Mixed Media Jigsaw Puzzle

Fun post for you today! I took a plain white jigsaw puzzle I had on hand and put it through the color works. A little bit of everything and I then had a fun, colorful, bright puzzle to put together while I was thinking about what to do next. Hahahah! A little trouble focusing these days. Let me show you what I did.

I originally ran this post back in May on a different site. If it looks familiar, I hope you will revisit it with me. It began with a gelli plate and some acrylic paints from Dylusions. Rose quartz and lemon zest at first and just a small amount because these paints go a long way on a gelli plate.

Using a brayer, I rolled the color back and forth and side to side till my plate was covered. Nothing too technical happening in this post today, just play and fun. I took a sheet of card stock and made a lift to remove some of the paint. 

Remember that Taking Back the Studio project I am committed to? The one where I use every stencil I own at least once? Here is a stencil! And it’s a fine one and it was pristine. Hahahaha! The stencil went down on top of the plate, then I took the fresh lime bottle of acrylic and rolled out a layer right on top of the stencil.

I am missing a couple photos here, nothing new there. Hahaha! I removed the stencil and did a lift with that same sheet of card stock. Then the fun started.

I had this plain, white, blank jigsaw puzzle sitting off to the side and an idea came to me. I wondered if I could gelli print with the puzzle. My plate needed a little more color so I added some pink in just a couple areas and placed the puzzle face down into the color. Smooshed it all around real good and lifted. Not so great for detail but I got lots of color. If you look you can still see some flower shapes with the green paint. At this point I wasn’t sure I was going to like my puzzle and didn’t know if it was a keeper or not, so I continued.

I tried the fresh lime and the stencil again, the same steps as before. When I removed the stencil, I made another lift using the puzzle. And I got more green, but still not much detail.

I rolled a layer of bubblegum pink all over the gelli plate and made that lift you see in the background. I used it later and made something really cool with it. And I did another lift with my jigsaw puzzle. And I got more star shape/flower shape this time. And I was liking it better.

Then I wondered if I could draw on it. If my pens would work over acrylic on paper, why wouldn’t they work over acrylic on a puzzle? So I used my heat tool and dried the whole thing really well and grabbed a technical drawing pen from Zebra Pen and started outlining each piece of the puzzle. A little tricky because the surface was slick. So, not perfect but now I was really liking the potential I was seeing.

Jane Davenport’s Paint Over Pens – they worked great for making a border!

And another color for mark making.

But it needed more contrast, more dark. That same technical pen added some tangling – some ripped screen and printemps. And my chop is hiding in there, too! Tipple came with a white Uniball Signo pen.

I felt like it had lost its oomph and needed some help, so out came the fruit punch Dyestress ink pad.

I did not ink the edges but in retrospect I probably should have. Hahahaha! But I did use the ink pad to scuff across the puzzle surface and bring some more pink to the equation. And a green paint pen.

I was just opening drawers and pulling supplies out. I hadn’t used these chalk inks in a long time. I was surprised this one still worked. Hahaha! Stamped some ink pad shapes in a few places. And honestly I still wasn’t sure if I would keep this or throw it in the trash.

But it was growing on me. Those blue scuffs are from a Ranger Distress ink pad. Just scuffed right over the surface.

I brought those paint over pens back out and added more of the pink. I used a green paint pen for mark making, and I brought out a white Sharpie water based paint pen to make white marks everywhere! Yes! Now I love it!

And I knew it was time to stop before I messed things up. And apparently I have my chop on this puzzle in at least three places. Hahahahahaha! Make that four places. I keep looking. Five places, I’m going to stop now.

This puzzle stuck together very well while I worked. Taking the pieces apart was a little bit of a challenge, but that just means the pieces will hold up better over time. And yes, I did put the puzzle together again. It was a lot of fun! I think I may buy more of these now that I know I can actually do something fun with them. Here is a link to one that Michael’s carries online. Have fun! I would love to see what you do!