Let's Get Spooky! - Mixed Media Bat - October 2022 Mixed Media Kit
Hey, y’all! Is everyone ready for Halloween? I am because I don’t have anything to get ready for! The kids are all 21+, so Halloween has been their own business for a while!!
I love making Halloween themed decorations! I don’t know why exactly; I think it must speak to the GenX “goth” side of me! Anyhow, the Mixed Media Kit this month has just what you need to get going on your next Halloween (or goth!) decor piece – a bat base, foil transfer sheets, purple glitter paint, “Black Hole Black” Magical Powder, and some Distress Crackle! You could easily use just the mediums from the kit to decorate the bat base, or you can start with the bat and see what you can build up on it.
I have lots of layers – and had loads of dry time to go with them all – but I had fun and love the end result! Watch my video to see how this bat came together!
The first thing I did was give my bat base a coat of heavy black gesso, and after that had dried, I added some sand texture paste – in a random, patchy fashion - then coated that with more of the heavy black gesso. You can easily add the sand texture paste on the bat base first, then coat everything with the gesso – I just didn’t think of the sand texture paste until after I had the first coat of gesso on!
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The next layer to go on was some of the FolkArt Purple Glitter Paint from the kit this month. It is a rather thick medium, so to make sure I got it between all of the rough spots of the sand texture paste, I watered it down some and spread it out.
After the FolkArt paint had dried, I started adding patches of the foil transfer to the base. As I mentioned in the video, if there wasn’t an extra tip in the package for the glue pen, I probably would have made a puddle of the glue on my media mat then brushed it on; but, since there was a spare tip in the package, I used the glue straight from the pen! I really liked doing it this way just because it wouldn’t go on smooth!
Once that glue had dried, I used a palette knife to drizzle on a layer of the Distress Crackle Paint and to just smooth it out across the surface. I didn’t want a thin, brushed layer, so I drizzled just enough to make a nice coat but without overflowing off the sides.
After the crackle paint had completely airdried and those cracks had formed, I gave the surface a light spritz of water, sprinkled on some of the Black Hole Black Magical Powder, and spritzed on more water. It doesn’t take a lot of powder! That Lindy’s Black Hole Black really deepens as soon as the water gets to it! I kept it watered down and let it flow into all of the cracks, then just dabbed off any areas that I didn’t want it – like on top of where the foil spots were.
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While I let the Lindy’s dry, I started prepping all of my resin pieces. All of the bones started with a layer of white gesso, followed by a layer of Finnabair “Linen” Impasto Heavy Body Acrylic Paint. All of the other mould pieces started with a layer of black gesso and then were coated with a mix of “Ink Black” Liquid Acrylic Paint, FolkArt Purple Glitter Paint, and some Cosmic Shimmer “Fireworks Burst” Pixie Powder. I just mixed everything together so darken the pieces while giving them some shine at the same time. I also took this opportunity to give my bat a spray of some Finnabair Pixie Dust to hold the Black Hole Black Magical Powder in place.
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With my bat set off to dry again, I started working on adding some dimension and color to my bone pieces. I started by adding some Burnt Sienna Liquid Acrylic Paint, watering it down, and just letting it catch in the textured areas of the mould pieces. After that paint had dried, I started adding more layers of color and some shine using the “Decayed” Distress Crayon and spreading it on my bones.
Because the Amun skull with the little bird skull I added on has so much detail on it, I came back with the Burnt Sienna, darkening some of those detail points – such as the nose ridge, nostrils, and eye sockets. Since it was going to be a little easier to work on before adhering to the base, I added a couple of waxes to Amun. I used some Sepia Antiquing Wax on the horns and added some Old White Matte Wax to create some highlights on the skulls. Then, because I had the Distress Crayon on my bones, I coated them with some MicroGlaze so the Crayon wouldn’t reactivate with water and added everything to my base using some 3D Matte Gel. And, since I would be waiting for the 3D Gel to dry, I grabbed up my (regular) matte gel and some art stones and spread them on to add more texture.
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With the gels dry, it was time to add more layers of color while I worked towards what I had been picturing in my head! I used more of the Purple Glitter Paint, the Black Hole Black Magical Powder, some of the Cosmic Shimmer Powder, and more Burnt Sienna to create the darker shadows around the bones.
After all of those mediums had dried, I came back in with some more of the Distress Crackle, mixed in some purple mica powder, and spread it out across the bat. Next up, more foil!
I was on a mission to try and lighten the area behind the resin pieces so they would pop more, so I added some White Pearl Metallic paint, then I had to fix some of the shadow areas with more Burnt Sienna!
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I finally reached the end of this project! All of my wet mediums were dry, and it was time to grab up my waxes and add the finishing details. I started with some Old White Matte Wax, then built up on it with some French Lavender Matte Wax, Electric Violet Metallique Wax, Royal Robes Opal Magic Wax, and some Ash Grey Antiquing Wax to finish it up.
Thank you for joining us here at Tres Jolie! I hope that you enjoyed this Mixed Media bat, and it gave you some ideas of what you can do with this month’s Mixed Media Kit! Don’t forget to get yourself a kit if you don’t have one already – or get yourself another while supplies are still available - and HAVE FUN!
Stay Crafty, Friends!
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In addition to the items in this month’s Mixed Media Kit (*from previous Tres Jolie Kits), I used:
*Finnabair Heavy Black Gesso , *Finnabair “Ink Black” Liquid Acrylic Paint , *Finnabair “Burnt Sienna” Liquid Acrylic Paint , *Finnabair “Linen” Impasto Heavy Body Acrylic Paint , *Finnabair “White Pearl” Metallique Paint , *Finnabair “Pixie Dust” Fixative , Finnabair “Sepia” Antiquing Wax , Finnabair “Ash Grey” Antiquing Wax , Finnabair “Royal Robes” Opal Magic Wax , Finnabair “Electric Violet” Metallique Wax , Finnabair “French Lavender” Matte Wax , *Finnabair “Old White” Matte Wax , *Finnabair “Pearls & Crystals” Mica Set , Finnabair Art Stones , Finnabair 3D Matte Gel , Finnabair “Pieces of Underworld” Mould , Finnabair “Locks & Keys” Mould , Finnabair “Skull & Bones” Mould , Finnabair “Amun & Bast” Mould , Finnabair “Nocturnal Insects” Mould , Distress Crayon “Decayed” , *Cosmic Shimmer “Fireworks Burst” Pixie Powder , *DecoArt “Neutral” Texture Sand Paste , Liquitex Matte Gel , JudiKins MicroGlaze , Daler Rowney White Gesso , Amazing Casting Resin , Amazing Clear Cast Epoxy , *spray bottle