Hello again, I'm back with a tutorial on misting and a little more information to "de-mistify" misting! A commenter on Monday's post asked for a vieo tutorial on "shadowing," I'm not sure if this is what you meant, but I've done some layering of mists that ends up looking like shadows, so I hope this what you were looking for!
I created this layout using butterflies as masks, moving them for each layer of mist. I also showed this technique in the Spring issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today on page 27. It's a little hard to explain in just a few pictures so I've got a few more, hopefully that will give you a clear idea of how to use this fun technique with mists.
I'll show you how to make the same type of background, only using snowflakes instead of butterflies. The look you get depends on the colors you use and how many different layers you decide to do. I did three layers for both the butterfly and snowflake backgrounds, but there's no reason you have to stop at three. Many mists are beautiful when you layer them, and masking allows you to get a very subtle effect if you stagger the die cuts/punched images just right. There's no wrong way to do this technique, just play with it until you get the look you want. Here are the products I used: Studio Calico's Mister Huey in Warm Calico, Lunch Tray, and Calico White, Martha Stewart punches in Himalayan and Scandinavian, adhesive, White Orange Peel Cardstock by Bazzill, and a cardboard box.
To keep the snowflakes in place, I used a small strip of the adhesive.
Attach the snowflakes randomly to the cardstock, making sure some of the snowflakes overlap the edges.
Lightly mist with your first color. I tried this technique a couple of times, first with the Lunch Tray, then with the Warm Calico, just to see if the order I applied the mists mattered in the final product. It doesn't really matter with these three colors. I also adjusted the number of snowflake masks, the first time I used about 20, the second attempt I used 28 masks. It gives you a more complex look the more masks you use.
Carefully lift and reapply the masks, overlap some of the original snowflakes, so you'll still have bits of the original white cardstock showing through after the second layer of misting.
Add your second color of mist. It's really important to LIGHTLY apply the mist. I held the bottle about two feet above the box I was using. The image below shows what it looks like after you start to remove your 2nd round of masks. (I took some of the masks off to photograph.) Remove all your masks, then you'll reapply them as in the last step, making sure to overlap the original images.
The final step is to mist your masks with the Mister Huey's Calico White. You can go a bit heavier with how much mist you use with the white. This step may not appear to do much at first, but as the mist dries, the effect is beautiful. Any place that has the original white cardstock showing will almost glow, and the spots you've had masked for this third layer of misting will be subtle. The image below is after I've removed my 3rd round of masking.
Let it dry fully, then use the background in any manner you'd like. I love the subtle layers the different mists create. It looks like a snowstorm, yet if you look carefully, you can see each layer of misting. It's really a fun technique.
Try it with other die cuts/ punched images and play with your mist colors. I found that doing the white last gave me the most beautiful surprises, but try it in a different order if you'd like. The possibilities are great.
Someone also commented on Monday about the clumps you can get when you mist. Don't shake the bottle up and down, that will add bubbles to the mist and then they transfer to the tube and you'll get splats because you've got air in the tube. To mix up the mist, swirl it in a circle instead. Another commenter asked if there was a way to not get mist on your hands. I haven't found one yet. I suppose you could wear rubber gloves, but I just prefer to have green hands :) It washes off pretty well with soap and water.
I also did this video for Studio Calico a while back to show you how I made my "Morning Soundtrack" layout using stripes of mist.
Thanks for joining me today. If there are more things you'd like to see addressed concerning mists, please add that to your commets. I'll try and address it in my next blogging adventure come September!
~ Emily Pitts
This is my favorite collection that I've seen in a long time, I'd love to win!! I'm all about girly layouts :) Posted by: Kelly foster | May 21, 2012 at 10:41 PM
Congratulations Kelly, please send us your mailing information and put "Webster's Pages winner" in your reference line!
Have a great Friday everyone and for our US friends, enjoy your long weekend! See you here Monday when we have guest designer Sarah Webb joining us! You're going to love what she has in store for you.
~ Catherine