Altered Playing Card Tutorial by D. Loren Prince
Today we have a wonderful tutorial from Card Deck Swap participant D. Loren Prince. If you’re interested in the next swap, join us at that registration link. Join the very active Facebook group right now, whether you sign up or not; it’s amazing how many kindred spirits you can find in one place!
Supply list: Bicycle playing cards, painter’s masking tape, gesso, acrylic paints and inks, stamps
and stencils, black ink pad, black Pitt pen, Golden gel medium gloss, napkins, tissue,
decorative paper and imagery, Uhu glue stick and scissors.
STEP ONE:
I wasn’t able to decide what card stock paper I wanted for the backs of the cards, and I rather liked the idea
of the card backs being visible, so using painter’s masking tape, I attached my cards to each
other in rows from the backside. This held them together so I could paint my backgrounds on
the fronts as one large painting.
STEP TWO:
After turning the rows of cards over so the faces are up, I did a quick wash of gesso over
all of them. (I didn’t mind if some of the card details showed through… It just makes
another layer of interest in the end).
STEP THREE:
Next came colour…using acrylic paint, inks, stencils
and other mark making objects I splashed some colours at random.
After the paint had dried, I peeled the tape off. I learned the hard way that when peeling from
the joins at the edges of the cards, they would tear unless I peeled the tape at a sharp angle,
holding it close to the card.
STEP FOUR:
I like to collage multiple layers of images that make me happy. I love using napkins and tissue
paper for design elements. They can be almost transparent and allow underneath layers to
show. (If you use napkins, make sure to separate the layers or you’ll have trouble getting them
to stick nicely. They are usually 3ply).
Sometimes I like to stamp onto the tissue before I lay it down.
I also use pages from books, magazines, my own images printed from my computer or
gelli plate.
I love vintage, and find lots of wonderful imagery at thegraphicsfairy.com and
thevintagemoth.blogspot.com.
STEP FIVE:
I use Golden Gel Medium to glue all of the elements down.
STEP SIX:
For the inspirational messages on the cards I typed out the words in a document and printed
onto resume paper, cut them out and glued them on.
STEP SEVEN:
A few finishing details: lines around the words, red marker on some of the flowers and a stamp.
I ran and ink pad around the edges of the card to ‘frame’ it. Don’t forget to sign your card…it is,
after all, a wee piece of art!
In the end, although I really liked the image on the backside of the cards, they were a little
worse for wear…paint blotches and tears (from the tape). I fixed this simply by gluing each to a
piece of brown paper (a lunch bag). Trimmed the edges, put my name and address on the back
and called them done!
