TECHNIQUE

Translucent Acrylic Skins

When acrylic paint is mixed with Collage Pauge and allowed to dry, it forms a thin, pliable layer that is perfect for layering in collage and paintings. You can make skins with a variety of colors or mix them with glitter and mica to create unique designs. Or press them with handmade stamps to create cool textures and use them as a base for digital printing. The possibilities are endless! Here is the basic technique for creating a skin.

Creative Toolbox

Collage Pauge matte

plastic page protector

trowel palette knife

soft rubber brayer

High Flow acrylics

drawing paper

foam brush

STEP 1: Mix Medium

Pour Collage Pauge matte and a few drops of High Flow acrylic paint onto a plastic page protector and mix with a palette knife directly on the surface.

STEP 2: Draw Circles

Use a brayer to roll out the paint. While the base color is still wet, draw circles with the tip of the bottle of darker High Flow acrylic paint colors. Add circles with white paint and teal blue, allowing the colors to overlap so they will blend.

STEP 3: Add Paint

Draw more circles using High Flow fluorescent pink. Make sure the tip of a bottle touches the surface. Set aside to dry.

Acrylic Skins Tips and Ideas

• Acrylic skins can be made out of a variety of acrylic-based paints, mediums and inks. Experiment!
• I choose to mix my paints with Collage Pauge matte because it dries less sticky than gloss medium and the paint straight from the bottle.
• Instead of a plastic page protector, you can alternatively use freezer paper, parchment paper, Teflon sheets, HDPE (high-density polyethylene) Plexiglas sheets or garbage bags as a base. All of these will release the acrylic mixtures once they dry.
• Build texture into the skins using stamps, stencils and other mark-making tools.
• Use the skins as printmaking surfaces when printing with Plexiglas, or experiment using them in fabric collage, over black-and-white images or as an art journal page.