In this month’s session, we explored art journaling with fusible webbing – a technique that brings texture, sparkle, and surprise to your layout. It’s a heat-reactive mixed media method that uses iron-on adhesive sheets to trap colour, foil, glitter, and more.
I vaguely recall trying out this technique back in art college, some 13 or so years ago, but I came across it again recently. I had been looking through my library of mixed media technique books and found it in both Surface Treatment Workshop (p.114 – Fusible Webbing) and Mixed Media Revolution (p.41). Since I have oodles of fusible webbing available after buying a whole roll of it for quilting purposes, I came up with this after some experimentation:
The fusing process
So, fusible webbing is a double-sided sheet of heat-reactive adhesive mainly used for sticking layers of fabric together for appliqué or similar techniques. It is ironed on. Most importantly, a piece of parchment paper/greaseproof baking sheet must be used between the webbing and the iron to avoid a burnt sticky mess.
By sandwiching stuff between two layers of webbing or painting directly onto it, textures, colours, and inclusions can be built up for an interesting art journal layout.
My fused layout tutorial
I first pulled out potential ingredients to use in my piece. My starting point was some foil leaf flakes in gold and turquoise. From there, I selected paint colours, metallic finishes, beads and flakes, glitters and papers to complement the colour scheme.
First up, paint some acrylic paint across a sheet of webbing, keeping the backing paper in place. Dilute some, keep some neat, blend in the middle and keep it random.
Once painted, set aside to dry.
[NB – you can’t use a heat tool to dry the paint… you will melt the webbing.]
Repeat the process with some metallic colours or contrasting paint colours.
Pretty, isn’t it? Set aside to dry.
This is the last spread in my current journal, liberally daubed with excess paint from another layout. It was a great place to start, but it needed knocking back. Cream chalk paint to the rescue, applied randomly with a bit of makeup sponge.
For a bit of variety, I also sponged a little paint through a stencil. In other areas, I wiped away damp paint using a baby wipe through the same stencil (with varying degrees of success). Set aside to dry. You can use a heat tool if required.
Now for the inclusions/more pretty stuff. Make a sandwich: parchment or backing paper, then a layer of fusible webbing, next your bits and bobs, then another layer of webbing and finally more parchment.
When adding bits and bobs, bear in mind that they will only stay stuck if they are in contact with webbing. Of note, anything sprinkled over the top of paper pieces will not stay in place as they are insufficiently in contact with the webbing. You can also add extra layers of webbing should you need to tack down anything.
Iron your sandwich using a mid-heat setting until you are sure all is fused. You will see the area darken under the iron as the webbing fuses.
Allow to cool completely and then peel your newly created fused art.
Things to include:
– embossing powders
– large glitter
– small glitter
– mica pieces
– foil pieces
– paper pieces
– angel hair
– smeared archival inks.
Now for the fun part – adding your fused elements to the page.
I tore my painted pieces into rough strips and ironed them randomly(ish) across the layout. Don’t forget your iron *must* have parchment between it and the page at all times and in all directions. If you don’t, there will be a sticky painty mess on your soleplate. And we don’t want that.
I also discovered that you can use the backing where there is paint left from the application to the webbing. Place it paint side down and iron the back. The paint will transfer nicely.
Keep going with bits of the webbing with the inclusions in the same way.
This is where we get to – a jumble of colours, sparkle and texture.
I wasn’t sure that things would stay in place, and I also wanted to reduce any residual stickiness of the page, so I applied a coat of varnish to stick down/seal everything.
For a bit more interest and contrast, I added a couple of spritzes of shiny sparkle.
Optional: sprinkle a few crystals of gold ultra-high embossing powder and melt in place (I use a low-speed heat tool, starting high and getting lower as the crystals start getting sticky). These add little gold domes and catch the light.
Finally, print and add your choice of sentiment.
Here’s my close-up. Sparkle, colour, texture, hairy bits, fused. Fab.
Learn from my mistakes
First up, keep an eye on where your iron soleplate is at all times. Mine ended up with smeared paint and embossing powder on it. To render it suitable for fabric again, I used a damp cloth to wipe the soleplate clean whilst it was hot. It takes a bit of scrubbing, and the cloth will get hot, so be careful.
And then, I can’t stress this enough, CHECK THAT THE PAGES BENEATH YOUR IRON DON’T HAVE HEAT-REACTIVE ELEMENTS ON THEM! This was a serious downer as I just didn’t think about it and wondered where last month’s layout had gone. I needed to heat the page I’d just done to be able to peel apart the previous page, and the damage was done. If there are heat-sensitive elements in adjacent pages, either choose a different journal or place a layer of wax paper between them and try not to let them get too hot.
If you use Distress Spritzes, be sure to remove the spray thingy, dip into clean water and spritz until it runs clear. Replace it in the bottle and store the spray on its side. This way, you will avoid (though not completely prevent) blockages in the nozzle from the sparkly stuff.
Finally, when you are finishing off your inclusions sandwich, wait for it to cool completely before trying to peel it. It does stiffen when cool and loses its stickiness, making it a lot easier to peel from your backing sheet.
For the more visual learners
Come and join us!
You are most welcome to join my art journaling group. We meet once a month on the first Monday from 7:30pm, and it’s just £5. I provide all the materials, tea and coffee and whatever guidance you need to complete the layout. Just bring your fiver and your journal to work in. If you don’t yet have a journaling, I have something suitable to purchase for just £2. Book your place now for next month’s session when the theme is ‘tone it down’ – another hot technique!
Some of the stuff I used
- Daler Rowney Graduate sketchbook A5
- Ranger/Wendy Vecchi Archival ink: Tree Branch / Garden Patina
- Ranger/Wendy Vecchi Embossing Powder: Tree Branch / Garden Patina
- Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Spritz: Fossilized Amber / Peacock Teal
- Suze Weinberg’s Beadazzles: Jazz / Macarena
- Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Glitter: Tarnished Brass / Peacock Feathers / Peeled Paint
- DecoArt Americana Decor Chalky Finish: Lace
- DecoArt Americana acrylic paint: Peacock Teal / Cocoa
- DecoArt Extreme Sheen metallic paint: Champagne Gold / Peridot / 24K Gold
- DecoArt Media Satin Varnish
- Stampendous! Fran’tage shaved ice
- Stampendous! Fran’tage encrusted jewel kit: Gold / Blue
- Cosmic Shimmer gilding flakes: Summer Meadow
- Cosmic Shimmer fusible angel hair
- Wow! Embossing Powder: Metallic Gold Rich Ultra High
- Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz cling stamp: Mini Motivation [CMS292]
- Tonic/Tim Holtz stamping platform
- Bondaweb double-sided fusible webbing