Nappy Liner Birthday Card

Following my recent melting experiments, today I made a quick birthday card using the nappy liner melted with the heat gun:

This was my favourite of the nappy liner experiments, with its interesting texture and multiple holes.

I began by painting the piece with a wash of a mixture of black and dark brown acrylic paints, so that it penetrated all the crevices, after which I removed the paint from the surface with a wet sponge. I built up layers using a mixture of browns and yellow ochre.

Using a mixture of red, yellow, yellow ochre and white, I painted highlights on the raised portions of the piece until this was the result.

I took an A4 sheet of heavy white cardstock and folded it in half to A5, and then inked the edges using a mixture of Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Inks to reduce the starkness of the white and give a more subtle background. I then adhered the piece to the card using hot glue, and for the sentiment, used the “Happy Birthday” stamp from the Stampin’ Up Perfectly Penned set, with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. The final touch was to apply some gold Treasure Gold gilding wax with my finger onto the raised parts of the nappy liner piece.

I’m afraid the photos don’t do justice to the texture, colour or gold highlights. This is a highly textured, tactile card for someone who is as much a texture junkie as I am! I am looking forward to experimenting further with painting these melted materials.

Today I was given some roofing felt which resembles Fibretex, the “fabric” type of Tyvek. It has a soft handle and is a buff colour with a woven-looking texture. It may be a bit too soft to make stencils without being stiffened in some way, but I have tried melting it with the heat gun with good results, with lots of bubbling and the appearance of a few holes, and I am sure that it will also respond well to ironing. I am sure it will be useful for album binding too. I’ll let you know how I get on with it.