Hello everyone! It’s Mansi again on the blog today and I’m excited to share with you techniques of creating layered botanical prints in your journals using a variety of different inks and gesso.
As you watch the detailed instructions in the video, please note that you can create different kinds of layers depending on whether you use darker colors before lighter ones and vice versa. If your prints feel like they’re not very high-contrast, you can always apply a coat of gesso or white acrylic paint on the gel plate, place a leaf on and pull a print — this will tone down or “mute” everything in the backdrop except for the part you masked off with the leaf.
It’s a great trick to have a very complex image as the central focal point of your journal page without any “busy-ness” surround it.
While the original prints were nice enough, because I printed them in my journal, I wanted to do something more with them. I’m sharing some before and after photos here so you can see the original layered print and the final images after I had worked on them with my colored pencils and markers.
I hope you enjoy this video and the photos showcasing the complex layers one can achieve with inks and leaves from one’s backyard. Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments!
Mansi.
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Complete list of supplies used can be found here.
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What beautiful and thoughtful art work you make
great stuff Mansi, thoroughly enjoyed this, thanks very much…endless possibilities
Love, love, love the art you make! I have dried some botanicals, and I can’t wait to begin. You inspire me! Thanks for the great video…