Mesh Bird Canvas Tutorial

Hi friends! I have a Sizzix tutorial to share with you today, it is a mixed media canvas, but the techniques would work for any type of project. I wanted to show how you can use the same shape repeatedly on a project for a great effect.

I needed another canvas for a friend and used the same sentiment on a canvas from last week, since I liked it so much when it comes to friends who are far away. I've been having lots of fun with some new dies, embossing folders, stamps and stencils by Tim Holtz. My favourite die from Tim's new release is probably the Bird Silhouette die, and I wanted to make the bird the star of this project. I am also very fond of the Frameworks dies, and was happy to see a new one, the Wave Frameworks die. It inspired me to use a technique from one of my own tutorials, Frameworks Mosaic, where embossing paste acts as a grout for the frameworks pieces.

The pattern that is repeated on this canvas is a mesh pattern, and I used these four products: Mesh stencil, Mesh stamp, Mesh texture fade, and the Wave Frameworks die, which also has a mesh shape. I like that you can find the same pattern in different products, which means that it can be used for different techniques. 

Coat a 6 x 8 canvas with gesso. 

Tear or cut three strips of Postale Tissue Paper. Paint gloss multi medium on your background, one area at a time. Place the tissue into the medium and crumble it here and there, for more texture.

White wash the canvas with white paint.

Add a little water to Mermaid Lagoon paint and a little Glazing Medium to Lime paint. The Glazing Medium makes the paint a little more transparent and gives you more working time before it dries. Paint the canvas and blend the colours together slightly with a cloth or paper towel. I used a deep edge canvas, and painted the edges too.

Before the paint dries completely, place the mesh stencil over the paint and rub through it with a baby wipe. Continue in more than one place, and on the edges too. I really like this effect, and how it made more of the text in the tissue paper visible again. Let dry.

I stamped my favourite bird stamp twice with Jet Black ink, and some words from Dina Wakley's All the Gals set. Stamp the Mesh here and there with Mermaid Lagoon paint, on the edges too. Remember to clean your stamp immediately after using it with paint.

Now are coming to the mosaic technique I used in my Frameworks Mosaic tutorial. Die cut various interesting materials with the Wave Frameworks die. I used cork, burlap and corrugated card, from Tim Holtz Textured Surfaces set, Mirrored Sheet, Silver Deco Sheet, and the smallest patterns in the Correspondence paper pad. I will use the frames on another project.

 Smear Ranger's Texture Paste over an area of the canvas, not too thinly. 

Start pressing the shapes into the paste, which acts as an adhesive. Remember to remove the backing from the self-adhesive shapes first. If you don't get the pattern perfect, that doesn't matter, and won't be visible in the end. You can use one of the die cut frames to help you with the placement of the shapes. Try to vary the different materials for more interest. Press the pieces into the grout so that the grout seeps up in between them.

Continue until you are happy with the result. You might need to add a little more paste along the edges. Leave to dry.

I wanted a metal bird to fit with the shiny pieces in my mosaic. Adhere Ranger/Vintaj Silver Metal-Pressions sheet to smooth cardstock. Die cut the Bird Silhouette.

Time for the next mesh pattern, emboss the bird in the Mesh Texture Fade. I placed the bird with the paper side towards the front of the fade - that is the side with the text. You can do it the other way too, but I liked that the larger parts of the mesh were embossed.

Paint the bird with Picket Fence Distress Paint. 

When the paint is almost dry, wipe it off from the embossed parts, only leaving paint in the recessed areas.

Distress a Pen Nib with a little white paint and glue it to the bird. Assemble a Heart Charm and hang it with a piece of twine from the beak of the bird.

I was really happy with the combination of four different mesh patterns, in different shapes and made using different techniques. 

The Frameworks Mosaic is such a fun technique and I really liked how it looked with the various surfaces I die cut the shapes from. The combination of the three textured surfaces, with the shiny mirrors and silver Deco pieces, and the patterned paper piece, is interesting. The Mirrored pieces look like real mirrors, and are hard to photograph. I added some rub-on words to them. 

I also added a few rub-ons to the background.

Another close-up of the mosaic. Try not to get any paste on top of the pieces when you place them down. 

I really like this sentiment. The title of the canvas was done with Industrious stickers. I added a little matte multi medium under the stickers to make sure they were stuck down well.

The design continues on the edges of the canvas, which look like this. You can add more words and even mosaic pieces to the edges to, if you'd like to.

These techniques would also look great on a card or in an art journal.

Thank you so much for looking!! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

Tim Holtz Sizzix BIRD SILHOUETTE	Tim Holtz Sizzix WAVE Frameworks	Tim Holtz Sizzix MESH	Tim Holtz MESH AND LINEN	Tim Holtz MINI ORNATES
Dina Wakley ALL THE GALS	Ranger Archival Ink Pad JET BLACK	Tim Holtz Distress Paint MERMAID LAGOON	Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE Paint	Dina Wakley Ranger LIME
Dina Wakley Ranger GLAZING MEDIUM	Tim Holtz Distress Paint PICKET FENCE	Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE GESSO	Ranger TEXTURE PASTE	Ranger MULTI MEDIUM GLOSS
Tim Holtz Stencil MESH	Tim Holtz MIRRORED Sheets	Tim Holtz TEXTURED SURFACES	Ranger Vintaj Metal-pressions SILVER	Tim Holtz Idea-ology CORRESPONDENCE
Tim Holtz Idea-ology POSTALE Tissue Wrap	Tim Holtz Idea-ology DECO SHEETS	Tim Holtz Idea-ology SOUVENIR	Tim Holtz Idea-ology PEN NIBS	Tim Holtz BOTANICAL REMNANT RUBS
Tim Holtz Idea-ology HEART CHARMS	Tim Holtz Idea-ology CHISELED Industrious Stickers	Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE Gray And White	Ranger Inkssentials Non Stick CRAFT SHEET	Tim Holtz Tonic CRAFT KNIFE
Simon Says Stamp White FLOUR SACK TOWEL	Dina Wakley Ranger PALETTE KNIFE	Ranger Large 2 oz MISTER BOTTLE

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