Play day

Apologies to anyone who got a truncated version of an earlier draft of this post which I accidentally published. Here is the final version!

Despite the fact that it is still cold here (yes, antipodean readers, I know you are melting!) I decided today was to be spent in the garage playing with the heatgun and paints I got for Christmas. The morning was sucessful. I heated up bubble wrap ( now that is fun!) and painted it with combinations of paint - Luminaire Super Copper, various Byzantia paints and, for the second one down, acrylics although they didn't work as well.

I then took some inside and stitched with various weight threads : Oliver Twists machine embroidery thread

a King Tut

and ( my favourite) A Superior Masterpieces thread.

Later in the day I went back to the bubble wrap and went a bit mad. This is bubble wrap heat distressed and painted with Luninere Super Copper dried with the gun. Then a layer of Bondaweb, then a layer of snippets of various colours of sheers ( blue yellow and russet red) which were then distressed a little then painted agian in parts wth a Byzantia paint and sprinkled with gold embossing powder and distressed again with the heat gun.

I like these samples. I can see how they would make a good base for part or all of a very ornate embroidery piece.

The other techniques I tried were less successful. First nappy liners. Ironed on they are supposed to carry colour and give a distressed look ' like an old wall'. This sample was a liner rubbed with Markal Paintsiks over the blow heater vents. ( Nearest thing I could find and yes, I did turn it off first!) and then ironed onto fabric which was then overpainted with Dynaflow Golden Yellow and Brass paint. Blah! If you look very close it is a slight furry effect but nothing worth the effort of me driving out to buy the recommended brand of liners ('from a well known chain of Chemists'. Thats Boots, right? Not Lloyds?)

This one is a little more effective - I painted two layers of liner with Byzantia paints before ironing it on. The paints are nowhere near as vibrant as they are normally.

Then I painted and heat distressed Lutrador. I like destroying things with heat. I think there is a pyromaniac inside me. The result is pretty but I don't really know what use it is.

The final sample I will show you is dark brown batik fabric rubbed over those heater vents with sparkle Markal Paintstik, sprinked with embossing powder, heated and then rerubbed with the same Stiks

I don't know if this was a day well spent or not - I am not very good at these arty techniques. I see the beautful thing in books and want to learn but somehow my stuff just ends up mediocre. Of course, these are only backgrounds to be used in the making of those beautiful things so maybe if I go on to read a bit more I might eventually get there!