Tips & Techniques – Painting Flowers with Glimmermist

Glimmermist (or any of the new misting sprays) are great for covering large areas, but what if you want the same shimmery soft effect on a smaller area. The “overspray” of Glimmermist means that you don’t get accuracy.

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to paint with Glimmermist to create your own Custom flowers for your scrapbook pages.

You Need:

Several colours of Glimmermist or other colour sprays. I have used Pink Taffy and Graphite.

Plain white PAPER flowers. Yo can achieve a similar look usin fabric flowes but let’s start with the paper ones first. I have used Prima but Green Tara or Kaisercraft would be as good.

You also need a paintbrush, some base card and some water in a jar.

Step1:

Because of the shimmer/metallic elements in Glimmermist, they won’t “spread” evenly up the petals of a paper flower. Therefore we have to prepare the flower first by wetting it slightly with water.

Work on two flowers at a time. Dab some water into the centre of the flower and watch it spread. Be generous but don’t have the water OVERFLOWING off the flower.

Step Two:

Dip your still slightly wet paintbrush into the first colour of Glimmermist. Don’t wipe off too much of the excess. You will see the metallic elements sticking to the outside of the brush.

Dab the colour into the centre of the flower over the top of the dampened area. You will see the colour pigment start to spread, but the metallic element won’t go far. You may need to add more to make the colour “bleed” a bit better. (See pic below).

Step Three:

Wash out your brush thoroughly of the first colour. Have a close look at the above pic – you n see that I have reapplied the water to the tips of the flower petals to make the second colour run into the first.

Now dip your brush into the second colour of Glimmermist and apply it gently to the tips of the flower petals. Again, you will see the colour run but the metallic elements will not move far. You want this second colour to blend with the first softly.

Once you have finished applying the Glimmermist, simply wash out your brush in water as with normal paint or ink. Allow the flower to dry on a flat, absorbent surface (such as spare cardstock). This will draw off excess moisture and allow the flower petals to curl up again.

When the flower is dry, simply scrap as normal!

You can “fix” the Glimmermisted flower – ie: give it a slight fixative spray – in order to retain as much of the Glimmer as possible on your flower. It will not colour-fade over time, but it can rub off with excess movement.

No go and have a play!

Sares x