Altering German Scrap
by Helga Strauss
I love these techniques because they're so fast, fun and easy. And when you're done, you'll have some beautiful paper embellishments that have a handmade touch to them.
You probably have everything you need to alter our beautiful German Scrap: sandpaper, alcohol inks and acrylic paints.
Sanding our German scrap can give it an aged appearance. Simply pull out a piece of sandpaper or sanding block and sand away. Pretty, silver embossed details are exposed in our Gold Arches after sanding.
MoMo likes this technique too.
In this photo, the upper set of stars are our original German Scrap. And the stars below have been sanded. Notice the silver layer that shows up after some of the turquoise has been sanded away. Love this! Have fun doing this technique yourself or get our "Aged" German Stars Collection...we've done it for you.
These Red, Purple and Turquoise Angel Wings have all been sanded. Don't you just love seeing all of the magnificent details in these wings? The Dot Borders, Shell Borders, and Red Renaissance Borders in the background have also been sanded. They look so pretty!
Alcohol inks are another great way to alter our German Scrap. Here I added some dots of magenta alcohol ink to the centers of the stars and dabbed ink all around with a makeup sponge. I love the look of this...they look hand dyed.
A third technique is painting the German Scrap with acrylic paints. Any type of acrylic paint that you have on hand will work great for this. I tried cheap ones, expensive ones, fluid acrylics...they all worked great.
To apply the acrylic paint, I just squeezed a blob of paint onto a plastic lid. Then I dipped my finger in the paint and ran it all around the German Scrap. You can certainly use a paintbrush if you want to, but I love fingerpainting. : ) These Archways really come to life with all of this vibrant color added to them.
Here I've added acrylic paint to our Swan Wings. Wow, look at the feather details in these wings! I really enjoyed painting a bit of white paint first and then adding some colored paint.
Just a touch of green paint makes these Gold Trees sing!
Adding some paint to our White Angel Wings really brings them to life.
I love the look of our German Art Nouveau Gates after just a few swipes of white paint and then turquoise and lavendar. It makes them look like beautiful, old gates.
Painting our Large Black Wings really makes them shine. I love the look of the white and red paint on the black...would look so neat in vampire themed artwork.
Inca loves our German Scrap too! Have fun trying these techniques or treat yourself to one of our Handpainted German Scrap Goodie Bags!
Come play in our wonderful Art Swaps! They're such a great way to stretch your creativity and make new art friends!
Did you make something inspired by this class? Please email or or post pics to the wall of our Facebook Fan Page