Altered Silver - technique-papers

F&W : Sponge-wipe background

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 23:15:00 -0500

Here's a quick and cool background technique.

This spread was painted with acrylic paints in yellow, red-orange and reddish brown, in that order. For each color, while the dollop of paint from the tube was wet, it was spread and wiped with a dry craft sponge. Each color was allowed to dry to the touch before the next color was applied.

(Blog note: Alive and well, but I've been engulfed in…

More Layer-Painted Papers

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 17:05:00 -0600

I knew I would need more than the four layer-painted papers I'd already made so I caught another afternoon to make an additional quartet. And this time, I took a moment to snap a photo each time I paused to allow paint to dry. The photos don't have the best focus, but they should be clear enough to see how cool the changes are as the papers morph along through the…

Giftwrap is paper, too!

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:37:31 -0600

I generally glance over the influx of wrapping paper in the stores at this time of year, looking for inexpensive rolls of nonspecific designs/colors that can be useful as paper for other purposes, such as in altered books and collage. Usually I'm attracted to solid color foils, sometimes with nonrepresentational embossing. Holographic paper is cool, too. For wrapping gifts, however, all it takes is some sheets of newspaper and a little…

Layer-Painted Papers

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 02:10:00 -0600

One of my current altered book projects has only one stage in motion: to initially paint spreads in various ways using a limited palette of six hues. Nothing else will be happening with that book until the pages are all painted, but thinking ahead, I anticipate that I might want to add some tags or whatnot into the pages, and if so, they too should be developed with the same palette.…

Painted papers

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 08:50:00 -0600

About a month ago, I went a little nuts for a couple of days just abstractly painting on paper. These were ordinary 20# (8.5x11") pages, and I tackled them with acrylic paints (normal and metallic), walnut ink and a few bits of text papers, occasionally spritzing over the paint with plain water.

When the excitement wore down, I had eight lovely pieces of paper in various colors and designs. I cut…

Watercolored papers

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 08:15:00 -0600

This is so simple to do, but it creates a really cool appearance (if you like the look of spontaneous watercolor the way I do).

I began with two sheets of 20# paper in a pale gray color. I found from previous experiments that this particular paper takes to water rather well, which is why I chose it for this. (It's not the sort of paper you'd want to rush out…

Collaged paper

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 08:45:00 -0600

I began with several bits of handmade papers, tissue paper and some text pages. I used two (8.5x11") 20# pages for the supports. After choosing a color scheme (purple and yellow), I watercolored those colors over the text pages (so that some of the text was now on purple, and some was on yellow).

Then I tore up all the gathered materials into smaller bits and used matte medium to adhere…

Paper, paint & play

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 08:55:00 -0600

I have a large bunch of paper which began collecting back in the early 80's when I was involved in small-press publishing and b/w artwork destined for offset printing. It makes no sense to me to buy up a bunch of new papers when I have such a full stock already on hand, but with the exception of some parchment and a bit of linen, the papers are generally 20, 60…

F&W : Painted Tissue

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:30:00 -0600

This was a simple little idea that could have big possibilities. I started by taping some wax paper to my drawing board, then taping a sheet of white tissue paper over that. (The wax paper acts as a barrier to prevent the tissue from adhering to the varnished board after getting wet.) Carefully (because tissue paper gets very fragile when wetted), I applied a layer of matte medium to the tissue…

Brushwater Paper

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 14:10:00 -0500

After playing with acrylic paint for awhile, the brushwater takes on some interesting colors. This water is destined to be disposed, but it can assist in transforming plain paper into something more special.

When my brushwater becomes very saturated, I grab a couple sheets of solid tone paper. I crush, crumple, twist and otherwise mutilate the paper short of tearing it. Then I simply put the paper into the brushwater, sometimes…