Friday, February 20, 2009

Faux Batik Dyed Flowers

Ask and ye shall receive!!

I got to thinking about GailnGA's request about doing something with colored flowers.

You could stamp on them with Archival or other permanent inks...

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But then I thought about trying a variation on one of my favorite techniques - Faux Batik!

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Again, the supplies are pretty basic:

Supplies:

Flowers to dye

Clear Embossing Ink - Ranger Industries

Clear Embossing Powder - Ranger Industries

Stamps

Spray Dye Ink - Glimmer Mist-Tattered Angles; Adirondack Color Wash - Ranger

Embossing Gun

Instructions:

1. Ink your stamp up very well...you want to be sure to get good coverage as there are no second chances on flowers.

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2. Stamp the flower - if your stamp is smaller than the flower, re-ink and continue stamping until the flower has been covered. Don't worry about the ink drying out, embossing ink stays wet for quite a while.

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3. Place the stamped flower in a tidy tray or box top lid and sprinkle the clear embossing powder over the whole flower...

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make sure you cover the entire piece since you can't really see where all of the ink is.

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4. Heat to melt the ep's. Move the heat gun around frequently so you don't scorch the flower.

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5. Once the flower has cooled, spritz with your favorite spray dye ink....

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6. (optional) If so desired, you may place the flower between two sheets of copy paper and heat with an iron to remove the embossing powders. I thought the embossed images were pretty cool so I left them. The shiny images gave the flower more dimension.

You'll end up with a flower that has taken on the color of the dye with the original color peeking through where the images have been embossed....

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Of course this works with white flowers as well but it just doesn't have the same pizzazz that colored flowers offer.

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And once combined with solid colored flowers they really make the finished flowers pop!

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So there you go GailnGA ~ a fun technique to try with those big tacky colored flowers ;) I hope you give it a go and let me know how you like them.

Good luck and have fun!

~

Ye ole weatherman is predicting anywhere

from 2-8" of snow for our area this weekend.

I had hoped we were done with the white stuff but I guess Mother Nature has decided we need a bit more.

Ahhh well...such is life in Indiana!

I hope you all have a safe and relaxing weekend!!!

10 comments:

  1. I can't believe I'm first and I've already played with these techniques. Simply mind boggling awesome. I had those pesky things left over from projects and of course they didn't fit into anything, so now I have a whole new crop of art! Thanks for inspiring us :).

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  2. YES! I'm glad you gave it a whirl!! It is fun isn't it ~ So glad you enjoyed it marlis!!

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  3. Looks beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. What a fun, fun project! I just found your blog coming from my friend Michelle Palmer's. Thanks, Michelle!
    You've got some very clever ideas here! I'll be back! Have a very happy Sunday!
    Diane from Diane's Musings

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  5. GORGEOUS, Ronni. You've outdone yourself this time. Wow!

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  6. Those are SO cool & your directions are very clear. You're so creative & good at explaining things that you should write a book.. oh wait, you already did! LOL I can't wait 'til it comes out!

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  7. oh my! i love this!!! i would love to try this technique and will surely credit you for the infos!!!

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  8. I've got some big ugly dollar store flowers, I should take apart and do this to. What a cool idea!! Thanks so much for sharing this. Now I won't throw those flowers out!

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  9. How.Flippin'.GOOOOOORGEOUS IS THAT?!?!!?!?!? I am *LOVING* your blog!

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Thanks for your thoughts and comments!