Painting on Bondaweb

Create crinkly,
colourful surfaces
that can be stitched
and embellished in
so many ways
oy Kim Thiffichai
Vc
L/f?P1
Painting on
Bondaweb
PREPARATION
WHAT YOU NEED
• Bondaweb
• Newspaper
• Water-bosed points (such as
acrylic), colours of your
choice
• Paintbrush, 5 c wide
• Water jar
• A dish or plate to mix points
• Cotton background fabric,
block
• Transfer toil (optional)
• When working with heat tools,
use only water-based points as oilbased points can give off fumes
when heated.
Painted Bondaweb takes a long
time to dry. so paint it well
ahead of the time when you
plan to use it.
1 Cut the Bondaweb to size.
Work with manageable-sized
pieces; A4 or A3 is large
enough to work with and easier
to store when it's dry.
2 Lay out the newspaper on a
firm, stable work surface. You
will need two or three layers of
newspaper as this is quite a
vet process.
3 If you are working on a
good table, lay a thick piece of
plastic under the newspaper. if
you plan to do this more often
you may wish to invest in a
cheap plastic tablecloth.
FUSIBLE GLUES
-
usible glues are usually
used to bond fabrics
together, but they can be
used for all sorts of creative textile
projects. Avoid the heavier fusible
webs as they give the fabric a more
'plosfic-y' finish. Bondaweb (Vliesotix
and Wonder under in some parts at
the world) is a tine paper-backed
fusible web of glue which makes a
wonderful surface for stitch, without
stiffening your fabric too much.
If you haven't used Bondoweb
before, feel it, and you'll find 11101
one side is rough and the other is
smooth The rough side is the glue
side The smooth side is the backing
paper that supports the web, once
you have ironed oft the web you will
remove this paper. Note: To protect
your iron and ironing board, once
you have removed the backing
paper from the Bondoweb, always
place baking parchment or silicone
paper below and on fop of the fabric
before ironing
You can also use Bondoweb to
apply heat transfer foils, threads, flat
sequins, grosses, dried and pressed
flowers - and the glue side can be
painted. Once Bondoweb has been
pointed the tine surface at the web
is trogile but, depending on your
finished piece, the Bondaweb
surface can be sealed with varnish,
acrylic wax, a chiffon scarf or
Lamitix (on iron-on laminate sheet
available in gloss or matt finish).
The glue side of the Bonoaweb
is the side you colour with paint or
decorate with soil fabric pens or
crayons. The web can also be run
through an inkiet printer (not a loser
printer or photocopier as they use
heat), but it must be supported on
firm paper To attach Bondoweb to
the paper, align it with the leading
edge of the paper (the edge Mot
goes into the printer first) and secure
the leading and back edges with
masking tape, folding the masking
tape over the leading edge at the
paper and the Bondoweb so that the
edge is smooth The web is quite
fragile, so treat it gently.
56
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4 An water-based paint can
he used to paint the Bondaweb,
but use a paint that will cling
to the web. Watercolour paints
don't have enough pigment in
them and inks and dyes are too
thin and will work through the
web onto the backing paper.
5 Add water to the acrylics to
dilute them by half. Because
you are working with a lot of
water the colours will bleed
together and look lovely.
WHAT YOU DO
I Using the 5 cm wide
paintbrush, apply the paints
gently to the rough gluel side
of the Bondaweb: using the
wider brush will cause less
disturbance to the fragile web
and will also help the colours
to blend. The wet paint causes
the backing paper to ripple and
wrinkle and gives beautiful
textured effects. Tip: If you
wish, you can brush or spray
water onto the web before you
start, as this will speed up the
rippling effect.
2 When you are happy with
the colour, set the painted
Bondaweb aside until it is dry.
Note: The web must be bonedR before you use it.
3 Once the well is dry, cut or
tear it into the shape or shapes
that you want. Leaving the
hacking paper on, sandwich
the shapes between layers of
baking parchment and iron it:
allow to cool completely and
then peel off the hacking
paper. If you want a more
abstract effect, tear the
Bondaweb into smaller pieces.
I always take the backing
paper off at this point as I like
to overlap the web as I work.
4 Arrange the shapes painted
side down onto your
background fabric and cover
the whole piece with baking
parchment. With the iron on
the cotton setting. iron
smoothly and continuously for
U
Painted
Bondoweb was laid
paint side down onto
the background fabric,
sandwiched between
layers of baking
parchment, and
ironed. Once the
fabric had cooled, the
baking parchment and
backing paper were
removed.
at least a minute.
5 Allow the fabric to cool
down before you remove the
baking parchment. If you
try to remove it while it is
warm, the Bondaweb will
peel off the surface you have
just ironed it onto.
Adding texture
You can apply all kinds of
delights to Bondaweb. Try
grasses, flufe seedheads,
skeleton leaves. sequins anything that is dry and flat.
When layering up your
textures, remember that you
Transfer foil was laid on
top of the Bonctaweb surface
(with the shiny coloured side
uppermost as the colour is on
the back of the carrier film)
and covered with baking
parchment. Heated on a
silk/wool setting, the side
edge of the irons sole plate
was drawn across the baking
parchment to apply lines of
foil to the Bondaweb surface,
don't have to add
in your
workbox. The
wonderful -. and
dangerous! - thing
about Bondaweb is
that you can keep
reheating it and
applying more
decoration. The
skill lies in
knowing when to
stop.
You can create wonderful
drifts of colour and texture by
using fabric and thread snips
and it is a great way of using
up all your odd small pieces of
fabric and unwanted lengths of
yam and thread.
Roll four small squares of
sheer fabric - say 10 cm square
- into a tight roll and snip off
very thin sections with sharp
scissors. Scatter or arrange the
thin snips on the Bondawebtreated surface, cover and iron
to secure them in place.
A scattering of
glitter was
added (covered
with baking
parchment and
ironed as
before),
Above; Torn strips of handmade
papers and odd scraps at old
decorated papers banded together
with pointed Bondoweb and
embellished with hand stitch
Sequins and
seeds were arranged
on the surface
(covered and ironed
down) and the whole
piece was embellished
with hand stitching.
as the surface is dry and flat
Seal the surface
new technique it is obviously
and won't melt there should be
If your project is going to he
fun to try everything you can
no problem. One word of
handled it will need to be
lay your hands on, but aim to
warning - don't try to iron onto
sealed. There are man\'
keep the colours you use to
plastic or glass. The plastic will
different tYpes of varnish and
melt 1you might not want it to)
acrylic sealer available. I like
Whilst you are learning a
tones of one or two colours.
Bondaweb can be ironed
onto all sorts of surfaces - even
and the glass will crack.
Painted Bondaweb can be
acrylic wax or polyurethane
varnish, both of which can he
wood. Providing the surface of
ironed onto the covers of
applied with a paintbrush. The
the wood is flat, smooth and
hardback books, or iron it first
acrylic wax washes out of
unvarnished there will be no
onto pelmet (craft) Vilene and
brushes in water and the
problem.
use the Vilene to make slip-
varnish brush needs to be
covers for books.
cleaned with white spirit.
Above: Torn pieces of painted
Bandaweb ironed onto black cation
then decorated with torn feathers,
torn skeleton leaves, seeds, gold
glitter and heat transfer foil
Below: Torn pieces of painted
Bondaweb were ironed onto dyed
pelmet Vilene and decorated With
gilding flakes (copper thunder). Thin
metal ribbon was then machine
stitched along the edge and more
metal ribbon was twisted together
and couched in place.
You could even try ironing
Bondaweb onto metal. As long
SUGGESTIONS
A heart shape cut from unpainted
Bondaweb was ironed onto a cord.
Heat transfer foil was then ironed
onto the Bondoweb shape.
Try these experiments:
• Iron the pointed Bondoweb
onto different fabrics, dark and
light, sheer and heavy.
• Try the some with a variety of
papers including handmade
paper and newspaper.
• Lay torn papers onto the
painted Bondaweb.
• Decorate polyester organza
with pointed Bondaweb then
use a hot air fool to distress it.
Note: Choose a craft tool - DIV
heat guns can be too
powerful.
SUPPLIERS
• Bondoweb, craft Vilene and
heal transfer falls. Nid-noi.com ,
126 Norwich Drive, Brighton BN2
4L1, Tel: 01273 698112,
www.nid-noi-com
• Gilding flakes, glitter, and
Colourful Thoughts paints:
Layered Textiles by Kim Thittichoi
covers a wide range of techniques
(see Book Review, on page 31).
Croftynotions Ltd, Unit 2 Jessop
Way, Newark NG24 2ER, Tel:
01636 700862,
www.craftynotions.com