If you love crafts that require painting you’ve probably tried everything from fabric paints to enamels. Each type of paint gives your finished creation a different look. One look may be slick and shiny but another paint may offer the look of metal. You may or may not have ever tried textured paint, but if you have, you know that the finished look of the craft will have a look that’s not smooth and slick, but bumpy and thick. This finish is perfect for many different craft projects including things made from wood, plastic, beads, or even cardboard! And, even the texture can have different looks depending upon how you make your texture paint.
Take tempura paints in any color to begin creating your textured paint. You’ll literally find hundreds of different colors at a craft store. It might be best to purchase more than one bottle of the same color. If you have leftover paint you can always store it in a margarine bowl with lid. Making ordinary paint into textured paint is easy, though, so if you want to make a batch each time you need textured paint, it’s not a big deal.
There are several different things you can stir into the tempura paints to give them texture. Each thing gives the texture a different look. One thing you can use, which costs little, is paper towels – or even bathroom tissue. Tear the paper towels into very small pieces and stir them into the paint. Add enough paper towel pieces to thicken the paint severely. The paint should no longer drip and should be so thick, in fact, that you have to dab it on. Brushing it on is nearly impossible. This very thick paint will cling to most anything including metal, wood, glass, plastics, and even cloth.
Get the kids to help you with the tedious task of tearing apart the tissues. When finished, check to see that pieces are very small – smaller than a dime. If the craft itself is something really small the tissue should be torn even smaller. Feel free to even cut the paper towels or tissue. Tearing them gives them an uneven texture on the edges whereas cutting them will make them neater in appearance. By the time the pieces are all stirred into the paint it’s hard to distinguish between texture that is evenly cut or tissue that’s been torn.
It’s not really difficult to spread the textured paint but it doesn’t spread as easily as ordinary paint. You’ll likely have better luck by patting it on rather than using a painting motion. The paint is so thick it easily covers old designs on lamps or other items, makes cheap cardboard look like anything but, and creates a peak-and-valley-type surface on many different objects.
After allowing the textured paint to dry thoroughly you can then paint sections of it with plain tempura paint. This allows you to make stencil or original designs directly on the textured paint. You can also embed flat objects into the wet texture paints. Some things you can embed are fake jewels, foil scrapbook tags, chipped glass, charms, beads, broken jewelry pieces, metal pieces, plastic novelties and many other choices. If the textured paint won’t hold the items in place the paint is not thick enough.
There are other things that you can use to create textured paints, like Styrofoam beads (about the size of b-b’s), cut up pieces of raffia, ground-up uncooked rice, glitter, confetti, or even sand. Pour the paint into a bowl then begin adding the chosen texture product slowly. Stir well. As soon as the paint is thick enough you’re ready to start creating. Prepare yourself, though. You’ll love this paint so much you’ll be crafting for hours!
Reference:
- Purchase tempura paints here: www.michaels.com
