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Disclaimer: the image I used isn't mine - my son took it last month, when he took his 2 year old on a nature hike and he toddled along the lake shore. I thought it was cute, so I wanted to do something with it for them.
I first painted an 8x10 canvas with raw umber acrylic paint. Over that, I glued a sheet of the alphabet from a book of scrapbook ephemera I have. I tore the edges to give it a deckled look, then went around the edges with Distress Ink for some color.
At that stage, it looked like this:
Then I created the gel medium transfer. Just used a plain copy paper printout of the photo with my laser printer. Using gel medium, I painted over the image several times, built up several layers, changing directions while brushing the stuff on. I ended up with 8 layers of gel over the image. I let it dry overnight and, after soaking the whole thing to soften the "stuck on" copy paper, I rubbed it all off until what was left was the image, now embedded in the dried acrylic gel medium skin. It's quite translucent, transparent really. It looked like this:
The acrylic gel becomes very strong after drying - floppy but tough. Another view to show how thin it is:
At that stage you still see the brush marks from the foam brush I used. No matter - that side becomes the bottom, since I reversed the image before printing. I trimmed off the majority of it, because I just wanted the little figure. Before I glued it onto the canvas, I glued down a small sheet of tissue paper to get some wrinkles and texture in there. Then on top of that I glued down the figure.
I've been wanting to learn to make inexpensive little frames for smaller canvases like this. I bought a miter box and saw, measured short ends first, then long, and nailed them all together. I used cheap lattice molding and had it cut into 5-ft strips. I sanded down the edges and should probably have spackled too, to hide my less than perfect edges.
Next time, maybe. I painted the frame the same raw umber, 3 easy coats. Finished piece:
Note that you can make out the alphabet letters through the lighter parts of the clothing, the M also shows through the jacket. I positioned his face between the rows to keep it clear.
All done - will mail it out to them tomorrow. Thanks for looking!
I first painted an 8x10 canvas with raw umber acrylic paint. Over that, I glued a sheet of the alphabet from a book of scrapbook ephemera I have. I tore the edges to give it a deckled look, then went around the edges with Distress Ink for some color.
At that stage, it looked like this:
Then I created the gel medium transfer. Just used a plain copy paper printout of the photo with my laser printer. Using gel medium, I painted over the image several times, built up several layers, changing directions while brushing the stuff on. I ended up with 8 layers of gel over the image. I let it dry overnight and, after soaking the whole thing to soften the "stuck on" copy paper, I rubbed it all off until what was left was the image, now embedded in the dried acrylic gel medium skin. It's quite translucent, transparent really. It looked like this:
The acrylic gel becomes very strong after drying - floppy but tough. Another view to show how thin it is:
At that stage you still see the brush marks from the foam brush I used. No matter - that side becomes the bottom, since I reversed the image before printing. I trimmed off the majority of it, because I just wanted the little figure. Before I glued it onto the canvas, I glued down a small sheet of tissue paper to get some wrinkles and texture in there. Then on top of that I glued down the figure.
I've been wanting to learn to make inexpensive little frames for smaller canvases like this. I bought a miter box and saw, measured short ends first, then long, and nailed them all together. I used cheap lattice molding and had it cut into 5-ft strips. I sanded down the edges and should probably have spackled too, to hide my less than perfect edges.
Next time, maybe. I painted the frame the same raw umber, 3 easy coats. Finished piece:
Note that you can make out the alphabet letters through the lighter parts of the clothing, the M also shows through the jacket. I positioned his face between the rows to keep it clear.
All done - will mail it out to them tomorrow. Thanks for looking!
Yes - more gel medium. I brushed some directly on the canvas in the general area I planned to place the figure. I also quickly added some around the edges on the back of the figure itself to help ensure the seal.
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/41/41782-daa26990361bf4193a874908bda10dbb.jpg?1734176088)
