Making Fabric Paper

This is how I made my latest batch of fabric paper. I started out by laying out some rosin paper on the floor and then taping down some freezer paper onto the rosin paper. The freezer paper has to be shiny side up. You have to have the freezer paper shiny side up so you can peel the fabric paper up once you are done gluing and painting on it, otherwise the freezer paper will stick to it. I use rosin paper because I do fabric paper in large batches and it saves my carpet from drips. You can just lay plastic or newspaper instead. When the freezer paper comes out of the roll, it likes to roll back onto itself, so I just use some masking tape and keep it taped down on all four corners. After that is all done, it cut a piece of thin muslin and put that down. It doesn't really matter if it is natural or white. I use the cheapest, thinnest muslin that I can find. I get is from Joann's with my 40% off coupon most of the time. You want it thin since you are making paper with it.

To make the glue wash, it is a 1-to-1 ratio of liquid glue and water. I just add a tad more glue than water. Make sure you mix it up really well so you don't have any globs of glue in the wash. Also, use a sponge/foam brush or an paint brush that you can throw out or wash out right away. I always use a foam brush that I toss. Also, don't use those glues that dry glossy unless you like that look. I don't like glossy. I always use Sobo liquid glue but it is a personal preference.

Always have your stuff ready when you are making fabric paper. You can use whatever thin papers you want. You are not limited to tissue paper or wrapping paper. I have used handmade papers and die cuts. I also use the left over paper from making the die cuts and text papers. I also use piano paper with the hole in it. I love the colored tissue paper that I get from other people and that I get sent as packing. The tissue paper that I use the most is the cheap white stuff that I get from Micheals. I also have found the cheap natural tissue paper they use for purses work well.

Although a lot of fabric paper is done with just laying down strips of paper directly onto the muslin, I tried laying down strips of colored tissue paper first this time. I always lay down a layer of glue wash first onto the muslin. Don't worry if everything doesn't lay down completely. Your top layer of tissue paper will take care of that. Make sure you leave some gaps of muslin showing and don't overlap your tissue paper or papers. If it gets too thick, you aren't really making fabric paper. You won't be able to sew on it. The idea is to leave it still flexible. That means to leave some gaps of muslin showing. So use thin papers. The only things I ever overlap are the handmade Japanese tissue papers that are full of holes that are meant for texture. The texture comes out when I paint it.

You can see on this one where I laid down the tissue paper and then the left over from the die cuts. I left room in between and did not overlap. On the right side, you can see where I put on the top layer of tissue paper. You always do a glue wash for each layer. You tamp on the top layer of tissue paper instead of broad strokes or the tissue paper breaks apart. It is okay if it kinds of crunches up. Somtimes, I don't even do the top layer of tissue paper.

Here is one where it is dried before sewing. I normally color it before it dries because I like the colors to meld and spread. I used the Spritz sprays this time. If you use acrylics, you might want to water it down so it will allow the underlying textures to come through. Watercolors work well, too.

This is where I sustituted a pattern for tissue paper.

Here is where the colors flowed together. After the glue has dried, you can sew on it, cut it apart, stamp on it, and do with it what you want. I am going to take these pages and use some of them for the swap. The rest of them are going to be made into a book/journal for a dear friend.

How I did my latest batch of fabric paper

Whatcha need:
freezer paper - shiny side up
cotton muslin - thin stuff - I buy the cheap stuff from Joann's for this purpose
thin tissue or wrapping paper
text from books
textured or lace paper
white glue like Sobo
container
cheap foam or paintbrush
water
acrylic paint or fluid acrylics

Instructions:
1. Lay muslin down on shiny side of freezer paper. Do not use wax paper. It will stick to the wax paper and will ruin the effect.
2. Create a glue wash. I do about 1/2 glue and 1/2 water or a little bit less glue. Mix well and keep giving it a stir when using because the glue has a tendency to sink to the bottom as you are using it.
3. Cut or tear the thin strips of tissue paper or text into size or shapes your want. Important to leave space in between each shape or you will get chunky paper - not fabric paper.
4. With brush - brush on a layer of glue wash on muslin. Lay down the tissue or text shapes. Dab glue wash on top so that the shapes stay down. Let dry completely.
5. Water down the acrylic paint or fluid acrylics to the color you want so you get a color wash almost to watercolor consistency or a little brighter if you want. Give the entire thing the once over. You can do it in several different colors, if you want. Let dry completely. I would go with a light color here since you will be layering other colors on top.
6. Add random pieces of lace or Japanese tissue paper on top of fabric paper. Dab glue wash on top. Let dry completely.
7. Add color with acrylic wash in different colors. What I did was use Polished Pigments. and Simple Solutions #2. I did it so it was pretty watery - almost watercolor consistency and did that as the final layer. I laid the brush sideways and swiped the Polished Pigments on so that it was mostly the texture that got the color and some of the flat areas. I did that with several colors. It provided a great color contrast with just enough sheen without glittery sparkle. If you know me, I don't like glitter.

http://www.luminarteinc.com/catalog/primary-elements.html

Let dry completely.

8. You can do whatever you want once it dries and you peel it off the freezer paper. It is a little softer if you iron it first. Make sure you put a layer of freezer paper on top if you iron it. The fabric paper should be malleable enough so you can sew on it. '

Working on birds now for my swap. Email me or comment if you have any questions.

Newest sheets of fabric paper

Need to make good fortune birds and dolls for swap for the book study from Kelli Perkins book in my Yahoo group. Will do more sheets and experiment more but my latest was with Polished Pearls with fluid acrylics base with lace paper tissue paper. How's that for a long run-on sentence? The layers are still relatively thin and is pretty pliable so I can sew on it. Will make for some interesting birds. Found a really good bird template online. Gotta go and make some birds now. I got some great bells in the Xmas section of Walmart. Will put them to good use.

fabric paper and soy wax journal base pages

Here is how the journal looks closed. I just took a big eyelet that came with the crop-a-dile. I braided some fibers together so that the journal would close. I took the two ends together - found the middle and put that thru the eyelet. I knotted the middle end where the eyelet was and pulled it through so that it would go through the eyelet. Instant braided roped to close my journals. I did that with all 3 journals. This one was longer than the other two journals. BTW, if you click on any of the picts, you can get a bigger view.

This is the soy was journal that I am going to send to Melly (shhhh!). I took the soy wax workshop with her in Arizona. Lots of fun. If you ever get the chance to take it, do it. My fabrics turned out fantastic - as you will see in the my journal pages. The fabric page journal is the large journal. The two small journals are all soy wax. The soy wax journals are soy wax on both sides. My fabric paper journals are fabric paper only on one side and watercolor on the other because I did not have enough fabric paper made. I figured I could do other things on the other side like texture or collage.

This is how my fabric paper collage journal looks. Yeah, so I got a little carried away with the embossing powder. I figure I can always cover that up with some texture later on, if I want.

Forgive the fingers, I had to keep the pages open to snap the picts. The tomato looking shapes are my favorite. That was some kind of kitchen utensil that Mells had.

This is a page that folds out into thirds.

Back of my journal that I am going to doodle on and texturize. Wanted to see how the heart stamps would look with the distress embossing. Some experiments turned out better than others.

You can see on the side of this how the fibers come thru the eyelet.

Interesting how the embossing worked on some parts of the soy waxed fabric and didn't on other parts. Cool effect.

Remember, this is just my base structure, I really haven't done any work on my journals yet. I don't think that I am going to do any work in my soy wax journal. The backgrounds are too beautiful for me to cover up. I think I am going to leave it. I am going to work in this journal though. I will post when I am done.

You can see the basic fabric paper backgrounds and the fluid acrylic background. I did do the edges in different acrylics. The edges are sewn together.

The fabric paper took the embossing really well. I figure that I can add layers to the journal. I know I can't write over the embossing. If I want to write something, I can just add a layer over the embossing. I am thinking that my next step might be to try some of the impasto medium that I just got. Linda told me about the Matisse Derivan impasto medium and paints that she uses in Australia. It is available here in the US. I just got some and I am itching to try it. I already have some ideas in mind.

The top part in the pict is not really that shiny. Just glare from my window. Oooh, I also got a iridescent medium that I need to try on my journal. If you are interested. Here is my source for the iridescent medium:

http://www.aswexpress.com/discount-art-supplies/online/3679/art-supplies/4

I just finished the base structures on 3 journals based on Teesha Moore's blog vid. I modified the 2 smaller ones since they are not the same size. The big one is the same as the one structurally as the one in Teesha's vid. The two small ones are folded differently and don't have the same amount of pages in them. The large journal has fabric paper pages adhered to the watercolor paper and the two smaller journals have soy wax paper adhered to them. I used the the thermobond type adhesive type paper and ironed it onto the watercolor paper. I then sewed the edges of the fabric/soy paper to the watercolor paper. I also sewed the edge where I was going to do the binding just for a little exta support.

I have not done the impasto yet but will very soon. If you want my source:

http://www.aswexpress.com/discount-art-supplies/online/3422/art-supplies/3

Teesha's blog for her vid:

http://teeshascircus.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-16-page-journal.html

Teesh'a blog in general: http://teeshascircus.blogspot.com/

That's about it folks. Comments and questions welcome.

Muslin I used for book study

Just click on the pict for a larger view. I just used what I had at home. You want to use the thin, cotton muslin. Does not matter if it is natural or white colored since you will be painting over it. Don't buy the bulky muslin. You want the thin fabric. The cheap muslin will work fine. The general idea is that you should be able to sew on the fabric paper when you are done creating the fabric paper base.

How to make basic fabric paper according to Belinda

Some handmade paper someone gave me.

You can't see it very well unless you click on the pict and enlarge it. This is using Japanese lace paper. I used some leftover muslin that I had laying around - that is why you see some paint on it already.

This is a piece that has the paint wash on it with the Japanese lace paper. If you click on it to enlarge it, you can see the patterns more.

This is a mixture of papers because I had this leftover from the other sheets I made.

Text papers from a dictionary.

This is some tissue paper I picked up at Michaels while I was buying some white tissue paper.

Can you tell which half has white tissue paper on top and which one doesn't? I did that so you could have a comparison.

See how there is more texture on the top half of this one? Tissue paper on top of the top half and the bottom half does not have white tissue paper on it.

I am doing this for the start of the book study that officially starts October 4th. I just wanted to get things started so people could get basic sheets started so they could try out some of the other techniques in Kelli Perkins book - Stitch Alchemy. If you want to play, you can join the fun at Mixed Media Art Friends:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mmartfriends/

I also recommend Beryl Taylor's book - Mixed Media Explorations - very highly. There is a section on fabric paper in that book. I go back to that book for inspiration all the time. She does a great job at combining fabric and mixed media elements into her art.

Back to the basic fabric paper...

I used freezer paper and cotton muslin - cheapie from Joann's that is thin and a bit off-white because that was what I had. White will work as well. You need to use the shiny side of the freezer paper or it will stick to the paper. Do not substitute wax paper. People have used other things instead of freezer paper.

Mix up a glue wash. I use Sobo and water. I use about a 1 parts glue to 2 parts water or a little bit more on the glue side. Mix it up well with cheap brush or foam brush. I use a cheapie foam brush. Remember to swirl every once in awhile because the glue will settle to the bottom. People have used Elmers and Aileens as well.

Place something underneath the freezer paper to catch drips. I use red rosin paper or plastic sheet. You might need to tape down your freezer paper if it curls up on you.

Take your brush and brush an even layer of glue wash on it. Place your tissue paper, wrapping paper, whatever paper on it, and put a layer of glue wash on top of it. Instead of wiping the brush across, you might need to tamp instead like the book tells you. A lot of people on their blogs have been showing a layering of paper on their muslin.

To begin with, I highly suggest you do one sheet with just one layer of paper/tissue with a bit of space between your paper pieces. The reason why is the texture. It is especially true if you intend on sewing on the fabric paper later on. When I did this before when Beryl's book came out, I layered the paper instead of leaving space between the paper. My fabric paper came out too thick instead of being more like fabric than a collage. It did not have enough give to it like fabric. You don't need a lot of space but just a smidge so that retain that fabric flexibility. Once you have done the basic fabric paper, you can go on to experiment with Kelli's book and layer to your heart's content. I just want you to see how different it is with just one layer of paper and with the spacing before you go off and do the other things. It does not matter what the shapes are, squares, rectangles, or long strips. It matters if the paper is thick and if you leave spacing in between.

Once you have your paper down and have put a layer of glue down, then it is time to decide if you want a layer of white tissue paper or not. I did some of mine with tissue paper and some of mine with half tissue paper to show you the difference. If you go back and click on my picts, you can see the difference. There is more texture on top because of the tissue paper on top. If you want more texture, crinkle the tissue paper and loosely uncrinkle before putting it on top of you fabric paper. Put a layer of glue on top. You need to tamp instead of wiping sideways or the brush/foam brush will pull the tissue paper apart and you will get a gooey mess.

Applying paint wash. I wait until the glue has dried instead of doing it right away. The reason why is because the tissue paper has a tendency to lift off and get gunky. I like to wait until the tissue paper has dried. It also gives me better texture that way. You can also lift off your paper because the glue is not dried.

If you are impatient you can apply the paint wash while the glue is still wet.

Once the glue is pretty dry, I have a roll of paper towels and a garbag can with a liner nearby. The idea is to get some color down without obscuring the paper elements. I don't want my color wash to be to pale - my preference. I don't want the consistency of watercolors. I like my colors to be more bold. If you want more pale colors, you might want to add more water. I add less water and more paint. I use a foam brush here as well because I don't like brush marks. I generously add color to the fabric paper and then pick up the excess liquid with a paper towel in certain areas. I will press down harder in some areas than others. I use the same color on different sheets in several different layers. I might have 2 or 3 or 4 layers when I am done. I might use an interference color for my last layer.

Remember, this is your background. You will be doing more things to it from the book. You are not done with the fabric paper. Yes, I had to remind myself before I went too far. The pieces you see with color are while they are wet. They will probably look different when they are dry. I might make some more with just one color background so I can get started with some of the techniques in Kelli's book. I get carried away when I get started with something. I can use these backgrounds for something else, if I can't use them for the book. I bet I can find a technique in the book that I can use. Just need to look.

Remember, don't do too much so we can do things in the book study!!!

So, I hope this helps. This is what we are going to do the first week of our book study. We are going to make basic fabric paper so we can use it for all the other stupendous techniques in the book study. See you in Mixed Media Art Friends!

Comments welcome.

Stitch Alchemy Book Study

Okay, it is a GO! Book Study starts October 4th. You can get all the details in the Yahoo group. Link is here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mmartfriends/

message #3232 until I set up the files

You do need to join the Yahoo group to play. It is not hard to do. You do not have to be part of the rest of the group, if you don't want to.

It will be a lot of fun. You don't have to have a lot of sewing experience. If you are a mixed media artist who is looking to get your toes wet on "the other side" (fabric), this is a great way to do it. You get to combine a lot of elements you are familiar with and get to incorporate some fabric into the mix. If you are a quilter/fabric artist, it is a great way to do it the other way around.

Come join us and have some fun. How much you want to participate is up to you.

Fabric paper eye candy

I used some old fabric paper, did some funky sewing, and used some of the metal foil on it. You have to enlarge the pict to see it. It looks way cool in real life. I used a bunch of different colors on it. Wish you had a piece of this right now, don't you?