Box for Floral Mini-Album–Completing the Construction

Today I finished making the two boxes, with the exception of the embellishments for the top, and sorting one or two problems.

I began today’s session by cutting the pieces for the front mats.

I had to sleep on it to work out how to get the hole for the clasp in exactly the right place. In the end, I added some Zig 2-way glue on the back and let it dry so it was tacky (temporary adhesive) and lined it up on the box and pressed it into place. Taking my pokey tool, I pierced holes through the mat from inside the box where I’d already made holes, for the brads to attach the clasp.

I then removed the mat. I laid the clasp on top of the mat and lined up its holes with those I’d just pierced, and drew round the clasp. I added 1/4 inch all around and then cut the piece out. I double-distressed all the edges (including the edges of the cut hole) with Vintage Photo and Black Soot Distress Inks.

I attached the clasps to the front of the boxes, filling the concave back surface of them with Pinflair gel glue as I’d done for the other part of the clasp, and attached them firmly to the box with the same antique brass coloured brads.

Now I was ready to attach the front mats, and it was easy to line them up over the clasps and glue them into place.

The lids laid in place, so that I could test that the clasps worked correctly.

I cut the two mats for the backs of the boxes and double-distressed them as before.

The back mats glued in place. I didn’t realise till later that I’d made a mistake here.

Double-distressing the side mats.

The side mats glued in place.

It was now that I realised my mistake – I should not have glued the back mats in place until the hinges had first been glued down, because the mats cover the construction strips.

Fortunately it was easy to remedy. When I was making the Floral Mini-Album I learnt on Youtube that if you glue something with double-sided tape and have made a mistake, all is not lost, because you can soften the glue by heating it with a heat gun, and peel it back. This is what I did here.

Here is the lid in place, with its Tyvek hinge concealed by the re-attached back mat.

Using the cut out piece from the front mat as a pattern, I cut two pieces from an offcut from the front mat and glued them in place inside the box, over the three brads attaching the clasp to the front of the box.

Using a 1-inch punch and cutting from the same offcut, I attached circular pieces over the brads inside the lid flap.

The brads are now all covered, giving a neater finish, and preventing anything catching on them. I used wet glue to attach them.

I decided after all that I would use the metal corners I’d bought. They are only joined on one edge; there is a gap in the other so that you’ve got a bit of flexibility for lining them up. I cut along one of the other two edges so that a flat piece was detached, and filed it smooth, and gently bent it back into shape with pliers.

I did this because if I had put complete corners on the back, the lid would not have opened. I put the flat piece of the corner that I had cut off onto the back of the box, and the remaining piece around the corner of the lid.

I had a bit of trouble with this and it was hard to make them stick, even with hot glue. Opening the box, the two metal pieces collided and tended to knock each other off, so I had to heat it up and move them a bit so that there was a gap. I’m not sure I’m 100 percent satisfied with the result just yet.

Also, opening the box, the inside of the Tyvek hinge is visible, and it’s white. I don’t think the attachment of the Tyvek is strong enough as it’s tending to peel away. I propose adding another strip inside. This will be visible unless I ink it to match the box. I may also have to add a couple of ribbons to prevent the lid opening too far.

I added the metal feet, using hot glue.

Anyway, for now, apart from these final minor problems to sort out, the boxes are complete. Here they are with all the metal embellishments in place.

I have sorted out some remaining flowers from the Floral Mini Album project, and I need to make some more leaves, because these were all used on the album. I shall also die-cut some more gold Moroccan trellis and possibly some other embellishments. These will all go on the top of the boxes, and then the project will be complete. I have just under a week to do it, so I’m not panicking… Yet!

Pottering in the Studio

I really wanted to do some art today, but before attempting anything, I just knew I had to have a clear-up. The mess in my studio was really getting to me! There was stuff encroaching on my main work area, restricting the amount of room  had to work. As I went around the room from the door, on around to the further corner where the drawing area is, I cleared each surface and found stuff that hadn’t been put away since January when I was completing my Mamhead Woods album!! OK, I was ill soon after that and spent 2 1/2 weeks in hospital and then some considerable time recovering, but then I got very busy with other things and kind of got used to the messy state of things over the other side of the room. Funny how you can cease to notice mess after a while… Anyway, having just finished my Second Wind album, I knew I should tidy up before resuming the Infusions album.

I didn’t take any photos of the messy room till it was too late! Believe me, it was messy. Here are the tidy photos, which are a lot nicer to look at!

It feels a lot more restful in there now, and more conducive to creativity.

While tidying up, I’d found one or two bits and pieces that I decided to deal with right away. Over the past few weeks I’d set aside some different materials that I wanted to heat, to see how they would melt, and whether they would be useful in art projects. The first was some fruit labels. I also had a piece of damp proof course that the damp expert kindly cut off his roll for me to experiment with – this black shiny plastic has a rather attractive diamond pattern on it and I wanted to see if it would melt.

The fruit label shrank up very nicely and got quite wrinkled. I think this might be useful for texture, and it could be gessoed before painting. The damp proof course stuff also shrank up quite a lot, but it got very sticky and tended to stick to itself. I didn’t think it would be so useful in its melted state, but unmelted, I think it could have its uses.

I also tried melting a purple wristband that I had from a conference I attended recently – everyone was given one of these so that they could come and go freely, but be able to prove easily that they were paid up delegates when they came back in. I had been very careful with mine, thinking it was paper and being afraid to rip it, but at the end, when I tried to rip it off my wrist, it wouldn’t, which made me think that perhaps it was made of Tyvek, so I cut it off and saved it, thinking I would melt it and see.

Melting it proved my theory to be correct. This is definitely Tyvek!

All these little bits have now gone into my melted samples box.

A couple of weeks ago I was given some gingko leaves and I’d put them in my flower press. I got them out today. They have pressed beautifully but they appear to have parallel lines on them from the corrugated cardboard in the press, despite each layer of cardboard being separated by layers of absorbent paper, between which you place the flowers for pressing. I am hoping these lines will disappear once the leaves have been exposed to the air for a bit and had a chance to dry out. I have yet to discover what I am going to use these for. I am thinking of asking for some more, to try doing some eco-printing with. I simply love the shape of these leaves – so unusual.

By the time I’d done all this, I was very tired and my back was starting to ache, so I abandoned any thought of doing any art today. At least the studio is nice and tidy now, and I can begin again when I like.

We had a busy day today – I sang at church, and then we had to rush home and I had to get lunch on quickly because my hubby was going out. Most of the afternoon was taken up with clearing up the kitchen and finishing the rest of the laundry and doing the ironing.

I’ve got a nice sense of achievement now.

WOYWW 285

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Not too much activity on my desk this week. I got some new stash – a gorgeous art stamp from Stampotique called Kitty Squad which is waiting to be unmounted from its wood block and mounted on some EZ-Mount foam. Also some sticky embossing powder. I’ve made a start on the next section in my recycled mini-album. On the right you can see the new iPod case I got from Ebay – I have an identical black one which is pretty well worn out, and managed to find a replacement – it’s fine except it’s pink, which I didn’t want! They are very rare, but my favourite because you can attach a neck strap to the ring.

Oh dear, I’ve just noticed I’ve got another dirty paint jar on my desk… Hopefully this one won’t hang around for as many weeks as the last one!

I’ve also been doing a bit of sewing, altering some more bedding to fit my new bed. Even when cleared, the work surface isn’t very deep for folding and cutting! I think I may need to pull out all the pull-out units to make a cutting surface…

I’ve not been too well this week – one day in particular I had a tummy upset and felt pretty lousy all day but slept a lot which helped. We had a busy day out one day, and we dropped my defunct NAS drive in to my fav computer shop in Plymouth in the hope he can get it up and running again for me, and my hubby encouraged me to do some retail therapy in the market where I bought 3 simply gorgeous gorgeous tops… I love markets and charity shops. You can pick up some real bargains.

Had my first soap making class last Wednesday and I made a couple of really simple melt-and-pour soaps, including one for my hubby which he loves as it doesn’t upset his skin! I have ordered a special teddy mould just for him and am going to make all his soap from now on!! Since the teacher provides all we need for the class, if I’m going to go on with this, which I want to, I need to get a few supplies in, so I’ve been shopping on Ebay and am looking forward to some nice parcels arriving over the next few days. Some of the things will have multiple uses in the studio which is great.

Yesterday I started to strain my lavender oil that has been infusing for a couple of months. Our neighbour gave us a huge quantity of lavender that she’d cut back in her garden, and I filled a jar with it and topped it up with grapeseed oil and left it to infuse in the airing cupboard. It has darkened in colour and smells simply marvellous. I am hoping to be able to add some of this to my soaps.

This week I got some A4 Tyvek envelopes from Ebay. I can get a whole A4 sheet and two smaller pieces from each envelope, and it works out at 17p a sheet, which is considerably cheaper than the price a lot of the art suppliers charge. Wonderful stuff for melting and painting, and it apparently cuts very well indeed on electronic cutting machines, and once I get mine up and running again I am keen to try this – for cutting really detailed pieces which won’t rip when you take them off the carrier mat, and also for cutting stencils.

The result of my latest blood test shows that at last I am no longer anaemic! I shall be carrying on with just one iron tablet a day to keep me topped up, and hopefully I won’t slip back again. I don’t feel any different.

Great news – after hitting another plateau with my weight loss, I can now report that I have lost a total of two stone since mid-June when I started the 5:2 diet. I’ve got a way to go yet, and I am determined to reach a weight suitable for my height. Considering we have hosted 3 cream teas in 10 days, I don’t consider this bad going!!

My hubby took the kitties to the vet the other evening to get their boosters done, and they had their usual annual MOT. Uncle Luke (vet, who has a huge soft spot for Beatrice!) told Beatrice to stop purring because he couldn’t hear her heart! How many kitties in your acquaintance purr at the vet’s?!! Phoebe purred too. Uncle Luke gave them both a cuddle, and gave Beatrice a treat for being a good girl. Phoebe’s a little tub and didn’t get one.

Happy WOYWW everybody!

Kitty Squad, Tyvek, a Page About Cars and a Health Update

Yesterday my long-awaited new stamp arrived – it has been out of stock for weeks and I asked for an email alert when they were back in. It’s one of the wonderful Stampotique Originals art stamps, and it’s called Kitty Squad. I just love those cute kitties. They are cute without being cutesy if you follow me – I am not into cutesy lol!! Like all their stamps, it is wood mounted – I don’t like this, and can’t understand why they don’t do cling mount as an alternative as most people are using these nowadays, but at least I shall get another useable wood block for other purposes once I get round to unmounting it!

I shall cut the stamp to separate the kitties, to make them more versatile.

I also got some sticky embossing powder. I thought this was a brilliant idea. You stamp with Versamark and sprinkle on the powder as usual, but when you heat it, it becomes glue! This means you can add whatever you like to your stamped image – foils, glitter, flock, etc. etc. – making them much more versatile. I am looking forward to trying this.

I love how the stuff was packaged. It was wrapped up in red tissue paper with the lovely rough string tying it up, and attached was the little double-heart charm! All these things will be useful in projects.

Also this week, my Tyvek envelopes arrived from Ebay. I was thinking again about getting stuff much more cheaply from different sources from the usual art/craft suppliers who really bump up the price of things. I know that in the USA a lot of mailings are done using Tyvek envelopes because this stuff is so tough and won’t tear, but it is still light, and superficially looks and feels like paper. I had never seen them used here in the UK but decided to have a look on Ebay, and there were masses of them listed, and they are really cheap. Several years ago I bought a couple of A4 sheets of Tyvek at a craft show and spent quite a bit on them, but I have worked it out that I can get a whole A4 sheet and two smaller pieces from each of the A4 envelopes and it works out at approximately 17p per sheet! Not bad, eh? On the cutting machines forum several people have reported that this stuff cuts fantastically well – a very clean and detailed cut is possible, and being so strong, there’s no danger of it ripping as you take it off the mat. Don’t attempt to cut it with a punch, though – I tried this and it jammed in the punch, and I had to prise it apart with a screwdriver!!

I also have some soap making supplies on order from Ebay. Our teacher supplies all we need at the class but since I want to continue at home, there are various bits and pieces I need.

In my Recycled Mini-Album I have now started the page about cars. My dad was very keen on all the cars he had in his lifetime, and only gave up driving when he was 89! So some pages about his cars will be a real celebration. They meant more to him than just a means of getting from A to B.

I began by selecting some images and typing some text, printing them and then cutting them out.

Some of these will be used for the “professional life” pages, but in the meantime I cut out the “cars” text and stuck it down onto the page with soft matt gel medium.

I then added a rough wash of titanium white acrylic paint mixed with Golden GAC-100 polymer.

There may be further layers added to this page – it is still very much in the embryonic stage and I need to think a bit more about what I am going to do! The photos will be laid down over the text and more paint added, and I may add some further embellishment. And, of course, the borders! Watch this space.

I had the result of my latest blood test a couple of days ago and I am no longer anaemic! I need to check with the doctor, but she said to me last time I saw her that once I am back to normal, I may need to carry on with one iron tablet per day instead of three, in order to keep me topped up. I can’t say I feel any different, but my haemoglobin levels were only slightly below normal.

Yesterday my hubby took me back to the mobility centre because the new and improved seats on the small folding buggies had come in. The new and improved buggies themselves are still on order, but at least I could try the new seat. It was very comfortable, and a huge improvement on the original awful bicycle-saddle-like seat! We have decided to get a small foldable buggy that will go in the back of the car so that I can go further afield on outings than with the wheelchair. The big buggy will only go in the car with a huge amount of effort and is so heavy that my hubby says he can feel it affecting the steering. I shall continue to use it for outings from the house, and for church, as it is nice and comfortable when I have to sit for a long time. They think the new ones will be in after Christmas. Again, watch this space!

Recycled Mini-Album–Finishing the Cover

I wanted to create a traditional look to the cover of this book, so it would have a half-binding over the spine. To do this, I needed some strong material that would be thin so as not to produce too much bulk, flexible so that the book would open easily, and above all, strong, so that the hinges would not wear with use, and eventually split.

In my quest for a cheap (or better yet, free!) supply of Tyvek, I approached the builder who worked on our new house, and asked if he had any offcuts. He said they didn’t use Tyvek specifically, but another brand of roofing felt which had the same properties – a breathable waterproof membrane. I suspected that like Tyvek, this would be a bonded polyethylene material, which would probably melt and distort nicely with heat, and also be very strong. He gave me a nice big piece:

It is very like the “fabric” type of Tyvek in that it has a pattern on it resembling woven fabric, and has a soft handle, unlike the “paper” type of Tyvek which is a lot stiffer, and with a flat surface. This roofing felt is more suitable for this current project, in any case, than “paper” Tyvek. Close up, this is what the texture looks like:

On its own, it is far too flimsy to form the spine cover, which needed to be made from cardboard. I have quite a large supply of small pieces of corrugated cardboard that were originally in some food packaging, and I cut one of these down to the size of the spine, allowing a little extra to create a convex surface.

I rolled this piece around my rolling pin to get a nice smooth curve, and glued the edges to the edges of the spine, using Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.

I cut a piece of roofing felt to cover the spine and to extend a little way onto both the front and back board of the book, and allowing for turnings top and bottom, to cover the edge of the corrugated cardboard and to provide a nice neat finish to the end boards of the cover.

This piece was then painted with black acrylic paint. I had to work the paint well into the texture in order to get good coverage.

The first coat completed, and set aside to dry.

Obviously I could not speed the drying process with my heat gun, or I would have ended up with this!

This was an experiment I did when I first got the roofing felt, to see how well it would melt with the heat gun. It melts just like Tyvek, creating lovely bubbles and holes, and I know I shall be able to use this – I have yet to try ironing it.

As for my book cover, it needed a second coat of paint, after which I was better pleased with it. It had a completely matt surface, which was also slightly rough, and it needed something to finish it. The faux leather also required some extra treatment, to protect it and to give it extra richness.

I took a small piece of roofing felt and painted part of it with black acrylic paint, and then divided it into four sections, in which I tested different finishes: acrylic wax, regular semi-gloss acrylic gel medium, and gloss acrylic varnish. The final section was left untreated. This is what it looked like when dry:

It is rather difficult to see the difference on the photo; all three treated surfaces had a greater or lesser degree of gloss, with the varnish being by far the shiniest – this was not what I wanted for this particular project. The feel of each one was greatly improved – less rough, and all of them brought out the texture to a greater or lesser degree. Definitely ahead of the rest was the acrylic wax – I had read great things about this product and was not disappointed.

Like gel mediums, it goes on milky white, having the consistency of thin cream. I brushed it in well, working it into the texture of the roofing felt, and left it to dry. When dry, I buffed it with a soft cloth to achieve a subtle sheen.

As for the faux leather, I took three small offcuts from the book cover and tested them with the same finishes, and again, it was the acrylic wax which won hands down.

After two coats and a good buffing with a soft cloth, I was well pleased with the result.

I glued the half-binding onto the book with PVA adhesive. Firstly I painted the outside of the corrugated cardboard spine with a watered down coat of PVA to seal it. I had a bit of a job getting the roofing felt to stick, but managed it with the aid of rubber bands, paperclips and plastic clips. Once dry, it seemed securely adhered.

I then attached the Tim Holtz embellishments – the book label that I had created with one of the small metal frames, and the metal corners. This is how the cover looks now, and it is the finished result, as I have decided against cluttering the traditional style with the addition of a fastening.

There is more than enough space between the signatures to allow for expansion with the addition of material in the album and I do not think the book will be too fat to stay closed – in fact I shall take great care that it does not, because one of my pet hates is albums that are so bursting with content that they will not stay closed, but splay open all the time!

Here is a detail of the embellishments, which also shows the sheen and texture of the faux leather.

I cut the roofing felt large enough to allow for small turnings into the inside of the spine, and inside the front and back cover. Here is a detail of the spine of the book. The edges of the corrugated cardboard are now covered.

Inside the cover you an see the turning of the half-binding, and also the two mini-brads which secure the book label to the front. You can also see the backs of the metal corners where I bent them around the book, and hammered them flat – they are also secured with some Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.

Here is a detail of the turning of the half-binding inside the cover, and one of the corners.

The middle of the inside front and back covers needed to be filled to bring it up to the same level as the folded-in faux leather, so that when the end papers were added, they would lie as flat as possible. Also, I did not want the brads to make an impression on the end papers – these are quite thin, being made from recycled commercial envelope paper. I cut a couple of squares of recycled card (the same stuff I used to create the faux leather) to level things out, and stuck these down inside the covers with Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.

On the left you can see a little rectangle of paper stuck down – this was to cover one of the brads from the book label embellishment.

Now I was ready at last to add the end papers. Again I used Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, taking especial care with the edges and the centre fold, to make sure they were well stuck down.

I trimmed off the excess end paper from the first page of the book. Unfortunately I had not allowed for this when I stamped the music background onto the papers, because it meant that the image on the page that was trimmed was no longer in the middle – the front end paper wasn’t too bad but it was rather more obvious on the back one. Ah well, one lives and learns, and after all, this is a hand-made project and is bound to have one or two slightly “off” bits!

The final thing I did today was to stick together the innermost two pages of all but one signature (made from the smallest recycled cards) down their edges to create pouches for tags, using the ultra-sticky red-backed double-sided tape. The signature I omitted had a larger card in the centre so I thought I would leave that one as it was.

This completes the structure of the book. It just remains to touch up the rest of the pages where they had stuck together, and brush on some talc to prevent this happening again. Then I shall be ready to begin decorating it.

WOYWW 253

Goodness, it’s time for the World’s Best Nosey Fest again – What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? Come on, take a photo of your creative space and hop over to Julia’s blog (click on the link in my sidebar) and join in the fun.

I’m composing this post on Tuesday night. Not a great deal on my desk this week, although I was quite productive yesterday when I created a card using my melted nappy liner. On my desk today is the second of my diamond-pattern teabag drying sheets, and on the left you can see the large piece of roofing felt that Andy, one of the builders who did all that wonderful work on our new house last year, brought me yesterday. It is not actually Tyvek but resembles Fibertex, the “fabric” type of Tyvek. So far all I’ve done with it is cut off a small piece and melted it with the heat gun, with quite good results. In the centre of the desk, at the back, you can see my super-duper glue gun which I got running yesterday to stick my melted nappy liner onto the card base. Teabags in various stages of drying, emptying and embellishing seem to be a permanent fixture on my desk these days!

I’ve made a bit of progress on the first sleeve of my knitting – here you can see the back, lying on the desk from left to right, with the picked-up sleeve at the top of the picture. The green and grey pattern strip is deceptively difficult – each time I work this pattern I go wrong, and the poor artificial light in the sitting room was blurring the colours together and making it quite impossible! In the end I took myself up to my ARTHaven and knitted it up there, but I still went wrong and had to spend hours undoing the wretched thing! Success at last, though.

Finally, a picture I took this evening of my hubby tucking into a salmon fishcake, with both kitties showing intense interest, with lots of neck-craning and woofly twitchy noses!!

Next time we meet, I should have some exciting news for you. Meantime, wishing you all a happy and creative week.

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.