Home › Forums › Explore Media › Mixed Media, Encaustics, Collage and Alternative Materials › HELP! Anyone Working with Acrylic on Vellum?: How do you stop it from WRINKLING???

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  • March 30, 2004 at 1:05 am #984067
    ~Memory~
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        Hey everyone. I need some help or some friendly advice from you guys.
        I’ve cross-posted this in the Acrylics forum as well, but I’m trying to cover some ground here for those of you whom might not browse that forum. I’m stuck, and I am REALLY in need of some advice/assistance.

        This weekend I went out and bought some synthetic vellum. I have never used vellum as a painting ground before, so I was pretty much in the dark in a new world when I delved into it today and attempted to paint on it.

        This pic I’ve posted is a 5″ x 7″ with fluid acrylics and ink. I plan on painting it on canvas later, but I thought it would be a good subject to start on vellum with.

        HA! I was so wrong. The reverse painting technique I used, which is working on the reverse side going from the foreground to the background turned out okay, (it could have been better, but I’ll get used to it sooner or later) but the biggest problem was that the vellum wrinkled—-badly. You can see it in the scan.

        My question is, do you have to treat vellum in a way like that of watercolor paper, maybe? Would you have to size it before you painted on it? I have absolutely no idea as how to keep this from wrinkling. I didn’t water down the paint, so I couldn’t have saturated it too much, could I?

        I am two seconds away from layin the painting down on a table, throwin a handkerchief on top of it, and straightening it out with a curling iron…lol The reason I say curling iron is because it doesn’t get as hot as a clothing iron and I know that vellum scorches easy. But as unconventional as it is, it probably won’t work either.

        I am seriously at my wits end on this. If you can lend some advice or ideas even, please do, because I really like this technique and it would be a shame that I have to lay it down because I have to chuck every single piece I do because it wrinkles.

        Maybe I could make lemonade out of these lemons I’ve been handed and work the wrinkles in to my advantage…..Can anyone say mixed media collage? LOL It’d be some great texture anyway, a happy accident if you would. :D Plus, I’ve got some papers and things I’ve been absolutely dying to find a reason to use, so maybe that would be the route to go. Please help. :D

        Thanks for looking and the help you guys!

        My Webpage

        The world, and everything we see in this life is a puzzle... I seek to put things back together with my work.
        ~Kell~

        March 30, 2004 at 7:50 am #1027743
        Jakeally

            Hi! Memory … a big welcome to our little part of WC :D
            I just did a Google search and there doesn’t seem to be much info on Painting on Vellum. I did come across this link which gives some names you might research on …http://www.willsquills.com.au/phorum/read.php?f=1&i=38&t=36 .

            Hope this helps a little :)

            Best wishes Chris
            Decorative Arts, Pen & Ink, Uploading Images
            My Photos

            March 30, 2004 at 9:08 am #1027745
            ~Memory~
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                Thx for the warm welcome Chris, :D

                I’ve done searches as well, and the only thing I’m coming up with are advertisements of companies selling vellum, and a few artists selling pieces they have on vellum.

                I think that the best way to go would be to email the artists who are painting vellum-grounded pieces and see if they’re willing to lend a hand. I know that some artists out there are sometimes very secretive about their techniques, so let’s just hope that I can find one online who’s willing to give me some advice and/or share some pointers.

                Thanks for the link, the second post on the page was very helpful. I’ll follow up on the information that was given. :) I plan on experimenting with the vellum a little bit, so if I figure something out that works, and is consistent, I’ll either post it to the forums, or maybe write an article or something on it. Everything is eventually figured out by trial and error, so I figure discovery is a good thing when you persevere. :D

                I already have a few theories of my own, so if I test them out and they work, then I’m back in business. :)

                Thanks again. :D

                My Webpage

                The world, and everything we see in this life is a puzzle... I seek to put things back together with my work.
                ~Kell~

                March 31, 2004 at 5:14 pm #1027744
                Peg
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                    Curious did you try a spray fixative (like we use to seal charcoal paintings) to maybe seal it first before painting or between layers? Anything with water base would not work. Peg M

                    Peg M
                    Woodinville, Wa. (Cottage Lake)

                    April 10, 2012 at 9:40 am #1027746
                    LMCB
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                        I know that this is many years too late for the original poster, but for anyone else looking to paint on vellum this may be helpful.

                        I work for an art materials manufacturer and for one of our trade show booths we are creating murals on our Clearprint Vellum. One is with Grumbacher Academy Oil Colors, another is with Grumbacher Academy Acrylics. With both I’ve sized the vellum with Grumbacher Acrylic Gloss Medium and Varnish after taping down the vellum with painter’s tape. It’ll wrinkle like crazy after you do the first coat of Gloss Medium, even with the tape. However, it starts to straighten out as it dries. I applied a second coat of the Gloss medium in the opposite direction as the first application. I let it dry a second time before untaping it from the table it was on, and then re-taping it flat against the wall. In my small trials I just re-taped it back onto the table I was working on to straighten it out again. When you apply your paint the buckling is no longer an issue.

                        You can check out pictures of this project on our Grumbacher facebook page: (facebook.com/Grumbacher)

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