I happened to have some plaster of paris strips bought for some other project and a 6"x6" gallery canvas with a background already painted on it in acrylics, so I got a bowl of water and sat down to experiment.
I cut off a length of the plaster strip, wet it, formed it into a ragged little heart, placed it on the water misted canvas, and left it to dry.
Didn't realize that the plaster won't stick to the canvas directly. It came right off...
Maybe it would stick to another piece of plaster strip! So I wet another length and smoothed it down on the canvas, stuck (I thought) the heart to it, and left it to dry...I wasn't thinking! If the heart wouldn't stay, neither would the strip. Duh!
It appeared to be holding the next morning...until I pressed on it lightly with my finger from the back. The whole thing, strip and heart, popped right off in one piece. Not to be outdone, I glued it back down with jewelry glue, and now that I think about it, that might not have been such a good idea either, since it wasn't water-based and everything else is. When it was dry, I painted a red watercolor over the plaster for some reason. I know not why!
The red was really bothering me with the background, so I painted the whole thing acrylic titan buff, then dipped an empty washi tape cardboard spool in Quin Nickel Azo Gold (one of my new favorite colors) acrylic, made circles, and brushed some on the heart with my finger.
I sprayed the heart with Paprika Adirondack spray wash and when that was dry I brushed in some glass gel medium to add a little sparkle and a mottled effect. The cracks and crevices were left intentionally. I'm pretty sure my heart looks like this by now.
A layer of white gesso bubble wrap dots was added, then a couple of different stamps with black acrylic paint were layered over that,
plus black was brushed around the heart and around the sides. I like the messy look!
After much pondering and looking through elements, I decided that the 3 metal buttons and the metal oval, which says "Memories", would work. The buttons already had the black on them, and I added a couple more black acrylic accents with a piece of corrugated cardboard, plus a few accents with a gold leafing pen, let it all dry, then sprayed with a matte sealer, and called it done!
Not the best job, but I like it, and I learned what "not to do" with the plaster.
Unfortunately, I put two strips of plaster on the front of one of my journals while the heart was drying at the beginning. So far it's still holding, but if it ever gets a twist, it may all pop off. In that case I'll just put it in a frame and do another journal cover, I guess! lol
The journey and the learning is the fun part! Don't be afraid to make mistakes (it took me years to get over this fear)! That's how we learn! Have fun!
Thank you so much for your visit! <3
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