Sunday, March 2, 2008

Roadmap to Texture

The goal of this piece was texture, in a different way than I've done before. It kind of looks like I used caulk, and some of you may think it's caulk, since I use caulk and love it. However, I used wallboard joint compound (JC) on this piece. This wasn't exactly the look I was going for when I started, but it's how it ended up. Anyway, it looks more like caulk since I painted it and used a gloss finish on it. I used Future Floor Finish (FFF).

I cut strips and punched circles out of pizza cardboard, and after I spread the JC, I tried to embed them in the JC, thinking it would act as an adhesive, (which caulk does). Oh, silly me, that didn't happen. I could've glued them in after the JC dried, but instead chose to pull them off and use the piece as it was. In a way, this ended up being a happy accident.

Then my next big issue was what colors to use. I kind of just played around with that part, although I like how it turned out. I might try this again with watercolor paints and see how that looks. I'm assuming, or thinking, the JC would absorb the watercolors to some extent. Not sure about that either, but I guess it's worth a try. I used acrylics on this piece.

10 comments:

The Tattered Rose said...

This is a happy accident, indeed. Great texture. I love the idea of using the caulking, too. I may have to try that. I was inspired by a cps article to try faux rust and I am experimenting with Golden garnet gel (coarse) to get faux rust (nice texture, too - little rusty looking lumps) so I don't have to stop the rust "reaction." Cheers, Trish G.

Mary S. Hunt said...

you achieved GREAT texture with this piece Val. It is hard to try things that are not familiar to us THEN when it works!!! isn't it great...keep those experimental projects in the works some of the best pieces evolve.
:-)

Kathy McElroy said...

This turned out very cool!

Maryanne said...

Wow... great idea. Thanks for passing your experience along to us.

Tabitha the KnittingJourneyman said...

this is just amazing
I just love how this turned out
now i have to go find something to practise on and play with myself
thank you for sharing

Linda Manning Findley said...

Looks just like a roadmap .... very cool Val and nice to see you have started blogging ..... now I can keep up with you better ..... Linda F

Cindy Jones Lantier said...

This is SO amazing! I love texture, and so, of course, I just LOVE this piece. And thanks so much for giving us details on how it came about. I may have to see if there's joint compound in any of the garage's around here! And thanks to "the tattered rose" for reminding me about that article in ClothPaperScissors. I'll have to dig that back out and re-read it!

Micki said...

I just discovered your blog. Fantastic work, love the rusted fabrics. JC work is great and your Melange book is super.

Kim said...

I always always always love texture - it's like glitter , it just makes every thing Better. If you try the watercolors though I'd seal the piece first - the jc is going to suck the color in repeatedly on you as it's so porous.

Tara said...

I'd be interested in knowing HOW you use caulk in your artwork.