Crafty Musings by Hagit

Faux washi tape - a tutorial

I love washi tape. And I took a picture to prove it!

The thing is, that it costs quite a bit.
So I started thinking about making some home-made washi, and wondered what would be the closest solution - what has that similar thin, scaly transparent texture, and came up with this super simple tutorial.

All you need is: 

Medical tape, some rub-ons, scissors, and a transparency, or clean mat, to stick the tape on.

Choose your rub-on, and cut it. I love using larger rub-ons, and cutting them into different shapes and sizes:

Cut some tape, tape it down on your smooth, clean surface, and rub the rub-ons down.
That's all! There you have it, thin, transparent, colorful washi tape!  

Now go tape something down! ;-)

There are many other ways to alter medical tape, including stamping:

you could print on it, use it to texturize a background, color it, paint it, and much more.

Here's a great roundup of washi tape on Mel Stampz.

Enjoy! :)

It's a feature, not a bug!

Something funny happened in one of my recent altered domino workshops.
One of the participants stamped an image on her domino, and was very disappointed to learn that the ink was dry, and the image turned out somewhat blurry and light. She told everyone to watch out for that ink pad - can you imagine how embarassed the instructor (that's me!) was? :-)

But several seconds later, we all took a look at the "ruined" domino, and realized that the "dry ink" effect was beautiful! It sort of made an interesting light background. Here it is:

And then can you guess what happened? everyone was on the lookout for the dry ink! it was so funny. People started asking "who has the dry ink?" "I need the dry ink, where is it?" as if it were a desired new product, and not something to be trashed. These are a few of the dominos people made with "dry ink":

Can you see how the stamped image is light, uneven and imperfect? and doesn't it make a much interesting background than an even clear image?

This reminded me of how Celine Navarro stamps - without fear! Know what I mean? look at this, for example:

Now honestly, how many of you would have freaked out at such an imperfection? :-)
I think it's just perfect! It makes a much interesting texture, and gives her albums more character, doesn't it? Have a look at this beautiful mini here and you'll see some more "imperfect" stamping. I love it!

And this is when it becomes even more of a feature. See the shadowed alpha stamps here:

Celine explains how she does that: "To make this shadow behing each letter, you just have to stamp EACH LETTER twice without re-inking your stamp.I Use black Versafine ink, stamp one letter and then, without cleaning your stamp, stamp again but a little bit on the side, to make the shadow" - well, isn't that the "dry ink" technique again? :)

And I have several other examples, where the "imperfection" led to something very perfect.
A year ago, I sewed a diaper bag for my nephew's bed:

Because I'm only a beginner and my sewing skills really need to get better, as I turned the fabric to its right side, I realized there was a very crooked stitch, and not only that, but I had also left it open. So I sewed the lace on top, and I like the result even better! See, I wouldn't have thought of adding the lace without making that mistake.

And here's an example from my friend, Keshet, who made this frame in a recent workshop we both went to. She got too much glue on her frame, and it showed, and made her very unhappy. She then moved to cover it up with the aqua felt, and lo and behold! It looks so pretty, and much nicer than the original red-only frame! (that's her beautiful daughter in the pic :):

And this picture is from a recent altered photos workshop I gave. The same Keshet thought she had "ruined" her photo because her son, portrayed in the picture, got a smudge on his cheek. But then she looked again, and decided it makes him look like an indian, so she added feather to his hair:

Isn't it beautiful? She wouldn't have thought of adding the feather without that "mistake".

So what do you think? is imperfect the new perfect? :-)
I think those little imperfections are wonderful, and definitely interesting.
Have some examples of your own? Please tell me all about them/link in the comments section!

Inkjet Image Transfers

For this post, in Hebrew, click here.

I enjoy image transfers so much, that I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting techniques.

I also give workshops on image transfers, so I work a lot on perfecting my technique and finding versatile ways to use them. This specific technique is very simple, but I didn't think it would be a good idea to teach it as part of a hands-on workshop, as it requires printing on the spot - not too convenient. So instead, I decided to share all my experiments here.

What you'll need:

1. Transparency sheet/film - either the type used for overhead projectors or for printing, but note you are going to print on the smooth side, i.e., the "wrong" side for printing.

2. Inkjet printer.

3. Interesting image to transfer - you can use your own photos, or look for some free images here and here).

4. Paper or fabric to transfer the image to.

So here's one possible result:

 

The process is this simple:

1. Print your image on the smooth side of a transparency. You don't want the ink to set on the transparency, you want it to be very wet, so you can then "stamp" or "print" the image on your receiving paper.

2. Quickly take the printed sheet, and press it face down, on your paper or fabric:

Press it down firmly with your hand. Careful, don't burnish or fiddle too much, or it will smudge. Just press down, placing your whole hand over the picture.

3. Now just pick up the transparency, and...tada!

You've successfully transferred the image to your paper or fabric. The picture is above is a transfer onto simple printer paper.

You may have to try this out a few times before you understand how much time to wait, or which paper is best, but I did quite a few experiments, so you can learn from them too.

Here's what will happen if you don't immediately use the transparency as it is printed:

The ink will turn into heavy drops, and your transfer won't be as good. Actually, this too can be an interesting outcome, and you may want to try it too, once you've mastered the "right" way! :-)

So now I wanted to see what will happen on other receiving papers, and I tried Canson textured paper:

And an old book page:

And tissue paper (the smooth side):

And when I got tired of Maude Fealy, I started experimenting with another lady. First on Basic Grey paper with Gesso (the gesso had dried a long time ago, I painted this page many months ago), where the ink kind of "glided" over the gesso - can you see it in the picture below?

So then I transferred the same image onto regular scrapbooking paper:

And then I started experimenting with my own images. I transferred one of my wedding pictures onto fabric:

And then paper:

Not too great huh? well, the image I used was low resolution, so I decided to try a better one, and the results were actually much better:

On fabric:

On paper:

And on (the smooth side of) tissue paper:

And... that's that! Don't you love how varied and interesting the results are? I love how all the pictures have their imperfections - that adds a lot of interest to any project.

Here's a page I did in an altered book using this technique, a few years ago (view larger size here) - I transferred an anatomical image:

 

Last tip: you can use the same transparency over and over again - just wipe it with a wet cloth in between printing.

I hope you enjoy this, and do come back to comment/show me what you've done!

Blender Pen Transfer

This is a tutorial I published on my Hebrew blog last year, and I'd like to share it here as well.

Image transfers are lots of fun, you never know what the outcome will be, and you can play around with them afterward, creating interesting new images for your journal and layouts.

This is no doubt the simplest transfer. I have a few blender pens, but the only one that works for me is Chartpak blender pen.

Here's what you do:

Print your image in a laser printer (won't work for inkjet):

Put your image face down on another piece of paper/fabric:

Start painting the back of your image. As it wets, you will be able to see your image through the paper:

You can lift a little, to see how it's coming along:

And... you're done! tada! This is the transferred image:

I also tried transferring images from magazines. the only ones that worked were from "Time Out" magazine. I have no idea whether their paper is the same quality all over the world, but Time Out Tel Aviv transfers really nice images:

 

And this one is from a seventies Burda, I was impressed!

Over here I did a collage of sorts with a few transfers:

And a small piece with image transfer and stamps:

What I found out was that it is impossible to transfer quality glossy magazine images. You'd have to look for magazines with lower quality paper, for the ink to transfer.

I really enjoyed the process, and there are many possibilities: transfer on paper, fabric, wood, domino cubes, and more.

Enjoy, and let me know if you've tried it!