Mix-Ability Challenge: Salt-Free Texture

It's my turn to host the Mix-Ability challenge over at Splitcoaststampers! I was wondering the other day if pencil shavings might have any use... I thought since wood is absorbent they could maybe be used to absorb and create texture in a watercolor wash, like we do with salt...... and it worked!

I have a hand sharpener, so those shavings are thin and flat and slightly curved, and there was lots of pigment dust at the bottom - I just dumped and didn't really think it through:

The other sharpener is electric, so the shavings are finer and easier to sprinkle and distribute evenly:

I was a little more careful with this one, and placed the pieces instead of dumping:

Here are the results! I'll definitely revisit this technique! The wide shavings left some neat random markings where the straight sections laid flat in the paint, and the finer shavings left a neat texture. I used a soft makeup brush to clear the shavings away, so I didn't smear any bits of pigment around.

This lighthouse is from the newest red rubber kit from Impression Obsession - if you haven't heard, a new kit will be released on the first of each month, and will be available for 2 months following the release.  I stamped the image (which is huge and so detailed! Love it.), scribbled some details in and colored the sky with Copic markers, and then created a weird mask for the rays using contact paper although I have like 7 ray stencils......

I laid the contact paper over the image and traced a rectangle around the light, then drew in rays every inch around the outside, and cut out every other one... I had the contact paper upside down when I traced the rectangle, so it wasn't centered correctly when I flipped it but I ended up trimming the panel down quite a bit anyway and it worked out. Other elements were added using colored pencil and a paint pen. I used a credit card to scrape some paint onto the panel, inked a tracing wheel and rolled it in the corners, and then added a few rub-ons just for fun.

The sentiment was done just using random ABC stamps I had out, on a scrap from an old book page.

If you don't have pencil shavings, there are lots of other things you can use! You might try rice, oats or another grain; you can press a stencil or a stamp into the paint, or sprinkle something like eyelets, seed beads or prills, lay in buttons or beads or chain - lots of options for different textures. Hope you'll give the technique a try!

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