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Location: Worthing, West Sussex, United Kingdom

I went to St Martin's School of Art in London.. I have been a dancer, a wig maker and was Deputy Wig and Makeup Master at the Royal National Theatre for 21 years. Latterly in Cornwall I was a Civil Servant, now semi-retired due to disability. I have moved from Cornwall due to my mother's health .

Sunday 26 April 2009

Foiling Wands and Fusers

I have over a period of time been asked about the sentiments I have on my cards, as they have been foiled.

I have four ways of doing this which I shall try to explain

The first way is using foiling glue which you can buy in many craft shops. It comes in tubes and you use it as you would ordinary glue except that it goes on blue and dries white. when the glue has turned white you then place the foil over dull side down and gently rub with your finger . The glue adheres to the foil and when you remove the foil sheet the foil is left behind where the glue was.

The second way is by using a foil pen which uses batteries and has a tip which gets hot. When the tip is hot you place the foil again dull side down and write , doodle or whatever over the foil with the tip of the pen. The heat fuses the foil to the card/paper. This is useful for wording and freehand drawing.

The third way is with the foiling wand. It looks rather like a soldering iron and has a flat end which is covered in silicone. with this you also get a metal stand and a silicone sheet. Firstly you print your design on paper or card but this has to be done on either a mono laser printer or a photocopier, the reason being that they both use a powder for the print. When you have your design lay it on the silicone sheet, print side up, and lay the foil dull side down over the printed image. When the wand has reached the temperature it is very hot so you must be careful how you handle it. Slowly and with even pressure guide the wand over the printed design for a few minutes, this process cannot be hurried, when the indentation of the design shows through the foil replace the wand on the stand and gently remove the foil. The laser or photocopier powder will have melted and so fused the foil onto the card or paper. Let this cool and you have a nicely foiled image.

Number four is what I call the Big Boy. It's a professional fuser, and can take up to two A4 sheets in one passing. this is ideal for larger projects and for doing foiling in volume. The fuser resembles a laminator but gets much hotter and the rollers are covered in silicone to prevent the foil from sticking to them ( I have totally destroyed a laminator trying to simulate this .. it does not work, so please do NOT try this) it is also heat adjustable according to thickness of paper/card, and is produces specifically for this purpose.

The process is similar to that of the wand in as much as you need to print your design using a laser printer or photocopier. This time you cover your design with the foil again dull side down and stick the leading edge with low tack tape you then feed it through the fuser and peel the foil off as with all the others when it has cooled down.

Obviously this is only a quick guide to foiling. The glue being the cheapest alternative, the pen is around £20.00-£30.00.. The wand is £49.00 or there abouts and comes with foil and a stencil cutting attachment, silicone mat and metal stand. And then the Fuser can vary in price but is obviously the most expensive and probably only really viable if you are making cards etc as a business as it costs several hundred pounds.

The Link to Tonertex can be found under Craft shops I use.

The finished piece:




2 Comments:

Blogger kay said...

you have made me remember i have some foils and glue pen somewhere....lol.will dig out and have a go
kayx

Monday, April 27, 2009  
Blogger XxJULESxX said...

wow!looks beautiful!!!

Monday, May 04, 2009  

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