Art Fun Cheap

Experimentation is the secret of having art fun on the cheap. Here is something I discovered by playing with things I happen to have lying around the house.
If you don’t care about archival qualities, nail polishes can be used as paper glazes. The glitter is usually very fine and well distributed, it’s easy to get [...]

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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 [...]

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Paper glazes look a lot like thin glitter glue spread thinly over paper. Some paper glazes contain glitter; others have small confetti mixed in. Some have both.
But paper glazes also impart a quality of their own. There also seems to be a bit of acrylic medium in paper glazes that can add strength and a [...]

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Sometimes you want more than the normal flat watercolor or acrylic colors. Daniel Smith, for example, offers lovely interference (changeable, depending on angle of view), metallic, and irridescent/pearly colors. But what if you just want to try such colors without investing in professional-quality paints?
You can buy inexpensive ones. Or you can make your own. Interested?
Colorific [...]

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The interesting thing (to me) about glitter glues and dimensional (3D) paints is that while the package says “water washable,” that’s only while they are wet. Once dry, they are water resistant. You can layer them, and they don’t melt each other (except the pearls).
You can also paint over them with watercolors, using the gels [...]

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“Glitter is good,” is my motto. The great glitzy stuff I love goes by various names: glitter glue, dimensional paint, paper glaze, and fabric paint. The textures and finishes are different, but all are fun and useful. I use them for art journals, artist trading cards, drawings, paintings, greeting cards, origami paper, and all kinds [...]

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