Quilted Tyvek Squares

I love to design using different techniques and materials - mixed media & skills.

Here are some sketchbooks I have decorated with quilted Tyvek squares

These spiral-bound Pink Pig sketchbooks, stocked by Colourcraft, have handmade coloured silk covers (front and back) and 35 leaf quality 150gsm cartridge paper (made from acid-free pulp purchased from accredited and sustainable resources). 
This picture does not really show how fabulous the silk cover design on the notebooks is, you really do have to hold one in your hands to appreciate it!
They come in some gorgeous colours, I've used the Berry and Lime Green, and a wide range of sizes, I've used the 21cm square. 
Not all the sizes and colours that Colourcraft actually stock, are listed in their website dropdown options so give them a ring if you want to order from the whole range.

For this project, I started with a couple of squares of Tyvek fabric.

These were stamped with a couple of my favourite polymer stamps:  patterned heart and leaf. I mounted the polymer stamp on a acrylic block and inked them with StazOn ink. As the ink is solvent-based, I can paint the Tyvek squares straight away using eco-friendly acrylic paint in leaf green and purple

While the slightly diluted paint was still wet, I sprinkled on a little Brusho SprinkleIT: iridescent violet on the leaf and metallic pearl on the heart.

Once this was dry, I layered the Tyvek on top of black cotton fabric with some quilting batting behind. I chose a couple of variegated threads.

I sewed around the outside of the Tyvek squares with a zig-zag stitch. This holds it firm for the next stage: free machine embroidery of the heart and leaf.

Then it's time to heat distress the Tyvek, using a heat gun. NB. Work in a well-ventilated area. 

I made a heating mat from a folded newspaper covered in kitchen foil. I used a couple of pins to hold the quilted squares to the mat. 

Once cooled, I flattened the squares with my hands, before trimming and using double-sided tape to mount them on the sketchbooks.


For more detail, on this process, you can watch the film from my YouTube Channel.

Painted Tyvek Journal Cover by Karen

I have a number of kraft notebooks and I wanted to decorate one for a travel trip but felt the cover was a bit thin to take much multi-media treatment. Tyvek on the other hand is virtually indestructible unless subject to heat so I cut a piece of Tyvek larger than my cover and set about decorating that.

I had a piece of ribbon that I wanted to use as a closure so that guided my paint colour choices: Turquoise, Magenta, Phthalo Green and Yellow Eco Acrylic Paints plus Copper Eco Aztec Metallic Paint.

Using a paint knife, I dabbed on each colour in turn and then used a brayer to spread out each colour fairly randomly. It is important to leave plenty of the layer below visible to have lots of depth and the different colours visible at the end. When applied in thin layers the paints are semi-translucent so layering them also creates different tones than just the colours applied. No need to worry about creases in the Tyvek, I even created some of my own when brayering over it. They disappear when it is glued down and smoothed out.

 The four Eco Acrylic Paints I applied with this method resulted in this effect:

And then adding the Copper Aztec Metallic Paint added more depth and a fabulous metallic sheen:

Copper Design-It paste was added through a stencil and left to dry. This gave lots of 3D texture as well as more metallic sheen. (Sorry for the long shadows: Some late afternoon sun after a rainy day!)

Once the paste was dry I glued the Tyvek on to the notebook with Flexiglue spread out thinly with a paint knife, starting with the outside cover and then cutting the corners at an angle and turning and gluing the edges. However, I did not glue about a centimeter along the spine to allow the Tyvek to flex as the book was opened and closed: This might have been unnecessary caution as the Tyvek seems very flexible but better safe than sorry!

I also used Flexiglue to adhere the ribbon.

I covered the inner covers with printed paper to hide the edges of the Tyvek.

Finally I stamped the word 'jounal' on to the cover with Stazon permanent ink and then doodled a bit with some black and white markers. I didn't want to add any embellishments that might rip off when this is being used and being slid in and out of a bag but I know the Tyvek is going to offer good protection. I love the colours, the linen-like look of the Tyvek's texture and the fabulous copper paste!

Thank for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed today's project.
Karen (a proud journal owner)
x

Materials:  Flexiglue

Design-It Relief Paste	Tyvek Light Weight Fabric	Plastic Painting Knives	Eco Acrylic Paint	Aztec eco metallic paint starter paint
StazOn Jet Black

Let It Snow

This week I have been making landscapes, including this winter landscape. These mini fabric creations look good mounted on a card, or framed as I've done here.

On the base of some blue suiting weight fabric, I started with the sky. With my fingers, I blended little wool with a couple of Angelina fibres: shimmer blue pearl & shimmer ultraviolet.

I attached these to the background with a felting needle, but glue works too.

Next, I layered some fabrics. You may recognise some of these fabric scraps from my blogs this year, the snowy hill in the distance was from screenprinting with fibres. There are some pieces of painted Tyvek and Lutradur from this year included too. I used a Gemstone Glue Pen to hold the pieces in place.

I chose to add some free machine stitching with Gutermann sulky 4071 variegated thread.

Next, I added some titanium white acrylic paint to some of the fabric, and then sprinkled on some iridescent silver glitter crystals

Here is the trimmed,  mounted landscape in an upcycled frame:

Tyvek Beads with Angelina Bling

I wanted to show you all an easy way to make really beautiful beads using Tyvek and Angelina fibres and film

Tyvek is a man made material which can be painted on and sewn- as well as a multitude of other uses. One of it's characteristics is that it shrinks when heated with a heat gun. That's a key element in how we make these beads!
I started off by painting my Tyvek by sprinkling on Brusho and spraying with water. These are wet, and quite dark. They dry a lot lighter, which is good, because when we shrink them, they get dark again!

After these were dry, I  cut them into long skinny triangles. The wide part will be slightly wider than your finished bead, and the length of the triangle determines how fat your bead will become.

I take each triangle and wrap it around a bamboo skewer- starting with the wide end. You want them on fairly secure but not so tight that you can't take them off later! Glue the last couple of centimeters of the smaller end around your bead with a glue stick- just to hold it in place while you are heating it.

Now comes the BLING! I like to use both Angelina fibres and films! Cut small strips of the film and/or use a few of the fibres and wrap them around the middle of your bead- a bit of gluestick can help these stay in place. 

Don't worry about the fibres sticking out- you can get them under control when you use your hot air gun!

Which is the next step. Hold the stick and heat with a hot air gun. The tyvek will shrink and edges curl a bit, the Angelina will stitch to itself- the fibers become more glittery, the film more glossy.

Make sure to not scorch anything!!

Here are these beads close up:

You can see how the Angelina color shifts and how the Tyvek edges curl and the color gets darker. The longer you heat them, the harder the beads get.

Perfect for sewing on a mixed media project! Or making fun jewelry with!

Very fun to make anyway! And each one is unique!
See you next time!

Heat Gun

Brusho 24 Colour Boxed Set

Tyvek Light Weight Fabric

Angelina Fibres - Cool Assortment Sampler Pack of 6

Tyvek Flowers - Upcycled Brush Pot

Hello - Teresa here with another project using some cool ColourCraft products.

This time I have upcycled an old Turkish Delight container into some funky storage for my paintbrushes. I used Tyvek to create some dimensional flowers to use as embellishments.

I began by spraying the Tyvek fabric with Brusho Acrylic Sprays and Brusho Shimmer Sprays. Be sure to saturate both sides as the colour will dry much lighter on this manmade material.

Once dry I cut out lots of circles in different sizes.

I layered these together and added a fancy brad in the centre.

Next I took my heat gun and gently heated the flowers until the edges began to crinkle and melt, giving the flowers dimension.

I added some gilding wax around the edges to highlight the texture and add shine.

I measured and cut a piece of mixed media paper to fit around my container and used a credit card to scrape ultramarine and turquoise Eco Acrylic paint randomly over it.

Then I added some interest with bubble wrap and orange Eco Acrylic paint.

I wanted a bit of shimmer on this piece too, so added a little Brusho Shimmer Spray in Bronze. Instead of spraying, I unscrewed the lid and splatted blobs of shimmer on the painted background.

Once dry I glued the paper to the container and added some twine.

Finally I used a glue gun to attach the flowers.

Tyvek Light Weight Fabric

Brusho Mist sprays

Brusho Shimmer Sprays

Eco Acrylic Paint

Heat Gun