In Touch: Mixed Media

(click on the pics to enbiggan)

The Midas Touch. That's what you get with Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Flakes.

I have to admit, I went absolutely bananas over this stuff--there is just something about a gilded/gold leaf finish that mesmerizes... Gets me every time!!!

In this month's tutorial, I'm going to share several methods of adhering the flakes that I found worked well. Note: The Cosmic Shimmer Flake & Glitter Glue had not arrived to the shop at the time of this writing, but you can sign up for email notification when it is in stock by using the notify button next to the product in the shop.

Is it "messy"? Yes. Is it worth it? YESSSS!!!! Because it's just too easy. And you're gonna wanna gild the world once you try it. Trust me. :)

Before working with gilding flakes, I have a few tips to share:

Turn off your ceiling fan and/or air conditioning, and close any open windows. Air movement can cause these delicate, lighter-than-air flakes to flurry all over the place. Ask me how I know... ;)
If applying adhesives/glue to stamps, have a shallow pan of soapy water handy to place the stamp into for easy cleaning up later; you do not want adhesive to dry permanently onto your stamp.
Cut a piece/square from a clean/brand new Rub it-Scrub it pad; you will use this to burnish the flakes into the adhesive you're using and remove the fines (excess flakes). You just want a piece large enough to hold comfortably in your hand.
Work on scratch paper, to catch the fines for returning to the jar; there is very little waste if you do this.
Be generous when placing flakes over adhesive and pat/tap them into the adhesive with your fingertips; I found patting worked better than rubbing
Gently burnish the patted flakes with the Rub it-Scrub it--you do not want to use a forceful scrubbing action.
Some flakes will get stuck in the fibers of the Rub it-Scrub it; you simply won't be able to clean them all out. I decided I would store that piece together with the jar of flakes used inside a zip lock baggie to avoid cross contamination of other colors; each jar will have its own little Rub-it Scrub it.

On all my projects, I used Summer Meadow flakes, but there are so many gorgeous color variations to choose from on my wish list!!!

On this piece, I painted a background with Distress Paints, and when dry, I rubbed the Glue Pad direct to paper, and then applied the flakes over-top to create a distressed gilded effect. I think the Glue Pad works very well for this particular type of finish! I tried stamping with the Glue Pad and applying the flakes to the stamped image; this worked "OK", but I didn't get as much coverage of the stamped image as I had hoped. This is a matter of personal preference, however, and you might like the look you get, depending on the results you're after. :)

I really loved using the Distress Paints to create the abstract background--when they were dry, I could rub the Glue Pad right over them without fear of smearing or reactivating any of the colors beneath.

For the above, I die cut "hello" from some Be Creative double sided sheet adhesive and applied it to the paper surface. If you don't have the sheet format of this adhesive, you can substitute the wider rolls, by applying the tape to a piece of baker's parchment paper, and then die cutting. The parchment paper acts as a release paper.

I also used strips of the 1/8" wide tape to create the pattern shown on the black base card.

For the rustic elegant look above, I stamped the Savvy Rose Branch and Hello with Versamark ink and then embossed with "Sticky Stuff" embossing powder by JudiKins. (you could also use Ranger's Sticky Embossing Powder). After heating, this embossing powder will remain tacky and allow you to apply gilding flakes, leafing foils, glitter, flock, etc. It works wonderfully with the gilding flakes and is a great way to gild your stamp images!

The trick, as I mention in the video, with this type of embossing powder is to keep your embossing gun a little bit further away than normal, and heat the powder just until it turns from granular to shiny-wet in appearance then immediately move the tool to the next portion. You do not want to over-heat this powder as it will harden/cure and then no longer be tacky.

For all the above gilding techniques, I have a two-part video tutorial that you can watch right here or in HD on YouTube, following the links below.