Jewelry made from StencilGirl® designs? And embossed onto painted a Lutradur surface that looks surprisingly like leather? Yes and Yes!
While rummaging in an old box of unfinished art quilts, I stumbled upon pieces of a half-finished project made with painted Lutradur and Tyvek. About five years ago, I had a vision of using strips of black and white harlequin painted Lutradur along the edges of my painted Tyvek design. The project never quite worked out, so I decided to try stenciling over the Lutradur to see what would happen. It had been years since I worked with Lutradur, a non-woven fabric that is often used in furniture construction and has been embraced by crafters.
Using a Versamark stamp pad through a stencil, the embossing powder looked perfect before heating. |
Once I blasted the design with a heat gun, the unpainted (white) Lutradur melted. The areas painted with black gesso, however, were perfectly intact. |
I set about stenciling some of my favorite StencilGirl® design on the black strips of painted Lutradur. I had a vision of making a cuff bracelet. I combined one of Jill McDowell's circular Japanese-inspired Crest stencils with a cross from Laurie Milka's Pilgrimage to the Renaissance.
After the stenciling was done, using a rotary cutter, I cut the design to the length I wanted for a cuff.
The painted Lutradur was a little scratchy, so I also cut some black felt (to use as a lining) to the same size. After some deliberation, I selected a decorative stitch on my sewing machine and carefully stitched along all edges.
The finished, stitched cuff. |
The finished cuff is easy to put on and take off with the Velcro closure. |
I used another one of Jill's Crest medallions for a pendant. I made two, and glued them together with Golden heavy gel gloss. I used Jill's full 2.5" circle as a template, traced around it with a pencil, and cut each shape so they would match perfectly. A small hole was punched with an awl, and a small jewelry ring inserted through the hole. I hung it from a piece of black cording that I found at my local bead store.
Clips held the two sides together while the glue dried. Be sure to cover the edges with waxed paper or parchment paper so the clip doesn't stick to the surface. |
Each earring shape was carefully cut out with small, sharp scissors. |
I used a piece of wood behind the stenciled Lutradur to avoid poking holes in my worktable. |
Two sets of the finished earrings. |
Last, I took some triangular shapes from Laurie Milka's Pilgrimage to India, cut them carefully, and attached them to wide black grosgrain ribbon with Golden heavy gel gloss and brass brads.
Each diamond was backed with black felt. |
Finally, here's the finished collection of my handmade, faux-leather jewelry, ready to be worn.
Tips:
* Lutradur is fibrous, so if it is humid, extra embossing powder can stick where you don't want it. The excess powder can be brushed away with a fine paintbrush before heating.
* Any extra embossed powder that ends up in the wrong place can be covered over with a black sharpie.
* It doesn't really matter if your embossing powder isn't perfect; the edges are going to be trimmed away so only the center of the design shows.
Stencils used:
Laurie Milka, Pilgrimage to Mexico
Laurie Milka, Pilgrimage to India
Laurie Milka, Pilgrimage to the Renaissance
Gwen Lafluer, Not Afraid to Try
Jill McDowell, Crests
Fantastic! Thanks for this inspiration!
ReplyDeleteVery cool idea!
ReplyDeleteThese are so cool! Fabulous idea! Thank you 💛
ReplyDelete