Texture Paste Test Run

Tim created a fantastic tag for March for his monthly "12 tag series".  He used a technique I had never tired before so I set out to not only test the technique, but to test Ranger's new Texture Pastes that were released at CHA this year.  Follow along and I will show you the results.

I started by coloring a few pieces of manila cardstock with Cracked Pistachio, Picked Raspberry and Mustard Seed Distress Ink. 

The Picked Raspberry and Mustard Seed Distress Ink can be over powering so take that into account when mixing colors.

Next, I used the Flourish Layering Stencil to add Texture Paste (this is the new Transparent Gloss finish) over the stencil.  The new gloss (and matte for that matter) paste is creamy compared to the regular Texture Paste.  It is easy to drag across the stencil and get a smooth finish.

Peel back the stencil and wash immediately to remove Texture Paste. Remember it's transparent so at this stage you could let it dry for a beautiful shiny flourish over the ink.

But to test Tim's technique I will need to pour Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder over the WET Texture Paste and let it dry...meaning the Texture Paste needs to be DRY before you heat the Embossing Powder. 

Once the texture paste is dry, heat emboss the powder to get this fabulous color - like liquid gold. 

I mounted the flourish paper onto black Core'dinations cardstock.

Next I needed to cover the bottom where the stencil did not reach, so I grabbed a gold Deco sheet.  These are sheets of sparkly self-adhesive paper.  Easy to cut by hand or with a Sizzix die.  I mounted the cut Deco strip onto cardstock to give it a little more stability.

I also colored a piece of Crinkle Ribbon using Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.  Once dry, I added Gathered Twigs to a craft sheet, spritzed it with water and pounced the dry ribbon into it.  Adding the Gathered Twigs to the dry ribbon helps you control how much brown you want to add, creating this great vintage look.

Add the Deco strip and Crinkle Ribbon to the card front, tying a simple bow.

Cut a word from the Thinlits "Celebrations" set.  I cut mine using a tag so I could use the tag "leftover" later.  I painted the word with black Distress Paint to fit with the card front.

Add the word to the card front with Multi Medium.  An easy way to do this is to pounce a bit of Multi Medium on to the craft sheet, then place the word into the the glue.  It will coat the back of the tiny word and make it easy to add to the card.

I wanted to add a Heart Charm to the bow but the metal is heavy, so I lifted the bow and added a staple using the Tiny Attacher underneath.

Love how it turned out.  The colors are bright, yet subtle.  The embossing powder looks amazing - really, really gold.

(please click photo to enlarge)

So here is the testing part!
I created three separate Distress Ink cards with the three different Texture Pastes - Texture Paste, Texture Paste Transparent Matte and Texture Paste Transparent Gloss.  I used the same Ranger Embossing Powder on each sample.

Texture Paste - the paste is thick and gives you the crispest image.  It dries very quickly so you need to work fast.  I recommend having a tray of water to ready to toss the stencil into so you can be adding the Embossing Powder right away instead of cleaning.  This paste dries the quickest of the three tested.  It also gives a grittier texture, which is great for some applications.

Texture Paste Transparent Matte - A smoother finish that the straight paste.  Takes a little longer to dry but a great result.  Goes on smooth and easy.

Texture Paste Transparent Gloss - the gloss is the smoothest of the three pastes.  You can see that the texture is more like melted butter than the crisp finish of the first texture paste.  So it really is a decision of what kind of finish are you looking for, crisp or smooth?  you make the call!

The Texture Paste Transparent Gloss was the perfect paste to use for this particular card.  I sure hope to do more testing of the two new products to see what they can do without the Embossing Powder!

Since it's St. Patrick's day today I thought we would end by giving away a little green!  Cracked Pistachio that is!
Please leave a comment and I will pick a winner on Thursday the 19th.

 I told you that "leftover" tag would come in handy!

Hope you liked today's project!  Thanks to Tim for demoing the great embossing powder technique.  Be sure to go to Tim's blog to see his tag.  It really is fantastic!  And if you make a tag using this technique, be sure to add it to Tim's March "12 Tags" post to win a prize.

now carry on,
paula

InLinkz.com