Applications & Techniques:
Sgraffito Effects with Patti Brady, Director
Working Artists Program

Sgraffito Effects with Heavy Gel (Matte)

Gels come in a wide variety of viscosities (thickness), sheens and textures. Gels are designed for use with acrylic paint to change the paint's characteristics. They may also be used alone to provide a transparent layer or to provide texture.

In the range of thin to thick gels, Heavy Gel is one of the gels on the thicker end of the scale. The techniques that can be accomplished with Heavy Gel are practically limitless; here is just one example to help you get started:

Mixing Heavy Gel (Matte) into your paint will increase the viscosity, (make it stiffer) and allow for deep sgraffito effects.

Sgraf`fi´to
Noun sgraffito - a ceramic or mural decoration made by scratching off a surface layer to reveal the ground.

Step 1. Choose four different colors to work with. This example is: Fluid Iridescent Stainless Steel, the pink is Heavy Body Quinacridone Red Light mixed with Heavy Body Titanium White. The remaining squares are prepared with Heavy Body Pyrrole Red and Heavy Body Cobalt Teal. These are the base colors. Let Dry.

Step 2. Mix approximately 1:1 of your color with Heavy Gel Matte. You will immediately feel the difference. It will be much stiffer! Apply these mixtures with a palette knife, spreading the color over a different color of the under painting. Place the pink mixture over the Iridescent Stainless Steel square. While wet, take a tool, (I used a Color Shaper) but the end of a palette knife will work, and carve out the tree shape. I used a mixture of Micaceous Iron Oxide with Heavy Gel (Matte) for the application over the pink square. All the mixtures will dry with a very flat matte surface. If I had used Heavy Gel (Gloss), the surfaces would be a shiny glossy surface.

An added benefit of using the Heavy Gel is that I "extended" my paint, saving money. Color is always more expensive than a Gel.

You can alter this board by changing the 1:1 mixture to a 1:4 mixture of paint to gel (1 part paint to 4 parts gel). This will create a more translucent color, allowing the base coats to show though. The Heavy Gel (Matte) will give this mixture a wax or encaustic look, while using a Heavy Gel (Gloss) will create a stained glass window effect.

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