First off--thanks so much for all of your encouraging comments on my metal pieces--you guys made my week! And I wanted to answer the question a couple of you had asked about the paper punches--if the metal will dull their sharpness or break. I'm not sure if it will dull them or not with continued use, since this is the first time I've done this, so I'll have to see on that one. The one thing that did happen--was with the flower punch. The flower punched with no problem, but the metal got a little stuck in the prongs in the punch when I went to take the sheet out. I just cut the metal away and pulled the little bits of metal out. It wasn't bad enough to deter me from making more metal flowers. I love the way these turned out.
And also a few had asked me to show you how to do the packing tape transfer--so here goes. First of all, it won't work with inkjet copies, and I've only done the transfers with magazine or glossy catalog images. I don't know about lazer or photo copies--has anyone tried those? So I wanted to show you 3 different images from different types of books to see if there was any difference in the outcome (kind of like a Science experiment back in elementary school : )
I've only used the Scotch brand of packing tape but I don't think that it makes a difference. Starting from the left--this image is from a catalog--the pages are thinner which makes a difference on how easy the transfer comes off. The middle one is from a 1949 magazine--the ink that they used back then wasn't as good so the transfer isn't as strong, and the paper isn't as glossy, but that doesn't seem to make a difference. And the image on the right is from a current magazine--acutally it's from a Somerset mag. I wanted to use a magazine that had high quality thicker pages. And as your looking at them in this photo, I've already put the tape over them. You just put the tape on top of them, and then cut them down to the size of the tape--so right now, they're basically in a laminated state. Make sure when you put the tape on them that their nice and smooth and then burnish them with your finger or a credit card, which is what I prefer--burnish them good so you have a complete transfer. Don't tape the back of them! And make sure the image covers all of the tape but doesn't stick out past the tape.
Then just put them in a bowl of water to soak--
Alot say that they only have to be soaked for about 15 minutes, but I found that anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour works best for me. You just take them out one at a time, turn them over to expose the untaped side, and just start rubbing off the back with your finger.
until most of the paper's off--I will rewet the image and keep rubbing it gently until it's transparent. I'll also put them under running water and GENTLY continue to get the backing off. Sometimes all of the backing won't come off. This happened to one of the transfers and I'll show you how that one ended up.
When I'm finished with them I pat them with a paper towel, gently again--because they will have the adhesive from the tape on their back and the paper towel will stick to them. And then I'll let them thoroughly dry on a piece of wax paper. I usually do a batch of them, and I'll store them in a plastic baggie in a single layer.
So what I did was decopauge some sheet music on canvas to let you see how they look over it. I adhered them onto my canvas with matte Mod Podge on both sides (this helps get rid of their glossy appearance, because they end up glossy) or if you want to keep the glossy look, just use the gloss Mod Podge. I think that Matte Medium will work also. At first it looks milky, but it dries crystal clear. Here are the results of my little experiment--
This is the 1949 magazine image--like I said--a little faded, but still pretty good.
This is the catalog image and you can see that all of the paper didn't come off (the white residue). But sometimes that's what you're going for--a faded shabby look.
And here's the Somerset image. This came off the best--should have known because it's Somerset (Love that magazine!)
Here's another one from the 40's mag. I really like the black and white image over the text. And if you noticed these do not come out reversed, so that means that you could do text transfers too. I've also read that for bigger pieces you can use clear contact paper the same way as the tape. I have it--I've just never tried it--has anybody ever tried it? For some reason, I think it would be a little harder, but it would be great if it really works--definitely on my to-do list.
I hope I didn't make this sound too complicated, because it really isn't. If you have any questions--again just let me know. And it's fun to experiment with different images and then using them in your artwork. Some you'll like, and some you won't--so try it!
Now....I want to thank
Jenny for this--
She really is sweet, and I want to thank her for this award--thank you
Jenny! Go and visit her creative blog
here.
And speaking of a sweet blog, I won a giveaway from
Emma Grace!--and it just so happens that I found it in my mailbox today!
This is from her Alice in Wonderland series, and whoever won had their choice, and I chose the Cheshire Cat. And I love him!!--Thanks
Emma Grace! Your blog is looking good!!
And finally, it's back to work for me. I have a show in 2 weeks, and I really have to get into gear. So I have another box that I made. After I made
this, I knew what my next box was going to be.
Those blocks really helped make this box. And I already have a pretty good idea for my next box!
