Crazicards Crafty Blog

In my stash box I have had a jar of Gesso for ages and to honest I have only ever used it once or twice to prime my projects before painting them with acrylic paints.

I have never really thought about using it for anything other that it's original purpose of priming my projects until today.

So what is Gesso?  I hear you say....

Well Gesso is traditionally used by artists to prime their canvas or any other surface ready for painting with oil or acrylic paints.

It is very much like white acrylic paint but is much thinner in texture, and when it dries it dries hard making the surface it is painted onto very stiff. It also has a slight texture to it.

The beauty of Gesso is that you can apply it to almost any surface, and then you can paint on that surface with acrylic or oil paint. For example, you can apply a layer or two of Gesso to an old CD or an old vinyl record and once it is dry you can paint on to it with acrylic or oil paints. The possibilities are endless!

So this month I decided to try something a little different with my Gesso and I loved the results so much I made into this month tutorial. I hope you will enjoy having a play too..

Small Note: I know a lot of people might not have any Gesso in their crafty stash so instead of Gesso you can also use your Acrylic Paints. The results aren't exactly the same as your paints are coloured  but the principle is the same so you can follow this tutorial but substitute the Gesso for your Acrylic Paints instead.

What you will need:

• A jar or tube of gesso - I used white but you can use any colour you like.
• Stamps of your choice - I used my Artistic Affirmations stamp set from Chocolate baroque (formerly Elusive Images).
• Glue stick for sticking stamps to block if required.
• An old paint brush.
• A spare acrylic block or some form of smooth surface - all will become clear.
• Cosmic Shimmer Mists or misters of your choice.
• Plain card stock
• Kitchen Towel & Baby Wipes

Step 1

Take your Gesso and a paint brush and add a layer of the Gesso to your acrylic block or other smooth surface making sure not to make it too thick or too thin.

I used an acrylic block for this as it is easy to handle, but you can use a tin lid, your glass mat or anything similar that is smooth and will accept your Gesso.

TIP: Make sure you give your brush and block a thorough wash before the Gesso dries.

Step 2

Now take you chosen stamp and gently press down into your Gesso layer. Make sure not to press to hard as that will squish the Gesso into all the nooks and crannies of your stamps and when you stamp onto you card stock you will not get the desired effect.


You can use a paint brush to add the Gesso but I found that this filled in all the nooks and crannies on the stamps I used and the resulting stamped image was blurred some what.

It's best to practise this step several times so that you get a feel for how much Gesso to use and how hard to press down when adding the Gesso to your stamp. The clearer the print the better the end result will be.

Once your happy with the result cover the whole of your chosen card stock with stamped images. Then allow to dry, this doesn't take very long but if your in a hurry give it a blast with your heat gun taking care not to scorch the Gesso.

TIP: Make sure you was your stamps straight away as the Gesso will be difficult to remove once it has dried.

Step 3

Once the Gesso is dry take your chosen misters, for my background I chose Purple Violet, Peacock Green and Ocean Sunlight. I just love this colour combination.

Start with you darkest colour at the bottom and graduate your colours over the card stock until you get the effect you are happy with.

As the misted spray hits the Gesso you will start to see that the Gesso peeping through the ink. The more your piece dries the more the Gesso shows through.

At this point you can either put your project to one side to dry naturally or you can dry it off again with you heat gun.


Step 4

Once your project is dry take a dry kitchen towel and buff your stamped areas, this will remove any remaining ink from the Gesso and if you used Cosmic Shimmer sprays it will bring up the sparkle a little more.