Saturday 31 March 2018

It Nearly Went Horribly Wrong: A Tag

I made this tag for the fortnightly challenge over on Tag Tuesday:  Diamonds are Forever (with a wedding anniversary in mind!).  I was trying a new technique and at one point I was ready to throw the tag in the bin; however, I feel that I managed to save it and really like the finished result.
I had some left over strips from the Indian Summer paper pad by Claritystamp.  They were far too beautiful to throw away, so I added them to a #8 manilla tag, sealing the surface with matt medium, drying and trimming.
Following the idea of the wedding anniversary theme, I added the Entwined Hummingbirds stamp (also by Claritystamp); using Versamark ink and heat embossing in detail black embossing powder.
The insides of the moons were masked off, then the rest of the tag was painted in watered down white gesso, in order to tone down the background.
It was after the next stage that I nearly threw away the tag.  I stamped the foliage from the Hummingbirds stamp set using Versamark ink again, but this time heat embossing in gold pearl superfine Wow embossing powder.  I made a mess of the first impression, as it was the first time that I had used the stamp and the uneven surface made it challenging.
The second impression at the bottom came out better, but I still wasn't very happy.  I also felt that the join lines showed up too much in the background.
So... how to go about saving the tag?  I added further stamping using the same foliage stamp; first in Fern Green Archival ink.  Once again, the impression at the bottom of the tag was more successful.
I decided to take a risk and use Library Green Archival ink to over stamp at the top;  this time making sure that I used plenty of ink and standing up to get more pressure over the surface.  Eureka!  It covered up the less successful impressions and the gold showed through beautifully.
Three stickers from the Chit Chat Occasions book (Tim Holt idea-ology) finished off the tag and covered up the worst of the join lines at the same time.  I am so glad that I persevered;  there is usually a way round problems and adding further layers can cover up a host of mistakes lol.

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