How to Make Paper Glazes

January 21st, 2008 · No Comments

Making your own paper glazes can be fun. Most of us have plenty of art supplies (or potential art supplies) lying around. Sometimes we have more than we realize. Why not play with them to discover new ways to use them?

Acrylic Medium for a Waterproof Glaze

have some fine glitter that I plan to mix with acrylic gel medium, and maybe tint with colors. I will do that to create a truly waterproof item or to achieve an effect that isn’t available with my glitter glue, paper glaze, and dimensional paint collection.

If you already have glitter and acrylic gel medium handy, why not try it?

Glue as the Base for a Paper Glaze

You can also experiment with mixing glitter into any glue that dries clear. Elmer’s makes a clear glue called Galactic Glue that already has glitter in it, but you can find other cheap, clear waterbased glues if you look for them.

Even if the glue starts out milky or opaque, as long as it dries clear and flexible, it should still work well as a paper glaze. For example, plain old Elmer’s school glue and similar products should work just fine. You may want to thin it with water—or not.

Gum Arabic for a Watercolor Glaze

Gum arabic is the binder that holds watercolor pigment on the paper. You can buy it in dry form or already mixed with water. If you have some, you might try making a paper glaze with it.

The dry form would probably be best if you want to make a thicker glaze that will suspend glitter particles better. But if you already have the liquid form (or you have both), why not try it?

There is no reason you can’t also try adding a bit of glue or acrylic medium to make the glaze a bit more water resistant. If you want to use watercolors over the paper glaze, of course, you would want to use only a little bit of acrylic medium. Otherwise, the watercolor won’t stick properly.

Consider the Glitter

Remember that not all glitters are waterproof, so you may not get the effect you expect. On the other hand, you may achieve something unexpected and wonderful. Be sure to make notes on what you did so that you won’t forget.

It’s fun to just play and experiment. I recommend also mixing a very small sample and leaving it in an airtight container for a few days or weeks to see what happens. For best results, try to mix gently to avoid air bubbles.

Storing Homemade Glazes

When storing homemade paper glazes, you may want to float a a very thin layer of water on top and/or lay a little piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to seal out the air and keep the glaze mixture from drying out. Then be sure to add a tightly sealed lid.

I suspect that the glitter and any confetti you add will sink to the bottom of the acrylic medium faster than it does in the glitter glue or paper glaze gel. In that case, it may need to be stirred.

But that could depend on the type of acrylic medium that you use. The thicker and more gel-like the medium, the less the glitter and confetti will settle.

Why Not Experiment?

Homemade glazes also may not spread as easily or evenly as the store-bought kind, but it’s worth trying. In fact, they may be better. You never know till you try.

If you do try it, please post a comment to let us know how your experiments turned out. If you post your results on your own blog, we would love to see the pictures and read about them, so give us a link.