Lost Coasters Review

LOST COAST DESIGNS HOW TO:  FAVORITE BACKGROUND TECHNIQUE

The Lost Coast Portal Challenge for the month of April features a favorite background technique.  I chose a technique called Faux Chin Colle.  There are so many great techniques out there, but I really like the layers and colors you can create with this one.  Here are the steps to follow to duplicate this technique:

This background technique above is called Faux Chin Colle and uses a Gelli pad, acrylic paint, matte medium, stencils, and heavy and light weight papers.

Step 1:  Take a piece of heavy paper the size you want your project to be.  I used a sheet of 9 X 12 Bristol smooth white paper.  Using matte medium, adhere several pieces of lighter weight papers to create a simple collage.  I used a page from a vintage French book and a piece of a vintage map.  Once adhered to your paper, cover surfaces of your collaged objects with matte medium.  Allow to dry.

Step 2:  Select a paint color and cover your Gelli plate with the paint, using a brayer.  I used orange as my first paint color.  Place various stencils atop the paint, then smooth a sheet of light weight paper over the Gelli plate, pressing down to transfer the design to the paper.  I used three stencils for this one:  clock gears, circles, and a lattice design.  Remove paper and set aside.

Step 3:  Leave stencils in place on your Gelli plate and select a second paint color.  This time I used gold paint.  Using your brayer, roll that second color over your stencils only.  Cover with another piece of lightweight paper and press down to transfer the image.  Remove paper.  Be sure to save your lightweight papers from steps two and three as you can use those for backgrounds as well.

Step 4:  Remove stencils from the Gelli plate.  Take your dried collage sheet on the heavier paper and press down onto your Gelli plate, smoothing paper to transfer paint and images over your collage.

Step 5:  Using the Clock Square stamp from Carmen's Veranda, (www.carmensveranda.com/squares.html).  I stamped the image using black ink onto a piece of lightly shaded back ground paper.  I cut out around the image and embossed the edge in gold, then affixed it to my background paper.

Here are several more examples of some backgrounds I made using the same technique:

For this sample I used a whole 9 X 12 sheet of background paper.  On my other examples I used half of a sheet for each sample, so this one is larger.  I collaged pages from a couple of vintage books, a page from a vintage writing workbook, and a small sketch from an old gardening book.  I used yellow, orange and gold paints and the flourishes stencil, the clock gears stencil, and a squares stencil.  

For this one I used my matte medium to attach a piece of Tim Holtz Idea-ology tissue paper to my heavy paper.  I used pink, yellow and gold paints and several stencils, including circles and flourishes.  I love this tissue paper and it makes a beautiful background under you paints and stencils.

For this background, I used my matte medium to attach a strip of paper featuring pocket watches and a piece from a vintage calendar.  I used blue and gold paints and circle, diamond, and clock gear stencils.  This one also has more of the white background of the original paper left as an element.