Gesso – Nathalie's Studio

In my next life I wanna be a kitty …or Prima Canvas

January 16, 2013 By Nathalie Kalbach

I simply adore the ability of cats to sleep totally relaxed everywhere in the most fun or adorable positions. I wish I could do the same. Like on a plane…I soooo can’t sleep on a plane. Maybe it is the fear of sleeping and starting to drool on my neighbors shoulder lol

This photo is of my brother in laws kitty- don’t get fooled by this sweet innocent sleeping face…this cat is an attack cat – LOL. Nonetheless very cute

I used Anna’s new metal embellishments for Prima as well as her new stencil- so much fun to create with it for the Prima Booth at CHA.

Prima Supplies used:

Sunrise Sunset Vintage Trinkets Mechanicals #960285

Sunrise Sunset Vintage Trinkets Mechanicals #960247

Sunrise Sunset Vintage Trinkets Mechanicals #960346

Sunrise Sunset Vintage Trinkets Mechanicals #960391

Sunrise Sunset Wood Embellishments #960216

Sunrise Sunset Stencil 6×6 #960179

Sunrise Sunset Fabric & Washi Tape #564872

Sunrise Sunset Flowers #565190

Queen Mary Flower Smoke #566197

Mini Sachet Winter #565992

Mini Sachet Pearl #566036

Other:

Liquitex Gesso

Liquitex Gel Medium

Liquitex Acrylic Ink

Liquitex Professional Spraypaint

Burlap

Cheesecloth

Tissuepaper

Wire

Are you able to sleep on a plane?

I wish you an amazing sunny day – and I will be back with photos from L.A. soon …and CHA

Huge hugs

Nat

Filed Under: CHA 2013, Gesso, Mixed Media

Second Floor Challenge #9: Embossing Powder

September 18, 2012 By Nathalie Kalbach

Are you ready to take the second floor this time? If you have no clue what I am talking about- read all about it here The Second Floor Challenge

So today is our 8th Second Floor Challenge: Embossing Powder

Click here to see what Julie did

Whatever that means to you or however it inspires you. The prompt is simply meant to get you started. The level of challenge you aim for is entirely internal and up to you

Embossing Powder- cool – I love Embossing Powder. I use it in many different ways and I love to try out all kinds of different media as embossing agents. If you have ever been at one of my life workshops you know that You have used all kinds of stuff for it…Acrylic Paints was one of them. So started like this on a small tiny canvas

I spread black gesso over since I know I wanted different colored embossing powders on top of it and I hoped the black gesso would make the colors pop more.

It was like cooking …BAM! some more spicy embossing powder right into the ~~kisser~~ wet gesso.

Next was heating, and I had a suspicion already that this mixture would be a bit dangerous in case of the fumes…and boy was I right…yikes. I bet this is highly unhealthy and recommend almost a mask and a well ventilated area. But still I was pleased with the result.

Time to take it to the second floor – I sprayed it with water based spray paints

and BAM! sprinkled some golden embossing powder over it here and there – off heating again

Loved the results….and then used it right away for a present for a special girl

here is a close up of the Gesso-Embossing

What I learned from this challenge:

I love the texture and patina aged look the embossing powder with the black gesso created. Actually to tell you the truth it makes me giddy
this is NOT healthy! not something I would teach in a workshop. Black Gesso by Golden already has on their lable that it contains chemicals that are known to cause cancer…and embossing powder is essentially plastic, so melting it together like crazy is obviously a crazy nut case’s idea! I will wear a mask next if I do it again!
I love that through the combination of those two media the heat resulted extra dimension stayed once it was dried. Pretty pretty cool.
If you reheat colored gesso again and put the heat too long on it, it can loose its color at parts and gets white spots. Which in this case was cool! But something to keep in mind.
I liked working on a smaller surface for this technique – first it was out of economic reasons as to not waste a huge amount of embossing powder if that technique would not work, but then it also was fun to incorporate this in a bigger project using different techniques then again.

If you’d like to leave a link showing off what you did in response to this challenge, here’s the linky list:

hugs

Nat

Filed Under: 2nd Floor, Embossing, Gesso, Mixed Media

My Favorite Mixed Media Essentials: 2. Gesso

September 8, 2012 By Nathalie Kalbach

Yesterday I talked about Acrylic Paint as my favorite Essential but that is followed very close by Gesso – I looooveee Gesso!

Gesso is like a magic bullet. Seriously. Gesso should be in your craft room….there is no doubt about it! If my Mixed Media Essentials were characters of Harry Potter…Gesso would be Dumbledore …and come one…who doesn’t want Dumbledore in their studio helping with some spells of Love

What I love about Gesso is:

It can be applied to many surfaces like canvas, fabric, wood etc. and creates a surface that can be painted on.
It gives tooth. So you can paint also surfaces where usually paint would not grab on- for example Metal.
There is thicker Gesso and thinner Gesso. You can ﬁnd white, black and clear Gesso – there are even other colored Gessos but I would say these are the most used ones. You can always change the color with Acrylic Paint yourself.
It is an amazing medium to add texture with tools and household items, embedding supplies or by using it with stencils etc.
It is the cure whenever something went totally wrong…just paint over with gesso ….it is the magic bullet
White Gesso is the cheapest white paint
It is amazing to tone down or change colors of your backgrounds or scrapbooking papers
there is a huge amount of techniques including resist techniques with gesso that you can do -ahhh- happy mixed media land

Here are some examples:

White gesso for textured background and on flowers used

treated background with stencils, embedded elements and then spray painted

creating texture with Gesso before using paint media

primed a frame with clear gesso and then used here and there translucent and opaque paint media

Black gesso for texture, torn open to reveal background again

Gesso to create handmade textured embellishments

Clear and white gesso used to create this moody textured background

Embedded chipboard elements in gesso

Just pulling those projects together makes me wanna go into my room and play with Gesso again!

Which Gesso I use:

As always in this series- the answer to this question is based on my preferences, my style and my experiences

I do use white, clear and black gesso.
Lately I use Liquitex Gessos a lot- I love the consistency, coverage as they are highly pigmented and their consistence. I have only seen the clear gesso by Liquitex btw. For the black Gesso I used mostly Golden.
I tend to like the thicker gesso more- I don’t like the liquid stuff- makes sense, because I love texture and you can water gesso down…so why waste money on the thin stuff?
I used to buy big buckets of Gesso – which makes sense if you use them up in a workshop right away with lot’s of students, but now I buy smaller jars, even with my crazy usage of gesso, I had it dry out after a while and then it was a waste of money.
When you start out and you just want to get a feel for Gesso – the Liquitex Basics Gesso is a good start

Liquitex Basic White Gesso

Gesso White/Clear/Black

Liquitex Super Heavy Gesso

Golden Black Gesso

InLinkz.com

I hope you had fun with this…next up is…Markers and Pens

huge hugs

Nat

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If you want to learn more about gesso- check out my Über*Media Gesso Online Workshop

Filed Under: Gesso, Mixed Media Essentials

Love Love Love…or Me thinks that was the best decision ever

July 11, 2012 By Nathalie Kalbach

to marry my hubs

and oh boy I really thought I would never marry when I was in my 20s ….but I have not regret one single day – seriously – not one! And that is as romantic as me grunge girl can get – LOL.

Supplies: Prima: Item# 921934 Poppy Canvas Sheet, Item# 922016 Fabric Poppy Flowers, Item# 921996Fabric Poppy Flowers, Item# 547486 Lovely Leaves Collection, Item# 551438 Say It In Crystals, Item# 516215 Journalist Collection Chipboard Letters, Canvas 12×12, Gerstaecker White Gesso, Liquitex Heavy Body Gel Medium, Liquitex Acrylic Ink, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Foam Tape

Nothing better than tearing, ripping, dipping and painting while thinking of amazing memories of a special day.

What was the last special day you created a project for?

Nat

Lullaby Canvas or I better post this later in the day (nathaliesstudio.com)

Filed Under: Gesso, Mixed Media

Maya Road Guest Designer- Canvas- Tutorial

June 13, 2012 By Nathalie Kalbach

For my guest designer spot with Maya Road this month I created this 12 x 12 canvas using lots of Chipboard Doorways, Maya Mists, and Gesso.

I created a video sharing how I made this canvas:

So love those colors

And I totally love those doors…yum yum!

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial

“speaking” of Gesso….sorry for not posting the winner of my blogaversary post- for the Über*Media Gesso Online-Class earlier (I had a family emergency). But here you go – The winner of the class is:

Congratulations Anne-Mette- please email me so I can send you out your log-in informations for the class

hugs

Nat

P.S.: psst

Filed Under: Altered Art, Gesso, Maya Mist, Mixed Media

Über*Media…all the way ;)

April 30, 2012 By Nathalie Kalbach

Über*Media is my series of online workshops that is dedicated to different kinds of media that cross a variety of materials. These classes are a reference guide for you, showing all kinds of possibilities and techniques using certain paint products etc. with different surfaces and media.

You can work in your own pace, whenever you want….and you have access to a huge amount of fun techniques, tips and tricks, tutorials, projects and art journals for years to come as long as they are online (meaning as long as I am alive and the n*Studio exists)

My new Class starts today:

Acrylic Paint Online Workshop:

Also available for sign ups are those classes – the whole content is already published.

Pan Pastel Online Workshop:

Check it out here

Gesso Online Workshop:

Check it out here

I would be thrilled to have you in any of my classes

hugs

Nat

Filed Under: Acrylicpaints, Gesso, Mixed Media Workshop, PanPastel, Workshops

Tired of being a People Pleaser – Layout

April 1, 2012 By Nathalie Kalbach

It’s been a while, since I have created a layout – and it was so much fun to play with the wonderful paper by Anna Dabrowska for 7DotsStudio, which I had for a while now.

Sorry- taken down

The idea to this layout came while reading one of my favorite columnists – Harald Martenstein – he always makes me laugh. He writes with pointed remarks and often brings simple lifestyle problems to the point. This week the column for DIE ZEIT was titled: Many are suffering from making it right for everyone (freely translated) – here is the German article

one of the paragraphs that made me laugh the most was:

…You have to force yourself to be unfriendly. This is true in all areas of life. Lot’s of people are suffering because they wish to make it right for everyone. That is just something deep inside of you. Maybe it is education. In my opinion this is an unknown widespread desease. Doctors usually diagnose it with “Burn-Out-Syndrom” “Depressive Mood” or “Gastritis”. In reality though this is just caused by wishing to make it right for everyone. ….

Of course that is not, what causes Burn-Out-Syndroms etc. – but it made me think of how tired I am to be always the people pleaser and make it right for everyone- you just can’t , right? Even if you just stay in bed and do nothing, you make someone upset. So this is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek layout…

And please, please….No worries- I won’t be unfriendly from now on…probably tomorrow again just trying to make it right for everyone as always – LOL

Supplies: 7Dots Studio Dream Paper, 7Gypsies Tissue Paper, Gesso, Heidi Swapp chipboard letters, Adornit tiny letters, old watch, Structure paste, PanPastels, Derwent Inktense Blocks, Flearmarketfinds, Eco Green Crafts Stamp, Maya Mist

Do you sometimes get inspired by articles or books for a layout or art journal page too?

Have a gorgeous day

Nat

Filed Under: Gesso, PanPastel, Scrapbooking Layouts, Spraypaint

All of Sudden… or How to create a page about grief?

March 20, 2012 By Nathalie Kalbach

OK- this is a sad topic- but no worries- I keep it still light

I was a while ago asked to create a page about grieving. It wasn’t the easiest part – I have to admit. I mean, Scrapbooking, ArtJournaling- all pretty personal, right and it is all making you vulnerable already…and then to put it out there about grief. mmmpfff…..I have to admit that I was for the first time hesitant to do something I was asked for. But then I thought, I should just give it a go and see – I can still decide to hold it back, right?

I decided to do a layout without picture about my feelings of my loss of my step father.

In short, my father died when I was 20 days old. My stepfather, who came later in my Mom’s and my life, was an amazing man- and a loving father, taking care of me as if I was one of his own children. He died when I was 25.

After a while you do not think every second, every hour, every day, every week, every month about the person you lost. But sometimes it hits you still after all those years without warning- and this is what the journaling is about.

My father for example loved to listen to his music sometimes pretty loud – I think I got my love for loud and heavy music actually from him – LOL. He had quite a big LP collection and we would sometimes in the summer sit together in our garden with open windows, listening to some cool music. Not sure if the neighbors thought it was cool, but he was for sure ranking as the “cool” Dad among my friends We would meet at the same concerts…which was as a teenager a bit strange at times- LOL – because dang it – Dads are supposed to stay home and sleep so you can sneak in late So sometimes if I hear certain songs – it just hits me and I think back and I miss him a lot! It is a weird mixture of sadness and happiness. I guess I don’t have to explain the Sadness – but: Happiness is because I was so fortune to have a person like that in my life and spent time with him to have those memories!

Supplies: Prima Shabby Chic Papers, Prima Vine, old Music sheets, Gesso, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Glam, Pink Paislee Dailee Junque Alphabet, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

It was actually quite relieving creating this layout and I am glad I did it. Well – they say art and creating is therapy, huh? I think that is a pretty good excuse for spending all that money in art supplies, what do you think? LOL

Have you ever created a layout or project about grief?

Have a wonderful and happy day!

Nat

Filed Under: Gesso, Scrapbooking Layouts

Stand Tall – Canvas

February 21, 2012 By Nathalie Kalbach

First of all- thank you so much for your wonderful comments on my CHA Designer-Showcase in the post below! They made my day!

I am back from Lille in France but before I show you some photos from the show next, I share this canvas I made. It is actually part of my Über*Media Gesso class which now ended. I will reopen the sign ups in April/May I think – so if you are interested let me know

Supplies:

White Gesso, Black Gesso, Eco Green Crafts Acrylic Paints, Punchinella, Posca Marker, White Signo Marker, Heidi Swapp Color Magic Banner, Tattered Angels Black Magic Glimmer Mist, Heidi Swapp – old – Chipboard Letters, Sakura Souffle Pen

I wanted the background to look crazy busy….it fits with what I wanted to say with this project.

I am totally back to Acrylic paints right now- I have discovered so many new techniques along with the many I knew already – I think it is time to plan the next Über*Media class HINT HINT – LOL

Looking at this picture btw I realize that my hair is playing tricks on me – I discovered a LOT of grey and WHITE hair the last weeks. Excuse me??? How can this go right into white hair? Oh well…I guess I better get used to it Funny enough when I was a kid I always wanted white hair…I thought it looked just so graceful…mmhh – yeah…not sure if I think this now for myself – LOL.

I’m getting chatty….everything to procrastinate the paperwork I have to do today – so I better keep going. Wishing you an amazing day!

Nat

Filed Under: Acrylicpaints, Gesso, Mixed Media

Sign-Ups for Über*Media Classes Gesso & PanPastel

February 13, 2012 By Nathalie Kalbach

In case you missed it – I will close the sign ups for the Gesso and the PanPastel Class tomorrow midnight EST.

The last lesson for the Über*Media Gesso was just posted – but you have 4 more months to check it out:

Über*Media Gesso

If you have troubles watching this video in this format – you can also see it here: ( I will always provide two options )

I would love to share you some home*art that some of my students created for the class:

Cuchy aka Carmen Sanchez:

I love how the texture draws you into the page- amazing !

Eeva

I love how Eeva used this sweet photocopy of a photo of her baby to do the painting. I love that nobody can see she used a photo- awesome!

Mia

I love the background and then Mia’s awesome tissue paper heart and the flower. What a great mixture of all those techniques we used in lesson 1!

Rebecca:

I love how Rebecca took all the techniques a step further for example on using a straw or sanding the metal after spraying it. That she used a soda can metal is rocking cool!!!

Riikka