Blech.
After a panicked SOS phone call to Needleroozer, I figured out how to use the stuff. THANK YOU! I followed her clear instructions and got the layers fused together. But.
But.
The MistyFuse does not work and play well with my style, apparently. I like the shiny background of the Lutradur and then the lace on top. However, the MistyFuse, although fused, is still "there" and somehow cuts down on the shiny-ness. Seriously cuts down on it. I tried to apply some layers of paint over it, but it still looks like a black hole underneath. I call it the "dead" look. I couldn't seem to compensate for it although I tried several things. I tried to add some colors on top but it's still just awful, IMHO.
Let me show you what I mean. I threw down a random bookmark (not even close to one of my favorites). The bookmark has a fair number of Lutradur surface only shiny places, so it's a good contrast. The photo shows the bookmark next to a section of the piece in question:
Quite a difference. And it's a difference that matters, to me anyway. So, after I took these shots, I literally drenched the thing in purple shiny paint, trying to salvage it. It took quite a dousing to get inbetweeen all the cracks of the MistyFuse. But now the paint is soooo thick that the whole thing is a textured monogamous surface and you can't distinguish the lace pieces from the background.Well, my brush was loaded from the heavy paint layer, so I cut a few more pieces of lace, painted them too, and stuck them on top of the whole mess, just to see what it would look like. My thought was, "Perhaps I can just start completely over and use this as a background." It's still drying, so I can't move it to a sunny spot yet to get a good photo. But I'm not sure it's going to work. I'm not sure this piece can be salvaged. Got any bright ideas?
4 comments:
Ok, well. I am sorry the MF doesn't make it shiny, but if you look at it as an experiment, and something that you can just keep adding layers to, then it isn't wasted anymore! I don't think it looks bad, though, and would be nice with other layers added.
Weird that the MF takes the shine away- who woulda thunk it?
LB
Thanks for the words of condolence. Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't.
I've actually just sat down at my computer after having worked on this project. I looked at what I did last night and I didn't like it at all. I thought about throwing the whole thing out, but I'd gone to all the work of preparing the surface.
Soooo, I flipped it over and started on the back! This time I cut out a bunch of pieces of lace, coated the back with one color, and then colored each piece off to the side and then pasted it on. The only drawback with this method (and one reason I didn't try this before) is that it's hard to adjust placement of pieces after you place them (the work starts to dry).
So, I decided that later I would try to go back and add some more pieces after giving myself a break.
Actually, I feel a lot better now--I feel like I'm making progress again. So, I guess this piece will have the most elaborate backing ever!
WTMCassandra
I have a couple of ideas for you....
First just back the lace with the Mistyfuse, then cut and iron it on wherever. Alternately, use a Teflon pressing sheet instead of parchment when pressing the Mistyfuse. Parchment paper makes Mistyfuse matte and Teflon makes Mistyfuse shiny. I hope that helps! Iris
Ahhh, those are good ideas. I will definitely try fusing only to the lace first and then cut out my lace pieces. If that doesn't work, I'll spring for Teflon pressing sheets. (Before, this, I didn't even know such things existed!)
Thank you so much!
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