Destination Inspiration - Foil Tape Sheets

Hi everyone, Nikki here from A2A - Addicted to Art to share some ideas with you on using foil. We have seen Tim Holtz use this in several of his tags creating some wonderful effects. As with so many of his products it can be used in many ways and I want to share my favourite techniques.

I generally use foil to make embellishments or add some variety or texture to the piece. However you can also use it as the focal point, background and to stamp on. It is often embossed and then coloured with distress paints or alcohol inks. You can also die cut letters to create your own metallic text.

Embossing
I have experimented with embossing my foil both before and after I have stuck it to card (it is self adhesive) and both work fine. It really depends what you plan to do with it afterwards, that is, if you want to maintain the self adhesive nature until after you have embossed and coloured then don't stick it to card!

Foil embossed both on it's own and on card using Gears Texture Fade.

Colouring with Alcohol Inks

Alcohol inks are a great way of colouring the foil. Apply a few drops of your chosen colour to an applicator. Gently dab your foil distributing the colour but not mixing them too much if you have more the one colour.

Use alcohol blending solution or an alcohol hand gel to clear your craft mat!

Once dry you can lightly sand the textured surface to reveal a bit of the metal.

Colouring with Distress Paints

My personal choice for colouring my foil is to use distress paints. The key here is to work it into the embossed areas of your foil (I dab it on and then get it into all the crevices with my finger) and remove some with a soft cloth before it all dries.

I cut and embossed a piece of foil to fit inside the weathered clock.

Dab on some black soot DP and use my finger to move around.

Allow it to stand a short time.

Gently remove some of the paint from the surface.

Once happy leave to dry or use your heat tool. Don't forget it is METAL and it will get hot!

Create your own textured backgrounds

It's fun to create your own textured backgrounds and then follow a similar process. I added lots of left over bits and pieces to a piece of card, stuck them down and left them to dry. I then removed the backing and placed the adhesive foil sheet over the top and carefully pushed it into the spaces around the shapes. It might tear a little depending on the thickness of your bits - mine did - but you can't see it once the paint has dried.

A Few Ideas

Once I had created a few different foil sheets below I decided collage them onto a mini canvass. Another project to add to the 'to be completed' pile.

And finally something I have finished. For this little hanging I have used a foil embossed butterfly coloured with alcohol inks as the focal point. There are a few more details over on my blog today.

You can find many of the products I have used at our wonderful sponsors, Country View Crafts. I have included a few links below.

For more inspiration from the master himself here are two links to tags using foil.

12 tags of 2014 - January

12 tags of 2012 - September

I hope this has been useful, thank you for looking. 

Nikki

xxx

Products used:

Foil Tape Sheets

Alcohol inks

Black Soot Distress Paint

Alcohol Blending Solution

Alcohol Ink Applicator Tool

Gears Texture Fade

Steampunk texture fade