Friday, January 25, 2008

Serviettes as Backgrounds.

Before Christmas I was showing a friend how to make my serviette backgrounds and it wasn't until yesterday that I finished it off so here are the instructions.
First you need a fancy 3 ply serviette and you remove the bottom 2 white sheets leaving you with the top coloured layer.
I love this serviette but unfortunately they are no longer available.




The first thing to do is tear the serviette up into pieces and put aside.
Next you need a sheet of cartridge paper (like in childrens sketch books) some PVA glue and water( 50/50) of each and you proceed to glue the pieces onto the paper--no particular design just cross hatching them and continue until you have glued all the pieces down.
You need to use plenty of the glue/water mixture because this helps to create the wrinkles on the paper which creates texture--





Here is a picture of what it looks like with the gluing partially done---




The sheet completely covered and moist---------


While it is still wet add some other colour to it by dripping inks or dyes onto the wet surface
If the inks aren't spreading across the paper just spritz it with some water to help it along.
The ink travels across the paper like veins.
I have only used blue Quink writing ink here but you can add several colours if you like.
Don't worry if it looks like you have added too much ink because it dries out different to what it looks.
I also spritzed it with 2 different Moon Shadow Mists sprays.
Now leave it to dry--and don't worry when you come back to it and the edges are all curled up-just iron them flat--between a couple of sheets of glad bake(to protect the iron) or you can speed up the process with your hairdryer.

This is what I used for the colouring part of it.





You can see by this photo how wet it is---





When it was dry I gently rubbed "Goldfinger" paste over the top just enough to hilite the wrinkles.
This picture shows on the left side Goldfinger added and on the right side no Goldfinger.
I have been a little bit heavy handed with the Goldfinger on the bottom left hand side.




Here is a closup of the dry background without the Goldginger-----




And here is a closeup with the Goldfinger added



You can see some of the original orange colour showing throug on the bottom right side.
*******
Nellie asked if I could stitch onto the finished piece which reminded me I had meant to add that
I have also used a fine cotton as the base instead of paper which then allows me to stitch into it by hand or machine.
*********

21 comments:

Nellie's Needles said...

hmmm...I have done a similar technique with papers/tissues and acrylic medium over styrofoam ball forms to make tree ornaments. It never occurred to me to think of it as a flat ground for art. Do you stitch on the surface?

Françoise said...

Lovely!

Sandy said...

Very rich looking. I'll have to try it. Sandy

Ati said...

Thanks for the clear explanation, I will try it someday when I find nice serviettes:)

Susan Lenz said...

Hi!
Nice tutorial! Very lovely and especially great colors.
Susan

Joanna said...

Great tutorial Doreen! Just lovely!

Amanda said...

Brilliant - thank you for the tutorial. I love stitching into paper and am always looking for new ways to decorate it first.

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Great tutorial Doreen! I'm going to have to try this because it looks great

Downunderdale said...

what about fusible webbing on say polycotton? That's what I do. Less messy than pva and then easy for stitch. I coat the surface with acrylic wax when I have finished - to seal it all- Dale

Micki said...

Wonderful tutorial. The surface looks great.

Julie H said...

Wow! Love the results of this and will be trying this - can see it on my journal covers. Thank you for sharing in so much detail Doreen.

Lise said...

Thanks for your tutorial!! Another idea I have to try for my 2008 journal!!
Lise
PS: Happy Australia Day

Purple Missus said...

What a great tutorial Doreen. And I love the look of your finished pieces.

sharon young said...

Hi Doreen
What a great result from your starting point, love the finished colours, and your tutorial was really easy to understand, will definitely try this one out!!

Lalhezar said...

Doreen this is is a great tutorial. Well done. Suzanne

Dianne said...

What a great tutorial!! I will definitely give this a try....

Unknown said...

This is a great tutorial Doreen.

Jan said...

Great tutorial Doreen and lovely effect. Something else to try!
Jan

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous results Doreen!

Dot said...

Thanks for sharing so much detail Doreen! Love the result..

corina said...

Thank you for the tutorial, I used it on textile and I am very happy with the result!