

 

 

Entries: