Wednesday, September 19, 2012

A little bit of foil goes a long way

Foil is one of those things I can never get enough of, however I hardly ever use it with fusible web because a little goes a long way.  Today I made some foiled paper.
I started with some brown paper.  I like brown paper because it is cheap and has a bit more strength and texture than Computer paper.
I used some powdered fusible.  This one is super mend, but bonash also make it.  You can also collect all your fusible scraps and grind the web in a coffee grinder to make your own.

I sprinkled the powder over the brown paper, then laid foil strips over it.
Covered it with baking paper, then ironed it.
After it had cooled, I peeled the foil off.  You can see here that the foil is not solid, but more of a sprinkling, which I like.
It is pretty gorgeous just like this, but wait, there's more!
I sprayed it with some ink and diluted acrylic paints.  Then I blotted the excess off the foil with baby wipes and kitchen towel (This will come in handy later)
When my brown paper was dry, I scrunched it up,
opened it out again, and ironed it briefly (not too much)
Then I got out a pad of ink.  This is distress ink - tattered rose, but any flat ink pad will do if you can run it flat over the paper.
Here I am lightly running it over the paper so it catches on the ridges.
After that I ironed it again, using baking paper to stop paint getting on the iron.  Here are a few close ups of the texture.
It's pretty lovely.  Now what would I use it for?  I might use it in my art journal or on a cover, but just to show you that paper is great in mixed media, I made a journal quilt with it.
Here I have a piece of batting, some paper towel and hand wipe I cleaned the table with and blotted the paper with, a piece of my brown paper and some washers that have a nice shape which my hubby brought home from the scrap bin at work and some gems.
I free motioned the paper towel down with some leaves in black, then layered the face wipe and brown paper on top usinf straight lines in a gold thread.  The washers and the gems gave it a focal point.  I just used glue to finish the edge.

On a totally different tack, here is large doily I have just finished blocking.
I am also working on a collage/textile piece which I will probably show on Monday.  I am also videoing my process as I make it!

So happy creating!