Karen Bearse Designs: Art Journal Fun With Foil

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Art Journal Fun With Foil

I have wanted to play in my art journal with foil since last summer now. Time gets so busy doesn't it? I was recently at CHA 2016 and had the good fortune to be sent some Therm O Web products thanks to the Prime Blogger Event. Prime hosted an awesome networking event where I was able to meet & talk with manufacturers that want to build relationships with designers. I had this idea that I could use the DecoFoil on art journal pages with stencils. The results surpassed my expectations!

In case you are not familiar with the product, DecoFoil is just as it sounds a decorative foil! It requires adhering but can be used in many cool ways. Check out their blog here for tons of project info. I used their liquid DecoFoil adhesive which has a 1-2 hour drying time. At first I thought this would be road block but it turns out to work splendidly. Read on to find out why.

I took art journals that had some background paint already and just played. Pouring out a dollop of adhesive on my craft sheet I used a foamy and dabbed through stencils. I made a bunch of samples and set them aside to dry for the required 1-2 hours. The bonus of this is being able to foil multiple pieces once the adhesive is dry. The most amazing thing I discovered was in a test. I set aside a few pieces with just the glue, drying. 2 days later, the DecoFoil adhesive was still sticky!!!!

Here is my stenciled piece with just the adhesive, look closely the image is there and looks clear but visible.

Simply lay the foil on the stenciled image, shiny side up, rub using your finger or a bone folder. Look how pretty using 2 different foil colors, Aqua & Spring Green, looks.

On this sample simply distress the edges with adhesive. When it is dry/sticky rub different colors randomly on the edges where the glue is. Red & Spring Green look great together.

For this piece I used another stencil as above on a book page.

This time I rubbed one piece of multi colored foil appropriately called Rainbow. This is just so cool and shimmery. Of course the camera gives just a glimpse of how fabulous the colors are. One of the great things about using foil in an art journal, when you turn the page the light hits and bam, shimmery goodness.

This is another example of using a stencil on a wipe off art journal page. Colors of foil are Rainbow as well as Lilac, Spring Green, and Champagne. Last but not least, my test projects I left sitting out. I wanted to see if the glue would remain sticky if life came up and I couldn't get to the piece. Amazingly the glue worked just as well. After sitting around for 2 days the foil still adhered perfectly!

I distressed the edges of a journal card with Aqua foil. A simple yet fun way to jazz up this card.

Also distressed the edges of some left over stamped and colored images that were sitting on my desk. I used the Rainbow foil. Now they have more of a finished look. I can easily pop these on to an art journal page. Caution this technique is addicting! I may have to go back though my art journals adding foil along the way. What would you add foil to?