Art Journal Every Day: Foil Tape Tutorial

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here.  All of the previous posts can be found archived here.  There is a flickr group for sharing right here.  Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day!  No need to finish anything or even like it.  If you've done some art journaling this week and you've blogged about it, or put it on flickr, please leave a link in the linky list at the end of this post.  Thanks!

Happy Halloween!  No tricks today, just treats!  ;)

As you'll recall, last week I promised that I'd write up a formal tutorial for the stars technique from last week's Art Journal Every Day post!  This is the page I'm talking about:

Here's the easy peasey technique:

STEP ONE: Cut shapes from paper.  For this tutorial I've used my ScanNCut to cut out some cuts of my handwriting.  For the how-to on cutting your own handwriting with the ScanNCut, watch this tutorial:

 

I used my deep cut blade to cut up an old Equal box because I wanted my cuts to be thicker than paper.  

I used a "7" setting on my deep cut blade.  Your machine may be different.  Be sure to do a test cut first! Also, for tips on using the deep cut blade, watch this quick video:

STEP TWO: Place foil tape over your shapes, slightly overlapping strips of tape.  

Foil tape is something you can buy at the hardware store.  I believe it's used for repairing duct work.  You can also buy large sheets of adhesive backed foil from your craft store if you don't want seams.

STEP THREE: Rub well, especially down into the crevices of the paper underneath.  Be careful not to pierce the tape.  

Usually I start with my finger and then move onto a tool like a bone folder.

STEP FOUR: Paint over the top of the foil and allow the paint to dry.  I used black gesso, but you could use any acrylic paint.

STEP FIVE: Once the paint is dry, sand it.  Where the chipboard is underneath, the foil is raised and you will remove the paint when you sand it.  

You can sand a lot or a little depending on the look you want.

Note: If there are wrinkles in your foil tape, they will also catch the sandpaper.  This is why it's important to spend some time smoothing everything down in step #3.

Here's the final result:

Pretty darn cool, right?  In person, it really glows and shines!

Here is this week's linky list:

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for stopping by!

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I am a paid spokesperson for the ScanNCut, but all of the enthusiasm for the machine is my own!  It's a tool that I love and use.