I wanted to do something different with my glass coaster blanks (left over from my daughter's wedding).  I am not very good at painting, but figured I could stamp an outline and then paint in the detail.  However, glass is not great for this, as it is too slippery a surface ... so I wondered if the transparent gesso might help and I was definitely not disappointed!

I grabbed 4 coasters and the transparent gesso and painted a layer onto the one coaster.  As soon as I did that, I wondered whether painting it on was the best method, so chose to try a different technique for applying the gesso to the other coasters.  I had already used a paintbrush, so I had a look in my 'tools drawer' and found a sponge 'brush', a sponge 'dauber' and a sponge roller and proceeded to apply the gesso with these.

Just after application and once dry

I applied a second coat to each coaster, using the same tool as before and absolutely loved the finish.  I didn't sand the final coat as suggested because I loved the look of the surface.  The sponge 'brush' appeared to drag a bit and looked like it might be a fail, but it worked out fine in the end!

By this stage, I had already decided I wanted to do something bright and happy, so I settled on my sunflower stamps by Julie Hickey but wanted to see how different techniques worked on the surfaces I now had to work with.

For the coaster that I coated using a paintbrush, I stamped the sunflower using Jenni Bowlin ‘chicken feed’ acrylic paint.

For the coaster I coated with the sponge 'brush', I stamped the sunflower using WOW! Clear embossing pad and heat embossed with WOW! Lavaburst embossing powder.  These 2 were looking really good so far.

For the coaster that I coated using a sponge 'dauber', I stamped the sunflower using a Tsukineko glue pad and sprinkled with spiced marmalade Distress Glitter (by Ranger).

For the coaster I coated with the sponge roller, I stamped the sunflower using a mustard seed distress oxide ink pad (which I left to dry overnight).

I painted in parts of my first sunflower with Jenni Bowlin ‘stick candy’ acrylic paint (which took over a bit, but I didn't mind too much) and then filled in sunflower 1 and 2 with a mix of the white gesso (also being reviewed) and the Jenni Bowlin 'Chicken Feed' acrylic paint.

I wanted to seal in my glitter, so I mixed some of the transparent gesso with water and, using a fine nozzle dropper, 'dripped' it over the top of the design.

It dried perfectly clear (with a slightly raised surface), although I did forget to photograph at that point.  I moved on to fill in the glitter sunflower and the distress oxide flower with a mixture of the white gesso and mustard seed distress oxide.  Once all the designs were dry, I painted a layer of the transparent gesso to 'seal in' the designs:

Non-slip fee were also applied to the corners of each coaster and adhered well to the transparent gesso

Time to turn the designs over to see the finished result of the glass coasters (the decorated side is on the underside, so that it doesn't get damaged by anything put on the coaster)

Next, I wanted to try the white gesso on some mdf bauble shapes I had in my stash, so I did 2 coats of the white gesso on 4 of these (without any real idea of what I was going to do afterwards).  I figured it made sense to try the same techniques for applying it as I did with the clear gesso ... as before, top left was done with a painbrush, top right was done with a sponge 'dauber', bottom left was done with a sponge 'brush' and bottom right was done with a sponge roller.

Since I already had sunflowers on my mind, I decided not to go with a Christmas theme for the baubles, but rather make them into matching napkin holders, this time using the mini sunflower from Julie Hickey.  I used the same mix of acrylic paint and white gesso / distress oxide and white gesso, and applied 2 coats of this on top of the white gesso base layers and went on to stamp with the same media that I used for the glass coasters.

Again, I used the same techniques as the glass coasters to seal the baubles with the clear gesso.  I had a bit of trouble with the distress oxide smudging, so it didn't come out as well as the rest.

Looking at my matching coasters and napkin holders, I felt like something was missing, so I went on to use some acrylic shapes I had, to make wine glass charms.  I followed the same techniques as I had used for the glass coasters but didn't fill in the designs:

Wine glass charms in different stages
Possibly my favourite matching set
Varying degrees of success (most likely down to my lack of experience with the different techniques / products)

This is what it looks like together

I thoroughly enjoyed using these products, although the transparent gesso is my favourite as it opens up so many possibilities and I found it so 'forgiving'.  It didn't seem to matter how I applied it ... once it dried, it gave a fantastic surface to stamp or paint on (I have just started to copy a painting we have in the living room, so that I can put coasters that match it onto the coffee table ... it's going to take me a bit of time to complete, so haven't included that project in this review).  I also loved it as a 'top coat' to the projects as it gave such a great finish, without being obvious.  The white gesso is a very good base, although I did struggle with the glitter and distress oxide (again, I feel this is down to my lack of experience with mdf and the techniques I tried here).  The products go a long way (I still have loads left) and are very good value for money.  The transparent gesso is going to be a new product that I will always want to have in my stash because I can see myself experimenting with it outside of this review.

Thank you for having a look at my review and thank you to the team for choosing me for this review.  Here are a few photos showing the products used for each 'set':