2018 #20 Foiling: For the Wall with I&D Stamps {by Leandra Franich}

 2018 Topic 20: Foiling

Tonight it's my turn to share an idea with foil. I'm obsessed by abstract art, and the Rothko style of canvases with blocks of colour is the basic idea I was emulating. I was also struck by an utterly gorgeous background that Debi Adams recently blogged here for stencil girl. 3 hours later, a new piece for my kitchen to fill a gap where a clock recently fell off the wall and broke. ~ Leandra

Hi everyone,
In this post I thought i'd go back to the old school gold leaf, the flaoty stuff that gets everywhere! Well i have a tonne of sheets that you certainly should use in a draft free zone!

I was thinking I would use Debi's colour palette as linked in the intro, but as usual, turquoise had to enter into the equation. Which actually turned out OK, because the wall in my kitchen is also that colour! So the piece has a home!

So I usually start with putting something on the blank surface, in this case, I decided that it didn't need to be too lumpy, so grunge paste was out, and instead I opted for layers of old papers and tissue. Knowing that they would likely be obscured, but also liking that they would still catch the paint, so I did deliberately ensure there were wrinkles in the tissue.

 

Here they are in place, directly onto a Canson Mixed Media board, they are quite thick, a bit like grey board, but more sucky of moisture...which means they do tend to buckle. As ever keeping things vertical and horizontal, just in case words ended up visible later on. Call me pedantic! But, I cannot cope with stuff on angles!

No process pics sorry, but I was literally using my whole hand to add and spread the paint (I was NOT going to pick up the phone to take photos!). How to apply, well, paint a blob on, and then I used all my fingers to massage the colour into an area. A fine misting of water to blend it out was helpful, as Fresco dry soooo fast. If things got too heavy and opaque, I did use a baby wipe to knock things back a bit. It is just a matter of adding, blending , rubbing and so on until you get it how you prefer.

I tried to keep Midnight, Chocolate Pudding, Mahogany and Sargasso to the lower section. 

For the upper third, Buff, Terracotta, Stone and Chalk were my selections.

I did occasionally use Seth's technique of painting onto a piece of card, and pressing that onto the surface, and that worked really well with the paler shades at the top section to pick up the highlights. Overall, start dark, then work to your lighter shades so the depth is trapped in the lower layers.

I only added Sargasso after building all the other colours, I created a defined line between the two zones, knowing the foiling was going to be used as a bridge. There was a natural division with the straight edge line of some papers I had deliberately placed at the beginning. I do fine, when you add a contrast colour, you immediately get something 'wow' with contrast.

I found some foiling adhesive from a cazoodle years ago that had literally gone off in the bottle. I remember it as a thin, runny glue, and it was now thick and gluggy and curdled. Once dry, it stays tacky to accept the leaf, so  I figured it would still work, and used a finger to rub it along the 'line'. Within a minute of so I plonked a gold leaf sheet over the top, and found a soft brush to apply some pressure onto the gold leaf. As expected, it stuck to the adhesive, and fell away from the unglued areas. Another bonus of chalk paint, gold leaf will not stick to it!

I then added some stamping in archival inks. I knew I was going to add more paints on top, and I had lost my words underneath from the tissue, so I figure I might try to reinstate some stamped interest.

The round pattern is from Seth Apter Set 08 (ESA08)

and the rest are old Ink and the Dog sets.

Clocks Set 6 (C6)

 Words Set 4 (W4)

Here's a close up of the foil. I tried to rub it away so it wasn't totally solid.

 

And you can see some of the stamping on the backgorund here...although once again, not to stay visible for too long!

So my next plan was to try and soften both the upper and lower sections with more paint, ideally chalk or buff. I kind of wanted peeks of the deep colours showing through, but an over all white-ish, minimalist piece. However, distracted in trying to get the balance right,  every time I added white, I kept going back to adding more midnight, more chocolate, more buff, and so on until the words had all disappeared again!

And then I had it pretty much neutral, but added infusions (Black Knight, In the Navy) to the lower section. I also used a water based pen to add a black line along the 'dividing line' and then used a damp brush to blend that out for a bit of structure.

Next to the frame. I have a bunch of 12x12 wood frames that arrived here with the glass all smashed. I kind of knew this piece would need something to pop off. There was an insert, plywood, which I painted black, and then rubbed a dark Treasure gold over that so it looks almost chocolate colour. Onto that I stamped Words Plate 1 (W1) in Jet Black Archival ink.

That was dropped into the Little Black Dress painted frame, onto which I pressed Midnight pre-painted onto card randomly, to create a subtle contrast.

And here is the finished piece on the wall, in daylight. 

Chuffed how this has turned out, however I just wish it was bigger! I MUST buy a huge canvas and create a much bigger version for a wall, maybe the lounge. We have recently had it redecorated, so there are spaces waiting for something!

Thanks for joining us again, and I hope you get a chance to do some foiling before the challenge closes on Sunday!

To join our challenge and win a PaperArtsy £50 gift voucher:

Simply make something arty relevant to the topic, and link your creation from any social URL (eg. Instagram, Pinterest, Blog Post etc) sharing your original make to this challenge page.

The current topic link Topic 20: Foiling will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 25th November 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

Please make sure we can contact you as a prize winner - it helps if you share your contact info from the platform you opt to use.

Good Luck! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

2018 #20 Foiled: Backgrounds with ELB {by Dounia Large}

 2018 Topic 20: Foiling

Another blogger with a load of fabulous foiling ideas for you to test yourselves! Dounia's foiling with her embossing machine is fascinating! And true to form, that is just one of her many ideas!! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Dounia with you today, and I'd like to share with you a few ideas on how to foil whole backgrounds, from subtle patterns to blind-you-bling blocks!

I love foil, just a few accents give dimension and drama to a project! I am always looking for new ways to mix them with my other supplies and to use every last bit of those sheets... Let's experiment and make our own foiled patterned papers! 
I used some of my results in a little project entitled "Wish upon a star", more on that at the end of the post...

I most often use foil with stamps and bonding power. I love the results but the sheets become more and more sparse, white still retaining quite a lot of that shiny goodness. To "finish" already well loved sheets, I use them to create fully foiled backgrounds on the backside of stickers (big promotional ones I got for free, hehe). I begin with the most empty sheet I can find and burnish it well on the sticker, the clear layer comes out completely clean, so satisfying! I then build texture by using slightly fuller ones that will stick to the spaces left by the previous layers. I love the resulting multicolor, speckled effect, making a very shiny but not flat surface. Here is a selection (the shine is not easy to photograph!):

Foil sheets often retain a negative of the pattern they were previously used on. If you use one of these as your first sheet on the sticker, the pattern will transfer beautifully, the gaps left to be filled with other colours of foil. In this sample I also love how just a hint of holographic foil give the whole pattern pizzaz!

Of course these backgrounds are VERY shiny, which is not always easy to incorporate in a project. You can obviously cut them to create accent elements. I also find them to be particularly effective in jewellery, as they are so eye-catching! If you want to keep the whole piece together, here are a few ideas to balance the brightness. You can cover part of the foil with a layer of matte medium for a nice shine contrast. You can stencil on it with Fresco Acrylics paints, playing both with colour and glossiness. In the following samples, I transferred printed images using Matte Glaze (on the left) and Satin Glaze (on the right). I also experimented with a transparent Crackle paste. Apparently the paste bonds with the foil before it retracts so the crackles actually shows the white background!

Now there are lots of media you can use with foil (stamps, stencils, tape, rub-ons...) and I thought, why not embossing folders? I have quite a few of these already and I love their patterns! So I embossed a few scrap inked backgrounds then brayered foiling (or gilding) mixtion onto the raised areas. Mixtion is a liquid that dry sticky, mine is by Pebeo but lot of brands have it under different names. Applying the foil was not easy because of the relief so I sent paper and foil together through my die cutting machine to flatten everything and assure maximum contact. I find the results quite striking:

I also used "pre-loved" foil sheets the create texture and colour effects. It is particularly visible in patterns with large areas.

I wanted to make something of these samples to show their impact in a project. I relied on Lin Brown's designs to help me there, as I thought simple but highly graphic images would be best against these busy backgrounds. I particularly love this plate, ELB29, with the beautiful leaves and funky texture elements.

The leaves are stamped with Infusions and the panels are mounted on kraft tags, again to contrast with the shiny texture of the backgrounds.

I like how each page glimmers and sparkles in the sunlight, seemingly coming alive and revealing new details.

The full foil pieces were here used in tiny elements to make them pop out of the page. By luck a shard of the holographic foil landed right in the middle of the book, giving it a lovely depth.

This techniques are a win-win: they allow you to use every scrap of foil while creating lovely new textures. I find them very satisfying and a bit addictive (I tend to have a pile of shiny backgrounds after a session...) Their uses are only limited by your imagination so give them a try and have fun!

Stay creative!
Dounia

To join our challenge and win a PaperArtsy £50 gift voucher:

Simply make something arty relevant to the topic, and link your creation from any social URL (eg. Instagram, Pinterest, Blog Post etc) sharing your original make to this challenge page.

The current topic link Topic 20: Foiling will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 25th November 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

Please make sure we can contact you as a prize winner - it helps if you share your contact info from the platform you opt to use.

Good Luck! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

2018 #20 Foiling: Grungy Christmas with ESA {by Ruth Mescall}

 2018 Topic 20: Foiling

Love how the foil really lifts these backgrounds-turned-trees! Just one of the several ideas Ruth presents here. I love the kraft tags made from the negative foiling too, and like she says, even without sentiments, they have that perfect Christmas vibe! Get your cards done fast and with ease before the rush of December! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Ruth here with you today, and I'd like to share with you a way of using some of Seth's fab new stamps with foiling to create some quick Christmas cards. 

I always like to get the most out of stamps sets and the grungy images and patterns of ESA09 work perfectly when embellished with a little foiling for a contemporary card. Simple triangles or box shapes work really well and while there is a theme to them each one is different, allowing you to be creative even when you're making a batch of them. I frequently add a touch of gold or metal to my projects but this topic allowed me to really indulge in my love of foiling and revisit a few techniques. 

I didn't think bright white smoothy card would work with a grungy colour palette but it was perfect. I used Fresco Acrylic paints to make lightly brayered or painted backgrounds and the colours were Blue Lagoon, Venice Blue, Twilight, Winter Green, Magic Moss, Sea Glass, Slimed and Cerise.

 

I used both clear embossing powder and WOW bonding powder. I used clear when I only wanted to use touches of foiling. This is where the left over bits of foil come in to their own, when touches adhere to the hot melted powder. I use a bone folder or my finger wrapped in a cloth to rub over the area, it does get very hot.

This linear design means you can repeat stamp it and I've used it horizontally for the body of the tree and vertically for the trunk. Lots of triangular trees to be made from a small piece of card.

Lines and circles always complement each other, simple but effective.

Slight change here to modern and bright and could even be used for a birthday card. I loved using the brightest paints I could find and the lines, circles and squares of the stamps make each present so individual.

The background keyboard stamp is in Watering can archival to act as a 'foil' (sorry!) to the bright boxes.

Kraft card tags and another technique. After using a fresh piece of foil on the teal tree of the large card (see below), I had a negative stamp impression left in the foil, so I used versamark on masked off sections of a tag and applied bonding powder. I then used the 'negative' gold foil over the area before reheating the remaining powder and using a contrasting colour, result...luscious!

I love making painty backgrounds and this is simple brayering over masked-off circles to evoke muted frosty hills.

The bling of foil works beautifully against the chalkiness of fresco paints.  

I didn't add a sentiment to any of the cards but my OH recognised them as Christmas cards straight away, which must be a good sign! I hope you'll be encouraged to think outside the box with your stamps as they can give a very contemporary twist to Christmas greetings. I also hope you'll have a go at foiling if you haven't already, there are lots of ways to add it, I've only shared a couple today and it is fun to see the transformation it can make.

Ruth x

a love to create

Instagram

To join our challenge and win a PaperArtsy £50 gift voucher:

Simply make something arty relevant to the topic, and link your creation from any social URL (eg. Instagram, Pinterest, Blog Post etc) sharing your original make to this challenge page.

The current topic link Topic 20: Foiling will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, 25th November 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

Please make sure we can contact you as a prize winner - it helps if you share your contact info from the platform you opt to use.

Good Luck! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!