Supplies from hardware stores

Some of my best mixed media supplies come from a hardware store. Here's some of my best finds...

Drywall Tape

Have you heard of drywall tape? It is hands down my most favorite thing to use in collage! If you're not familiar with it, it's a roll of perforated paper with an adhesive backing.

It's two inches wide and there's about 50-75' of it on the roll, a massive amount. But wait, there's more! The white side is thicker sturdier paper with an adhesive on the back. The backing is brown, light weight paper without adhesive, sorta slick. Both pieces can be used, so you actually get twice the amount of paper. The whole roll was somewhere around $10 or less (can't remember exactly) at Lowe's in the drywall department. 

I take pieces of it, either piece, either side, and spray paint it. I like to spray paint it as it's quick, easy, gets in all the holes and dries very fast here in Florida. My favorite color to spray is metallic gold (also from the hardware store). Then I use matte medium or ModPodge to glue it onto my collages. Love this stuff! I've used it for borders, as accents, even as stencils and mats when spraying other paints. I've used it to press impressions into joint compound (modeling paste for some of us, lol) and spread joint compound over it (and then removed it) as if it were a stencil. There's so much of it and it's so cheap you can't go wrong.

Mesh Tape or Scrim Tape

This is a yellow or white, fiberglass or plastic, adhesive mesh. I am currently out so have nothing to show you so here's a link to it. It comes in a large roll, is easily cut with scissors, takes spray paint beautifully and, most importantly, is only a few dollars for 300' of it! I love it, which is why I'm out.

Gutter Guard

Gutter Guard is a roll of black plastic used to keep leaves out of roof gutters. It's about 5" wide and you get 20' of it in a roll and it has this interesting diagonal pattern to it.

Again, you get a lifetime supply of this stuff, the roll is huge, and it's a few bucks, no joke! Don't believe me? Check it out here. I got mine at Lowe's in the outdoor building materials aisle for about $5.

It cuts easily with scissors. Lover of gold metallic, I cut small pieces and spray it gold and use in collage.I've also used large pieces as a layer in wall hangings. 

Joint Compound and Spack

For about $15 you can get a gallon of joint compound. I use both joint compound and spackling interchangeably. There is a slight difference when using them, spack is heavier and dries a bit smoother, but for what I do I have found the differences so slight as to not matter. I bought this big tub of joint compound from Lowe's for about $15 and got the tub of spack on closeout at Target for $1 (which is why I have both, lol).

I use this stuff in a number of ways. I spread joint compound/spack through stencils just like modeling paste. I also spread it directly on my pieces rather thickly and impress images and textures into it. Sometimes I spread it on very thinly and roughly to add visual texture to flat pieces. 

Joint compound can be colored before applying it, mix some with some paint or dye in a small cup then spread. I find you need to make it a bit darker than you want your final color. I've mixed Dylusions and ColorWash as well as cheap old acrylic paints with it. You can also paint or spray it after it's dried on your piece. 

If you get white spack, you can do the same thing, but some brands of spack have a color tint so that you can tell when it's dry..."goes on pink, turns white when it's dried"...and this really screws up the ability to get the right color when adding paint or dye.

Want to see what a real artist can do with joint compound? Then check out Paul Bozzo.

Metal Tape
I'm not talking about duct tape. I'm talking about Metal Foil Tape...like what some craft industry giants talk about and use. This is adhesive backed aluminum tape in a big roll...for a buck. I've had crafters try to sell me pieces of this, or even a foot of it, for considerably more then I spent for the whole roll of it at Lowe's! Go to the department with a/c vents and it's right there, 50' or more, for a buck! I've seen smaller rolls of this at the dollar store. 

You can color it, you can cut it with scissors, you can emboss it. There is a backing you peel off so it's adhesive if you need it to be (don't take off the backing till after you've cut and colored it or you'll be sorry).

The top piece was tape laid over various items then black paint put on and rubbed off. I got that idea from RachO113's great You Tube video on what to do with this as well as the mesh tape.The remaining examples were all colored with alcohol inks. The green one was crumpled and smoothed out, while the blueish one was embossed. All of these still have the backing on, when I get ready to use them, I'll peel it off and they'll be self adhesive.

Here's a collage using various hardware store finds...I'm not a good photographer, even worse scanner, but you get the gist, don't you?

Cooked Metallic Texture Technique

Mixed media texture technique using just paint and heat gun

You can create this incredible texture, which is hard to the touch, using just paint and a heat gun. 

The trick is to use metallic paint. Good ole, cheapy, acrylic, paint...but it has to be metallic.

Paint it on, pour it on, spread it on, however you wish, I've tried all the various ways and it works. But leave some areas thick, the texture will come from the thick areas.

After you've put your paint on, heat it with a heat gun. The thick areas will start to bubble up, some bubbles will get quite high, some will even "pop." The bubbles will go down as you move the heat gun to another area but the texture remains.

Keep heating until you have the texture you want.

It cools real quickly and leaves you with this amazing texture.