PAINTED SCRAPBOOK PAGESHOW TO PAINT ON PAPER WITH ACRYLIC PAINTSMost of us want to preserve the memories of our family or personal history. Donna Dewberry doesn’t have to tell us that. As a popular method to do so, scrapbooking comes as a great idea in making history itself seem more interesting than it already is. Often we use printed media, photographs, or other memorabilia to decorate and record history on the pages. The only problem is, after all the cutting, cropping, and pasting, we end up with an unusually boring page. Plain and simple—the design is often nothing close to the emotions drawn by the pictures. To make your designs more captivating and more colorful, you can use acrylic paint. Yes, acrylic paints are not only made for painting on canvas. In fact, there are special acrylic paints which can be used on fabric, wood, and even glassware. It’s also perfect for painting on paper, such as the case in card-making and, of course, scrapbooking. This technique in using acrylic paint to decorate scrapbook pages involves an art form that must ensure the paper stays durable and long-lasting. Acrylic paint is ideal for painting on paper since it is water-based and is not prone to damage paper through time as compared to oil-based paint which may seep into the paper and rot it. In scrapbooking, there are various papers one can use: from rough or plain cardboards, to textured or thin paper, to pastel or sketching paper. But if you use acrylic paint as a medium to decorate the scrapbook pages, you’ll find that it works very well even with less expensive paper. Acrylic may be a relatively new product, but it has become a favorite in painting on paper since it dries fast. If you want to blend colors, you can dampen the paper so as to delay its drying time. Once it is dried, it forms a plastic-like layer of protection which makes your work of art resistant to dust and other elements. It also strengthens the paper. That is why even cheap, thin paper is workable with acrylic. Don’t forget, however, that we are still talking about paper and it is still limited by its flexibility and strength. Because acrylic creates a layer once dried, make sure you apply the necessary number of layers. For example, if you have a textured paper, you need at most three layers of paint so as to keep the texture. Remember to let the layer dry first before applying another. If you want a smooth finish, you can use rags instead of a paintbrush and apply the paint gently onto the paper. It’s also possible to texturize the paper by applying a thick layer of acrylic and adding elements you want. To illustrate, after the paint has dried, you can add fine sand. Make sure to wipe off the excess. This technique is, however, suitable with hard and thick surfaces such as canvas and hardboards. Papier-mâché and acrylic also works very well in case you want to a very artistic cover for your scrapbook. Special acrylic paints come in various types. Other than the range of traditional colors that you can find among other types of paint, acrylic paints have metallic and iridescent colors. With metallic colors, you can create a slightly beautiful effect on your scrapbook pages and can bring soft and delicate background colors, especially with pearl white. It is slightly iridescent and can totally add up to the personality of your pages. Iridescent colors, on the other hand, are a bit translucent and are great for highlighting or adding accents to your rather plain pages. They add shimmer and are great with dark background colors so as to improve on contrast. They also are perfect for nature’s beauty such as in painting butterflies, and birds. * * * * *
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