Hey Crafter - This week I decided to try out some gel sticks I purchased back in December. I may or may not be known to treat myself sometimes to anything crafty once in a while, while I am Christmas shopping. I hadn't heard of these before, and thought I'd give them a try.
These are mixed media gel sticks by KingArt. It states that it works on paper, glass, canvas or wood, and really well on dark paper. I love the colors, but today I am trying them on wood clothespins.
Many clothespins are not perfect and have different color hues to them. You can see some here in this picture. Some have blue hues and some have brown spots. If I have a specific project I'm working on, then I need to be mindful of which ones I pick. I have to think about what color will pull through with whatever color I choose. Ex: If I am using a clothespin with a blue hue and I use yellow paint it may come through as green. But before I do any painting, I touch each surface to see if some light sanding is needed.
I lightly colored in the clothespin. I say lightly because I don't want to ruin my gel pens by pressing down so hard. On some pieces a second coat was done.
I used my finger to blend it in. I tried a make-up sponge, and it worked fine, but I found blending it with my finger worked best for me.
You can add as many coats as you'd like, but two to three seemed to be what I liked best.
I love how the colors are vibrant, and how I could control how light or dark the shades are by adding coats or by blending.
Here is one that I sealed. I sealed them so the color wouldn't come off or smear or come off.
Here are a few that I used the blending technique.
You can add embellishments to add some personality to it or use paint pens to personalize them. I added magnets to the back of some of these, so that I can hang them on the side of the refrigerator when I'm not using them.
Here are a few more that I've done, but using materials other than the gel pens.
Items used: gold leaf paper, fabric like ribbon, acrylic paints, glitter, and tissue paper, yes, tissue paper.
I'm sure these gel pens aren't the best for everything, but I had fun playing with them on this project. I plan on trying them on different things and especially items that have texture to them. I hope you get to trying your hand at making these cute clothes clips. Stay Safe, Stay Warm & Happy Crafting! -Maddie
Comments