Creating Fibre Art Beads from Old Envelopes - by Kathy Kinsella
It doesn't take much to amuse me . . . A friend recently gave me a stack of old envelopes that she had been saving because she knew that they were made from a product that can be manipulated with heat to become art! I don't know the "real" name of them ... I only know them as tyvek shipping envelopes.
As I was putting the finishing touches
on a silk fusion art piece last week, I decided to try using the old
envelopes to create some funky and beautiful beads to use as an
accent. Here's how I did it . . .
These are the envelopes that I started
with . . .
And the fabric paints and paint brush
You do not have to have the paint cover
really solid and it certainly doesn't have to be perfect ... you can
see that I brushed the paint on in all directions so that my finished beads wouldn't look smooth and perfect.
If you will see the inside of the
finished bead, paint the back of the envelope as well. This would be
useful if they have a large hole and seeing a white inside would
bother you.
At this time you might choose to write
on the surface as well . . . when the paint is dry, use a fine tipped Pigma pen and write
across the surface (remember it will shrink and distort in the next
step so don't do detailed drawings). I was using these beads to accent a piece called "Rhapsody in Blue" so those are the words I wrote on the surface.
It is now time to cut up the envelope.
For this example cut pieces approximately 1" x 2.5" and
wrap a piece around a wooden dowel or skewer ... the larger the
dowel, the larger the hole of the bead will be. I used a 1/4"
dowel for these beads.
Wrap the envelope piece around the
dowel and tie it in place with cotton thread ... you can also insert
bits of organza, tulle, yarn or thread as you wrap it up . . .
Now it is time to warm up your heat gun
. . . CAUTION: Do this in a well-ventilated location away from
anything flamable. I usually do this outside on the concrete patio ... Be careful to not burn your fingers!!!
Hold one end of the dowel (as far away from the bead as possible) and move the
heat gun slowly across the surface of the beads ... the longer it
stays in one area, the more distortion you will have there ... it
will start to bubble and twist ... turn the dowel around to distort
all sides of the beads ... stop when you've seen enough change.
Let the beads cool and then slide them of the dowel and remove the thread. (The cotton thread will not melt, but it will burn if you give it enough heat.)
. . . and you can now accent these beads by adding some seed
beads or other fibres to them.
Enjoy!! I'd love to hear about the
fibre art beads you create!
If you would like to see how I added these beads to
hand spun yarn to accent a silk fusion art piece that I just finished ... visit my blog
at http://kathykinsella.blogspot.ca.
My Etsy shop is pretty bare right now
as most of my art is away at an art show and sale ... but the unsold
items will be back at www.kathykinsella.etsy.com on July 23rd.
1 comment:
Very cool! I didn't know you could paint that stuff, much less turn it into something so beautiful. Thanks for sharing!
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