Friday, September 12, 2014

Art Journal page playing with Bister

The other day a friend shared some works she had created using
I was in awe of what she had done and at the same time decided I 
NEEDED them now.
Bister is wood stain imported from the Netherlands.
It's water soluble and on glossy or stamping paper can created absolutely beautiful backgrounds.

Doing a Youtube video search I found a few tutorials,
most in another language, and most on how to create cards and such by combining the Bister background with stamped images.

I am all about backgrounds, and I am all about stamping (but usually as part of my background making)
so I decided to share my spin on combining the 2.
The following is a step by step tutorial on creating this Art Journal page.


This is Bister.
It comes in 8 colors in these little containers.
Don't panic about the size, it truly is an example of a little goes a looooonnnggg
way.


See, it has fine grains, almost along the lines of an embossing powder.
I used a dry paint brush to flick a small amour across my page.

I wound up using 3 colors here.

Mist it with water.
The more you mist the more it bleeds and runs.
I'm in heaven.
Excess water can be blotted up along the edges with a paper towel
and you can dry with a heat gun to speed things up.

I added a second layer of color just because I wanted more veins of color in my piece.
Then some simple stamping with a Kaisercraft stamp and Solvent (StazOn) ink.

I put a tiny bit of the stain in a container, added some water and made a watercolor paint.

Using a cosmetic sponge and stencil I added some circles to the page.
In hindsight I'd use a different applicator,
the sponge soaked up more of the water than I wanted
(I know, who'd have thought a sponge would soak up water…duh moment)

My circles...

I outlined the circles with a white acrylic paint pen.

Added some torn pieces of a sewing pattern.

More stamping,
this time with a Tim Holtz stamp and Solvent ink.

Little bit of Washii tape,
cause tape makes me happy.

For my embellishment I took a piece of canvas and misted it with Olive Vine & Bronze 
Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels, 
and Buccaneer Bronze Moonshadow Mist by Lindy's Stamp Gang.
Once it dried a little bit of stamping with a Club Scrap stamp and Solvent Ink.

I cut a heart out freehand, adhered it to the page and did a bit of machine stitching around it.

Here is the finished piece.
I added some words using Tim Holtz stickers.
Outlined the heart with a Distress Marker and smudged it with my finger,
and inked the edges of the page with black ink.

A few closeups….

Love my heart

Some of the Bister background with stamping over.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my newest tutorial.

Have a fantastic weekend!

10 comments:

Linda Pekrul said...

Love your page and love YOU for finding a place that sells Bister!! :) I have been dying to try this stuff out - the effect it creates is SO awesome!!

troublesmom said...

Wonderful, wonderful!

Jill P said...

a wonderful page, thanks for the step by step.

Shona said...

soooooooo amazing

I Brake For Stamps said...

This is amazing!!! Beautiful!

Lynne said...

Stunning!!!! This is absolutely one of my faves from you!!!! Now I need Bister!! haha

Peggy Giovanetti said...

This looks fantastic!!!!
Thanks, Christy, for the tutorial and the overall enabling!!!

L. Akins said...

Beautiful!! I love your tutorial

Mona Pendleton said...

Wow! What a gorgeous work of art! I love the stunning background and the beautiful heart! Thanks for the inspiration!

Mona Pendleton said...

Wow! What a gorgeous work of art! I love the stunning background and the beautiful heart! Thanks for the inspiration!