DIY Network

Faux Paper Mosaics From "Scrapbooking" episode SCB-438

Project by Tera Leigh.

Many scrapbookers are a bit intimidated by painting, but this project is the perfect way to try your hand at painting the easy way. Slap a bit of paint on the inside of an old cereal box, and explore the joy of painting while recycling too!

General Materials:

Paper Reflections "Create Your Own" 6" x 8" white-cover memory book
Tera Leigh Faux Mosaic kit
cereal or similar cardboard box
Delta Paint for Paper: baby blue, simply sage, gold *
Robert Simmons Sapphire Brushes: S60 #20, #16 and #12 flat
Houston Art Athena Gray palette
Daler-Rowney water basin
scissors
glue stick

* Paint for Paper is a fast-drying acid-free paint that will not cause your paper to curl or peel.

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1. Open a cardboard box and cut away any torn bits and overlapped edges so that you are left with smooth sheets of cardboard. There is no further prep necessary! Note: I’ve used cereal boxes, dog treat boxes, and various "add water" food product boxes for my projects.)

2. Pour three 1-1/2-inch-diameter pools of paint onto a wax palette or plate. With a #20 brush, dip into one color and spread it onto the cardboard. Without cleaning your brush, dip into the second color and spread it along side the previous color, slightly overlapping, and then blend by using a "slip-slap" method (painting quickly in an "X" pattern back and forth over the area) (figure A). You don’t want to over-blend so that you have one color everywhere; there should be distinct areas of color, and the blend should just be where the colors overlap.

3. Without cleaning the brush, add gold randomly around your painted piece. Gold is a great cure-all, especially perfect for areas where you aren’t happy with the way the paint looks.

4. Set the painted cardboard aside. Clean your brush with water until no paint comes off the brush when you rinse and then blot it.

5. With the #16 flat brush, dip into the faux grout from the kit and apply it to the surface of your memory book in a slip-slap or bouncing motion (figure B). You don’t want to spread it on or it will lose the texture and won’t have the feel of grout. Note: If you don’t have this product, you can add sand to white paint, or use a sandstone product found in craft stores for faux finishing and then paint the area white.

6. Set the book aside to dry. Rinse your brush with water until the brush is cleaned of all product.

7. With a sharp pair of scissors, cut the cardboard into random shapes (figure C). I advise avoiding shapes you learned in kindergarten, like squares, triangles, ovals and the like, as smashed tile rarely arranges itself into those shapes. As an alternative, however, you can cut the "faux tile" into perfect squares for the look of a traditional tile mosaic.

8. With the #12 flat brush, apply faux mosaic glue from the kit to the surface of the memory book and the back of the "faux tile" (cut cardboard). Then apply the faux tile to the surface of the memory book (figure D), applying glue over the top to set it in place. Note: If you don’t have the faux mosaic glue, use an acid-free glue that dries to a matte finish. This is important because in any "faux" technique, you need to fool the eye. If the background is glossy, it won’t look like real grout.

9. Place all the tiles, and then allow the glue to dry before applying the glaze. Try to place the tiles 1/8 to 1/4 inch apart, but don’t worry about filling every nook and cranny. Real mosaics have uneven spacing.

Tip: If you find that you missed an edge when the glue has dried, run a glue stick along the edge and let the thick glue fill in the spot between the paper and the cover. Let the glue dry before glazing.

10. When the glue is dry, use the faux mosaic glaze applicator from the kit to outline each faux tile piece and then fill in with glaze (figure E). scb438Leigh1e.jpg This is a thicker version of traditional dimensional glaze, so it stays in place. Start your outline just slightly in from the edge of the paper.

Tips: You should move your piece in the light to make sure you haven’t missed a spot, but if you do, allow the glaze to dry, and then apply glaze to the entire piece again. The glaze is self-leveling and will fill in the hole. I recommend a minimum of three coats of glaze for the best effect. The glaze is milky until dry. Once it is clear, it is ready for the next coat. In most environments, the glaze will take about 20 minutes to dry. If it is humid or damp, it will take longer.

GUESTS :

Tera Leigh
Author and Artist
Tera Leigh Inc.
Shawnee, OK
Phone: 207-252-8271
E-mail: tera@teraleigh.com
Website: www.teraleigh.com