Plaster Art

Let me show you another economical medium that can produce some really powerful effects. The idea here is to that you are using a plaster mixture to create layers on your canvas. You can do this either free hand, with a reusable stencil that you make or buy, or a one-use stencil using painters tape. Let me walk you through the general steps involved and show you some specific examples.

THE RECIPE

Plaster out of the bucket is meant to be spread thin and flat. You want it to be able to able to hold a peak without cracking or flaking. The addition of primer and craft glue works well to produce a workable material.

Ingredients:

1 gallon of drywall plaster

2 cups of primer paint

1 cups of white craft glue

Directions:

Mix everything together in a larger bucket. Invest in a drywall stirring to make your arm happier.

Keep covered when not in use

THE CANVAS

I like to make my own using 1/4 plywood or OSB. I have not tested this method out on actual stretched canvas, but something tells me the little bit of flex you get there would be terrible for plaster. Let me know if your results are successful.

THE FRAME

I always like the look of an unframed canvas, especially when the image wraps around the side. I guess I like the way the painting has to stand on its own, rather than relying on a frame to set it off. Have you ever heard of somebody buying flea market paintings just to get the frame? Sad to think of a fate where the package trumps the product. Anyway, I mimicked that look in my hand built plywood canvases. I glued and nailed 1.25″ thick standard dimensional pine (2X2″, cleaned up on the table saw) to the back of the plywood canvas, sanded the sides to make everything even, and plastered the sides to make it look like one piece.  One thing to watch out for, though, is the tendency of plywood to warp once  you throw all this plaster on it. I found that I needed to hold the plywood (or plywood and frame) flat during the painting process until everything was completely dried. Once method that worked well  involves the use of flat beams screwed to the aback of the frame. You may need to experiment to find what works for your application.

Note: It is not necessary to make your frames in this manner, so feel free to go about traditional framing.

THE PROCESS

This type of project requires planning so that you get the results you expected. You should start my prepping the canvas to accept the plaster. In the example below, I built the frame, sanded, and primed. Some of the OSB might peel off during this process, so let the loose piece go; it only add more depth. Off course, you want it to happen now rather than after the plaster is applied. The primer acts as a glue to tie everything together. If you want a clear background, then you will have to clear coat it before proceeding. Just use your best judgement.

Method One: Glazed Over

Once dry, put painters tape over the areas you want to mask. In practice, it is easiest to just over the entire canvas. Draw on your image (tip: use a projector if it is complicated) and then cut away the negative.

 

 

Grab your plaster and tools for spreading/shaping. Spread it on. Keep it thin so that you can pull of the tape without messing up your lines. Once everything looks covered, go ahead and remove the tape while the plaster is still wet. Do this carefully so, again, you don’t mess anything up. I find that my knife is handy tool for this, especially if the tape area is small. Consult your drawing to make sure you got all the tape removed. Let it dry before moving to the next step.

 

 

 

Once dried, everything gets a base coat of white paint. This helps blend everything together and fixes most errors that occur during the plaster stage. This also prepare the drawing for the next phase, where accent colors are applied. For the accent paints, I made a thin glaze using latex paint missed with a clear glazing medium. You could also just use water since we are dealing with latex here, but the glaze works a bit better. The goal is to make it nice and thin so that it flows easily and you can quickly remove most of it with paper towels.

With the glaze applied, work quickly to remove what you need to. Have paper towels, a trash can, and a bucket of water handy. If you think it is starting to get sticky, wet a paper towel to loosen it up a bit. In the examples here, pretty much all of the paint was removed from the plastered flat areas to make them pop. Everything else was pretty random; just play with it until you like how it looks.

 

Method Two: Ignore Everything From Method One

In the examples below, the background was finished first and clear coated. Then, the tape was applied and the imagery very carefully cut away. The plaster was thinly applied and then allow to dry BEFORE taking the tape off. Once dry, hand sand it smooth with a flat sanding block until the tape is just visible. Remove the dust and then roll on a top coat (black, below). Remove the tape once dry. Since it will be pretty difficult to color the little bit of exposed plaster on the sides of the image using the this method, I went ahead and lightly colored the plaster beforehand (use colored paint instead of white). Let everything dry and then do a final clear coat.

Method Three: Forget The Tape

Lay the plaster on thick and use your tools to create swirls, mountains, valleys, whatever. Let dry, base coat, and then layer on accent colors. You can also use a roller light dipped in paint to just kiss the tops of the plaster peaks. This just gives you that extra bit of depth. This method is great if you have an accent paint color in a room. Take the base room color, the accent color, a white, and black (try mixing it with a bit of the accent color) and apply to a properly textured canvas.

I love that I don’t know exactly how it will turn out until everything comes together in the end. Please send me pictures of your own creations if you try this method out! Have fun, be creative, and enjoy the randomness.

 

Materials:

Drywall Plaster

White Craft Glue

Latex Interior House Paint

Glazing Medium

Top Clear Coat

1/4″ Plywood

2″X2″ dimension lumber

 

Tools:

Drywall plaster stirring tool

Small plaster knives

Painter Tape (nothing fancy; use the regular release stuff)