3-D Art Journal Cover -- with Warnings!

Having started with the seed of an idea, I had no goal except to watch it grow. At the beginning, I knew only that I wanted to craft something with sturdy foil, cerulean-blue on one side and silver on the other.

Today's project comes with 2 warnings.  The first is practical and the second is philosophical.   

(1)  I recommend trying this foil. And here's the first caution:  Once you cut into the foil, its edges become very sharp.  (I used Joyce Chen scissors altho any good scissors will work.)

(2)  I hope some of today's ideas will prove helpful as you move in your own individual directions of art-making exploration!  It's fun to start with a vague idea and follow it to its unique resolution.  If you already know, at the launch of your project, exactly what you want to end up with, what's the point?

Beyond the foil, another supply I used was a Dresden frame.  

More supplies:  paper towels; copper metallic acrylic paint; heavy matte gel to use as adhesive; masking tape; a water misting bottle.

One more supply came from an earlier art project -- Resist!  -- posted June 15, 2023. 

That post included this photo--

The above print was created with my 6" x 6" mask Champagne s960.

This 3-D print, created on black watercolor paper, surprised me -- when I discovered its destiny was to be the background for today's foil project.

Another supply:  A stylus.  I have two...

 

...and most often I use the stylus with the wider tip (left in the above photo.)  

When embossing foil, I get better results with the wider tip, partly because wider indentations hold more residual acrylic paint, and partly because the large size helps remind me to avoid pressing too hard; hard pressure can punch holes in the foil.  (A ballpoint pen works as well as a stylus, especially one that's run dry of ink.)

For embossing foil, the work surface needs to have some "give."  A computer mouse is a good example of a flexible base, but since I have no idea where my old mouse has hidden itself, I substituted a stack of watercolor papers that had been used enough to become a little warped.  Having stacked the papers together, I used masking tape to secure them.... 

My next step was to turn the blue-faced foil face-down and use masking tape to fasten it securely in place --

I followed that with taping down my new 6" x 6" mask Diatom s972.

Above:  Using the stylus, I traced along the lines that make up the design.

Below is a close-up--

Above:  Having peeled off the top 2 strips of masking tape, I lifted the mask away from its traced lines. 

Then I flipped the foil back over to reveal the blue side, now embossed....

Continuing to pursue my original idea without yet having decided where my project was headed, I brought out a water mister bottle, paper toweling and copper metallic acrylic paint, pictured below.

I used paper toweling to spread the paint across the embossed foil --

Above:  a view of the whole image. Below: a close-up of one area.

The paint dried quickly but I got around that by misting the surface with water.  Then with more paper toweling I rubbed the embossed foil gently, removing some of the paint but leaving some.  (Back when I learned this technique, it was called "antiquing.")

Above:  Having "antiqued" the surface, I auditioned little frames to see what small area that -- for the time being -- I wanted to use for today's project. By this point, I'd decided that I would cut out just a fraction of the embossed foil, saving the remnant for some future project.

Above:  the sheet of black watercolor paper that I'd posted about on June 15.  (For making these 3-D prints I had used my 6" x 6" mask Champagne s960.

The shot below shows the background before I trimmed it to  6" x 6" to fit the cover of a new art journal.    

Above:  The finished product, after its 2 adhesive layers had dried.

Since I needed something sturdy enough to work well as the cover of an art journal, I was glad to have already on hand a 3-D print on this black watercolor paper, which is sturdy due to its 140-lb. paper weight.  My take on this particular paper is that it's cold press (since it has a rough texture) and that it started life as white paper, before receiving a light coat of black ink or water-dominant gesso.  If concerned about the colorfast quality of this particular black watercolor paper, you may want to add a layer of black of your own, perhaps in the form of liquid acrylic black.  After that dries, you can safely move forward.

To repeat my philosophical "warning":  I hope one or two of today's ideas will prove helpful as you dive into your own individual adventures of art-making exploration!  It's fun to start with a vague idea and follow it to its unique resolution.  If you already know, at the launch of your project, what you want to end up with, what's the point?  Making art isn't about "safety."  It's about finding yourself, and this search may take you off on tangents, all of which will teach valuable lessons.

To scroll thru the pages of my masks and stencils at StencilGirlProducts.com, please start here.  My two new masks are at the top of the first page.