Crystal Clear

I thought I'd share one of my favourite of Nita Leland's techniques with you.  (It's also extremely popular with students in the mixed media workshop.)  Crystalline paper is one of the prettiest  imagineable, because of the see-through quality that captures the light of the under-support.

This paper is created by painting artist-quality tissue paper with acrylic medium on one side, letting it dry completely and repeating the process on the reverse side of the paper.  Once both sides are thoroughly dry, you can drop wet paint onto one side, spray with water, and wait for beautifully clear colours and patterns to develop as the paint dries. 

Crystalling paper over white background

I've used these papers in my mixed media work as well as incorporating them into various paper projects - they can be reminiscent of stained glass windows they are so light-filled!

Crystalline paper over yellow/orange bond

You can view Nita Leland's crystalling paper demo  here.   I encourage you to try this - it's as much fun as paper painting can be!