Step by Step Distress Ink on Gesso

This is the first step after gesso. I took Tattered Rose distress ink, direct to paper. I used just the edge to make these marks on the page. I was hoping it would give a wood grain kind of look. Kind of did, but not really. So I changed my mind about what I wanted. That's what I do - my secret to keeping my sanity. Whenever something turns out wrong, I just change my expectations and everything is right again. :o)

This is the second step. I added Old Paper distress ink, same dtp technique. Before I did this ,though, I very thoroughly dried the Tattered Rose ink. I won't lie to you. It took a long time with the heat gun. The paper smoked and everything. I suggest not breathing in the fumes. I covered my face and held the book and heat gun at arm's length. This might be the whole idea behind not using distress ink on gesso. When I say "long time", I mean minutes. That's a long time with a heat gun. The ink went from shiny to flat as it dried, and I just kept checking it until it was done.

Anyway, step two shows the texture pretty well. Old Paper is a greenish color, but not exactly green. Again, after I added the second ink, I hit it with a heat gun, again for a long time.

Third step was another dtp with Weathered Wood distress ink. It's a light blue, very pretty, and adds a lot of depth to the texture of the book. I still used just the very edge of the pad, hitting it randomly onto the book.

The next thing I did was a color wash with red paint and black ink. Red acrylic paint, added a few drops of india black ink (not sure the brand, TAC used to sell it), mixed it well, and dry brushed onto the book. I didn't do as good a job on the back cover as I did on the front in terms of getting the paint/ink mixture off the brush. You can see much harder lines of red instead of the interesting color added to the front cover. So, because of this, I went over the book again with Walnut Stain distress ink as a last step, to make the red blotches not stand out as much. I still really like the effect, even if I goofed the red paint a bit.


So there you have the entire process of making my once pristine chipboard book painted with gesso into a weathered looking book suitable for collaging. I added some designer papers to the first page spread, but I think the rest of the book will be painted and inked. I just prefer it so much - more fun, more mess, more chance to screw up. All of the elements I love so much.