2013 Technique Calendar - August - Baked Acrylics

I had some new colors of acrylic paints in my stash that I haven't had a chance to play with yet so I thought today would be a good time to break them out.

August here in Indiana is the heart of summer...smoldering temps with lots of humidity...and when I think summer I think bright colors so my new paints fit the bill.   Now, I don't know if you've ever noticed but in summer sometimes it gets so hot that it actually melts the asphalt on the roads (at least it does here)....that got me thinkin' and today's technique was the result!

I have to apologize ~ I have very few photos for today's technique.  I started playing and totally forgot about the camera!  That's the sign of a really fun technique ;)  LOL!!

Baked Acrylics

Supplies:

Acrylic Paints
Cardstock
Water
Small Container (for mixing if nec.)
Heat Tool (a must!)
Ink
Ink Blending Tool

Instructions:

1. Depending on how thick your paints are you may need to pour a bit out in a small container and add a few drops of water.  The paint needs to be the consistency of something like mustard, ketchup, steak sauce, etc.   You don't want it runny but you need to be able to drizzle it about your paper and still hold it's shape.  My paints were just right so I used them right out of the jar. 

2. First, I started off by smearing a base color over the cardstock (with my fingers) here and there.  I used green but of course you can use whatever you would like.

3. Next comes the really fun part ~ drizzle various colors of paint over the green.  This is the playful part as I just dunked my finger into the jar and let the paint drip off.  When it stopped running off I gave it a flick here and there for some splatters and larger globs of paint. 

4. Continue to add as many colors as you like.

5. Immediately after you have added the last of your paints, begin heating with the heat tool.  This is where the baking asphalt comes in.  You want to really cook that paint.  It will start to grow and bubble as it dries.  This is exactly what you want!   Here are a few photos of what mine looks like.  You can see the awesome texture that you will get...

You might get a bubble from the really thick globs of paint...(like the purple above).  I pushed them down and re-heated until I got the look I wanted. Be careful if you do so, I had a couple pop and squirt hot paint across my desk - LOL!!

6. After you have baked your acrylics let them cool.

7. I then applied a bit of blue ink to the background using my Ink Blending Tool.

 

And here is my calendar page...

I love how it turned out and can see doing this for various seasons and holidays by simply changing up the base colors and drizzled paints.  Shoot, you could even toss in some glitter glue or glitter to jazz it up a bit!

Now it's your turn!