A few people have asked for instructions on how to make the autumn leaf card in my last post using gilding flakes, so I’ve just quickly taken a series of photos before I put my products away. I hope it all makes sense – if not feel free to leave a question in the comments and I’ll try to answer the best I can, although in all fairness I’m no expert in this technique.
Supplies that I used:
- Gilding flakes (I ended up using Red Blaze by Cosmic Shimmer, leftover Copper flakes from our Crafter’s Companion/Crop & Create Delivered class kit, and Radiant gold by Nuvo)
- Mixed media liquid glue, inkpad and sponge from Crafter’s Companion (sponge isn’t in the photo oops)
- Stamps of choice (I used Autumn Silhouettes by Gina K Designs)
- Cardstock layers as desired (I chose to replicate my black layered card, so I have three layers of black cardstock to complete my card here – one for the base layer, one of the gilded edge layer, and one for the stamped top layer)
- Container of water for the stamp once covered in glue
Step 1:
Fill the ink pad with the liquid glue – note that it needs to be very juicy. I’ve also had the best results when I work it around the top of the pad to make it a bit foamy.
Note, this is a special ink pad designed for this technique, and is a foam pad – don’t use your dye ink pads for this technique, or you’ll ruin those.
Step 2:
‘Ink up’ your chosen stamp with the glue on the ink pad, then stamp onto the cardstock. Note, you must do this step really quickly or the glue will start to dry on the stamp and it can really easily tear your cardstock when lifting the stamp up (ask me how I know!). Continue to stamp as many images as you need, adding a bit more glue to the ink pad each time before stamping to keep it juicy.
Step 3:
Once you’ve finished stamping, set your stamped panel to one side to dry. Don’t forget to throw your glue-covered stamps into the container of water once you’ve finished stamping with them!
Step 4:
Once the glue has dried for a while, you can start adding the gilding flakes. In this example I chose to just use one leaf stamp and one tub of gilding flakes that has a pre-mix of rich autumn colours.
You seem to get the best results when you lay the flakes in a ‘flat’ position over the gluey areas so it retains it’s shine a bit better. Some flakes turn to dust more quickly when you rub over with your fingertips to work them into the glue, which is what you need to do to get a full coverage with the flakes. Just keep adding another little ‘pile’ on top of any gaps and smooth with your fingertips to get them to adhere to the glue – the dust and clumps are inevitable, but it’s good to keep it to a minimum if you can.
Step 5:
Burnish with the wee sponge to get all the residual flakes off, and the beautiful shine comes through. It’s my favourite part of the process seeing those rough images start to transform.
Step 6 – mat layer:
For my card I decided to use gilding flakes on the edges of my mat layer for a consistent look. This can be done either by swiping the gluey ink pad along the edges and then applying the gilding flakes as above, or by adding double-sided adhesive tap along the edges and applying the gilding flakes to that instead. Both options give pretty much the same result.
Glue option: This is how it will look if you swipe the edges with the gluey ink pad (and this is what I did on my first card):
Important: If you’re swiping the edges with the glue don’t do what I did – make sure you put some scrap paper down over our work surface before you start, or you’ll end up with a very pretty gilded table surface! Hand sanitizer and a bit of scrubbing should get it off, though (I was too lazy to mix up some soapy water) … at least that worked on my glass mat, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that on a wooden surface.
Adhesive tape option: For my second attempt I decided to use the adhesive tape (I didn’t get quite to the edge, so I had to do a quick trim after I completed the gilding – I recommend doing that before pulling the release paper off, though, as I ended up with a slight tackiness on the edges afterwards). In hindsight I needn’t have bothered trimming, though, because all my card layers are black and it shouldn’t have been obvious … doh!
Because I wanted to have mostly gold with just a hint of copper, I covered most of the edges with gold flakes first.
Then I filled in any gaps with copper flakes.
I then buffed off the extra bits with the sponge, the same way I did with the stamped leaf panel.
Step 7:
All that’s left to do now is to glue the layers together on my cardfront.
Step 8:
I added a few small ’24 karat’ sequins from Gina K Designs and a sentiment, and my card is finished.
If you have any questions, I’ll try to answer as best as I can. I’ve found the Crafter’s Companion glue difficult to find locally in Australia so I’ve bought some Prima Marketing gilding glue to try next, but not sure how it will go on stamps … time will tell …
