Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Experiments with Marabu Mixed Media

Hello fans of Mix Media, I am inking with Marabu products today. The Mix Media Monthly team got to play with a few of their products this month. I decided to make a few art cards while experimenting. To see how these products perform read on! If you would like to win some see the challenge at the end of this post.


Here is Art Card #1, I will be posting a few more on my Instagram over the next few days so follow me over there to see what I come up with. https://www.instagram.com/karenbearse/


These are the products I was given. A stencil called Mandala, an Art Crayon in Sunshine Yellow, an acrylic Art Spray in Sunshine Yellow & Acryl Mousse in White (pastel paste). 


Acryl Mousse

I started with, (to me) the obvious what happens when the paste is used with a stencil? The paste is a gritty yet fairly smooth consistency. It held it's shape up well when scraped through the stencil. Dry time was 15-20 minutes for a thin layer, 30-40 for a heavier stenciled layer. I love the texture it creates.


Art Crayon

The best way I would describe this is- "if a Gelato & a Distress Crayon had a baby it would be this Art Crayon". Medium softness, water reactive with a good level of pigment, works better on a gesso surface. It is also "wipe proof" in 24 hours which is nice for layering. I did a test to see how the crayon would perform & was impressed with the results. This was just on card stock, it acted similar to the other products. I like how the pigment held up when water was added.  



I mixed a bit of the crayon with the Acryl Mousse & was impressed with how easily the crayon blended into the Mousse. The color saturation was also very good, ie: the paste did not just become a pastel color even though I did not use much crayon which indicates good pigment. Great way to color your mediums.

Art Spray

Billed as an Acrylic Spray that is highly pigmented, water soluble (when wet) with colors that blend. This I was very interested to play with as most sprays are watercolor & re-activate when water is added. Thus less desirable for creating layers. I found the spray went on easily with very good coverage. The color was bright & when water was dribbled while still wet, I could create water spots. Bonus when I dried it with a heat gun the color did not budge, even with a wet paintbrush and scrubbing. 


Let's Put Them Together

What happens when we put them together? I took my stenciled image & scraped the Acryl Mousse through it, let it dry. Next I added the crayon through the stencil on another part of the art card. The crayon blended easily through the stencil which was good. Using a baby wipe definitely helps this process. However I wasn't overly fond of the design I had created. User error!

I decided to blend out the crayon which was very easy to do & using Art Spray, misted over the stencil paste image. As it is an acrylic spray it did as expected which was to completely cover the white paste. 


Deciding that the white paste looked good, it was a simple fix to put the stencil back & add another coat of the mousse. I was surprised that the mousse stayed a perfect white, normally the spray color underneath bleeds through. That is the advantage of the acrylic spray. When dry it is fixed with no bleed through-hum.... 



Overall I thought the products performed really well. Really love the acrylic spray and the texture on the paste! Remember to hop over to Mix Media Monthly & participate in the challenge & you can win a prize package from Marabu Creative!

35 comments:

  1. love the richness of the yellow! great job

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love gelatos so seeing something's that could potentially bring out more vibrancy is cool

    ReplyDelete
  3. Karen, I really love that you went to the trouble to put these products to the test and share your results. Your end result of using these products together is fabulous! Thank you for sharing! Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sara for taking the time to read my blog!!!

      Delete
  4. I agree with Sara! Thanks for the information on the products....they each sound like they would have been fun to experiment with when creating your project. Love that stencil and all the texture from the mousse. Awesome project!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Courtney glad I could inspire

      Delete
  5. I've never used the Marabu products so this is really interesting. The mousse looks like fun and the crayon sounds the like the best of Distress and Gelatos! Lovely make!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! Yes definitely worth a play!!

      Delete
  6. I love it when we get creative with specific products and this is a great example! Love the bold background and how you have adorned it. Nikki x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love the way you have shown all the steps and shared your experience playing with the products. It's a lovely inspiration.
    Love n Hugs,

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh Thank you so much for the product review, it really helps to get to know the media before actually trying it. Tfs and for your amazing creation.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Karen!
    I really got inspired from your creation and from this months challenge
    Thank you:)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Fantastic, vibrant card you have made! Love all the shades of yellow and all the textures!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful card! I love the vibrant colours and texture that you created with the stencil - perfect 😁. Thanks for the inspiration and wishing you a Happy Weekend! J 😊

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Karen, popped over from The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge to take a closer look. It's a real sunshine on a plate project, love the yummy shades of yellow you've used and that texture is awesome! Thank you for the fabulous inspirations x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Karen glad you took the time to pop over!

      Delete
  13. A compass and a butterfly: what an imaginative original combination, great work!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lovely make! the mousse seems an interesting product! thanks for sharing your tests with us :) xo Cheetarah

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes the mousse is fun! I used it on this months project too.

      Delete
  15. Wonderful creation. Thanks for all the product tips. Hugz

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Karen,
    Thank you so much for sharing this amazing mixed media art piece. I love it so much. This is full of amazing colors and great texture. Really enjoy whole process. Such an informative and inspiring post.
    Thank you so much for sharing this great inspiration.
    Happy Easter and Have a great weekend my friend.

    Hugs
    Dr Monika Tripathi Shukla
    UrooCreations

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tou are most welcome!! Glad you enjoyed it Monika!

      Delete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...