Heavy Gel Medium for Dimension and Texture
This product is part of Part 2 of the Playing with Gels & Pastes series, where I explore the individual gels and pastes included in my experiments.
Little Birdie Heavy Gel Medium (matte) is a transparent, flexible, extra-heavy-body acrylic gel medium designed to add volume, viscosity and density to acrylic paints.
According to the product information, it can be mixed with paints, pigments and inks, used as a binder for powder pigments and used to create dimensional textures that hold high peaks. It is also recommended for decoupage, 3D collage and creating custom gels.
I included this product in my Getting to Know Your Gels & Pastes experiments to see how its thicker consistency affected the way it performed compared with other gel mediums.
Characteristics
Heavy Gel Medium has a very thick, firm consistency and is considerably thicker than the other two gel mediums I tested.
It did not dry completely clear and its finish was also not quite as matte as the Dala Gel Medium.
Ways to Use Little Birdie Heavy Gel Medium Matte
Create Dimension and Stencilled Designs
The thick consistency makes this product particularly useful when you want to build dimension or create raised texture.
It works very well through a stencil and, unlike a very fluid gel, has enough body to hold its shape.
Create an Ink Resist
Once dry, Heavy Gel Medium worked perfectly as an ink resist, allowing inks blended over the surface to be resisted by the areas covered with gel medium.
Both Distress Ink and Distress Oxide Ink could be blended over the dried gel, with the gel covered areas resisting the ink and allowing the stencilled design to show through.
Paint Over It
The dried Heavy Gel Medium could be painted over, although the paint did not show as clearly on it as it did on some of the other gel mediums I tested.
Use It as an Adhesive
Despite being described as an excellent adhesive by the manufacturer, my particular adhesive experiments produced mixed results.
The Heavy Gel Medium did not successfully hold the button, and although the sand initially adhered, it later started falling off the cardstock.
For the types of adhesive applications I tested, I would therefore choose another gel medium.
Heat Embossing and Foiling
Heavy Gel Medium performed well for both heat embossing and foiling.
Tint the Gel
It was easy to tint with ink, making it possible to create a custom-coloured dimensional gel.
Silicone Moulds
The silicone mould experiment produced an interesting result.
Instead of creating a solid shape, the Heavy Gel Medium produced a hollowed-out form. The outside still looked good, but it did not produce the same solid moulded embellishment as the Soft Gel Medium.
My Favourite Uses
Heavy Gel Medium
- Thick applications
- Creating dimensional texture
- Stencilling
- Holding raised peaks
- Extending or thickening acrylic paint
- Ink resist
- Heat embossing
- Foiling
- Custom colours
Not my first choice for: Adhering embellishments or creating solid silicone-mould shapes
I would reach for this when: I need a thick gel that will hold its shape and create raised, dimensional texture.
Explore More
- Getting to Know Your Gels & Pastes
See how I tested the different gels and pastes in my stash and what I wanted to discover. - Ways to Use Gels & Pastes
Explore which gels and pastes worked for stencilling, ink resist, adhesives, moulds, heat embossing, foiling and more. - Comparing 3 Gel Mediums: Which Should You Use?
See how Dala Gel Medium, Little Birdie Soft Gel Medium(gloss) and Little Birdie Heavy Gel Medium(matte) compare and when I would choose one over the other.
PLEASE NOTE: All the opinions are my own. None of the products have been sponsored.