FOG Goes Heavy into Metal

Our January session was quite productive, so much so that I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked for this posting.

Our topic was metal – foiling, dry embossing, cutting, colouring, etc.

It’s amazing to see what can be done with product on hand – dare I say that we are all pack rats? One of the favorite items to dry emboss and colour were the inside foil lids from cottage cheese and yogurt containers.

Jan and Karen brought their Big Shot™ and Cuttlebug™ dry embossing and die cutting machines and they both got very major workouts. If it could be run through those machines we did it.

Several interesting products were tried – real metal DUCT tape (not Duck Tape) – this is purchased in a dollar store or hardware store. It is a sticky backed aluminum tape making it great to use on paper products for cards or it seems to be robust enough to apply to fabric and stitched on with long stitches on the sewing machine. It can be coloured with alcohol inks and other alcohol based markers as well as being embossed through the machines.

Chris brought one of the more interesting products called ÉTAL™. However, a quick internet search only turned up an old Etsy listing so perhaps the product is no longer being made. It is a cross between paper and a fibrous material which has some metal content. It dry embossed through both machines very well and could easily be hand or machine stitched. A light rubbing of a colour of some sort over the surface would enhance the dry embossing.

Left: ÉTAL™, Centre:  ÉTAL™ dry embossed,
Right: Con-Tact Brand - Metal FX

Jan brought along a sticky backed roll of Con-Tact® Brand - Metal FX® which cut and dry embossed very well. Jan brought the Stainless Steel version, though it also comes in Copper. This product also coloured nicely with alcohol inks.

Foiling proved to be very popular and is easily and quite inexpensively done. Chris did some foiling on hand dyed silk and I did some foiling on marbled cardstock that I had previously done using the shaving foam method. I think that most of us that did foiling used a type of fusible web such as PellonLite EZ-Steam™, Wonder Under™, Heat ‘n Bond™ though there are foiling adhesives on the market also..

Foiling on shaving foam marbled card stock using Pellon Lite EZ-Steam and copper foil.

Foiling on hand dyed silk.

Lastly, Karen dry embossed metal disks that she had found in a scrap yard here in town, proving that no place is too strange to search for mixed media supplies. They coloured well with alcohol inks and will be great additions to any paper or fibre project.

Dry embossed metal disks.

September Meeting

September 11, 2012

Everyone is back to school.  Including the members of FOG for another year of learning, exploring and sharing.  

THE PLAN

Yes we have a plan but most of us are nonconformists and view plans as guidelines not the law.  Sometimes we deviate because life is not cooperating as was the case for two of us who are in the middle of moving and have limited or no access to our supplies!   Sometimes, creativity sends us in a different direction searching for an outcome while trying, a least on the surface, to adhere to the general plan. 

No matter, because we all agree agendas, rules, etc. are merely guidelines.  We have as few of them as possible.

The plan for September was to prepare any substrate, such as paper, canvas, fabric, wood, etc. for future use as a background or part of another project.  Suggested mediums included paint, watercolor pencils, crayons, and gesso.  As usual, anything goes!  The goal was to prepare backgrounds for future projects and we certainly did that.

ADD SOME SHINE

In the afternoon we explored using foil to add a little sparkle.  

Using liquid glue to adhere foil on fabric is tricky.  The glue tends to soak into the fabric in some spots and lie nicely on top in other spots.  The result is an uneven application of glue with various drying times!  The sections where the glue has soaked in is ready before the rest.   Along with varying drying times due to temperature and humidity, the results are random.  

Fusible web makes a more consistent adhesive.  The first method is to cut out the required shape, fuse the adhesive side to your fabric (if you use steam a seam you first remove the paper from one side) and use the iron to apply the foil.  The foil will adhere where there is fusible web.  No surprises, nice even application.

An alternate method is to adhere the foil directly to the fusible web.  The foil does not go on evenly because the web is textured and it is only the highest spots that adhere to the foil.  The result is a nice lacy effect which you can then fuse to fabric.  The one drawback is that you have carefully remove the fusible web from the backing sheet (you need the non foil side exposed to fuse it to fabric).  It wants to stretch, pull, tear, and generally be disgusting.  But the effect when fused to fabric is worth the effort!

BoNash 007 is a granular adhesive that can be sprinkled on in any amount and then the foil is applied in the usual manner with an iron.  The heavier the application of BoNash, the heavier the foil.  You can also use a freezer paper stencil to confine the grains of adhesive to a specific area, such as a star shape.  Using the freezer paper stencil you can get a specific shape same as with fusible web, but the foil doesn’t go on as densely.   The lighter the application of grains, the less foil that adheres to the fabric.

Lots of options for lots of glitter!

And here are the results of our efforts:

Decolorant (discharge paste) through a stencil onto cotton madras

Acrylic paints on (vintage 45+ year old) watercolour paper with red foiling

Tissue over bingo dauber ink on a book page

Painted & foiled fabric, painted fusible web and organza

Painted and foiled fabric, painted and heated Timtex,
painted coffee filter and painted needlework canvas

Multiple layers of paper, stamped and painted on canvas