Thursday, March 22, 2012

vellum : noun

Modern imitation or "paper vellum" is made from plasticized cotton

and a little history of vellum:
Vellum (from the Old french VĂ©lin, for "calfskin")[1] is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used. The manufacture involves the cleaning, bleaching, stretching on a frame, and scraping of the skin with a hemispherical knife. To create tension, scraping is alternated with wetting and drying. A final finish may be achieved by abrading the surface with pumice, and treating with a preparation of lime or chalk to make it accept writing or printing ink

Helmars V2 Spray, Ranger Candy Crackle and vellum, those are the 3 products that I used to make my circle element on my seahorse tag:

Since I had a lot of questions and comments  on this tag yesterday, I thought I would share with you how I created this pretty element.

First off, I keep an old Cricut mat as my spraying board for the V2. Since it stays sticky from any over spray it does an awesome job holding down light weight pieces to be sprayed. So, first I cut my shape and sprayed it with the V2 and adhered it to the tag. V2 is awesome as it will hold down your shape without making the vellum curl or warp.

I am making a new tag, so please forgive the new shape :)
Next, tear strips of vellum. Keep in mind when tearing that your water strips all need to be horizontal so that it emulates the waves of the ocean. I laid all the strips upside down on the cricut mat and sprayed them. Then layered them onto the vellum shape. On the circle, I had to trim the edges to fit the circle shape, a rectangle is much easier to follow.

After they are all assembled, I then layered the Candy Crackle on top.

 Now keep in mind that you will have to repeatedly check on your vellum while the crackle is drying since it is a heavy wet layer, the vellum will curl up dring this process.

I simply wet the tip of my finger ( ok, so I lick it, ssshhhhh ) and press down any edges that curl up or lift away.

And there you have it, trim it out as desired. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I will answer them as soon as I can.

and a just so you know note:
I usually don't have a plan when creating something, it just flows and this is one of those times. I did make some adjustments as you can tell, like adding the solid paper for the sky. I did discover that you can simply lift the edges to the vellum while it is still wet from the crackle, to slide in the paper and then press the vellum back down...whew..right? I also free hand cut the mermaid from one of the books pages and then inked her and added a small rhinestone to her tail. The clouds are doodled...some fancier people call them zentangles, but I've done this type of doodling for a long time, and to me it's just doodling, lol

green ribbon - Really Reasonable Ribbon
blue ribbon and paper - from stash
white pen - Reminisce
vellum - NRN
letters- Sandy Lion
Helmars V2 Spray
Rangers Distress Candy Crackle, Liquid Pearls

14 comments:

Unknown said...

The process with the vellum is very interesting. Made a beautiful tag.
Thank you for the comment on the hanging feathers; I can see that would be pretty. Those emu spines are so fragile, I would have to figure out how to attach them; maybe twist tread around the. I will have to play. NC looks beautiful.

Becky said...

That is SO COOL! I love how that turned out!! Great tip with the Cricut mat and great tutorial ;)

sandysewin said...

So simple and so pretty! Nice job. I love Distress Crackle Paint, and now here's yet another way to use it.

Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier. :-)

Sandy

DottyA Cards & Things said...

I'm with Becky above me, "That is really Cool"!! You made it look so easy too... I had never seen this done before and will keep it in mind for a good watery look!!!
Great directions too!!!

May said...

This is Fab I would not have thought to put crackle paint on vellum, Thanks for the tutorial, love the tag! and the tip with the cricut mat, Hugs May x x x x

fairy thoughts said...

hi sandee
thanks for the tutorial. good clear instructions and photos. I will definately try that, I wouldn't have thought of taking the crackle off like that, very clever.

Fuchsia said...

Hi There Sandy
thanks for the heads up on the tutorial
It all makes sense now I see how you done it
great work will have to try that one
Thanks again x

:0))

CraftygasheadZo said...

Thanks for sharing this, I love that tag you made and such an amazing technique. ZO xx

Kim said...

Hi Sandee. What a great idea. I'm putting it my list of techniques to try. No.....I haven't drawn my palm tree yet. ;)

Mary Pat Siehl said...

WOW! this is awesome!!! great job sandee!

Unknown said...

Great tag! I love the effect of the crackle on vellum. Thanks for the tutorial.
hugs,
Ellen

Unknown said...

Great tutorial and I love the finished tag, will have a go at this when I have enough time. Thanks for sharing it. Suzanne

~Tammy~ said...

This is awesome!!!!!

Redanne said...

I never knew all that information about vellum. Great tag and wonderful tutorial.