Permission to play

 

The other day Lesley Riley wrote a blog post on using TAP (Transfer Artist Paper), stencils and sprays. http://lesleyriley.com/stencil-girl-me-stencils-tap/ 

Because as you will know I love my Moonglow sprays and had never thought to use them with TAP,  I couldn't wait to have a go. Permission to play means permission to make mistakes - that is how we learn.

Lesley wrote that the polymer on the TAP paper encapsulates the water-soluble spray inks and makes them permanent and waterproof. 

So I used a stencil and my Starburst Sprays and followed it by printing through the inkjet printer. Worked a treat. I chose some West Coast South Island words and Reefton of course as that is Ian's home town. I didn't photograph it before I transferred the TAP but in my eagerness to do so, I turned on the iron  and looked around for some Tissutex Plus becasue it is nice and strong and would work well in my journal. I found one which had already had words transferred - no idea how - could have been a gel medium or even a laser transfer or a fusible webbing one, but the point was it didn't work and hours later after picking and scraping I gave up. You can see above the stage where I stopped.

 But I did simply tear out what had worked and transfer it to my Khadi journal where I had previously stenciled other images. So not a total disaster and if you look you can see the layer of words underneath - it was writing all about the West Coast.

This is the stencil I used and I also used it on a page as well not that you could really see.

So - I sprayed and stencilled and printed another and managed to successfully transfer it this time and then I used a gel medium to add it to my journal. Sometimes I use fusible webbing but best to try all sorts of things.

Then I decided to change to my Kimberley Dreaming theme and did another - at the top not so clear I printed one of my thermofax screen designs - frangipani flowers so it is a very fine outline but will work. Remember of course to reverse your words - I do get that part correct these days. I like this stencil because it has an ancient rock look to it - sometimes.

Here is the pale frangipani

and the Broome words before I  ironed onto Tissutex. I painted webbing this time and ironed it to Lutradur XL so I could make a postcard and if I look very carefully I can see the crinkly painted webbing underneath. I have learnt that one must not iron the painted webbing to the Tissutex and expect the TAP to transfer onto it - no.

Can you see that it ended up lighter after it was ironed onto the Tissutex - something to explore I think. However going back to the actual piece it is the same as the darker one so it must be my photo at that time.You can't see it but I stitched on it and zigzagged the edges so I have a new page to add to one of my books. Maybe you can see it.

This is the colour left on the backing paper after I had ironed on the webbing - highly suitable for using somewhere. I didn't do this but often do - instead of just ironing the webbing face down, I usually lift it and layer it becasue the colour is stronger on the top rather than on the underneath. Always worth a try anyway.


Great idea and if you don't play you will never discover what you do wrong and make it right - or right for you. Right now though I cannot print anything because my inkjet printer has died so I shall move onto something else in the meantime.