 Okay, this is inspired by Marami small art and I'm not sure that's how you pronounce it the artist's name who owns that YouTube channel Her name is Marta and she really inspired me to break out all of my texture gel mediums and scraps of paper brares and different things and Product packaging and just start layering things on top of each other and And creating some fun texture. It reminds me a lot of Finnebar and she really does a lot with that too and so here I'm just using a used dryer sheet a bounce bounce sheet and I'm just crinkling it up and using some gel medium to Adhere it to some product packaging now as during the process of doing this I discovered that I had a lot of almost empty jars of things some things that were dried up and You'll see some of the video footage where I struck try to stick the palette knife and some things and it's just completely hard And I tossed it out. So this really Just hit home for me To just have fun with the supplies that you have use up what you have and don't waste them by letting them dry up And just sit there. So then you have to throw them away. I'm tearing up other product packaging here and using This matte medium. This is a Liquitex matte medium to It's Matt gel actually I use up the jar. Yay. It was one of my goals To add it to other product packaging and just create some fun layers. The idea is to create some layers create some textures Experiment with what you have add some gesso I found out during the process. I had mediums. I'd forgotten I had I didn't know I had String Joe I didn't know I had I'd forgotten I had glass bead Joe I also had coarse texture paste I think or something like that anyway, I'd forgotten I had some of these things And I'd had some things that I really loved that I didn't use up before they dried out Unfortunately, like the jar with the black lid to the left of your screen just under the piece of Tim Holtz tissue paper That is a really was a really great sparkly gel medium and Yeah, I want to went to go use some of it is completely dry and that'll show up there It is pumice gel. So I forgot I had pumice gel. I didn't know I had it Thankfully, I just had a small jar of it and I don't think it had ever been opened. So I do remember buying A small variety pack of golden mediums to Experiment with and that's where some of those little jars came from and I'd forgotten I had them. So this process brought those out. I used a Patterned putty knife there This is the string gel. I don't know it must have come in the sample pack because I don't remember I don't know why I would buy string gel. I'm not even sure what you're supposed to use string gel for to be really honest with you But it does create a neat texture and I'm just hanging these up on the clips above my desk as I make them I'm using old paper I'm using the used dryer sheets other product packaging bits and pieces of leftover tissue paper I have lots of gel mediums that have glitter and seed beads in them from and micro beads from a Swap we did over in Crazy Island family and I'd forgotten I had those and some of those were dried up, unfortunately, but I did have quite a few that weren't so we I used those and I had a little container of you know the dried up blobs you get on the top of your paint tubes. I Don't know why I just can't seem to throw those away because we're mixed media artists, right? We don't throw anything away so anyway add a little bucket of those So at one point I grab those out and I use those I've got masking tape and a couple of different kinds of drywall tape and I'm really not thinking too much about what I'm doing and I'm just having fun with the process And that's the point is just at this stage just have fun with the process and Use what you have don't go buy anything special This is one of the kinds of drywall tape and it's sticky So I stick it down and then I realized I've got the sticky back that I pulled off Well that could be used on something so I don't throw any of the little bits away And this is a great way to use up some of those little bits And you know if you're like me and you have a couple different kinds of gel medium Then use those two to create texture you can run them through a stencil and they create an interesting texture You can just scrape them on with a putty knife and leave marks in the gel and it'll create an interesting texture Just have fun with it and use up what you have there's some of the glitter That yeah, there's those were all hard those were all hard. I do finally find one that's not hard now if you are using the heavy gel mediums or the glitter ones with glitter in them or You know any of the heavy thick gel mediums, especially the textured ones Through a stencil make sure that you soak your stencil when you're done and that you clean it off really well because it will leave It'll adhere to the stencil and it'll ruin your stencil if you don't so I had a bucket of water next to me with some water and Murphy's oil soap in it and I just put it in there and let it soak when I was finished and all of it just peeled right off So just make sure you clean your stencil as soon as you can. These are fabric scraps left over from the belly band video That you may or may not have seen yet. I'm not sure when this airs if it'll have aired already But they're less than leftover pieces of fabric from a sewing 101 video and I use those two nothing was Beyond the realm of possibility to be used and those were the backings to the drywall tape so Just it's a great way to use up scraps To use up all those little tiny bits of leftover gel medium that you've got laying around in a jar that you know very well If you don't use it soon, it's gonna dry up And just to get them used up and in a creative way I pulled out some chipboard and cardstock die cuts and use them Just everything I knew I'd been saving these product packaging things for a while for a reason I just didn't know what the reason was so I Just grabbed whatever was around and in front of me and laying around or things that I'd for you know I knew I had but I hadn't opened in a while Like the chipboard box of chipboard and die cuts. I pulled some things out of that and used them and Created a giant stack of really interesting texture things And I love to do use dryer sheets anyway in my art, but this is just another way to use them They create an interesting Fibrous texture Cheesecloth would work too and I had some of that, but I didn't want to stop and grab it so But the dryer sheets, you know, we most of us have dryer sheets, so use them I'm just hanging stuff up when you see me pause like that is because I'm hanging things up and I am Not really stopping to clean my pallet knife too much That actually is an old whisk for my grandmother's estate that was all rusty and weird And I couldn't I didn't have the heart to throw it out I wasn't sure why it does leave an interesting texture in the gel medium And I'm thinking it would be interesting texture in acrylic paint, too So it'll be it'll be fun to play with it's rusty. So you can't use it to cook food with so there's some more of the gel medium that I've made from that swap with crazy Allen family and Those are fun the lesson to be learned there though is don't make more of it Then you really need at that moment because it really doesn't keep very well I ended up throwing I think four or five jars of it away because they were completely dried it but the blobs and They were adhered to the jar so I couldn't dig them out because believe me. I tried And it just wasn't gonna happen I Really trying hard not to use so much of the golden gel medium Not because I don't like it, but because I really want to use up this jar of Liquitex I've had it for a while, and it's actually not my favorite. I prefer the golden gel mediums. They're thicker And the gel the Liquitex ones are a little bit more watery so I'm really trying to hard to use this jar up because I've had it for ever and That was the other kind of drywall tape by the way that I had the mesh that I stuck on there That's another kind of drywall tape and you know, don't forget about using your fingers Your hands and your fingers leave interesting marks and texture, too At the end of this video, you will see where I pull all of it down after it's dried and I Give everything just a quick light brush brushing of gesso and that really makes some of the texture really pop out I don't try to cover the whole thing with gesso Because the paper and the mediums they're all gonna take paint differently. So when we do the painting step in part 2 I Want the Take these texture panels and for lack of a better term to I want them to take the paint differently. So that's going to be part of building up the layers and building up the texture visual and and physical texture is Not to have it all gessoed and primed and you know to have some of the paint beat up in some places Where there's you know a real slick surface and nothing for it to absorb into and other places where there is gesso And it can absorb into it's going to look differently and I want that These this is some of the crushed lava rock from Nevada That I've put mixing here in right into the gel medium. I Got a big chunk in there. So I'm there. I'm trying to cut it up And break it up so that it's not so big and bulky in the piece And I just had a lot of ball a lot of fun with this I had a ball with it. I turned up the music and I got all my supplies out. I went through every drawer and cabinet I had and dug all my mediums and texture things out and I just had fun with it I could have done pulled out more things, but to start with I wanted to use There were a few things like I said that I wanted to use up So I focused more on that the next time I do this I'll be using different different tools and probably different bits and pieces It's just it was just so much fun. I encourage you guys to try this Don't think about it too much. Don't think about what the end product is going to end up being Don't think about it being perfect. It's totally not about that And this is one of my stencil new stencil designs and I end up sticking my finger on part of it But that's fine. I Don't know that you can see it because I think it's off-camera, but it's all right Just have play and have fun. I don't want you to analyze what you're doing too much Turn up the music have some fun with it and just experiment and play Here I get out a piece of a silicone Mat that my friend Cindy utter gave me and to see what it would do with the gesso It actually made some interesting marks. I can't wait to use it in paint Then I had another one that had little little nibbly little tiny dots on it and I decided to use that also You don't have to have anything except gesso or thick heavy body paint to do this If you don't have any gel mediums, you can do it with gesso or or thick heavy body paint. They're really thick stuff You probably could do this with some glues too you might try it there are my little there's my little pot of dried up Tops to paint tubes I just because you know I can't throw anything away. I've been saving these for kind of for quite a while and I just decided to stick some of them down and I'm using the Gel medium I just yeah, I could have I could have gone to town with it I decided not to stick all of them down, but I did stick a few of them down. I thought it would be interesting and it was You'll see here in a minute. We're going to switch to a view of after I've gotten them all done. I Pull them all down and I have that gesso bottle that's sitting on the table upside down It's almost empty and one of the things I really really want to use up because I have a lot of gesso I don't know what the hell. I was thinking buying all that gesso so I want to use it up and I Want to give all of this like I said a light brushing of gesso so We are going to pull it all down here in a minute and we are going to give everything a lice light brushing of gesso and You'll really see the texture pop out then I even have bits of lace here I think this is the one where I stick bits of lace to the The product packaging and I do some more things with the stencil I don't know I was at a friend's wedding recently and their invitation had a piece of white lace on it And of course, you know being a mixed media artist It's really hard to throw anything away and when I get greeting cards and things in that have lace or die-cut paper or something Stuck to them. I usually end up taking them apart to save that bit to use in mixed media My family knows not to throw any of the cards away right away and I have a Basket that they go in until I can go through them Some more dryer sheet because I'm like I've got I've got four of these dryer sheets got to use them all up My little drawer that I keep them in is full so it's time to use some of them So here we go. I've got All of them dry. I've got a little bit of Bible paper that is left over from a Monday with Deco art Canvas I was working on Yesterday I'm filming this on August 9th And I decided that I want to use that up along with brushing them with a thick layer or thin layer of gesso And you can see that it's creating some interesting effects putting that gesso on there Pushing some colors back but bringing out some of the texture and as I'm going I'm going to use up those pieces of paper from the Bible pages and as you can see on this what I even found a washer Legally garage floor and I decided I'm gonna stick that in there, too Why not? Random piece of washi tape that was on my desk stuck it on there And just give it, you know, you're not looking to cover up the whole thing and covering up You know completely the fact that it's product packaging. I think that adds some interest to the piece in my opinion So I wasn't looking to cover it up completely. I just wanted to push some of the colors and things into the background So that when we go to do the painting part and that process that They're there in from a texture perspective, but they're not dominant. I don't want them to be dominant So I'm just as I'm going I'm using up that gesso. That's the last of that gesso Thank God I can open up a fresh bottle now And These are some of the strips from the box of die cuts chipboards and things that I had and there were puzzle pieces in there I don't remember where they came from probably happy mail little pieces of cardboard Tim holds tissue and that whole point of this is not to glue anything down flat You want it wrinkly. You want the edges to be sticking up. You want it to be kooky and crinkly That was one of the ones with stenciling on it and it was okay But I thought I'm gonna stick some Bible paper on there And even with the Bible paper if it got wrinkly and it it you know, lift it up. I was okay with that I want the texture now see unless this is one of the ones you could see that things really pop out When you put that gesso on there, that's the one with the lava rock Look at the texture We haven't even painted it yet. This is just gel medium and gesso and The texture bits and they're already looking so interesting The ones that I thought needed more texture and were lacking something were the ones that got the Bible pages And even the ones with the sparkly I wanted some of the sparkly, but I wanted it to be pushed back a little bit So I added gesso That's actually a greeting card That's actually not even product packaging and I just thought it was interesting paper with an interesting brat background You can see that that's a product packaging from goob glue. I Just you know, I'm sure I'm not the only one out there that just saves all of these things you buy a stencil You buy a package of glue you buy a foam brush if it comes with a cardboard backer, then we save it, right? This is that court. That was that coarse texture gel. This is the string gel Which is interesting stuff. I'm gonna have to look up some videos on what you're supposed to do with it I didn't even know I had it It does dry interestingly I have all these hooks above my desk if you haven't seen my studio before and so as I'm doing these I'm hanging them up Above the desk so that they dry. They're still hanging there. I have to take them down and in the next video we will be adding color to all the backgrounds and then we will be going through them and Doing some sort of focal point What are we gonna do with them after that? I don't know I might Bind them all together with a binder ring. I don't know. I would decide to get it I am really kind of wanting them to be like a journal of some sort so They probably will Be something like that. There is the one with the dried paint blobs from the paint tubes At some point I decide that I need to see if I can get a little bit more gesso out of the bottle of Gesso so I actually dig it out of the trash can and whack it on the table. You can't hear the whacking But I do whacking on the table We go see him like whacking it and like trying to like please can I get just a little bit more? There we go. There we have it So I hope this gives you some ideas of what you can do I'm gonna link the video that inspired this in the description below Please go watch it show her channel some love and let's have some fun playing with texture. All right I'll see you all later. Don't forget to go out and have a great day Do something nice for yourself because you deserve it. Bye guys