Helen Chilton #1 Waxed Kraft Techniques

" Hi everyone, Helen here to share my first of four projects this week with you all. My first two projects are technique based using Crunchy Waxed Kraft Paper".

"I don't know about you, but I'll often see something, buy it and then leave it in a drawer for months! That's what happened with this wax paper - I wasn't too sure what to do with it or what it actually does. That's why doing these blog posts is so great as it makes me experiment. I tell you, I've been ripping, tearing, crunching, embossing, inking, painting, ironing and stamping for England with that stuff - it's great and now no longer sitting in a drawer as I've used it all up plus the extra pack that Leandra sent me"!

First of all I got my Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints (Guacamole and Sky) out and painted the Crunchy Wax Paper:

 

 Next I scrunched it up:

On the next step I painted the wax paper before scrunching, as you can see it gives it a slightly different effect.

This is what they look like side by side:

   

That was using Opaque Fresco Paints. If you use Translucent ones - {I used Limelight and Beach Hut}, the result is different again (Opaque on the left, Translucent on the right):

Moving on the next thing I tried was "stamping" with it using Dye Based Inkpads. Because the paper has a waxy finish, the ink stays wet. Here I've scrunched and stamped:

  
Then continuing to build up the colours to make the background:

There are so many possibilities for this robust paper! Next I used it in conjuction with the Tim Holtz Dot Matrix embossing folder. 

Ink it up on the embossed and debossed sides and stamp again onto Smoothy White Stamping Card:

For me it's all about experimenting .... next I wanted to look at the waxiness of the paper and how you can use it to create a resist .... "so out came the iron". {I bought a really cheap one for craft} otherwise I get stuff all over the plate and then straight onto the ironing board or clothes ... not a look you want to achieve!

 

First of all I created a batik like effect by scrunching and ironing between two sheets of card:

 {you can see the translucent pattern of wax on the right}

So when you go back in and ink it, the pattern pops:

I have to say that although the technique worked really well, I didn't like the scrunchy pattern much, so decided to try it with the embossed and debossed paper as well. Ink as before:

then iron it .... you can see the wax pattern coming through.

Revealing your waxy stamped image:

You can then go on to ink over the top with a contrasting colour, the wax in the purple dots acts as a resist.

You can use a contrasting colour such as green and purple, the base colour is not affected. You can see both the embossed and debossed samples here:

Okay so that was Part1 fof the experiments.......... are you ready for Part 2 adding Portfolio Oil Pastels into the mix??

"I was quite interested to see what the oil and the wax would do when heated, but in the end that wasn't very exciting!  The simplest techniques of colouring goes on really well and smoothly"

Time to dig out those Portfolio Water Soluble Oil Pastels again. This is scrunching and highlighting {for me this was the best, I love the finished look}:

But why stop there ... this is how it looks when you scrunch it first:

As with part 1 of this technique, you can also colour an embossed pattern and iron it off as with the ink:

Another tip is try ironing it onto a coloured background - {this would probably have worked better if I'd used darker colours on the raised dots}:

 

Stamping onto this paper seems to be okay with small stamps (top tip - use a permanent inkpad such as Archival or Stazon):

However, it wasn't so successful with larger detailed stamps:

{Comment from Leandra:You can get round this by heating up the virgin paper and wiping off the excess wax with a paper towel, then stamp with Archival ink.}

I got round it by painting the waxed paper surface first:

I also tried heat embossing .... I did say earlier the possibilities are endless!

Lastly I experimented with die cutting. To scrunch or not too scrunch! You choose:

The die will cut through up to 6 layers of this stuff if you roll it through several times, and because of the wax finish it creates a really neat sealed edge:

Love it! This seems to work best with solid dies (ie. they haven't got a hole in the middle like the filmstrip die). You can then leave it as is or pull it apart:

I've just stapled it to hold it all together. You can still get the sealed edge if you paint just the top layer as on the left, but not if you paint top and bottom layer as on the right:
 

Don't forget the bits left behind. I thought they were just begging to be stitched:

That's it for today - join me tomorrow to start a masculine looking project using some of the Vintage ID stamps.

Helen!

Gillian Says: I'm truly fascinated how you come up with all these ideas in the first place Helen, another fab explorative post into a product that is probably not used to its "full potential". I will certainly look at this paper in a different light from now on!

Leandra says: There's one thing you didn't use yet .... Mica powders! Simply brush the powder onto the Crunchy, then zap with your heat tool. the Wax melts, bonding the metallic powders to the surface of the paper, so you get stunning die cut flowers with an amazing metallic finish. Thanks Helen, this is an amazing resource and lots to try for me too that I haven't done before!

If you are inspired by Helen (and who wouldn't be!) then get out your crunchy, and have a go. Link here to show us what you've been up to this week and you could win brand new rubber stamps!!