Garden Grunge Accordion Book Tutorial with Guest Artist Dina Wakley
We are thrilled to welcome mixed-media artist and designer Dina Wakley to Somerset Place, where she shares an innovative layering tutorial to help you create unique stamped backgrounds.
This little garden book uses stamps from my new line, Garden Grunge. I’ll show you how to use the stamps in background layers, middle layers, and top layers. Get ready for some inky fun!
Materials
- Garden Grunge Stamps
- Watercolor paper
- Matte Gel Medium
- Dylusions Ink Sprays
- Modeling Paste
- Permanent Ink Pads
- Stencils by Crafter’s Workshop (Messy Circles by Dina Wakley; Chevron by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer)
- Palette Knife
- Sticky-Back Canvas
- Acrylic Paint
- Natural Tissue
1. Make an accordion book out of watercolor paper. I used two pieces of watercolor paper, one 4 x 9” and one 4 x 8.25”. I overlapped them .5” and sewed over the overlap to join the pieces (you could also glue or tape). Then I folded the paper in half, creating two sides. Then I folded each side in half to create a four-sided accordion.
2. Use gel medium (I like matte) and a palette knife to glue pieces of torn book paper on the accordion. I put gel both under and over the book paper pieces and smoothed it out thin. I scattered the paper from the bottom left to the top right of the book.
3. Use two colors of spray ink to add some color to the top of the accordion book. I used Dylusions Ink Sprays in Vibrant Turquoise and London Blue.
4. Add some water from a mister bottle and let the ink run across the accordion.
5. Use a palette knife to spread some modeling paste through a stencil onto the accordion. I used my Messy Circles stencil by Crafter’s Workshop. I put the paste design in three areas near the top of the accordion.
6. Use permanent ink pads (I like Archival by Ranger) to add some background stamping to the accordion. I used the same color of ink as the background (since my background is blue, I used blue ink). I used my stamps Collage Counting and Textured Scrawl.
7. Use Dylusions ink spray in Squeezed Orange to dye a piece of Sticky-back Canvas. Set it aside to dry.
8. Stamp Grunge Growth three times on smooth white cardstock, and stamp Grunge Flowers once. Cut out the images. I don’t worry about trying to cut out the text, I just cut the main image. Set aside.
9. Use a stencil (I used Chevron by Crafter’s Workshop) and some paint to add stenciling to the background. Again, I used the same color going on in my background (since my background is blue, I chose a darker blue for the stenciling). To stencil with paint, I use a dry brush and apply the paint to the brush very sparingly. You could also use a makeup sponge. I put stenciling on three areas of the accordion.
10. Water down some pink acrylic paint and wipe it on the edge of the accordion to create paint drips. I put paint drips on three areas of the accordion.
11. Use permanent ink pads (I like Archival) to stamp Grunge Flowers, Grunge Growth, and Numbered Collage onto plain white tissue paper. Stamp each a few times so you have several images to use. I stamped Numbered Collage with pink ink and the others with black.
12. Draw around the stamped images on the tissue with a wet brush, and then tear the images out from the tissue. Don’t leave too much excess tissue around the stamped images.
13. Use matte gel medium and a palette knife to apply the stamped images to your accordion. You must put gel both under and over the tissue. Work carefully because the tissue is easy to tear. When you put gel both under and over the image, the tissue disappears and the image remains. I scattered the images across the accordion. These images are my middle layer.
14. Use a circular object (I used the lid to a glue pen) and white acrylic paint to add white circles to the accordion. I scattered about 7 circles across the accordion to create visual interest.
15. Cut hearts out from the orange Sticky-back Canvas. I cut five little hearts.
16. Peel the backing away from the hearts and apply them to the accordion.
17. Glue on the Garden Grunge white cut-outs. I glued the cut-outs near or over the tissue images. These cut-outs are your top stamped layer.
18. Sew on the hearts to create texture and visual interest.
19. Print out a quote, cut it into strips, and glue it onto the accordion.
20. You’re done! Enjoy your beautiful work of art.
Time for a close-up!
A big “Thank you!” to Dina for sharing this fabulous project with us. Her art has been featured in Somerset Memories, Somerset Workshop, Art Journaling, and Somerset Studio, among many other Stampington publications.
We are crazy about her newest stamp line, Garden Grunge, a wonderful sequel to her first Cling Mount Collection. Garden Grunge features hand-drawn, collage images of urban foliage layered with newspaper text, sketched numbers, and Dina’s iconic cursive scrawl. These rubber, cling mount stamps can be simply attached to an acrylic block and dipped in paint or ink to add texture, personality, and an element of urban flair to any altered project.
To view more of Dina’s colorful journaling pieces, please visit her blog and website.
Posted: Wednesday, March 15th, 2017 @ 9:29 am
Categories: How-To Project Tutorials, Stamping.
Tags: Dina Wakley, Guest Artist.
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I am such a big fan of Dina’s art!! Her bright, bold, vibrant approach to her projects, along with the added stitching and use of quotes make my heart sing and this project is no exception! Thank you Dina and Stampington!
http://heartfullyinspired.blogspot.com/?zx=880367d432bc5d64
Isn’t the stitching adorable? That’s my favorite part.
Oh, how I love this messy, fun way of creating a background! I tend to create in a neat, fussy way and am trying to break out of that box and be more spontaneous. I’m going to try this! Thank you for the well thought out tutorial.
Thank you for the tutorial. I love Dina’s “messy” style because it is so different than my “everything has to be just right” style. Dina makes the project look fun and playful. This encourages me to step out of my comfort zone and just play.
Hi Susan! I agree, it’s nice to change up your style once in a while.
Love it!
~Linda
I love your work – but why didn’t you give Julie Fei-Balzer design credit for designing the Crafter’s Workshop chevron stencil you used?
Yep, Julie designed the Chevron, and I designed Messy Circles. I love her stencils…thanks for pointing that out!
Loving both stencils! Thanks, Dina :)
Wow. Thanks for sharing.
Dina is brilliant and so is her artwork! Great article!
This is wonderful – I love the colours, but all the elements make a beautiful accordion book. Thanks Dina!!
Reminds me of the tag book we did at Whim So Doodle! Great tutorial from a great teacher. Thanks!
What a great tutorial to start off the weekend! I absolutely adore this lady and admire her for sharing this wonderful gift she has been blessed with…Her style is uniquely fabulous!
Thanks for sharing the steps. You make it look easier that way than looking at the finished product.
Really beautiful. I haven’t had the pleasure f taking one of Dina’s workshops (yet), so I appreciate her step by step tutorial. I love to see the process behind others art!
Dina’s work is so great, thanks very much for sharing the techniques for the accordian book!
I love the vibrancy of your art :D
This looks so fun~
Thank you for sharing all of these tips!
Off to gather items to grunge~
Thank you Dina!
This is a really neat project. And Dina, I love your stamps!
Ooh love this and found it quite by accident…xx
I was lucky enough to take a class from Dina a couple of weeks ago. Great lady, great artist, great class.
These are all amazing! Thank you for featuring my water fountain Kate, I’m so honored.
What a great tutorial and simply done so even I could follow it!!! LOL I’m so inspired to get into my studio and start another art journal! Thanks Dina!
I appreciate the steps in adding the individual layers using different products. I see me using each technique (or together) in other projects. To me, that’s the wonderful value of your tutorial. Thank you so much!