Honeybee and Hare are friends

Here's an altered rolodex card made for www.tagtuesday.blogspot.com

Thanks for dropping by. See you soon, hopefully, Norma, xo

Learning curves...

So I was about to do a post full of an excited show and tell about the virtues of Dorland's Wax Medium and actually the post truly expounds the fabulousness of this medium. But truth be told, the photograph doesn't back up my claims so you are going to have to take it on faith. Here is the photo:

I'd been preparing an envelope to mail to Helen, and the gel transfer worked pretty darned good considering it was such a large area and maybe it was beginners' luck as I've not done a lot of these transfers and never anything this large. But then my finicky old typewriter bunged up the carriage returns and it bothered me enough that I abandoned that envelope and made a new one. This time, I wrote the address in script (learned that calligraphy ink is the way to go and NOT india ink which runs like mad) and then spayed it with matte finish so that the water I apply to the image will not run into the ink and ruin it. So far so good. I dried it thoroughly and then painted the gel medium to the image and applied that in place to the envelope. I took a bit longer and used a bit less medium this time and I think this is why the transfer itself was not quite as successful. This needs tweaking and a lot of experimenting to get it right. But the transfer image is pretty okay. I stopped rubbing because parts of the image were lifting off and so there is a very fine layer of paper fibre which reads white. This is where Dorland's Wax Medium comes into play, or in this case...to the rescue. I rubbed the completely dry image quite firmly with the wax and then buffed it with a dry cloth. It is beautiful. In person. The image is soft and matte and with a slight sheen.

But here's the rub. The envelope on top looks better on camera. Oh well, can't win them all hey? Thanks for dropping by, and I do hope to see you soon. *smiles* Norma, x

First successful gel transfer

Gel transfers are not rocket science, but the many (too many to recall) times I have attempted this procedure I have failed miserably. Well I felt miserable after all of the failures anyway. Until yesterday when I was in the middle of making a used tea bag paper little book tag for TAG TUESDAY, when I enjoyed my first success.


Here is a shot of the middle spread showing the bird image transfer, along with a wee poem written with a mapping pen and india ink. Closed, the book measures about 1.5" wide by 2" tall so that gives you an idea of how small the book is. As I'm right in the throes of delight in making these books, the gel transfers are going to add to them immeasurably. I'm tickled pink.

Thanks for dropping by, and we'll see you soon, I hope. *smiles* Norma