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Monday 27 February 2012

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

9 comments:

Cath Wilson said...

Ooh, I like the sound of that - pity we can hardly see it, lol, but a great extension of wax resist stamping. H'mm.... Love the natural colour palette again and the flutterby is fab x

Kasey ~ in Oz said...

Hi Paul,

I had a little giggle at your title, it sounds painful!

Your tag though is anything but, it's gorgeous.

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

Anonymous said...

Ooooo! Gorgeous tag Paul. Love the shabby chic look you have created and the distressing. Fab post. Really enjoyed reading it.
Regards Florence x

Kory K said...

That is amazing!!! So beautiful.

I'm gonna try the candle thing!!!

I don't have Evernote, yet... I've seen it in the app store and thought it looked cool, I guess I need to check it out!

-kory

Michele said...

Lovely tag - the shabby paint effect looks fab! x

Frank Garcia said...

SOOO Gorgeous Paul, your work is so amazing. You inspired me today! Thank You!

-Frank

Heather Lynn said...

just gorgeous! you do amazing things with crafting materials! :)
xo, hl

Neet said...

Hi Paul
Again a lovely tag, and I am itching to try the technique out but need maybe to jot it down as time is short. Never heard of an Evernote - off now to investigate.
Hugs, Neet xx

alexa said...

What a great title for a book! I feel a bit like that sometimes. :) Wish I could see more of the weathering, because the bit I can see looks lovely - but then so is all the frayed scrumptiousness on top!