All right. Raise your hand if you know what gesso is. One, three seven, eight...that’s it? I kid. Sort of. Gesso is one of those silly paradox types of products. Paper crafters tend to see gesso as something only a true artist (whatever that means) would use and true artists (let me know if you have a definition of one) tend to think what paper crafters do with it is ridiculous.

Well, that’s what I was recently told by an art school professor who was flipping through one of my scrapbooks and couldn’t get over how much gesso I use and in “such absurd and non-traditional ways.” Pfft. What’s traditional? Doesn’t being creative with a product that’s basically a primer make me a true artist? (Let the record show that she didn’t have an answer for that one.)

As I watched her thumb through the pages and scratch at things with her fingernails (can’t imagine how she’d take it if I went around scratching on her carefully placed fine art wall hangings, but I digress), I realized I’m one of those paper crafters who likes to do ridiculous things with gesso.

Want to slap this crazy label on your forehead? If so, then this class is perfect for you and it’s taught by a true gesso fiend. Now I can’t make you a list of all the things you’ll learn in this class cause then what would you need to take it for, right? But what I can tell you is that it’s more than just a primer or an adhesive and my obsession goes way beyond swipe and paint.

In Gesso: It’s More than Just a Primer, I’ll teach you the basics and how to apply it correctly (cause it really does matter!), simple uses for it, the way it was intended to be used (to make Ms. Professor Prissy Pants happy) and then get you thinking way outside the proverbial box.

Sadly, that’s all I can tell you but if you gather some stencils and some glitter and some sparkly stuff and some embellishments and some photos and oh heck, just sit in the middle of your scrap space and be ready to reach for anything and everything cause if gesso can stick to it (unfortunately, it doesn’t stick to everything), you’ll learn how to slap it on there and do some mighty cool tricks with it.

I guess you’ll just have to jump in to the fray and find out if it’s worth the hype.