Scratch Art

I saw this technique demonstrated by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer on Scrapbook Soup and I just had to try it. You can watch the Scrapbook Soup episodes online starting in April.

Julie used Pastelbord as the substrate. I visited our local Blicks which did not carry it. I really love our local Blicks store. Everyone is so helpful. She recommended I  use something with tooth that was cold pressed. Anyway, I bought a 15″ x 20″ sheet of Crescent medium weight cold pressed board to experiment.

So let’s get started. The first step is to cover the board with color. I used those Portfolio water soluble oil pastels that I played with earlier.

Next, take a black oil pastel and cover all of the color you just put down. I know. Sounds crazy!

Keep working on this so that the first layer is completely covered with black.

Place your favorite stencil on top of this black board. I’m fond of this Crafter’s Workshop stencil.

Now the magic begins. Grab something you can use to scratch. A skewer works real well.

Continue scratching until you are happy with the design. It’s like magic that the color below the black is still there!

Remove stencil and this is what you get.

But since oil pastels never dry, Julie suggested fixing them first with hairspray.

Allow it to dry overnight and then cover with gel medium. I used on this board Golden Regular (semi-gloss) Gel Medium.

Now I’ve let this dry and here is my finished piece. You can see the brushstrokes from the gel medium. They add a neat texture.

But I’m not done. What about trying this technique on watercolor paper? I have some Fabriano 90 lb cold pressed paper. Here is how it turned out. I sealed it with Golden Gloss Gel Medium so it is real shiny!

I really liked this. The gel medium changed the feel of the paper, making it sturdier. I folded it over to let you see what it would look like as a journal cover. The only downside to using the watercolor paper is that it is harder to color than the board. I had to really work to cover the paper. But I really liked the way it turned out and would be useful as a cover or even a page in a journal.

My last experiment with this technique was on canvas board. I used a different stencil and also different shades of the oil pastels. At first I didn’t like it because the color was difficult to cover the surface. Then as I was adding the black, some of the color from the base was brought up to the surface. But the more I added the black, the more I liked it. Then scratching the black really brought out a worn and shabby look. I covered this board with the gloss gel medium.

Of the three substrates I really like the watercolor best. But the other two worked well too. You don’t have to use a stencil either. As you can see on the canvas, I drew the petals around the border. You can draw any design you’d like.

Just another fun technique to play with!

I challenged my friend Teresa from Plum Water Cottage to try this technique. I’m hoping she’ll show her results. However, looks like she’s been busy making a wreath. Wow!