FAUX CLOISONNES

I forget exactly when it was but several weeks ago I think the Splitcoast Techniques Challenge was Faux Cloisonnes. I have been intrigued with this technique ever since I first heard of ot, but had never tried it. I think part of my problem was I was never exactly sure what type of stamp to use.

I knew it needed to be a line stamp with a fair amount of detail, but also enough open space so that you could see the paper that was stamped on. I also felt it needed to be a fairly "classic" stamp, meaning not very contemporary like the "doodle" stamps. Because of these perceived, if not real, stamp guidelines I never could find the right stamp to use. Finally one day while in our local stamp store I thought I had found it.....I tried it out and it was all wrong. The design itself was great but the open spaces were too open. You will see this stamp in a later post as I have come up with what I think will be the perfect projects for it, but Faux Cloisonnes did not work.

The next time I was in the store I looked again and again I thought I found the correct stamp. This time it was the right one.......it was the perfect butterfly! Here are some of the images I did.

Faux Cloisonnes is when you stamp with metallic ink, I prefer gold as that is traditional, and emboss with the same metallic powder an image onto a glossy picture that has a variety of colors or textures. It can be a dramatic or a subtle variety of color. As you can see some of the images I cut out with my paper snips. This is what you most often will see, but one I punched out with a circle punch and mounted on a scalloped circle punched out of Brushed Gold card stock. I found that old calendars that have glossy pictures works really well. You can also use pictures out of magazines but the paper they are on is of a much lighter weight. The calendars is more of a card stock weight.

So what did I make using the images. Well, once again I have had the need for Sympathy cards and I thought these images would be perfect. So I created a series of sympathy cards from the 8 or so Butteflies I made while playing with different backgrounds to stamp on. For right now I'm just showing you two of the cards as this post is already getting long enough and I know you are probably ready to move on.

I always find Sympathy cards a challenge to do. I want to get the right balance of simplicity and beauty to honor the one who has passed on with a cheerfulness and message that can bring comfort and hope to the person who has lost a loved one. Frivolity just doesn't work on a sympathy card, at least not in my opinion. Butterflies in my mind symbolize new life and in my belief system death is a passage into a wonderful new life. A life that will be spent in the presence of our Creator, so they are very appropriate to sympathy cards.