Second Thursday Tutorial: Playing with napkins

Over the years, I have received some beautiful napkins as gifts or exchanges and have admired how friends like Yvonne use napkins in their art.

I've used them a few times, but seldom think to look for them when I am choosing a background.  Today, I hope to correct that problem.   One of the most time consuming events occurred before I could ever get started.   It took over three hours to remove the two back layers from the beautiful front layer of each of these 3-ply napkins.  There is supposed to be an easy way to remove the excess layers/plys, but it has somehow eluded me!

EDIT: Adhere a length of clear Scotch type tape to one corner of your napkin, leaving enough tape to hold onto.  Gently lift the tape and the first layer will pull away.  Do the same for the layer next to the decorated side of the napkin.  

Wish I had known this when I was struggling to remove the various plys from the above napkins.

I decided to be lazy and not drag everything to the basement, where I have an actual ironing board and another iron. Instead, I've set everything up on my kitchen table.  From back left, counterclockwise:

Freezer paper (plastic coated)
Parchment paper
Cling wrap (clear, generic)
Napkins (top ply only)
Pellon iron on adhesive (paper backed)
Old towel
Iron

I will be creating three techniques, so you won't need all these supplies, but you will need napkins, an iron, and parchment paper in whatever technique you choose.  In lieu of an ironing board, you will also need a towel or some type of cloth for your table.

Take time to separate all the napkins you plan to use before beginning.   There are usually three layers, two of which are white.  Remove these and save them for other projects.  Occasionally, the color and design are so strong, the second layer can be used, too.

Next to the napkins is a roll of pellon, also known as "wonder under."  Seamstresses are well aware that it is a paperbacked product that fuses to fabric.  For our purposes, we will be fusing it to napkins.  You can find this product at your local sewing and fabric stores, and it is more than likely found on the internet, too.  It comes on a bolt and is sold as yardage.  Be sure to get the paperbacked fusible.  It costs a bit more than the type that has no backing which won't work for this project.

Be sure your freezer paper is plastic coated on one side.  Your napkins won't stick, otherwise.  You can find freezer paper at your local grocery store or supermarket.  It should be in the same area as the cling wrap, foil, wax paper, and parchment paper.

You will need TWO sheets of parchment paper cut to size (more on that later).  Wax paper cannot be substituted for parchment paper.  Parchment paper is used in baking to keep food from sticking to the bottom of baking sheets, pans, etc.  It accepts high heat, and keeps the bottom of your iron clean.

Clear cling wrap can be found in the same supermarket aisle as foil, wax paper, etc.

You will need an old, clean towel that can be laid on your table in lieu of an ironing board.  Be sure your towel can be doubled, so it can absorb the heat.  And it goes without saying, although I will anyway, that you need an iron.  You can use a regular iron or a craft iron, but a regular iron gives you more surface to cover and bond at one time.

I needed to check this, my largest napkin, to make sure 

it would fit under the parchment paper.  Sadly, it didn't.

This one did, though!

For this first technique you will need the top ply of the 3-ply napkin

and pellon (sometimes called "wonder under") paperbacked fusible.

Let's build a sandwich.  This is not an edible sandwich, but one that will be used throughout all these techniques.   We begin with our bottom layer which is bread in a sandwich and parchment paper in our napkin projects.

For this sandwich, we are adding a layer of pellon cut to size.  

It's hard to see, but you can feel the different sides of the pellon by running your hand over the two sides.  One side will feel like paper, which it is.   The other side is rough, and is the fusible side.  In case you have lost track, we have placed our towel on the table, added a sheet of parchment paper, and have now laid down a sheet of pellon.

For the next layer, you will place your napkin face up on top of the rough side of the pellon.  Remember, wrong side of napkin to rough side of pellon.

To complete your sandwich, add your final slice of bread or parchment paper.  You should cut your pellon a bit larger than you need, because these napkins have a tendency to shift around.  The smooth parchment paper doesn't help, either.  Be sure both sheets of parchment paper are larger than the sheet of pellon.

Check for final placement, then iron the napkin in place.  Once you place the iron on the parchment paper the pellon immediately bonds to the napkin and it's too late to make any adjustments.

You can check to make sure the napkin has been completely fused by lifting the parchment paper and running your fingers (or fingernails) over the napkin.

Remove the top parchment paper 

turn the fused napkin over, position the unit on the bottom parchment paper and iron the paper backing.  Allow to cool, admire your project and continue to the next technique.

For this sandwich, we once again begin with the towel, the same sheet of parchment paper, and cling wrap.

Position your napkins, or pieces of napkins, on the cling wrap printed side up as shown.  Note the flower in the center is not the original, but the second ply of a 3-ply napkin.

Place your second piece of parchment paper on top and make sure it completely covers the cling wrap.

This takes very high heat, and a long, long, long, long time to bond the napkins to the cling wrap.  Some of the pieces didn't want to bond at all.

I thought it might be because I used several napkin parts, so I tried again.  You can see all the parts of the sandwich in this photo.

I worked HARD trying to get this to bond

and was mortified when I checked to see if the napkin had bonded.  It quickly pulled away from the napkin and turned into a crumpled mess.  This technique was a failure.  I suspect it was the generic cling wrap I used.  Your mileage will more than likely be different from mine.

The final technique I knew would work, because I've used freezer paper as a mask on fabric before.   Adhering napkins was even easier. 

The main problem was keeping the freezer paper from rolling back onto itself, especially after I had the napkins positioned prior to adding heat.

This was perfection.   Be aware your napkin will no longer be "see through."

The freezer paper is like adding a white backing to the napkins.  Additionally, even after ironing, the freezer paper tends to want to return to its rolled up state.

The napkins and the freezer paper width are not compatible.  If you aren't careful and plan ahead, something I really didn't do, you will have a lot of waste.  Be sure you have a way to hold your errant freezer paper down.

Once the iron touches the parchment and freezer papers, you'll have to live with what you get!

I wanted to try a small experiment, so whipped up a tiny amount of 91% rubbing alcohol and Staz-on reinker.  Even better would be if you had some colorful alcohol inks (AIs). Apply the concoction directly to the coated side of the freezer paper and allow to dry.

I had a couple of white napkins left over from a wedding napkin, and once the freezer paper was dry, I adhered the napkin to the freezer paper.

Didn't these turn out lovely?

After two days, this is what I ended up with.

Now it's time to cut the napkins apart and look for inspiration.

Ruminations:

The generic cling wrap I used didn't fuse, so that was disappointing.  If you try this technique, be sure to buy a high quality cling wrap, not one that is generic.  This will give you a see-through transparency if done correctly.  When applying the cling wrap fused napkin, be sure to place parchment paper or your heat mat over the napkin and cling wrap prior to ironing the assembly to your art journal, tag, or altered book background. 

The fusible web fused beautifully.  You should leave the backing paper in place until you are ready to adhere (fuse) your napkins to a journal page or art project.  You will fuse the napkin in place using your iron after removing the paper backing.  Your background will show through using this technique because the napkins have a see-through quality. 

The freezer paper also fused beautifully, although you lose your see-through ability.  The freezer paper also has a tendency to roll onto itself during assembly and after it is ironed.  The freezer paper must be adhered to your background using some method such as glue stick, PVA (white) glue, a Xyron, or sewing.

The same two sheets of parchment paper were used for all these projects and I'll still be able to use them for even more projects in the future.

Remember the order regardless of the technique you try.  From the bottom up:

Cloth to cover your work surface
Parchment paper
Fusing agent (I used pellon, cling wrap, and freezer paper, one product at a time)
Napkin, image side up
Parchment paper

Thank you for joining me today.  I hope this was helpful to some, because I actually learned a lot while preparing these napkins for future use.  Once this project goes live, you will be able to access it anytime on my tutorials page.