Heated knife try, and the first painted sample
(Cross posted from A Gentlewoman's Blog: http://kimiko1.com/blog/2016/01/heated-knife-try-first-painted-sample/)
Egenolff modelbuch plate 47(d). Cropped from the longer strip.
Another day, and more planned work on the next stencil. This is the simple one, that will decorate the neckline of my kirtle. Nothing too fancy, just something that might be seen when the gown is worn over it, or just looks nice on its own. Again, it will be in silver and gold, which will go nicely, I think, over the blue linen.
So, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I would be trying out the hot knife to see how well it works when heated up. Well, it doesn’t. There was no cutting power at all through mylar, and I played with it while I watched the metal holder turn interesting colors as it was heating up. It stuck out so far away with the added length of the holder, it was like holding a pencil at the eraser end while trying to draw, even though I was holding it in the same place as I did the stencil cutter yesterday. Just not going to work. So, it is cooling off so I can actually cut the stencil with the stencil cutting tip.
That stencil cutting bit, with the fine tip at the end, actually droops a little now from the heat and applied pressure. But it did not seem to impede the cutting of the mylar much, so I’m ok with it being that way. If I do more stencils I will look and see if more tips can be purchased, as at some point I’m expecting it might snap off.
Overall with the tool set, I’m ok with it. The blade section leaves much to be desired, though if it did work it seems best for sharp corners and straight cuts, but definitely not curves. But the stencil cutting bit, while it now droops, has done what I needed it to do fairly well and decently fast, far better than trying to do that work with an actual X-acto blade. Currently I think I will give the set 3 stars.
So, while I waited for the blade to cool so I could cut the next stencil, I pulled out the paint tools and supplies, ironed my sample fabric, and gave the stencil a go.
Stencil painting supplies and tools.
This is most of what I used. If you click on the photo you can find out more details. You can now see the blue linen I’m going to be working on. The Lumiere paints are fresh. I once worked with similar paints in a stamping project years ago, and those paints were dried in the bottle, so I had to buy new stuff. The stencil brushes had better reviews than the bulk stencil brush pack I thought about getting. Since brushes are the main tools of this art, it is worth paying extra to not have hairs falling off, or other problems while you are using them, so I don’t mind. Cheap causes problems, so use better quality brushes and paints when you can.
One item not seen here is wax paper. In my readings I had heard that the paint did not go through the fabric. Same from my previous experience stamping. But of course, each situation is going to be different, and I found that with the amount of pouncing I had to do to get the paints into corners and such, that some of that paint did leak onto the backside. Thankfully, I caught it while it was still fresh, not dried, so I could clean up the paint. I then put down a layer of wax paper to work on, and it worked quite nicely. You could also use cheap butcher paper, which I do have around here. I just wanted the paints to be less likely to stick to the back of the fabric.
My first stencil sample
So, what did my sample look like? Here is it.
The gold is definitely on the yellow side, which is what I wanted. I haven’t used the silver yet, but the two should contrast nicely with each other, and still look good on the blue. It is hard to see from this image, but the paint sparkles nicely.
One problem I had was I did up the sample without the re-positioning stencil spray, which is still in transit. It is due to arrive on Thursday, the last of my ordered supplies. So, that upper left vine thorn is actually larger than it should be, because the fabric stuck to the brush and paint as I was pouncing on the paint, which moved the whole fabric out of place. That should be resolved once the spray arrives, and can be used. I will be testing again before working on my project to make sure.
So, next is to cut out that small stencil, and then wait for the spray on Thursday. So, no stencil painting until this weekend, most likely. I am itching to get painted, but that sample convinced me that waiting would be the better thing to do. So, until next time.
1501 to 1550, Clothing, Other Arts, Product Review, fabric-painting, finish_it
(Cross posted from A Gentlewoman's Blog: http://kimiko1.com/blog/2016/01/heated-knife-try-first-painted-sample/. Comments can be posted here or there.)
Egenolff modelbuch plate 47(d). Cropped from the longer strip.
Another day, and more planned work on the next stencil. This is the simple one, that will decorate the neckline of my kirtle. Nothing too fancy, just something that might be seen when the gown is worn over it, or just looks nice on its own. Again, it will be in silver and gold, which will go nicely, I think, over the blue linen.
So, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I would be trying out the hot knife to see how well it works when heated up. Well, it doesn’t. There was no cutting power at all through mylar, and I played with it while I watched the metal holder turn interesting colors as it was heating up. It stuck out so far away with the added length of the holder, it was like holding a pencil at the eraser end while trying to draw, even though I was holding it in the same place as I did the stencil cutter yesterday. Just not going to work. So, it is cooling off so I can actually cut the stencil with the stencil cutting tip.
That stencil cutting bit, with the fine tip at the end, actually droops a little now from the heat and applied pressure. But it did not seem to impede the cutting of the mylar much, so I’m ok with it being that way. If I do more stencils I will look and see if more tips can be purchased, as at some point I’m expecting it might snap off.
Overall with the tool set, I’m ok with it. The blade section leaves much to be desired, though if it did work it seems best for sharp corners and straight cuts, but definitely not curves. But the stencil cutting bit, while it now droops, has done what I needed it to do fairly well and decently fast, far better than trying to do that work with an actual X-acto blade. Currently I think I will give the set 3 stars.
So, while I waited for the blade to cool so I could cut the next stencil, I pulled out the paint tools and supplies, ironed my sample fabric, and gave the stencil a go.
Stencil painting supplies and tools.
This is most of what I used. If you click on the photo you can find out more details. You can now see the blue linen I’m going to be working on. The Lumiere paints are fresh. I once worked with similar paints in a stamping project years ago, and those paints were dried in the bottle, so I had to buy new stuff. The stencil brushes had better reviews than the bulk stencil brush pack I thought about getting. Since brushes are the main tools of this art, it is worth paying extra to not have hairs falling off, or other problems while you are using them, so I don’t mind. Cheap causes problems, so use better quality brushes and paints when you can.
One item not seen here is wax paper. In my readings I had heard that the paint did not go through the fabric. Same from my previous experience stamping. But of course, each situation is going to be different, and I found that with the amount of pouncing I had to do to get the paints into corners and such, that some of that paint did leak onto the backside. Thankfully, I caught it while it was still fresh, not dried, so I could clean up the paint. I then put down a layer of wax paper to work on, and it worked quite nicely. You could also use cheap butcher paper, which I do have around here. I just wanted the paints to be less likely to stick to the back of the fabric.
My first stencil sample
So, what did my sample look like? Here is it.
The gold is definitely on the yellow side, which is what I wanted. I haven’t used the silver yet, but the two should contrast nicely with each other, and still look good on the blue. It is hard to see from this image, but the paint sparkles nicely.
One problem I had was I did up the sample without the re-positioning stencil spray, which is still in transit. It is due to arrive on Thursday, the last of my ordered supplies. So, that upper left vine thorn is actually larger than it should be, because the fabric stuck to the brush and paint as I was pouncing on the paint, which moved the whole fabric out of place. That should be resolved once the spray arrives, and can be used. I will be testing again before working on my project to make sure.
So, next is to cut out that small stencil, and then wait for the spray on Thursday. So, no stencil painting until this weekend, most likely. I am itching to get painted, but that sample convinced me that waiting would be the better thing to do. So, until next time.
1501 to 1550, Clothing, Other Arts, Product Review, fabric-painting, finish_it
(Cross posted from A Gentlewoman's Blog: http://kimiko1.com/blog/2016/01/heated-knife-try-first-painted-sample/. Comments can be posted here or there.)