I’m back with the second post in my Various Art Medium series. This time I’m working in the NLT Inspire Bible. The paper quality in this Bible is identical (or at least so close I can’t tell the difference) to the My Creative Bible so some of these results are like the ones in last week’s post.
No bleed through
Colored Pencils work perfectly with no bleed through (as expected). My coloring is pretty basic but I’ve seen some absolutely beautiful pictures from this Bible done in pencil. I’m planning on experimenting and seeing if I can do some of the bright colors and almost painted look others have managed. Pencils are a great choice for beginners (and all the rest of us) not just because they don’t bleed through but because of their versatility, erasability (is that a real word), and how easily available they are in a wide range of colors. Ones with softer leads will blend better and not indent your pages as much.
My daughter’s Inspire arrived a week ago. She wanted the aqua one because of the butterfly printed page edges. Here is the first picture she’s colored. She used Crayola metallic colored pencils. The muted colors are pretty but, if they don’t look metallic don’t worry it isn’t your monitor settings, they aren’t metallic looking or even shiny.
I like the way the word this turned out, at the right angle the word “Pray” almost seems like it was layered in on top of the rest of the page. This was a lot of fun using every pink, green, and purple gel pen I had.
I love the bright colors of gel pens (especially the glittery ones). Most of them don’t bleed through too much, the exceptions being metallic pink and a couple other dark ones, but when I colored large areas all one color (light blue) the paper crinkled noticeably. Edit 7/26/16 The dark pink does actually bleed through slightly (probably because I overworked it) the other gel pens only show through. I’ll be more careful to use the correct term in the future.
I did this one with a combination of plain and pearlescent watercolors with gesso underneath. I managed to get the gesso on with a minimum of crinkle on this page. The gesso does a wonderful job of keeping the watercolor from bleeding through.
This page is also gessoed but I didn’t do quite as good of a good of keeping the crinkle down. It’s done with gel pens over watercolors. I made sure the watercolor was completely dry but I still have indents with some of the gel pens. After looking at the backs of every page I’ve done with gel pen I’ve decided the indenting is only slightly worse on a page that has been wet and mostly due to trying to trying to cover large areas pressing harder when the ink isn’t flowing quite as smooth.
I used my spending money this week to buy this set of paints because I just HAD to know if it was possible to paint without gessoing first like these paints claimed. (Isn’t it cool they specifically mention Bible journaling) I have to say I’m very pleasantly surprised. The page did crinkle, but no worse than it would have with gesso and there almost no bleed show through even of the bold blue. The acrylic paint did cover up some of the beautiful detail work in the drawing. I did my best to add some of it back in (the pink flower and stone wall) and highlighted some of what was faint under the pale blue. Also it’a a little harder for me to stay in the lines when filling in letters with paint than when I’m using a pencil or pen.
Using these new paints was a little scary but fun too. I’m going to have to find a supplier that carries these individually so I can buy extra white. The pigments are so strong it takes a lot of white and only a little color to make most light colors. Edit 7/26/2016 I’ve learned that all full body (high viscosity) acrylics work this way on bible paper. I’ll have no trouble getting more white I just have to look or acrylic paint that comes in tubes not bottles.
This week for my example of how well some your hand done artwork might work in this Bible I went with a slightly scrapbook style instead of stamps. I’m more familiar with KJV but love the way this verse reads in the NLT.
I used stickers, washi tape, and three styles of pens. You can see the metallic marker and the gel pen through the page a little bit but the calligraphy marker bleeds through a lot more. Of course when I wrote on top of the washi tape it didn’t bleed through at all. Stickers and washi tape would also be very useful for covering up bleed through if I want to work on the back of some of these pages. I actually worked this verse from the bottom up and added a couple of flourishes when it became obvious I didn’t need as much space between lines as I had planned for.
If you want to know exactly what products I used for these pictures: (the clickable ones are affiliate links)
Inspire Bible NLT: The Bible for Creative Journaling
Prismacolor Soft Core Colored Pencil, 48 pack
Crayola 8ct Metallic Colored Pencils
LolliZ Gel Pens 48 Gel Pen Tray Set
Illustrated Faith Journaling Bible Mat
Crayola 24 Ct Washable Watercolors
Pearlescent Watercolor Paint Cakes 16/Pkg-Assorted Colors
Prima Marketing Art Basics Gesso, 8.5-Ounce, Clear
ACRYLIC PAINT SET of 24 COLORS
CaseMate Metallic Marker – Silver
hampton art Calligraphy Marker – Black
the Paper Studio Alphabet Stickers – Script 7/16″ Navy
the Paper Studio Faith Sticker Pack
the Paper Studio Decorative Tape, Blue Chevron, Washi Tape, 2 pack
All of these except the Acrylic Paint Set I already had on hand. The Paper Studio items were purchased at Hobby Lobby and I honestly don’t remember which craft or big box store the metallic and calligraphy markers were purchased at though I’m sure most of them at least carry something comparable. I have bought my craft products not only from Amazon and Hobby Lobby, but Walmart, Micheal’s, Staples, and others.
If you have one of these Bibles I hope you have as much fun and gain as much inspiration working it as I have this week. I’m slowly learning to be less nervous and let go of perfectionism.
Next week will be a post listing some of the articles and web sites I found most helpful when I started art journaling. I also have another Various Art Medium Post planned using the Crossway Single Column Journaling Bible. Since I have to do all my own artwork that one be posted for 2 to 4 weeks. I will have some sort of Art Journaling post going up every Friday if I can manage it.
Are there any art supplies you’ve been pleasantly surprised by? What verses do like best in a certain translation? Do you want more of these Various Art Medium posts? If so, in which Bible?What other kind of Art Journaling posts would you like to see? (links to favvorite sites, reviews of products, how-tos, something else) Please let us know in the comments.
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