AGNES THE RED ART and CRAFT TUTORIALS

This page covers fusing techniques using an iron and various materials

What is it? - fibres/fine shredded polyester that can be purchased in various pearlescent colours and 'fuses' together when heat is indirectly applied with an iron.

I've never used this material before, or thought I'd have any use for it, so when I was given some to 'play' with, I have to admit I was a little stuck for ideas. It can be fused together to form 'sheets' of material that can be then cut into shapes, but I was looking for something a little more 'creative' that would suit my style of projects. There are probably 100s of uses for this material but when I was told of the 'stamping' technique, I was actualy quite interested to try it and realised it would work quite well for wings for some button fairies I'm making at the moment. It proved to be a quick, easy and simple technique using very few tools and resulting in a quite pretty effect.

The, what appeared to be a small bagged up ball of the fibres, exploded on opening into quite a mass, immediately quelling my fears of going carefully as not to waste any. It spreads and covers quite an area when you pull apart the fibres so I decided to first experiment with just a fine layer as I wanted to achieve quite a delicate looking effect. I'll also warn you here - As you need an iron, I got my ironing board out then realised the fibres were escaping and wafting about, posing a risk of bits getting overlooked then getting fused to your clothes when you go about your 'normal' ironing duties! So, use a seperate ironing surface, or like I did, place a spare old cover over the board and after your done, check everywhere carefully for stray fibres! Instructions also tell you to use tissue paper, but I found a brown paper bag just as good - I slit and opened it out into a sheet, half of which to lay the stamp onto and the other half to fold over onto stamp&fibres to iron on. This technique proved to be a quick, easy and simple one using very few tools and giving a surprisingly pleasant and pretty result.

TOOLS REQUIRED- Fibres (I used 'Magic Fibres' by KARS), Iron (set to silk/cool), Stamp, Ink, brown paper (or tissue paper/baking parchment) and a heat resistant surface to iron on.

                       1. The loose fibres.                                       2. I inked up the stamp with Stazon in Olive              3. With the stamp, image upwards, I then

                                                                                                                   Green.                                            arranged a layer of the fibres over.

        4. Brown paper was then gently placed over                   5. The iron is on a silk/cool setting and then               6.  I removed the brown paper layer and found

         the fibres taking care not to displace any.                        carefully worked over the stamp area.  Do                the fibres fused and lifted off the stamp easily.

                                                                                         not linger in one place or it will fry the fibres!

The stray loose fibres around the edges can be        trimmed off close to the stamped image, but in        this instance I decided to leave the majority of        it for a pretty feathery effect. The antenna        will be trimmed out and the wings used for a        button fairy.

        7. The fused fibres - remind me a bit like a                          8. It's difficult to photograph, but the fibres

                        cheats applique!                                                         have a pretty iridenscence.

What is it? - This is the same polyester material as Magic/Fantasy Fibres but in sheet form. It can be fused with heat from a cool iron, can be stamped on, folded and cut/punched out,and the pretty iridescent qualities make it useful for wings such as for butterflies and fairies, and flower petals within cardmaking and other crafts. Fibres and small flat items can be layered between sheets and fused into place, and depending on how many sheets are fused together, it can retain a semi transparency.

Fantasy Film is not something I have used before or had any inclination to buy - I have never really felt that it fitted into my style of arts and crafts.  But I was asked by a friend to consider doing a tutorial on it, so away I went to research into the product. To my dismay, regardless of book or website, it always seems to be used in the same way - stamping images on, fusing fibres between and fashioning into wings for 'pretty things'. There was no inspirational designs to fire my imagination, if I actually had some physically in my hands, maybe ideas would emerge.......but to be honest, for the price (I happen to think expensive) I couldn't justify buying some. So the tutorial idea was put to one side. It would be an interesting challenge, but with so many other projects I was eager to complete, this was one challenge I was happy to put on a back burner.........

YEAH RIGHT!....OK, it's not like me to give up on something and clearly a member of an art group I'm involved with felt that too, so she promptly sent me some pieces to play with....and the challenge was set! I'd now got an interesting project and a tutorial to come up with! (Thank you Wendy for the FF - a very generous amount, a perfect prod in the ribs to make me do this project!).

Wendys package arrived the following day and contained three decent sized sheets of various shimmering colours - all very pretty.....but ARGGHHHH....what to do with it?. I immediately realised that a fair bit of the film would have to be used for 'experimentation', and so the final project would have to be smallish - something like an ATC, or even a piece of jewellery - if it was possible! So I went about cutting up portions to try out techniques and basically just get used to handling the stuff. First I tried out the basic, tried and tested ways, with the hope that it would help inspire me to 'greater things' :-

STAMPING and FUSING - I inked up a stamp with Stazon Ink, placed it image up onto a flat heat resistant surface, layed two pieces of FF ontop, placed a sheet of brown paper over and ironed this gently with an iron (set to cool/silk). The result? - nothing special I'm afraid, the two fused pieces of film obviously created a thicker and more substantial sheet, but the stamped image seemed a waste of time - why put the stamp under heat when you could just stamp directly onto a piece of the film AFTER it's fused - a lot of effort for the same effect methinks!

FUSING & TRAPPING ITEMS in FF - I placed a small piece of FF onto a heat resistant craft sheet, sprinkled over a few small flatish items - some thread, sequins and glitter, placed a second sheet of FF on top, and some brown paper, and then ironed it to fuse it all together. The result? - yes, this works and it's not bad, quite pretty effect and this could be useful - However, most projects I'd researched had gone on to just place this on a card, as a topper....not very inspiring! Maybe I could think up something else for this.

TEXTURISING - Scrunching up the FF left a nice creased aged effect and I noticed the colours really sparkled and played off the peaks and crevices. This really enhanced the iridescent qualities, so possibilities there. I then wondered if I could emboss/imprint texture using a rubber stamp. So, following the stamping and fusing technique above but using a clear ink, I attempted an impression of the image rather than a block of colour. The result? - so so, it sort of worked but only a subtle effect...nothing special there. I also ran a piece of FF through a corrugating machine tool - that was ok, but again nothing special. So, I left this texture idea, and went back to fusing some more pieces....and that's when I made a mistake....oopppsss without thinking, I ironed over the FF using a sheet of textured kitchen towel instead of the brown paper! Expecting the film to have stuck to it, I peeled it back slowly to reveal....perfectly fused film! It had a really lovely bubbled texture effect - like the frosted window glass you see in bathrooms, or old hand made stained glass. NOW THIS I LIKED!...a happy mistake!......a fleeting moment of inspiration as I started thinking up the possibilities of a stained glass type project.....Hhmmmmmm!!!! A second sheet ironed between two sheets of kitchen towel created an even better, more pronounced texture.

OTHER IDEAS - I blasted a piece of FF with my heat gun (outside of course, as I was uncertain of any fumes being given off). This obviously melted the film and shrivelled it up. Melting it to a certain point really brought out a metallic shine and created a nice fused up piece...possiblities for use in a mixed medium project, even jewellery,  there I suppose. I then fashioned a small shape out of craft wire and attempted to fuse this between the film. The result? - failure as the wire was trapped between in a bubble of the film, but not fused TO it - not an effect I liked. I then blasted this with my heat gun and proceeded to finish it off and send it to it's grave - a molten ugly mess! NOT GOOD....back to the drawing board!

By now I was getting a tad bored with thinking up ways of manipulating the FF, I wasn't really coming up with anything new or unusual. The idea of some sort of stained glass effect using the kitchen towel texture was still playing around in my mind so decided to run with that. At first I considered incorporating it into jewellery, but on studying the texture closely, I realised it needed to be in a largish item to be more effective. I settled using it within an ATC and then went about looking at ways of colourizing the film. Stazon takes to the FF well as it's a permanent ink, but the iridescence alters and darkens the ink colour too much for my liking - plus, I haven't got a vast colour range of these inks, so I was beginning to think I'd have to back the film with coloured card. This I wasn't keen on as it dulled the film and I liked its transparency. I didn't want to lose this - it would defeat the whole object of using Fantasy Film - I wanted to be able to see through it.

During a break from my crafting challenge, my other half and I were chatting over a cup of tea and he was admiring a friend of ours newely aquired tropical fish tank. I was agreeing how pretty the little 'Neons' were and how the fish scales had a beautiful iridescence, something I couldn't achieve in my watercolour paintings. He remarked what a contrast they were to the Koi Carp that the friend also had in a outdoor garden pool, you couldn't often see the koi clearly as they swam under the ripples and bubbles created by the filter and pumps, and that's when it struck me....

....IRIDESCENCE!.....yes!.....fishscales.....hmmmmmm?......koi...bubbles.....oriental?......hmmmmmm some more!......inspiration started flowing thick and fast, and with stained glass visions fading away, gulping down my tea, I raced back off to gather my ideas and tools.....

It there on began to fall together nicely.....some Koi and oriental script and image stamps, and green threads. The FF I'd laid aside for the final project had a beautiful blue and copper tone to it, so it fitted the bill perfectly.....and I'd some blue paper and copper tape to co ordinate....and I could incorporate the fusing and kitchen towel texture techniques into it all.

TOOLS REQUIRED - 2 ATC sized pieces of card, ruler and craft knife, scissors, pencil, various oriental stamp images, Stazon black ink, copper ink, small coarse bristled artists paintbrush, green cotton sewing thread, plain blue paper, double sided tape, Fantasy Film (2 ATC sized pieces), Iron, heatresistant work surface, two sheets of textured kitchen towel, 3 mini copper eyelets plus punch/setting tool, copper tape (6mm wide with adhesive backing), copper wire and round nosed pliers, black cord.

     1. I Gathered inking and fusing tools together                 2. Then inked up and stamped one sheet                       3. Paced between two sheets of textured

    and arranged the Koi stamps on an acrylic block.             of F/film before arranging threads over it and                    kitchen towel, I gently ironed over the piece

                                                                                       placing the second sheet of film on top.                                       to fuse it all together.

        4. I checked the film to make sure all areas                     5. The completed fused and textured                            6. Next stage - the ATC frame, I cut

        were fused (reapply iron if not, taking care                       Fantasy Film sheet - I really like this.                            two card frames with 1cm borders and

           not to over heat and frazzle the film!)                                                                                                            covered them in plain blue paper.

       7. Using a dry coarse bristled brush, I picked                    8. You can see here that I have coloured                   9. The front frame section is then stamped

       up ink off its pad and worked over the card                   the back edges to make sure no 'raw' areas                  with various oriental images and more Koi

       to age, add depth and tone down the blue.                     are visible when the frame is assembled.                        Carp to link in with the F/film section.

WHY USE INK? - Watercolour, in fact any wet paint would have saturated the paper and taken too long to dry. Dry brushing paint such as an acrylic would have left too many brush marks and possibly texture/raised areas of paint. Because I wanted to stamp onto this area, I needed a flat surface to provide a clean unbroken image. Ink is perfect for this job as it can be worked in slowly, building up good areas of shading, dries quickly and importantly absorbs into the paper to leave a flat surface. In this project I used Stazon Ink, but if a slower drying ink is used, drying time can be speeded up with the use of a heat gun or hairdryer.

      10. After stamping, I highlighted some of the             11. I then used doubled sided tape to sandwich          12. To tidy up and 'seal' the outer frame edges

       card edges with copper ink. Now the three                   the film between the two frame sections.                         I ran copper tape around it......

          sections are ready to be assembled.

WHY USE DOUBLE SIDED TAPE? - To fix the three sections together, I used tape - basically because it is dry and does not need any 'setting' time before further work can be done. I was also very unsure as to what glue would take on the film - and if it would react with it/dissolve and ruin it.

    13. ......and burnished the edges to seal and tidy           14. I then began fashioning some copper wire into              15. I set two copper eyelets into the top

                        the corners up.                                         coils and swirls for embellishment, using pliers.             right corner and wove the copper wire through.

WHAT NEXT? - I had initially thought this would be the completed ATC, but I now felt it was a little top heavy and needed something near the base to balance out the design. I tried various embellishments from chinese coins and charms but they didn't quite work, so settled on a piece of oriental knotwork. This also gave another softer texture to the what is quite a hard/sharp metal piece.

      16. Once I'd set a third copper eyelet into the                  17. In this picture, I'm just working at                      18. The completed 'Button Knot' with ends

     bottom right corner I set about weavng a knot.                          tightening up the knot.                                                    neatly trimmed.

FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO MAKE ORIENTAL KNOTS - GO TO Knotwork.

 I'm always on the look out for ideas to reuse and recycle in art. Plastic carrier bags are a big bug bear of mine and I always try to use my own 'shopping bags' but have been caught 'bagless' on a couple of occasions, and a small collection of carriers have built up in my cupboard. I was intending on taking them to a supermarket 'bag recycling box' but when I found a YouTube video clip showing a fusing technique to create a new material to reuse, well it caught my interest and I decided to give it a go.

I was shown a technique that would reuse and recycle carrier bags and create a thicker, more durable but still flexible plastic material that could be cut, punched, and sewn. The video demonstrated how a number of fused bags were stiched together to create a bag so I immediately started thinking of different ways of incorporating this into my art, I thought it'd be nice to try and create some sort of storage folder/box to store paper in first - an easy project with straight forward stiching and would allow me to get a feel of the material for possible future 'more creative' uses. I had visions of forming things like vases, or incorporating it into sculpture.

TOOLS REQUIRED - plastic carrier bag, scissors, large sheets of paper, iron and ironing board.

IMPORTANT POINTS - PLEASE NOTE - you MUST carry out this technique in a very well ventilated area. Unsure of what toxic fumes could be given off by the hot plastic, I set my ironing board up in the kitchen by my open garden door. The video demo suggested having a window open and a fan set up. If your carrier bag has printing on it, then you MUST turn the bag inside out before ironing/fusing else the ink melts and sticks to the paper and just makes one big mess! A cool heat setting (no steam) is required for even fusing. This technique takes time and patience so do not be tempted to up the iron temp to speed up the process - you'll end up with big melted sections and hard lumps!

      1. Cut off the handles and sealed base              2. Turn the remaining 'tube'                   3. Fold the bag in half.                4. Fold in half again to make it 8ply.

             leaving a tube of plastic.                       inside out to prevent the ink sticking                   

       5. Sandwich between paper             6. Iron (cool setting) 10-15mins           7. Check for unfused areas or bubbles                  8. The fused result!

       and place on ironing board.                  turn plastic over and repeat.                 and continue ironing them out.

THE CONCLUSION - This technique takes far to long! I ended up spending a good hour (30mins each side) trying to achieve an even fused result and by that time my arm was aching (I have joint probs so this is NOT a good project for those with joint/hand/arm problems!) and I ran out of patience and quite frankly interest! I was determined to complete the experiment, and soldiered on and the reult was over an hour spend to achieve a 6inch square of 'fabric'....but the main thing was that it left me questioning the 'environmental friendlyness' of it all. Yes you're recycling the bag, but the amount of ironing, therefore electricity used to create this small piece of material didn't seem viable. To make the large sewn together bag from the video would use in access of 20 fused carrier bags and therfore require hours of ironing and electricity - I somehow can't justify it!

I tried a couple of more bags, different thicknesses, not folding so much etc, but the reults have not inspired me. In all honesty I feel I've just ended up with ATC bases, or maybe small 'canvas' to paint onto - the texture from the fused plastic might prove interesting but all in all, a waste of time and precious energy.

If anyone else has attempted this technique and found a more successful outcome or inspiring use - PLEASE LET ME KNOW!