I learned to do this from an old craft show “Alene’s”. It
was on tv years ago.
The original project calls for several layers of brown paper
bags but since those aren’t used much these days I just used a piece of
cardstock. I found a bat shape online
and printed it out. Then cut it out and glued it to the cardstock. I also cut
out a couple of hearts to use as examples.
Then…. I covered one side with white glue. Alene’s Tacky
Glue works best because it is thicker than most other white glues. Anyway. I
covered one side of one of the hearts with glue. Making sure the edges were
covered is very important, otherwise the paper catches on fire. The glue keeps
it from really burning.
Here is where it gets tricky. You need a candle. The secret
is to move the glue covered side of the heart back and forth over the flame.
You want to hear the crackle of the moisture in the glue. Keep moving it over
the flame til you don’t hear the crackles. Being careful not to hold it too
long in one spot (it does catch fire). It will flame up every so often but
usually goes right back out when you move it. Keep turning your glue covered
paper to get the whole surface.
You do get black smoke and it doesn’t smell too good. You
should do this outside or in a room with lots of ventilation. Don’t breathe the
smoke.
Once it is done on the first side, repeat the glue and flame
on the other side. You will notice that if you swirl the glue you will get nice
swirl designs under the soot.
When you are done burning the glue, let it cool a minute or
two. Then use a soft tissue or paper towel to gently wipe the soot off. The
surface will be shiny in some spots. If there are wet spots put it back over
the flame for a few seconds. Then wipe it again. Your piece may curl a bit, but
it can be curled back with no effort.
The bat looks cool with the curling affect.
You can leave the surface like that, or you can put acrylic
paint on it. I like to rub my finger in the thin paint and just lightly brush
it across the surface. The paint will only catch on the raised spots and leave
lots of black showing through.
I did the bat because this would be a fun way to make some
scary bats for Halloween decorations.
I don’t recommend you do anything very large with this
technique. Besides using a lot of glue, you want to be able to see what you are
doing with the candle. It would also take quite a while to burn a large piece.
I like the idea of using this technique to add cutouts to a
greeting card. You could make a small Christmas tree and use green paint on it
to add it to your holiday card. Or hearts for a Valentine’s day card.
I hope this technique inspires you to try it and use the
results on lots of projects.
Til next time. J
Terri
New this week in my Etsy shop: Spirit Guide and Angel
Portraits, plus a couple fun tote bags.
Check it out at www.etsy.com/shop/1krazyrtist
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