2018 #20 Foiling: Grungy Christmas Tags with ESC {by Raquel Burillo}

 2018 Topic 20: Foiling Techniques - Grungy Christmas tags

More fantastic techniques from Raquel to create some fabulous tags with her 2016 Christmas stamps. Love how she uses grungy infusions with crisp foil! Awesome contrasts. ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, Raquel here from scrapcosy. Today I’m sharing with you how to use foil in 6 different ways to create 4 different grungy vintage christmas tags. I’ve prepared a video so you can see all the details of each technique.

As usual I like to experiment, so I didn't stick to one technique only. Instead I prefer to share with you different options, so you have many choices. I really enjoyed creating each tag. I hope you like them too. Pictures and details below.

Rough diamonds - GP and foil

For this first tag I’ll use the following property: foil sticks to a rough surface if you rub it against it. I first created a background with Infusions (olive tree and golden sands) and then I added Grunge Paste (completely dry) as my rough surface to rub the foil against. I use a lollypop wooden stick to rub it. A gentle foiling effect with a droplets of shine.

For this technique I first used Acorn Achival ink through the stencil to create a complete diamond pattern and then I applied some Grunge Paste through my stencil PS074

PS074

The foil will not stay permanently if you re-wet the surface, that is why you can see some shiny foil escaping from the diamonds, because I added more infusions after I rubbed the foil for the first time, to make my diamonds darker. You can see the entire process in the video. Instead of GP you could rub it on a rough wood surface and it would work as well.

Christmas sticky stripes

For this second technique I use the fact that foil sticks to sticky surfaces (adhesive), so I’ll use the double sided tape to transfer the foil into my project.This gives sharp, defined foiled sections.

I’m adding stripes of double sided adhesive tape to over an infusions background using the same colour combination as before (olive tree and golden sands) then adding a piece of foil and with a wood stick I make sure it stays in place and I add more texture and marks on the foiled parts.

This is a super simple and quick technique and I think it would also look awesome on a red background too!

Walnut crystals all the way

For the next technique I’m using the following principle: foil sticks to hot and rough surfaces, so I’ll use the walnut crystals that are part of the Infusions dye stains as the rough and hot points, that when are not 100% dissolved will make the foil stick to them once passed through a laminator.

The results of this technique are very subtle and can only be seen when the light hits them in the right way. But when the light does hit them... Oh, my! Magic happens!

I love the results you get with this technique. Just make sure that the crystals don't get  too much dissolved when you spray water (blot them with a paper towel so you stop the action of the water on them).

Golden mulled wine - Alcohol and foil

For the final tag I’m using a different type of stickiness, I’m using alcohol inks that when not fully dried and if they are very concentrated they become sticky enough as to get the foil adhered to them when foil is pressed against the surface. My surface is a piece of yupo paper glued onto smoothy heavy cardstock to create my tag.

This technique needs a little bit of practice, to know how dry the ink needs to be and how much ink is needed. I used Cranberry and Lettuce Tim Holtz alcohol inks. 

I love how random and striking this technique is, you just drop the ink and blow through a straw (or an empty pen) so you create puddles while drying your ink as well. And when pressing the foil against your surface, you can also add foil lines using a wooden stick (lollypop), to add more texture, as I did on the corners. 

Golden sentiments - Stamp with glue

Then for the sentiments I used 2 different techniques. For this one I used glue (mod podge, like a PVA glue) that I put in a piece of cut-n-dry foam so I could use that foam to “ink up” my stamps with glue. Then I stamped my sentiments, one at a time on a piece of smoothy heavy cardstock and passed it through the laminator. Make sure you clean your stamps straightaway! A spray of water followed by drying it with a towel will do. I used ESC09 (my vintage frames stamp set) for my sentiments.

ESC09

I find it gives very nice results, still a lot of details on the stamped and foiled image

Toner ink maker and foil

And the final technique I tried was using the Minc toner ink marker to ink up my stamps (just the Merry Christmas in the picture above) and stamp the sentiment with them. Toner ink has an iron component (micro particles) that when passed through the laminator they become really, really hot, so the foil sticks to them. That is why printed images via toner ink printer can be used for foiling, whereas regular laser jet ink will not work for this technique. Instead of printing, I’m a fan of stamps (as I’m sure you are as well) so I wanted to find a way of adapting this technique to stamps and I could only achieve it by using a toner ink pen (if anybody knows about an inkpad of toner ink, please shout! I was not able to find one when I looked at this a year ago or so, I then tried to create my own toner inkpad and I didn’t succeed. I guess it’s a pretty unstable substance as to make it work on an inkpad, since even toner printers have the toner ink in dry mode…) 

Here are some extra pictures if you want to see more details.

I hope you liked my different experiments. Now I have 4 tags ready for Christmas, to decorate some of those special gifts. Let me know if you’ve tried any of these techniques in the past or which one you’d like to try now that you've seen them.

Thanks very much for reading! Here are some places where you can find me, Raquel:

My blog: https://scrapcosy.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/scrapcosy
Instagram: https://instagram.com/scrapcosy/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raquel.burilloperez
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Scrapcosy

I'll be teaching 2 classes at Creativation 2019 sponsored by PaperArtsy, full Creativation 2019 schedule here details about my classes below:

- With Seth Apter on 17/01/2019 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM - W102: Perfectly PaperArtsy (Part 1)

- On my own, on 18/01/2019 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM - W209: A Cup of Vintage Tea - Infused with Mixed Media Techniques

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!