Art Journal #5 - Petroleum Resist

Today I thought I'd share a fun and easy technique that I came up with that was inspired by Claudine Hellmuth's Peeling Paint background technique from her book Collage Discovery Workshop.  I love her technique so much that I included it in my book - Teach Yourself Visually Collage & Altered Arts (with permission of course).  (OMG ~ I just realized my book has 5 stars on Amazon!!! how cool is that - LOL!!)

Well, today we're going to be using the petroleum jelly paired with die-cuts....you can use the positive, negative or both pieces in your work.  I am going to be using both just to show you the difference. 

Before we get to the technique I thought I'd clue you in on the Journal Prompt for this lesson because it may have an impact on which die-cut(s) you choose to use.......

My favorite poem....

Now not only do you need to choose a poem you love but I want you to think about WHY you love it cause I'd like you to add that somewhere on your layout as well.

Let's begin....

Art Journal #5

Petroleum Die-Cut Resist

Supplies:

Petroleum Jelly
Acrylic Paint
Cardstock, Canvas or Watercolor Paper
Water-Proof Inks (various colors if desired)
An assortment of stamps
Water
Clean Dry Cloth

Instructions:

1. Stamp a variety of images on your cardstock.  I went with some simple designs...a leaf, tree (both StampersBest) and a tiny script stamp (Inkadinkado).  I used a variety of Archival Ink colors to help create depth.

2. Place your die-cut somewhere on your stamped background.  Take a dollop of the PJ and spread it across the die-cut working it out over the edges a bit.  Don't be shy about using lots of PJ...the more you use the better your resist will turn out.
***NOTE - anywhere that is covered with PJ will resist the acrylic paint in later steps!!!

If you're working with the die-cut negative you'll apply the PJ along the edges of the die-cut and pull it towards the center.  This prevents the inside edges of the die-cut being bent or torn during this step.

3. Carefully lift the die-cut from your background.

4. Reposition the die-cut and repeat until the entire background has been covered.

You can see in the following photos exactly where the PJ is and isn't so it's not like you're working blind applying the PJ.  Once you begin you'll be able to see where you've been and what areas still need work.

5. Squirt a bit of acrylic paint on your non-stick craft mat or in a bowl.  If necessary give it a few squirts of water and mix.  You want your paint to be fairly thin so it will glide across the paper/PJ.  You don't want the paint so thick that you have to really work to apply the paint. 

CAUTION - If your paint is too thick and you over-work the PJ images it will smear.

6. Load a soft bristle brush with the watered down paint and gently paint the background paper.  You don't have to get violent with it...just let the paint glide across the paper. 

You will notice that the paint will bead up where the PJ is while it soaks in as normal on the areas w/o PJ. 

Continue painting until the entire sheet has been covered.  Move onto page #2.

7. Let your paint dry naturally...

Tomorrow we'll pick it up from here!