Hi all of you Helmar fans, it's Kristina again with my first project for November. I am really excited to show you how to create this awesome shaded glitter elephant on wood canvas using Helmar products. I absolutely loved doing this project because it has a similar concept as painting, and I really love painting!! Here is a picture of the finished piece, with background glitter, and without.
The products used in this majestic elephant piece are:
Helmar Tacky Craft Glue
Helmar Crystal Kote Gloss
Helmar Gemstone Glue
Two beads for the elephant eyes
White Glitter
Black Glitter
Pearl ex black powder to colour the white glitter into different shades of grey
Back gound glitter colour
Wooden Painting board (canvas can be used)
Gesso for priming the board/canvas
To begin with I got a picture from the free photo sharing website Pixabay, these are able to be used freely with no copyright issues. This is the picture I chose. I wanted only grey tones in the picture so this one was perfect.
I got my wooden canvas and covered it in two layers of white gesso, and when it was completely dry I traced the parts of the elephant that I wanted onto my canvas.
This next part sounds tricky but I promise it isn't. I got seven plastic cups and I put approximately 3cm high of white glitter in six of the cups, leaving the last one for the pure black glitter. The first cup you just leave pure white, the second cup has a tiny bit of black pearl ex added to make it slightly darker than the white, the next cup has a little more black pearl ex added to make it a little darker than the previous one and so on until the sixth cup is filled with white glitter that is almost black. Basically making the different grey tones that the elephant requires.
Now for the messy bit, I poured Helmar Tacky Craft Glue over the whole of the elephant (in sections so the glue didn't dry before I got to the last part), and I put a base coat of glitter along the whole elephant. I chose the fourth cup of glitter as my base coat (that would be the third cup after the white glitter).
The next part is the layering, which adds the POP to the elephant.
So we will say that the plain white glitter is 1, the next darkest glitter 2, and so on until we get to the plain black glitter. With that in mind I have drawn a basic diagram indicating the places to put the different colour glitters. You can do as much or as little as you please, or even take it further and do more layers!
If you follow these colours and approximate spots for them you will have an amazing glittery beautiful elephant that will be the envy of all your family and friends.
I used a popsicle stick to carefully drop the tiny bits of glitter in the smaller spots. It made it easier than using my fingers, which tend to make a mess.
Using a paint brush that I didn't mind having glue on it, I brushed the Helmar glue only on the spots I wanted the glitter to be.
After all the glitter is done, and you are completely happy, it is time for the eye placement. I chose some red beads so they would stand out in between the greys of the elephant. I used Helmar Gemstone Glue to ensure that the bead eyes stuck perfectly well to the elephant.
This is the time that you decide whether or not you want a background glitter colour. I decided on turquoise. Cover all the spots you want to put the background glitter with Helmar Tacky Craft Glue, and then sprinkle away with your chosen colour.
Once all was completely dry I got out the Helmar Crystal Kote Gloss Varnish spray to seal everything in, and to make sure the glitter was not going to escape all over my house lol. I love the Gloss Varnish spray, it is the perfect finish for any project.
I truly hope you give this glitter elephant a go, it was so much fun to do, playing with all the sparkly glitter, and experimenting with Helmar products. I shall be back soon with another Helmar project. Until then…..
For all of the Helmar products mentioned in this blog you can buy them at the following websites:
If you are in Australia make sure you visit https://www.helmar.com.au/shop/manufacturer/
If you are in USA make sure you visit https://www.helmarusa.com/shop.html
