Thursday, February 4, 2010

When good ideas don't go as planned

If you haven't already, please don't forget to leave your ideas for my ATC sentiment here. Today is the final day I can take ideas, so please get them in. And before you ask, I haven't decided anything yet.

I want to make fabric paper, but not the same fabric paper that most people make, or that I have made in the past here, or here (toward the end of the post), or even here. I got this wild and crazy idea to use fabric and tissue paper.

I started this project last night, thinking I could have something ready to go and show this morning. First, I didn't have any muslin, so I went through my fabric stash and came up with the two colors I hoped to use. Then I went through my tissue stash and came up with some lovely tissues.

I have sorted them here, by color. The materials I started with for this project were all kinds of mostly cotton fabric, tissue paper, UHU Twist & Glue, and my craft sheet.


The first thing I did was take an old tee-shirt I had painted in forever, cut it up and put Twist & Glue all over it.


I spread the glue around using an old faux credit card. I never got good coverage, though. The Twist & Glue was not the right consistency for the project. Now I know why you can ONLY use watered down white glue when making fabric paper. In addition to that, I used a ton of glue.


Next I added my leftover circles from the "Love" flowers. They didn't want to stick and the glue was really starting to dry, and at an uneven rate because I never got the right coverage.


Although I used a credit card on the glue, you can see the coverage was spotty at best. I checked just a few minutes ago and the glue is still not dry, even after about 10 hours. Now I have to wait until tomorrow for the glue to completely dry, so I can lift it off the craft sheet and try something different. Since I hope to spend today with my friend Dana, I will pick this up on Friday, or late tonight. At least I know the project will work, but it's going to need a different glue. Stay tuned. All failures provide learning experiences. This is just a minor set back in my world.

Today's blog comes all the way from Germany. As if you haven't been round the world already with OWOH, this blog will have you saying WOW. She doesn't go into much detail about her art, techniques, or materials she uses, but the eye candy is above reproach. Be sure to go and check out Gaby's Colorful Adventures. I can assure you, you won't be sorry.

6 thoughtful remarks:

~*~Patty Szymkowicz said...

Every process serves a purpose doesn't it ... I just know you will turn this into something wonderful!

Gaby IS an amazing artist, each of her creations make my mouth water!

oxo

Lori Saul said...

Really cool to see step by step in the process of a creation- so fun!

Diane said...

I like the way you experiment, and keep going and show all of us--keep us posted!

Regina said...

I so love WIP photos and details. Thank you for sharing with us...can't wait til Friday to see what you come up with.

Hugs,
Regi

Carol Anne's Boutique said...

You really learn so much even when something doesn't turn out how you had planned. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

I also wanted to say that your 2 new runner up prizes for OWOH are so beautiful Elizabeth!! You are such a sweet, kind and generous person!!
Hugs, Carol Anne :)

Marlynn said...

Elizabeth - I really hope you know how much it means for you to post these adventures. It lets us know what to watch out for. Yup, I usually toss the stuff out not thinking that someone could learn from my mistakes ..... love the post and am so amazed with you!