Sunday, December 11, 2011

Sparkling Sunday

Before I talk about this week’s technique, here is the finished page from last week’s wool and silk experiments:

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I didn’t add a lot of beads . . . just enough!

Today the topic was sparkly fibers known as “angelina.” 

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These fibers come in a variety of colors and when you apply heat – as with an iron – they melt and bond to each other.  This material comes in sheets as well as some larger fibers than I had today.

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After I pressed these between two sheets of parchment, they formed a sheet that can be folded, stitched, and generally used like a piece of fabric.

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One of the interesting things with angelina is that you can combine colors to make a new one.  The color doesn’t really change, but when you mix and blend the individual fibers, your eye sees a new color.

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This sample has a crinkle cut to it.  It makes the same kind of fused fabric, but it seemed to hold onto the sparkle a bit better.  I did discover that angelina will start to lose sparkle if it is ironed too much.  It’s still pretty, though!

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I also had some “fantasy film” which is kind of like cellophane.  When heat is applied to this material, it also bonds to itself, plus some interesting colors form.  The piece on the far left has angelina fused between two layers of the film.  It makes wonderful fairy wings! 

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I’ve used angelina as a flat embellishment many times, so today I decided to try using it as a 3-dimensional embellishment.  I folded a piece of the salmon pink longwise and stitched a gathering stitch on the long edges, stuck a wisp of darker in the center, and stitched them to a background.

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I cut the green piece into triangles and shaped them by rolling each piece against the table edge.  It worked sort of like curling ribbon.  Those were my leaves.

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And here is the finished piece.  I will be combining it with some of the other “chapters” to make a full page later on. 

By the way, that background?  Used color catchers from my laundry.  I just knew there would be a way to use some of them!

1 comment:

Gina E. said...

Your finished sample is lovely - the ric rac around the edge really tops it off. That angelina stuff is weird. I found some in a bundle of fabrics I got from our Guild's remnant bin, and couldn't figure out what it was. I eventually learnt about it in a craft book. I haven't used my pieces for anything yet.