Oh how I wish I had more, more, more time!!! I have been wanting to share a 3-layer soldered ornament for some time now. Yippie - today is finally the day!
Everything must always come in order so that I can share and teach different techniques in steps. I find it easier to learn if everything moves in sequence and so I always try and do that when teaching some of the things that have been on my mind. But with so many things I do get a little scattered - sorry about that!
A couple of years ago I shared some Christmas ornament projects that were paper collage oriented. As you can see I did a LOT of experimenting to determine what it is that would work best to create these beautiful little pieces of "art" on glass. Here is a second post. At that time I was teaching in local stamp stores and I did not want to reduce class attendance at the stores in which I was teaching by sharing all the information on my blog. Well now this is my CLASSroom, and so I am excited to begin the process of sharing some of my old favorites with you now. I hope that you find them as exciting as my students of old did and will be tempted to just give it a try!
I will do my best to get the paper Microscope Slide holders up in our store asap. They have been sitting on my shelf gathering dust and it is time for them to be put to good creative use. With our new Studio Line, amazing stamp lines and so much more I am giddy to see what it is that you will create!!!
I would also appreciate private emails if you would like having access to the more "everyday" items such as the glass paint, Lumiere and other products that I use in this process - please send any thoughts to customerservice@ellenhutson.com. I don't want to have items that you already have in your stash, or you can purchase with coupons for a lot less at other places, because I want the dollars you spend with us to be the best value for you. Unfortunately I just can't compete with big box stores and so I would love to hear whether or not these would be items that you would like me to have online to include in a one-stop shopping experience even if it would cost you a little more.
I apologize for the state of this picture. This glass is actually transparent, not frosted. With the light hitting it I just had a really hard time getting the camera to focus and shoot a decent picture.
To begin I am going to direct you back to my simple dreams post - Gold Leafed Wise Men. I have shared some tips and techniques in that post that I believe you will find helpful when using gold leaf.
I wanted this ornament to have subtle dimension added on each layer. I find that Palette inks are by far my favorite choice for working on glass. Above I used the Burnt Umber to stamp the glass with the Aged Music Scrapblock. I don't know how I lived without a musical background for so long. I BEGGED for this piece - LOL! So I am thrilled to finally have one available to use Ü I simply lay my glass straight down and lightly press over the entire surface making certain that all notes are inked, but not squished, in the process. The small glass will typically suck down on to the rubber and so I will lift up the backgrounder or scrapblock, turn it over and gently use my finger nail to ease the suction, dropping the glass on to my work surface (inked side up - if all goes well Ü)
It is important to give your glass time to dry - being impatient Ellen I will typically heat seat it with my heat embossing tool. Be certain not to touch the glass though, because it gets REALLY hot!
Next, I inked the sleigh with my glue pad and stamped directly on the glass. Being the glass is not porous, it does take longer for the glue to set and dry. Apply your gold leaf in a similar method to the Gold Leaf Wise Man post. It would be best to allow this to dry for at least a half hour before proceeding.
Using a soft bristled, yet firm, brush remove the excess gold leaf, burnishing the surface in a circular motion with your brush.
To create the top layer of glass I used the star from Primitive Christmas. Again stamp the star using Palette ink and heat set before painting. I like to use contrasting paints on glass and so I use a mixture of Transparent, Iridescent and Matte paints to complete this process. You will find the Delta Glass Paint - 8 Transparent Colors and 8 Iridescent Colors, available at Michaels. I typically start by applying the transparent color, followed by the iridescent colors. Allow the paint to air dry between applications. This paint is considered heat safe and so I had no problems during the soldering process with the paint becoming "gucky.
I then completed the painting process by using one of the new Studio paints. This matte like finish provides a nice contrast to the shiny, brightness of the glass paints. I LOVE the creamy smoothness of this paint and will be sharing a lot more over the next few weeks showing you how to incorporate these wonderful fine art products in to your creative process. A little of this paint goes a LONG way and Claudine has created some fabulous resources that I will be sharing with you! As you can see I did not fully cover the stars being I wanted the layers that were below to show through.
I created the middle layer of glass by stamping the Rejoice image from Winter Signage. (I can't link to it right now because we are currently out of stock, but hopefully it will arrive tomorrow or the next day. Then if I remember I will come back and link it Ü) One of the steps I forgot to photograph is key to this project. Sometimes I get so excited about the next step that I forget to pull out my camera. Arrgh!
The next step was to airbrush the Rejoice slide with the brush tip end of my Copic Marker. This gave a lovely cranberry colored "spritz" or "splatter" effect on the back side of this glass layer.
Follow along with the soldering lessons Debbie and I have shared and this should get you through the next steps of putting the ornament together. I found that using three pieces of glass was not a problem with the width of the wavy tape.
If you are not in to the whole "soldering" process, then Ranger Memory Frames and Slides (they are on the first and second page of our Odds 'n Ends section) are a wonderful alternative.
There are so many ways to add additional layers to your glass "sandwiches". Hopefully I will be able to share the paper collage portion with you soon. I would LOVE to see any projects that you create for the holidays. Link us up ladies - we are so curious to see what you create with the information we share!
Wishing you a creative and productive day! -Ellen
