2014 Favorites- Part 3- My Favorite Mixed Media Products

Hi! In part 3 of my 2014 favorites I'd like to share my mixed media favorites. I've definitely explored mixed media this year, and had a blast doing so. I love playing with paint, pastes, watercolors and all the fun colorful products in the mixed media world.
If only I could get them all... I'd need another room.
Anyway, let's get started. I'll start with the musts, the basics and then move on to the more fun colorful stuff...

1. Gesso-
A must for mixed media in my book. Gesso is a primer, it primes the surface for paint. Paint looks truer on gesso, and you'll need less of it when you use gesso first. It protects your surface and doesn't let all the wet media soak into the paper. This is especially important when using cardstock or patterned paper for your scrapbooking layouts. It is an essential product in my opinion. I buy what I can get cheaply from my art supplies store. I used this year a brand called Lukas, and I was really pleased with it. It was heavy body and not so gritty as some gessos are. I ran out of it, and bought a big jar of gesso from a brand called Guardi, and it is very very gritty. I'm not sure I like it, and I might go back to the other one. I've also heard wonderful things about Liquitex's gesso, so I might try that one too, even though it is more expensive.

2. Gel/Matte Medium-
Another basic supply. I mostly use mine as glue, and as a resist. I currently use both matte medium and gel matte medium by Liquitex. This medium comes in liquid form, heavy, super heavy, and different finished (ultra matte, matte, semi gloss, gloss). I like matte. I use the liquid one as glue, and the gel one through a stencil as a resist.



3.  Texutre paste/molding paste/modeling paste
I use it all the time, 95% of the times with a stencil. Sometimes I mix it with paint/ink. I love Ranger's texture paste, but probably won't buy it again because I use it a lot and that gets rather expensive (plus shipping).





So besides the Ranger brand I bought a huge jar at my local art supplies store. It's more elastic than the Ranger one, and to be honest I really prefer the Ranger brand. But for the price I'll stick with the cheaper option.




4. Paper-
For my layouts I use a combination of cardstock, patterned paper (from kits and online scrapbooking stores), mixed media and watercolor paper (from the local art supplies store). When I know I'll use a lot of water I go with watercolor paper.

5. Watercolors-
I wrote a very detailed blog post about watercolors for scrapbookers here and here. But the short version- As a scrapbooker, if you want bright clear watercolors, I'd go for Peerless watercolors. I've used them on many layouts and process videos, here's one of them-


6. Faber Castell Gelatos-
What is it about gelatos? I'm gonna say the colors. I know a lot of people struggle with using them, and I found that even though they are not as versatile as other media (like watercolors or acrylic paints), I love the look I get with them, probably mostly because of the colors. If you just want to give them a try without spending too much, and you like bright colors, I'd go for this package-

Every color is beautiful and you can mix them to make some more lovely shades.
Here they are in action, I made this layout in a workshop last year taught by the amazing Wilna Furstenberg.


I've used them on many layouts and videos, here is a link to all the posts featuring them on my blog. I also created recently a very detailed 2 parts tutorial, showing different techniques, starting from super basic.
Part 1-

Part 2-


7. Ink Sprays/ Mists-
Love them, need them all. Favorite technique- use them with packaging. I own a few brands. My favorites are Lindy Stamp Gang Flat Fabios, but I recently got the new Ranger Distress Stain Sprays, and they are fun too. When using gesso, I love to use Studio Calico Mr. Huey's, but they are expensive... I've used mists on so many layouts this year... Here are a few videos-




8. Acrylic paint-
The first color media I tend to grab are watercolors, but I also enjoy playing with acrylic paints. I've recently got some Liquitex heavy body paint, and they are lovely, but I also really enjoy the color palette Dina Wakley offers. This image is from her blog-

 Here are a couple of layouts using them-


 Love her choice of colors.
I think that's enough for now, these are the products I reach for the most, but I'm pretty sure this time next year I'll have some new favorites!
I'll be back soon with some more 2014 favorites. Thanks for visiting!

Comments

  1. Really LOVE the pages you added for this post. The colors are amazing. We have not had much sun around here lately and these pages are like the sun. They are bright, colorful, and make me so happy.

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