$1 Buckets Transformed
A Stitched Painting

Transparency + Paint = Fun

I love how much everyone loved yesterday's project!  Thank you for all the enthusiastic comments.  Also, there were a lot of questions about the "how to" of those $1 buckets.  I answered in the comments, but just in case you were wondering: I used gesso to prime the buckets.  I used mostly acrylic paint to paint them.  And I sealed them with a gloss multi medium.

Hope that answers your questions!  Now onto today's post!

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One of the really fun developments of the InfoCrea line of products over the past year has been the addition of lots of transparencies!  As you might imagine, I can't stop using paint on mine!  However, because transparencies are slick there are a few factors to consider:

  1. Use acrylic paint.  To cover that glossy surface, you want to use acrylic paints.  And while I often water down normal heavy-body acrylics so that I can do detail writing or painting with them, the added water will cause the paint to bead up on the transparency.  So I use fluid acrylics instead.
  2. Paint Pens are a great choice.  They write on glossy surfaces with ease and dry relatively quickly.
  3. Speaking of drying, don't use a heat gun.  Obviously not all transparencies will react the same, but generally speaking, don't use a heat gun because it will make the transparency melt and curl (which may be an effect you want, but be aware).  Sadly, you have to sit and wait for the paint to dry.
  4. Remember a transparency has a back and a front.  One of my favorite things to do is paint the back of a transparency.  The printed design remains pristine from the front, but you've added an opaque background!

And here's what I put together:

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I used two transparencies.  The large 12x12 one includes the white flowers, border, spray of dots at the top, and the writing underneath the photos.  The second transparency is all chopped up into journaling strips.

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I painted the two black flowers on top of the transparency.  And you can see the spray of gold paint spatters as well.

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I painted the back of a small transparency journaling block.  And then I used a gold paint pen to write my journaling and chopped the block apart.

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You can see the gold paint pen here again in the title.  I wrote the first part of the title and then outlined my letter stickers to pull it all together.

I like transparencies because they allow you to customize.

I slipped a few other papers behind my transparency so that you can see how amazing the transformation is.

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Hmmm...I'm kind of really liking version number three.  (And not just because I designed that paper.)  I may have to make the switch permanently.  Blue is feeling rather boring.

What do you think?

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