Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi Medium

Here are some techniques for using Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi Medium as Glue.

By Claudine Hellmuth

Using Studio Multi Medium to glue your layouts or artwork is a great way to protect your work. You’ll create a smooth, waterproof and archival surface which will stand the test of time. What is Multi Medium? Multi Medium is gel medium — essentially acrylic paint without the pigment, so it dries clear. It is used to seal surfaces as a type of varnish. You can also mix it with your acrylic paint to make the paint into glazes. And because it is archival and non-yellowing, many people like to use it as their glue. Multi Medium is available in both Matte or Gloss finishes.

	Step One To get started here are the supplies that I am using. A small canvas, a dictionary page, gift wrap, a few small buttons (I’ll show you how to glue small objects too!), paint brushes and Multi-Medium from my Claudine Hellmuth Studio Line with Ranger.

	Step Two The first step to gluing without air bubbles is to coat your surface with a nice thick layer of Multi-Medium. You want to make sure to go back and forth and that there are no areas without medium. If you have any gaps in medium you will create an air bubble. So take your time and get good coverage.

	Step Three Then lay your paper down on top of the wet Multi-Medium. Don’t press down at first. Then take your brush with more Multi-Medium and spread it on top of the paper starting in the middle and spreading from the center out. This will force out any air to the outer edges of the paper and off your artwork. The larger the size of paper you are gluing the trickier it can be to not have any air bubbles. If you are working on a large size piece of paper you need to work fast to make sure the medium doesn’t dry before you have the chance to press the bubbles out.

	Step Four Sometimes I like to take my finger and smoosh around on the paper to really make sure those air bubbles are out. if I see any I can take my finger and gently coax them away to the edge. This only works while the medium is still wet on top. It acts a lubricant so that way I don’t tear the top layer of paper.

	Step Five Here I repeated the process again with a layer of wrapping paper on top of the dictionary page. You can layer as many layers of paper as you like using this method.

	Step Six You can also glue objects using Multi-Medium! (that’s why we called it “MULTI-medium”! Because you can do so many things with it, transfers, gluing, glazes etc) Here’s how to glue a button. Add a glob of Multi-Medium to the back of your button.

	Step Seven Press down to your surface.

	Step Eight Then take a clean brush and clean up the excess. Wait to dry and viola! It will be glued on there forever and because of the flexible nature of the medium, you will never have to worry about it falling off!

	Step Nine Here’s an extreme close-up of the finished gluing demo so you can see how smooth the surface is. Now I have created a nice waterproof and archival surface that will stand the test of time! TIP: Don’t let Multi-Medium, Gesso or acrylic paints dry on your brushes. Always place them in water directly after using!

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