Gesso Resist & Ranger Day

Hi everyone and welcome to another day of crafting fun and techniques on the eP blog!  Today I'm so excited to share a project that I created after attending a day of Ranger training at The Collins Group show, an event held each year for retailers on the east coast.

What a great opportunity to meet amazing designers, instructors, other store owners, and product manufacturers.  You literally leave with your head swimming with ideas.  I came home, after being gone for three days, and sat down in my office to make something...anything...my husband came downstairs and said, "aren't you all crafted out?"  In all honesty, I was so tired, but also so inspired that I couldn't wait to try out some of what I had learned...even if I was half asleep! LOL!

The technique that I'm sharing today is called gesso resist.  Tim referred to it as speckled gesso resist because of the look that the gesso produces when using a credit or gift card to apply the gesso.  Claudine Hellmuth had produced a number of videos during the winter CHA show, using gesso as a resist so I was familiar with the technique.  Of course Tim added his own unique spin to the technique and then brought in those wonderful Distress products!

And guess what?  I made a quick video demonstrating the gesso resist technique, showing the tag that we created in the Ranger class, and then two other projects (both shown here) that I made using the same technique.  You can see the video here and I'll quickly run through the steps below.

1. Place a small amount of gesso on a non-stick craft sheet
2. Use a credit and gift card as an applicator; pick up gesso on one edge of the card
3. Keeping the card completely level with your stamping surface, very gently slide the card (with gesso) over your paper.  This will allow the gesso to just barely skim the surface of your tag or paper, creating the speckled or aged plaster effect.
4. Once the gesso is dry, apply Distress Stain, using 1-3 colors, over the paper.  The gesso will resist the stain.
5. Spritz with water to blend the Distress Stain colors.
6. Once dry, use stamps to decorate the surface.

 I used the following products on the journal page, shown above.  Distress Stains (Wild Honey & Barn Door), Gathered Twigs Distress Ink (around the edges), Dylusions Journal (I tore a piece of the manila paper out of the journal to create the page...the manila paper is perfect for the stains!), Hollyhocks stamp, sentiment from She Sprouted Wings stamp set, gesso.  

Oh look!  It's Dyan Reaveley!  OK, she doesn't have anything to do with today's project but she was at the Ranger training day and it was the first time I met her or took one of her classes!  WooHoo!  So much fun; I learned a ton from her and can't wait to share some of those details!  She's a delightful instructor and a great artist!

 Here is the tag that we produced in Tim's class and is the project that I demonstrate during my video.

And then...I also made a card using the same technique.  I just used a piece of scrap paper and followed the exact same steps to produce the background...just using different stains.  This is a darling stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy.

Isn't it great that you can take a simple technique, and just a few products, and then use those same steps to produce multiple projects and designs!  I really wanted to be able to share my ideas that came from that one short demonstration.  I also share a few more ideas in the video!

Super fun and super easy!  Give it a try and then tell us about your experience and share your project on our Facebook page!

Enjoy!