Using gesso

Hi Everyone, I recently purchased some gelatos and some aquarelle water color pencils. I quickly found out you can not use them on regular paper without the paper fibers pulling up. I watched some videos, both scrapbooking and mixed media and saw artist using gesso first to seal the page. Have any of you done this? I also bought some watercolor paper. Is this the same as resist paper? I really want to use these products on my scrapbook pages but need to know what the best technique is. Thanks in advance for any helpful information you can give.

I don't know about the watercolor pencils & gelatos as I have not used them. But watercolor paper is not the same as resist paper. Watercolor paper is very heavy weight paper so it holds up much better to anything that is wet. It doesn't curl as much and I use it for any heavy mixed media. Love it!

My understanding of resist paper is that it has designs that don't take inks, etc so that when you paint over them, you see the design in the original paper color and the inks only stick to the non-resist portion. You could do that with heat embossing or wax.

But I have used gesso on entire pieces of paper before... both regular paper and watercolor paper. It definitely gives you a nice "primed" surface. If you're unsure about it, try it on a tag or a piece of extra paper and practice the technique first.

Again, I'm pretty new at this stuff myself so anyone else feel free to correct me if anything I said wasn't entirely accurate.

Exactly what she said

I use Gesso on my projects when using water color makers or pencils. Works so much better. Try it out on a tag or piece of paper.

Thank you for the information. Very, very helpful. Especially the info about the difference between resist and watercolor paper. Can or should you dilute gesso with water?

I like to take gesso and water it down and then paint over paper that I love the design and color but want the color toned down.

I probably wouldn't water it down if you're concerned at all about your paper curling. But you can apply the gesso super thin. I use a gift card and I apply it and then scrape it off as much as possible to get a very thin coat.

• Sneezy1956 Said:

Great idea to tone down paper.

Maybe I'm applying my gesso too thick then because my paper curls every time. I like it to have a nice chunky texture but maybe I'm over doing it?

I think I will try both. I will do one and water it down a little and try to spread a very thin coat on another page. So much great information. Do any of you sand the page if you use it as is? I seen this mentioned in some videos.

I haven't used gesso in ages, so I obviously know nothing :>) but, Lisa, if you like it thicker and textured, could you do thin layers like Vae suggested, but do multiple layers, building it up with texture in the final layer or two? I didn't know if thinner coats would help keep it from curling so much. But like I said...what do I know? (Now I'll have to get out my gesso and play )~Judy

When I do super thin coats, my paper doesn't curl. When I want more texture, I don't use the gesso at all, I use modeling paste and that doesn't seem to curl my paper either.

I few weeks ago I did a project using gesso and I wanted a slight amount of texture... I "sealed" the page with a super thin layer first and then I added a thicker layer. I got a tiny bit of warping, but for what I was doing it was perfect. The only texture was from my spatula and I made some cut marks.

When I first started trying to do texture, LOTS of people told me that the gesso was the way to go. Some even said "gesso or modeling paste" and said they were interchangeable. They aren't. But I wanted thick texture. Using the brick mask by crafter's workshop, I wanted clearly defined bricks that were raised up. I learned that gesso is not the best thing for that (in my humble opinion). So I think there's some room for interpretation when peeps say they want texture. I have found that modeling paste or gel medium works better for me, personally.

Also, I like dylusions sprays and they don't do well on gesso, but they are sooo great on modeling paste.

Great information. I will try applying the thin coat first to see if that helps. Also will eventually try the modeling paste. Thanks!!

I've tried used gesso for building texture but it never quite worked out. I'll have to try modeling paste. Thanks for sharing!!

I used Modeling paste for texture and love using it with stencils like bricks.