Frayed, Stacked & Layered

I went a bit over the top with the making of this tag. You know how it is, you start with a single idea or, in my case, wanting to try out a technique, and it builds and builds until you eventually stop to wipe your fevered brow and quietly say to yourself, "Enough".

It began with a quick look in my Evernote files (I still wonder how did I ever manage without it) where I have a section dedicated to ideas I wish to try out one day. I decided I'd begin with the oldest one on my list, which happened to be a shabby painting technique demonstrated on Jim the Gentleman Crafter's blog here.

Where he has rubbed a candle onto sections of painted wood to create a shabby painted effect, I wanted to see if I could do the same on a paper tag. My first attempt, which copied Jim, wasn't a great success. It didn't look as natural as his. However the edges looked decent, so I tried another but only rubbing a candle around the edge. Again, I wasn't enamoured by the result. It looked too contrived. But for the third attempt, I rubbed the candle over the whole thing and when I wiped the dried acrylic paint away, it scraped away in just the right amount to give a more natural weathered look.

The flower came next, which I cobbled together from scraps of quilt fabric lying around, frayed, stitched and stacked on top of each other. I already had a butterfly left over from when I made the previous tag. I stamped a couple of flower images onto patterned paper and trimmed them out. Finally, I dyed a length of seam binding with distress inks and tied up into a shabby bow. I fired up the glue gun, collaged the elements together and finished it off with a frayed scrap of linen fabric tied through an eyelet at the top.

I lost complete track of time putting this tag together. I felt in my element just playing around with paint & handmaking embellishments. I had wanted an early night but the midnight candle burnt away whilst I busied myself in the craft room. It did mean, however, that I slept like a baby afterwards. Better than a session of yoga!

Have a wonderful, creative week my friends.

Paul x