Recycling Bubble Wrap for Backgrounds
This is by no means a new technique - it has been around since the first artist received a package protected by bubble wrap. That doesn’t make it any less awesome, though. I am working on some backgrounds for the sea themed swap I am in and decided the bubble wrap technique would be perfect.
Start by laying a piece of bubble wrap on your table with the bubbles up. Apply paint to the bubble wrap. I used three different shades of blue, including a dab of interference paint.
A few tips for this part of the process:
- If you have any place important to be the next day, wear gloves.
- Move anything that could get splattered out of the way. Then move it all another foot out of the way, because you have underestimated the splatter power on a determined speck of paint.
- Wear gloves.
- Don’t be overly stingy with the paint. It will tend to run into the crevices and you want it to coat the top of the bubble wrap, too.
- Wear gloves.
Use a mister bottle to squirt a bit of water over the bubble wrap to blend the colors a bit and make your acrylic paints have a more watery, inky consistency. Don’t overdo it. Three or four quick squirts should be plenty.
Place a piece of paper over the bubble wrap and roll over it 
with your brayer
or rolling pin.
You may want to put a quick coat of paint on your paper first to create a richer, more dimensional effect, as I did in the second sample.
Photos by me.
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POSTED IN: Technique Tuesday
1 opinion for Recycling Bubble Wrap for Backgrounds
ruth
Jun 12, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Cool I’ve just tried this and it’s brill–work really well-thanks for sharing
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