Our upcoming production of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson has a gallery in the audience of 19 portraits. These were described as oil paintings of “dead white guys”. We decided to begin experimenting with printing these portraits out and seeing how we can make them look more like a painted canvas.
Rosco Crystal Gel
I decided to try some of the Rosco Crystal Gel we received a while back. Crystal Gel acts a little like “Sculpt or Coat”. You can brush it on in thin layers, and it will hold the texture you give it. It dries clear and hard, but it remains fairly flexible. My idea was to use it to add textural brush strokes over a picture we print out on our large plotter.
Eric Hart paints Crystal Gel onto a printed painting
The Crystal Gel has a consistency of mayonnaise. The instructions say you can thin it with water if you want. It starts out white, which makes it easier to see where you are applying it.
Jay Duckworth continues adding Crystal Gel
You can see in the above photograph that the painting is getting wrinkled. We weren’t really surprised by that; for our next test, we mounted the paper to a piece of foam core before painting.
A real-life oil painting!
We were very happy with the final result. The photograph above doesn’t really convey the best part about this method. The texture of the dried Crystal Gel catches the light differently depending on where you stand, so as you walk by the painting, it appears to be made with thick layers of paint.
- Making Fake French Fries
- The Book of Grace had a moment where Grace, a diner waitress, carried a tray of food across......
- How to Gold Leaf
- Gold leafing is one of the easiest and most common ways to give a prop a gilt look,......
- Gnome Building
- For the upcoming production of “Broke-ology” at Lincoln Center, I was asked to build a three-foot garden gnome.......
- Coating Foam
- My wife and I are currently working on a project for a new show which is essentially a......
4 Comments
Can I just say right now how jealous I am that you have a large plotter. My one dream EVERY FREAKIN’ SHOW is to have easy access to one. *sigh* Some day.
I know, it’s extremely helpful. I’ve worked plenty of places that don’t have one, so I know not to take it for granted!
Modge-podge also works really well for acheiving this effect. And you don’t need a large plotter. Download a “rasterbator” and it will print any image you want at any size by breaking it down into 8 1/2 x11 sections that you can print on a regular printer.
Jesse that sounds like a great solution. One question is what is the best way that you have found to make the lines where the paper meet disappear?
The other thing is Mr. Hart, these are pictures of people. I did not see one picture of an oily fox. ( I chose the American spelling….I thank you.)