Patterned Paper & Gesso tips (cutting superfine shapes & toning down contrast)

to cut teensyeensyweensy things from patterned paper:

I had ta set these gorgeous butterflies (from BasicGrey's Ambrosia paper) free. They were all lined up and not happy, LOL.) All you do is paint the back of the paper with gesso or acrylic paint:


Step 1) Protect your work surface

Step 2) Paint the back of the paper with acrylic Gesso (You can also use acrylic paint.) Depending on the brand you use you may need to water it down a bit (though too much water might buckle the paper. To flatten it after painting, you can put it under something flat & heavy or iron it)

Step 3) Make sure it's not stuck down to your paper by the painting (I've done that before, lol.)

Step 4) Clean up well (Gesso is a primer, so it really has staying power.) :O)


It's Supah Quick:
It seems like a pain, but it's really quick takes a minute to paint & a couple to dry. You can speed drying with a hairdrier or gentle heat-gunning.

Lots of Colour Options:
Both gesso & acrylic paint come in black & white & colours too (so if you're going to see the back you can see a colour.) Gesso even comes in clear, which is handy if you want to cut out of double-sided paper for a project where you may see the back of cut out elements.

These Ambrosia butterflies have tiny antennae and wing-tips, so the gesso (or paint) really helps hold it together. It's still delicate, but tearing is much less likely when you cut em'. You can shape things better with the gesso-ing too & they're more durable on your projects.

Here's the little flutterby guy. :O)
He's about the size of your thumbnail.

toning down the contrast of patterned paper

(or altering/distressing it ):

Another thing you can do with gesso (or a paint wash made using watered down paints) is tone down your designer papers. (Then you can use the original & the lightened version on the same project. Two papers for the price of one!):

It can give ya the groovy look of vintage wallpaper 'cause gesso has matte finish.

You can vary it by:

• Adding glitter/Shimmerz/Pearlex... to the Gesso
• Experiment with different brushes. You can get different brush strokes in the gesso
  
• Sand some gesso off
• Using pastels over it
• First adding texture with aa Scor-Pal or with Cuttlebug Embossing folders or other embossing then brayering or brushing Gesso onto it.
• Mixing the Gesso with Lumiere (or just using lumiere diluted with water)
• Using watercolour washes/any kind of ink washes over Gesso.
• Printing on top of it (the gesso makes printer ink embossable) Here's an example
• You can also try stamping or emossing over it (I love it more than any other paper)
  
• Close to my Heart & Copic markers on it will dry & you can do fast faux watercolour
• You can erase colouring mistakes with a wet Q-tip!
  
• Stampin Up markers are embossable (they stay wet on top of the gesso.)
• Tombow markers (I learned from Erin) are embossable too. :O) SO fun!
  

Wanna play with gesso (or read more about it)?
Here's an index of projects & some links.

Happy Craftiness