What Is The Weirdest Ingredient/tool You Have Ever Worked With?

Well, I don't know about weird but I sometimes use sand to make things look like stone, or a concrete wall. I have also used fishing line to act as guitar strings.

Lipstick and eyeliner went into a painting once because well, I was in a pinch. I don't think that's unusual really, it's not like eye of Newt.

I would love to use sand too, but I am too concerned about the glass on my scanner.

When I have my list of 100 million things completed I want to work on canvas & do collages with everything under the sun on them. I think I will be very satisfied with the multi textural experience.

I need to be famous though first, who wants all those canvases laying around.

Sand, thats smart. I use sandpaper on my oils too. It fades it quite nicely and gives it a different texture I like.

I've used a paint vibrator to shake paint into an abstract form.

Created fused glass wafers using glass powders in my kiln & used up some gold thread in this acrylic impasto collage...




~ Carmen Hathaway

Aeroplane dope.

I was a portrait artist in a stained glass studio...I have to agree with Carmen....
glass powder is wicked!
most recently, i have loved using hand made papers in my mixed media paintings.

I paint my photographs with acrylic and add glitter, but that's about it. I was using Mod Podge but it never dried thoroughly.

When I started painting then I would always wear the bristles off my brushes and end up with a stick. So I just bought a box of toothpicks, and have used them ever since.
--mary ellen anderson

I have painted on wet and dry sandpaper which was quite effective. And I sometimes add wood glue to acrylic paint.

When I first started painting as a kid I didn't have a lot of money growing up so I used what ever I could get my hands on for tools. Tooth brushes. Q-tips, my moms make-up pads and brushes, sticks, tooth picks, sharpened popsicle sticks, tampons, my dads carpentry pencils you name it. As far as far as strange media goes, sometimes I would use nailpolish or make-up, or natural ingredients like berries or dandilions. This helped me learn to be versatile and still helps me today. There is always a way to create, even if you don't have much money.

I just pulled out a memory from waaaay back....
One of the best pick up lines I ever fell for, was "Paint me a painting!" So, i did and ended up dating the guy for 2 years and created a life long friendship. Back in the day, I used oils and ran out of linseed oil. I was painting at his apartment and I substituted vegetable oil. darn thing never dried! lol

Carmen glass powder? i had no idea there was such a thing? Sounds so interesting.

Vincent a paint vibrator sounds awesome. I saw someone using a squirt bottle and put it on mist for a abstract.

Mick Aeroplane dope?

Marlene hand made papers would give cool textures.

chuck paint your photographs? I had no idea that could be done

Mary Ellen sticks are fun to push around the paint with. I have these candy apple sticks and i lerrrv them.

Barbara that sounds like mad texture. Love that idea.

@Melissa, I hate the reflection from glass, so these particular photos I printed on canvas and then painted them with clear acrylic and left out the glass.

It was sort of like painting by the numbers: I painted in the lips, eyes, hair and so on, so when they reflected the light at an angle, they looked like a painting.

In this show we called them mixed-media, which they are, and the other photographers in the show thought they were paintings.

I've also painted on Premium Luster photo paper and actually like that better.

Melissa...experiment using isopropyl/rubbing alcohol in a mist bottle... other ways...see the part at 5:34 in this video for how I use it in process.

Working wet-in-wet -- that's water I'm spraying on my piece already painted in several acrylic layers.. Dipping the fine liner in the rubbing alcohol and applying it to fresh washes of acrylic I've placed...well, you can see what happens. A similar effect to the 'bloom' effect in watercolour using salt.

I created this video as part of a solo exhibition ...it was installed in a viewing area off the main so patrons could see how it all came together.






~ Carmen Hathaway

As a photographer, the most unusual tool I've used is a piece of welder's glass to capture a solar eclipse.

Chuck that is brilliant and they are lovely and colorful. Awesome technique!
Carmen that technique is amazing. I never would have thought alcohol would do that. Beautiful shapes and changes..love it!
Loree you know i've heard of the welders helmet to view one but i never would have thought it would have taken such a great picture. I wouldn't have had the courage to try it.Well done!

Glad you enjoyed Melissa...if you dig into the video some more...you'll also see what I created with drywall modeling paste and some odds & ends ;)

It only runs 7 minutes...




~ Carmen Hathaway

This is a large canvas. The base was composed of various textures of sand mixed with gesso and color then rolled on with a brayer. The lines were flowed on with house paint rolling off of a fork and waved conductor style. Then fill in the appropriate areas with colors.

Thank you Carment I will check that out :D
Keven thank you for showing that piece. Yes, I can definitely see the concrete look to the block. Great idea for he sand in Gesso. Makes a lot of sense. Love this work by the way.

You're welcome Melissa...by the way...check out colored aquarium gravel...relatively inexpensive.

Add that to your acrylics...black into white...orange into blue, etc ...mix'em up...

Used to be kits when I was a kid...came with a variety of color gravel, a panel board which you glued heavy cord to a pattern --spread glue on the outined areas & added gravel...so much fun. And so easy to replicate :)

Don't forget to repurpose old costume jewelry...embed the gems in tetxural pieces. Also those inexpensive flat back glass nuggets...and marbles too...party like you're 4 years old...magic happens ;)



~ Carmen Hathaway

sounds like an awesome idea Carmen.. Ill have to try that!

And tacky glue -- just take a bit of regular white glue -- about a tablespoon in a wee container -- let it sit out without a lid and within a day or so -- tacky glue. It's merely a water to glue ratio thang.

Even better is carpenter's glue -- a bit on the yellowing side -- super adhesive qualities though. You can paint very easily with acrylics on the dry glue surface -- they both contain polymers.

The cord I described earlier Melissa is venetian blind braided cord -- you'll find that in any fabric or drapery dept.



~ Carmen Hathaway