Most of you know that I’ve been talking about wanting a captive audience for awhile. And so, it made sense that my ‘captive audience’ should take the form of a blog. I don’t know what the heck I’m doing. Seriously. I don’t. I’m working with smoke and mirrors at this point. One of my motivators is being fully cognizant of the true supporters out there in social media world. Most of them are painters themselves, most of them are very established and really don’t ‘need’ to have any professional association with me. But they do. And they cheer me on.
Robyn Story is one of these people. She’s been one of my biggest supporters from the get-go. I ordered my first can of Artisan Enhancements from her, almost two years ago, and she took time out to basically walk me through the process. She’s always there, quietly clapping in my corner.
When I told her about my crazy idea about the blog, she said that she’d like to help me with it. Help me officially launch it, so to speak. With a BANG! We both agreed that it was quite fitting that we/she/I do a giveaway with AE – the product that introduced us. I love Artisan Enhancements. Absolutely great products. If a product is great I’ll tell you, if it’s not I’ll tell you.
Artisan Enhancements – you have to try. You just have to. Robyn is putting together a basket of AE products, that will be part of the giveaway starting tomorrow. I’m going to run the giveaway until August 10th, when I get back from England. It’s going to be straight forward: Like my Facebook page, Subscribe to the blog, Like my Pinterest board and you’re entered to win! After that we shall be eternally bonded. I would love it if you could tell people about the contest also. I’m using an app to pick the winner, simply because I don’t want to have to put my hand in a hat and pull out a name. I don’t do well with stress.
So let me just quickly tell you what the products are (the retail value is $160).
The Pearl
Plaster is a versatile product that can be troweled on to give a chunky, opalescent relief effect when using a stencil or dry-brushed on to have a look of zinc. This was a brown shiny ceramic horse la
mp base before Pearl Plaster. I had a pair of them. I called them ‘The Godfather’ Lamps. They sold really quickly! HUGE difference!
The Clear Topcoat is fabulous as your final coat, it can even be used in conjunction with the waxes!! Another wonderful attribute of the Clear Topcoat is that it is rated for exterior use. I used this AE topcoat on my stair banister. I have three germ-infested kids. It’s still holding up. Better than I am, actually.
The Crackle Tex is a medium that can be used between coats of Chalk Paint® to create a large, textural crackle. When used with the Transfer Gel it can be ‘lifted’ off to reveal your transferred work of art, leaving the edges crusty. When finished with waxes this crusty edge will look textural and aged, like found artwork! 
The Crackle Tex can also be used with the Fine Stone. Fine Stone is paint with aggregate, this product will have a look of concrete when dried, when used with the Crackle Tex it will resemble aged, cracked concrete. This is a waterfall style desk that I did with Image Transfer Gel, Crackle Tex and Pearl Plaster. I have yet to work with the fine stone. I’d like to use it with a big stencil. Pretty.
We have also included decorative papers. These are images that have been printed on vintage paper. They are wonderful for decoupaging on cabinet doors to create works of art!
There are two latex moldings that can be applied on any surface with contact cement. Once applied they can be finished like any wood product. They give a beautiful detailed effect on any surface that needs a little character! (I haven’t used these yet). I’ll show you a photo of them tomorrow. They are simply quite cool.
So, pretty exciting stuff. I do want this blog to be a success. I want it to be a fun, learning experience – even if it ends up that I’m the only one learning anything! Make yourself be known to everyone. Let’s make this interaction. We have great products to begin with, we have the desire, let’s go for it. You guys in?
(insert catchy ending phrase here)
Diane aka The Paint Factory
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