Tuesday Tips and Techniques: Experiment with Shaving Cream!

I was feeling in an experimental mood last week and tried various ways of creating paper.  The first thing I did was pull out my old blender and make my own paper.  It wasn't a major fail, but it wasn't pretty either.  I'll save that for another post.

I started thinking about all those years ago when I taught preschool, and I suddenly remembered playing with paint and shaving cream.  So I bought a can of shaving cream on my next shopping excursion and at the first opportunity, I pulled out the supplies for decorating some paper.

I needed a base on which to place my shaving cream.  I didn't have any plexiglass laying around so I came up with an experimental alternative.  I have plenty of cardboard scrap, so I decided to coat one side with Mod Podge and let it dry.  (Mod Podge to the rescue again!)  I had no idea how it would work, but it worked out quite well.  In fact, I'll be able to use it for the same application again.

My first attempt was with left over acrylic paint from a project I had just completed - Monday's Mandala.  I used a wooden skewer to manipulate the paint into the shaving cream.  The colors were pretty but just a little too subdued for this self-proclaimed "queen of color".

I swirled the remaining acrylic paint into the shaving cream and added drops of red and yellow food coloring.  NOW I was getting somewhere!  Look at the brilliant color - yum!

Once again, I mixed the remaining food color back into the shaving cream.  This time I added a few drops of  blue color to the mix.

It's so lovely just like that!  I hated to put paper on top of it, but hey, that's kind of the whole point.

At this point, I apparently forgot to take any more photos.  That's a great testimony to just how much fun I was having.  It was really more fun than an adult should be allowed to have!

Here are the completed papers, dried and ready to be used in my art journals.  I think they turned out great. I started out scraping off the shaving cream mixture, but after just a couple times, I began rinsing the shaving cream off of the paper under cold running water.  It worked great!  I used paper from my Canson Mixed Media Pad this time, but next time I think I'll use water color paper and see how that turns out.

I hope this inspires you to experiment with things you might not have tried before.  There's always something new to add to your repertoire as you "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

AND THE WINNER IS . . .

As promised, the drawing for the winner of my Birthday Giveaway was last night.  First, all 33 entries into the Goddess bowl....

All mixed up and ready for Husband Extraordinaire to reach in and pull out the name of the lucky recipient...

And the winner is............................................................................................

Jolene, from the Pieces of Me blog.  Take a look at Jolene's colorful blog - it's wonderful.  Congratulations, Jolene!  Contact me via email to collect your prize.  Here's what you've won:

My mixed media painting, "Sugar Skull I"  from this year's "The Skull & Skeleton in Art: Folk Art to Pop Culture" show at The Gallery at Lakeland in Kirtland, Ohio.

I want to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to participate and to comment on my posts last week.  I'm slowly making my way to each of you.  Your comments are always greatly appreciated.  I read each and every one!

TODAY'S PHOTO

I ordered a Creme Brulle Frappuccino expecting a nice, toasty warm drink.  I now know that frappuccino means iced cappuccino. Lesson learned.  It was tasty none the less!