How to keep art journal pages from sticking together?

by Susi Richardson
(Concord, NH)

Mixed Media Art Questions
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Hi Milliande,





I have been loving Art Journaling January!

You have tended to use both inks and acrylics on your art journal pages, so this may not be a great issue for you, but in the past when I've done art journal round robins and in my own books, too, when the pages are made with a lot of acrylic paints and/or medium they tend to stick together, especially over time, often pulling up the paper by accident (big bummer!).

Is the best way to avoid this by favoring inks and collage papers or is there another solution for pages that are top heavy on paint? I have seen a protective sheet inserted between pages, but that's less than ideal for appreciating a 2-page spread...

I'd love to hear yours and others' thoughts on this.

A thousand thanks,

Susi


Mixed Media Art Questions answered by Milliande
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Hi Susi,

and I am glad you are inspired by Art Journal January ..

~ As to your question ... I think it depends on what type of paints are used, how long gel medium is left to dry between different layers on your art journal page and what temperatures one works in to start with

~ I often use a heat gun in my art journal, simply to speed up the drying time and it often adds a sort of curing effect to the paint too , but it can make the art journal paper buckle a bit under the heat ..

~ When i prepare pages in altered book journals I put a sheet of non stick paper , such as used for cooking etc in between as the pages are drying .. that when there is a residue left ..it tends to not stick .. works well with pre gessoing too

~ However transporting an art journal can bring other issues with it ..
Most paints need some time to fully cure before they are less sticky ... gel mediums that are matte tend to dry less sticky then their gloss equivalent

~ So if I wanted my art journal to travel , folded and pressed etc.. i would leave each page to cure for about a week if I had used acrylic gel mediums , paints etc ..

~ Sometimes it is also worth playing around with a thin coat of matte spray varnish ..which i often use to protect watercolours in my art journal from smudging if I want to add gel medium etc on top ... it can also be useful for sealing in slightly sticky pages... but may give the page a sheen ..

~ Another option to experiment with is to used something like a pastel spray fixative.. as used on top of pastel pencils and sticks .. again just a soft top layer that may prevent the sticking

Looking forward what other artists suggest

hope this helps
♥ milliande