Faux Metal – a tutorial

Back in the mid 90s, there was a craft show on TNN sponsored by Aleene’s (the tacky glue people), which featured Aleene herself, her daughters and daughters-in-law and various guest designers.  I used to enjoy it immensely (despite that the show was clearly intended as a vehicle for selling Aleene’s products).  They always came up with such interesting and attractive projects.  I was especially enamored of the “burnt brown bag” technique, wherein plain grocery bags were made to look like metal using tacky glue and a flame.  Back when Dude and I used to sell at craft shows and a craft consignment mall, we sold dozens of Christmas ornaments using this technique.  I had seen similar “real” metal ornaments in a catalog for $15 each, and the paper bag version could be made for mere pennies!  (Note: We did not sell them for “mere pennies,” though we didn’t get nearly $15 each, either!)

So when I saw a swap on ATCs for All that was to use brown paper bags, I immediately thought of this technique.  It had been ten years since I tried it, but it all came right back.  Here are the cards I made for the swap:

And a close-up of one so you can see the detail:

Serendipitously, while cleaning my messy art studio (a chore that has taken on gargantuan proportions – can you believe I’ve filled four boxes for Goodwill already?!), I came across a notebook full of cards.  I was quite the card-making maven back in the mid-90s!  I always made an extra card whenever I joined a swap or round robin and kept them in this notebook.  The first one I saw when I opened it was this card featuring a buffalo made with the burnt brown bag technique.

So I’m taking this discovery as a sign that I need to share the technique with those who have never heard of it.  (Hey, I can interpret anything I want to as a “sign!”  Like the fact that there are Blue Bunny raspberry chocolate ice cream bars in my freezer - which is clearly a sign that I should eat one.  I think I’ll go do that now.)

Okay, I’m back.  So who wants to learn the burnt brown bag technique?  I see you raising your hand – you there in the third row!  Step right up and get ready to get dirty.  The rest of you are dismissed.

VERY IMPORTANT: If you are under 15, a pyromaniac or someone who just can’t get the hang of being safe around fire, it’s really best that you don’t try this technique. I cannot be responsible if some big, hunky firemen are forced to come douse your art studio!  Carrying all their heavy gear and hoses with their big, strong hands!  And their sharp, manly jaws getting all black with soot while they pull you from the wreckage with their well-muscled arms!  (Whew!  Is it getting hot in here?)

Um.  Where was I?  Oh, yeah…don’t mess with fire, kids.

So now that all the warnings are out of the way (and most of you have Googled “hunky fireman” – well worth it if you haven’t), here is what you’ll need for “part one” of the technique.

Grocery bag or brown kraft paper, tacky glue, wire, wire cutters, scissors, template (in this case a star), candle, something to light the candle.  I don’t know what gauge wire this is since the label is long gone; probably 16 or 18.  Choose wire that’s sturdy but not too thick.

For this tutorial, we’ll be making a star-shaped ornament.  I’m redecorating my tree in all stars this year, so it seemed like a good project.  A star shape is also not too detailed, which is good when you’re just learning how to do this.  Also, smaller is better, because this does take some time.  (The ornaments we used to sell were about 3″ long and 2″ wide.)

The first step is to use the template (you can use a stencil if you don’t want to draw your own) to cut two stars (or whatever shape you’re using) out of the brown paper bag or kraft paper. Also, cut a piece of wire about 7″ long.

Note I have put a “U” (which stands for “up”) on one point of each star.  That means “this end up.”  You can use a “T” for “top” if you prefer.  Or a “W” for “whatever.”  So long as you mark the same point on each star, you’re golden.

The next step is to spread tacky glue all over one of the stars.  Then place the wire onto the star so that at least 2″ of it is on the glue.

Place the other star cut-out on top and align the edges.

Now comes the hard part – you need to let this dry. Dry means stiff and no longer cool to the touch. This will take some time, so be patient. In the meantime, you can cut and glue other ornaments, or watch some TV, or Google “hunky fireman,” which should keep you busy for the requisite length of time.

When it’s dry, squirt a good amount of tacky glue onto one side of the star and spread it out with your finger, making sure all the edges are covered. You want a good, even layer, not too thick or too thin. Experience will teach you what a good amount is. Too thin and the paper will burn; too thick and the glue will bubble up and burst. At this point, you will light the candle and begin to burn the glue. Hold the star by the wire and put it very close to the flame; nearly touching it. Move the star around slowly in a circular motion, not keeping it in one place too long so it doesn’t catch fire.

Of course that’s a cat hair in my candle wax. I don’t own a single thing that doesn’t have at least one cat hair embedded in it.

As the glue burns, it will turn very shiny. You will also get a nice layer of soot on most of it, but that’s okay. If the star does catch fire, just “wave” or blow it out. (I prefer to wave it around, because I always inadvertently blow out my candle when I try to blow it out.) Continue doing this until there is no “white” glue left and the surface of the star is a shiny beige color and/or black with soot. Be patient – this can take a few minutes.

Gently wipe off any soot with a tissue or soft paper towel.

Repeat on the other side.  When you’re done, the star will be very sturdy, though still somewhat flexible.

Now we’re going to make the star look even more like metal by adding some color. Here is what you’ll need for the second part of this technique:

Copper paint pen or copper acrylic paint, “patina green” acrylic paint (I mix two colors to get the patina effect), a bit of sponge for dabbing on the paint, wire pliers, a few beads whose holes are large enough to fit on the wire.  (You don’t need this many beads; I just like having an assortment to choose from.)

Start by dabbing copper acrylic paint onto the star.  I use a paint pen, dab on a few spots and spread it around with my finger.  You don’t want to cover the entire surface; it looks better if you leave some spots the original color.

Next you’ll add the “patina” to the copper. Since I don’t have a green that looks like patina on its own, I mix two colors together. Squirt some paint out, get a little on the sponge and dab off most of the paint.

Dab the green onto the star in various places, making sure to leave plenty of copper areas. On Aleene’s show, they also dabbed white paint sparingly here and there to add to the effect; I didn’t do this. Mostly because I didn’t remember until just now that they actually used white as well as the green. But I think it looks okay without it. (I would think that, wouldn’t I?)

The final step is to add beads to the wire and then bend the wire into a nice hook shape for hanging. (You may need to trim it first.)

The finished star ornament:

Cute?  You betcha.  You can try other ornament shapes (the ones we used to sell were leaping reindeer and trumpet-blowing angels) and other projects, such as weather vanes (indoor use only – mount the wire on the bottom and poke it into a block of wood), wall decorations; basically any project that calls for a flat piece of shaped metal – and you won’t need real metal or a saw!

A Mini-Book Tutorial

In the “Let’s Get Crafty” swap, I made a mini blank book for each of my swap partner’s kids to add as a little surprise when she opens her bunny box.  (See previous post.)  Miram loves My Pretty Pony, so I made the book shown above.  Caelan loves Pokemon, so that’s the motif I chose for his book.  These books are simple and tons of fun to make, so I thought I’d share the process.  They make nice little gifts that can be tailored to the recipient’s interests and can be as simple or as sophisticated as you choose.

If you’re a stamper, scrapper or just plain crafty person, you probably already have everything you need: chipboard, decorative paper, some pretty fiber to coordinate with the paper, a Japanese hole punch or an awl, a ruler, glue stick or a Xyron, plain copier paper.  That’s it!  So let’s get started.

First you’ll need to decide on the size of your book.  If you’re using 12″ scrapbook paper, you won’t be able to go more than about 5″ square.  Heavy gift wrap or “parent” sheets of handmade or decorative paper will allow you to make a larger book. 

The first step is to cut three pieces of chipboard; two the size you want the finished book to be and one strip the height of the book and about 1/2″ wide.

Choose the paper you will use to cover the book.  I printed the Pokemon character (his name is Pikachu; isn’t he adorable?) and cut him out first so I’d know the minimum size I needed to make the book and what paper design would work.  The paper I chose is a sample I received at a convention a couple years ago.  Does it seem Pokemon-ish to you?  It did to me, but then, I have almost zero knowledge of the Pokemon universe.

Please avoid noticing that Pikachu nearly lost his foot in a tragic scissors accident.

Now use your handy-dandy Xyron or a good quality glue stick to adhere the chipboard to the BACK of the decorative paper.  The paper I chose had advertisements printed on the reverse side, so this looks rather weird, but trust me, it’s the back.  Place the chipboard strip between the two covers, spacing each about 1/4″ apart.  Leave at least a 1″ border of paper around the chipboard.

Next step is to clip the corners at an angle.  This will create “flaps” and reduce bulk in the corners. Here I’ve done the top two corners:

You will also need to clip the “inside” corners; basically, just cut a triangle on either side of the center chipboard strip.

I use black Teflon-coated scissors, which I’ve had for years.  They need an occasional sharpening and the Teflon coating has mostly worn off, but I tend to be loyal to my tools and keep them forever, mostly in an unhealthy way.  Because even our kitchen junk drawer has better scissors than these.

Here’s how the cover looks with the inside corners done:

Now, with your trusty glue stick (or a tape runner, which I prefer), add adhesive to each flap and fold it up onto the chipboard, making sure to rub it down smoothly.

Here’s how it will look with all the flaps glued down.

Now we’ll need to make an inside liner. You’ll notice there’s a lot of chipboard showing, which the liner will cover. Had I clipped the corners “correctly” there wouldn’t be as much showing in the corners, but…I am so not perfect! I mess this part up a lot. Still, if it worried me terribly (if the book were going to be for someone who was not eight years old and who was fairly picky), I would make the liner larger to really cover that up. As it is, I’ll just concern myself with covering most of that ugly chipboard.

So let’s measure for the liner. Get a vertical and a horizontal measurement and cut a rectangle to that size. I use my handy-dandy Fiskars paper trimmer, which I’ve had for about seven zillion years. I bought myself a “new, improved” paper trimmer a few months ago, but haven’t even taken it out of the package. (Why did I think I needed a new one when this one has worked just fine since the dawn of time?)

As with most of the items that have been in my studio for any length of time, my ruler has paint on it.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the liner added to the inside of the book, but I don’t imagine anyone needs a visual on this particular step to know how to do it.  Just glue the liner in, voila. 

So now we’re going to add the pages. Measure again the width of the book and subtract about an inch or an inch and a half. Why? If you make the pages the same width as the book, they will all stick out the edge when the book is closed. (It’s not the nicest look.) Make the height of the pages pretty close to the height of the cover, maybe 1/2″ shorter. Since this is a “one-signature” book, meaning there is only one set of folded pages, you’re going to want to keep the number of pages to a minimum. I’ve cut 12 pages for my book, which is about the most you’ll want to try. I used plain copier paper, since the book is for a child.  If you’re making a more sophisticated, artsy type book, you can use watercolor paper, handmade paper, that kind of thing.

Why did this photo come out so blurry?  Just another Mystery of the Universe.

So now we will need to bind the pages into the book. Get out your handy-dandy paint-stained ruler again and hold it vertically in the center of the chipboard strip. Mark the vertical center of the page with a dot. For instance, if your pages are 4″ tall, make a dot at the 2″ mark. Then mark another dot on each side of the center dot, an equal distance apart. For instance, if you have a dot at the 2″ mark, you could make the second dot at the 1″ mark and the third dot at the 3″ mark. These dots will be where you punch the holes for binding.  If your book is large, you can make five dots instead of three.  (This will involve more math & measuring than I’m normally willing to attempt, however.)

Good grief, I need a manicure.

Now it’s time to punch the holes. I use my wonderful Japanese hole punch, for two reasons. One, you can punch a hole anywhere, through just about any material; two, the holes will be large enough to string big, fat fibers through. If you are going to use embroidery floss or hemp cord or something similar, you can use an awl for this step. You can also skip this step altogether (though still mark the holes) and use a strong needle and the aforementioned floss or hemp cord or dental floss to bind the pages. However, pre-punching the holes will make your life a whole lot easier.

A Japanese hole punch is a great investment. I got mine a few years ago at a Joann’s Etc using the 40% coupon.

Start punching until the hole punch no longer wants to go through (too many layers), removing pages until you’re able to punch all the way through the book. When you can see daylight, you’re done.

Now it’s time to bind! Cut a nice length of your chosen fiber. About two feet will suffice for a small book with three holes. If you have a needle with a sufficiently large hole, you can string the fiber or cord onto that. But since I like to use big, chunky fibers, I usually just wrap some Scotch tape around one end of the fiber, forming it into a stiff point that will fit easily through the holes.

This is where you decide whether you want to tie the fiber ends on the inside or outside. If you’re using a thin cord or floss, you can pretty much go either way. Chunky or fluffy fibers work best if tied on the outside (and really pretty up the book while they’re at it). We’re going to continue on the premise that you decided to tie on the outside. If you decided otherwise, you’ll need to follow the timeless advice of Willie Wonka (as portrayed by Gene Wilder): “Wait. Hold it. Reverse that. Thank you.”

So, begin by poking the end of the fiber through the center hole of the book, from the outside to the inside.  (Or the other way, if you’re following Willie Wonka’s advice.)

This picture isn’t all that helpful, is it?

Leave a long-ish tail on the outside of the book. 6″ to 8″ is sufficient.

At this point, the “pokey” end of your fiber (the one you taped or threaded into a needle) is on the inside of the book, coming through the center hole. Now poke it through one of the other holes. It doesn’t matter which one, but let’s call it the “top” hole in order to avoid confusion later.

Now your ”pokey” end is on the outside of the book. Next you will poke that end into the bottom hole, completely bypassing the center hole altogether.

Man, I could really use some lotion on those cuticles.

Hey, we’re almost done! Now you’re going to poke the fiber end into the center hole again, from the inside of the book to the outside.

If you’ve done everything correctly, the inside of the book should look like this:

Of course, yours will have a completely different fiber. Hopefully.

The final step is to tie the two hanging tails together. You can make a knot (as I’ve done here since the book is for a boy) or a pretty bow. Stringing beads on the tails is fun, too, and adds such a nice look. (You’ll have to imagine this step, as I didn’t do it.)

This is my hand, sans lotion and manicure, tying the outside tails in a knot.

Here’s how it looks with the book closed.

And here’s the final product, with little Pikachu glued on. I outlined him with a charcoal pencil for depth and added little alphabet letters spelling the name of the recipient, which hopefully will distract him from the fact that Pikachu’s foot had been severely injured during the cutting-out process.

That weird thing on the right is the tip of my scissors holding the book shut.  You may need to keep your book under a heavy weight for a day or two so it will stay closed.

So that’s it!  I hope you’ll try this; it really is fun to do (and even more fun when you don’t stop and photograph each step).

An Easy Background (and how to do it)

So I thought I’d post this little tutorial on how to make a fun, cool-looking background for your journal pages, altered books, collages, etc.  This came about when my friend Terri and I took Teresa McFayden’s “Write Place Write Time” summer journal e-zine, in which she provided a tutorial for a journal page three times per week for a month.  (You can see some of my pages from this project in earlier posts.)

Once the e-zine ended, Terri and I felt rather bereft!  We still had plenty of blank pages in our journals (which Terri made for us, btw – they are LOVELY) and no one to motivate us to complete new pages and show us fun techniques.  Then Terri had the great idea to continue on our own, each of us taking turns to provide a tutorial for a journal page idea, once per week.  The first week, Terri shared an awesome technique using acrylic paint and Vaseline – maybe I can persuade her to post it on her new blog, www.gracenotes-tlm.blogspot.com, because it is super neat.  (I’m so glad she finally started a blog!  She does beautiful work and now everyone will know it!)

This week it was my turn.  I can’t remember where or when I first learned this technique, but it’s fun and easy and very shabby-chic.  It works great on paper, wood, even metal (though I use black spray paint when doing it on metal). 

So, let’s get started!  We need black acrylic paint, a pale color of acrylic paint (I’ve used soft pink, but blue, green or cream also look nice), two foam brushes, rubber stamps that are appropriate for a border or background, clear embossing ink (I like Versamark; it’s very sticky), clear embossing powder, a heat gun and a sanding block or very fine-grit sandpaper.

The first step is to paint the entire surface black.  Since I’m doing mine on journal pages, I put some scrap paper behind each page to avoid a mess.  Using a foam brush, the painting goes fairly quickly.  Note: Do not paint the page Dioxazine Purple, as I have started to do here.  I bought this paint thinking it was black and I continue to reach for it on a regular basis, thinking it’s black.  (Clearly I need to throw it away before it causes me any more trouble.)

Oops. 

Fortunately, the real black will cover this nicely.  While you’re waiting for the paint to dry, find some stamps that will look good on the borders.  You can do the technique on the entire surface if you prefer, but since I knew I was going to put pictures and journaling down, I opted to do just the borders.  I picked out these flourish stamps, mostly because I’d recently used them and hadn’t put them away, so they were handy.  (It often pays to keep a messy studio.)  Yours will likely be much cleaner than mine, which caught a lot of stray paint and glitter while they sat there not being put away.

When the black paint is completely dry (and not a moment before!), stamp and emboss the edges of each page.  (Or randomly on the entire page, if you’re doing it that way.)  Make certain to get any excess powder off before heating.  Surprisingly, you can see the powder really well at this point, so it will be fairly easy to remove any stray flecks with a little paintbrush.

Make sure not to overheat when embossing.  You want all the powder to melt and turn shiny, but overheating will cause the powder to sink into the page.  Not good.  You want the embossed image to have some height to it.

Mine looks a little weird because there are some grains of white embossing powder mixed in with the clear.  This happened a long time ago when I decided to keep my clear embossing powder in a fairly large plastic container with a lid (generic Tupperware).  Since I used to use quite a lot of clear powder on large surfaces, it was handy.  But foolishly, as I was opening and dumping all my clear powders into this one container, I accidentally dumped in a jar of white embossing powder.  I removed as much as I could, but there are still stray bits in there.  Fortunately, for this technique, it makes no difference.

So…moving on.  Now it’s time to paint the entire page again, this time with your chosen soft color.  The first coat will look pretty bad.

When it’s dry, add another coat.

Looking much better, but you can still see a lot of black. You know where I’m going with this, right?  Yep, we’re gonna need a third coat.

Much better!  You can add a fourth coat if you like, but I’m calling this done.  Now comes the hard part – waiting for the paint to dry completely.  If you waited between coats, this won’t be long, but if you got impatient and added a second and third coat before the first was dry – well, it might be awhile before you can continue.  (Ask me how I know.)

Once the paint is completely dry, now comes the fun part.  (Wait – the first part was fun, too!  Never mind.)  Use your sanding block or fine-grit sandpaper to gently sand the area where the embossed images are.  Use a very light touch and sand in a circular motion.  Don’t try to remove all the paint at once, just keep moving the block gently, and occasionally blow away the dust that accumulates so you can tell when the image is going to pop!

And there you have it!  Looks pretty cool, doesn’t it?  Feels kinda neat, too.  So shabby!  So chic!

I finished my pages with a photo of one of my favorite things from childhood and some journaling about summers at my grandparents’ house.  I can’t wait to see what fun technique Terri comes up with for next week! 

What We Love

So I started a new project, thanks to Tina http://tina-wright.blogspot.com/, who shared her discovery of these 5″ stretched canvases at Michael’s for a buck apiece!  They’re designed for kids and have various pre-printed motifs, but other than that, they seem no different than the same sized canvases over in the art supply aisle, which are $3.50 apiece!

 

I decided to make a wall hanging, similar to what Tina did, by decorating several of them and hooking them together.  It took me a couple of days to come up with a theme.  I finally decided on “things that make life worth living.”  Or, “what we love.”  (Eventually I hope to think of a better way to express this.)

I decided to use two of Teresa McFayden’s technique ideas; the first is this fun background, which I’ve fallen in love with lately.  You start by pasting down various paper scraps.  I like to use gel medium, but a glue stick would probably work just as well.

Next, brush on three or four colors of paint.  The paint is watered down considerably (about 50-50) so that the papers will still show through.

 

The colors were a little too bold here; I wanted the background to recede more.  I brushed on some watered-down gesso, then dabbed off most of it with a paper towel.  Ah, much better.

I picked five items that fit in with my theme and found silhouettes of each with a Google image search to use as patterns.  I cut the pieces from scrapbook paper and text from old books and glued them onto the canvas.  Fun!  The final touch was another Teresa McFayden technique: enhancing with charcoal pencils.  (Teresa uses black for shading and depth; I also used white for highlighting).  I used the black pencil on the edges of the canvases as well.

I haven’t decided in which order I’m going to put these; all I know is they’ll be in a vertical format.  I need to buy some eye hooks and small chains so I can put them together.  I’m also thinking of adding some cut-out words to each; I may wait to see how they look hooked together first.