One of the most frequently asked question I am asked is “What is the best Gesso to use in Bible Journaling or Art Journals in General?” And we have spent a lot of money trying to find the answer to that question. I finally have an answer, it is – by far, Krylon Gesso Spray. That is, as long as Opaque White is ok for your project.    ~ Jackie Mattingly

I have to admit it is not easy to find, at least in arts and crafts stores, which made me wonder if it was that hard to find was it really going to work? I would have just ordered it from Amazon.com but I have been traveling and wanted to give it a try after somebody asked me if I had ever used it . . . But I finally landed in one spot long enough to order and wait for it to arrive . .. tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.

Like all aerosol cans, the directions said to shake it for 2 minutes . . turns out that is VERY important since it is going on paper . . . . I jumped right in, shook it a little and did a test on one of the back blank pages of my Bible and was totally not impressed. It had blobs and bubbles and the disappointment was setting in quickly. No wonder stores did not carry it. But I had a pumpkin that needed primed for another project so I shook the can some more and did the gentle wave back and forth until the pumpkin was covered with the white gesso. I let the pumpkin dry, picked it up and gave it a good look. Hmm, nice, smooth, no bubbles or graininess. Maybe I had gotten ahead of myself when it came to spraying the page.

IMPORTANT TIPS FOR USING KRYLON GESSO SPRAY  :

Prior to spraying page, shake can vigorously for over 2 minutes.

If it is the first time you use that particular can, spray something else first.

Make sure and place a paper under the page you are going to spray to keep excess off the rest of the Bible or journal so the pages won’t stick together.

You may want to make a mask to keep the spray off the columns of type also.

Turn the Bible or Journal 90 degrees so you are spraying from top to bottom of the page or vice versa so you can start spraying before you get to the paper and spray until after you have cleared the other edge.

Let the gesso dry and remove the mask carefully.

Once my page dried I was extremely pleased with the smooth texture, and I let it dry over night before I started drawing or putting any product on the pages.

krylon-spray-gesso-romans-8-31-outlining-in-micron-pen-and-fine-point-sharpie

I have had to deal with Micron Pens and Sharpie Fine Point Pens (and other fine point markers as well as ball point pens) that seem to immediately dry up when I have tried to draw on top of Gesso and I was honestly surprised that both of those pens seemed to draw smoother on the Krylon Gesso Spray than on the bare pages.

krylon-spray-gesso-romans-8-31-back-of-page

When doing these 2 pages I went out of my way to use every pen from the office cup where I try to quarantine pens that bleed. I used metallic pens, I used my Gelly Roll Silver Shadow pens that are the worst bleeding pens I own. I used watercolor paints. I even used enamel paint pens. More than that I used Alcohol Ink with a tiny paint brush.

The only thing that bled through to the back of the paper was the alcohol ink and then only where I had drawn little circles with a ball point pen. I though it was very interesting that the ball point pen (Black Bic off the desk) seemed to “break the surface” of the gesso, letting the alcohol ink seep through. You can see from the back of the page that the circles from the Bic pen can be seen in the cascade of little circles and the burst up at the right.

Of interest is, the photo of the back of the page, picked up more product ghosting than you notice just looking at it. Most of which is the black ball point pen and the half circle of metallic gold that you can see goes into the column where there was no gesso.

krylon-spray-gesso-romans-8-31-double-page-spread

See close ups of the 2 pages in the Gallery here.

 

If you are interested in ordering the Krylon Gesso Spray from Amazon.com, please click on this ad to be directed to their site. Any purchases, while there, will give us a small bonus, at no extra cost to you. This will help fund the CBJ ministry here on the web. Thanks ~ Susan

“Creative-Bible-Journaling.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking from/to amazon.com.”

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