I absolutely love Tim Holtz's Idea-ology Foliage metal flowers. I use them on tons of different projects. To me, they are a must have staple item in your scarp inventory. You can use them as is, bend and shape them, paint, glaze, enamel them, and ink them. I recently got a new to me product called Sparkly Fluff made by Our Craft Lounge. It is a combination of the super fine tinsel and the softest flocking I have ever felt. I began wondering what it would look like on Foliage. . .
if you ask me, I think it looks awesome! It completely transforms the pieces into puffy plush looking flowers, perfect for a touch of whimsy.
To flock the pieces, all you need are some Foliage pieces, assorted colors of Sparkly Fluff, a liquid adhesive (I used Matte Mutli Medium in the squeeze bottle), and a pair of tweezers. I use the EK Success Tweezer Bees because I love the super fine non-stick tip and the reverse squeeze action which makes keeping hold of tiny things easy. Matte Multi Medium is a great choice of adhesive because it dries well on metal, will dry clear, and will stay wet long enough for you to do some shaping.
Begin by coating your metal piece with adhesive. I used a generous coat and tried to avoid filling in any of the grooved detail areas. If you get adhesive in the grooves, use the tip of a tool (I used the tip of my tweezers) to remove it. If you plan to bend and shape your Foliage pieces, I would recommend you do it before you apply the adhesive or wait until the flocked piece is completely dry. If you attempt to shape it will the adhesive and fluff is wet, you may end up smashing or wiping the flocking off.
Place the piece adhesive side down into the jar of Sparkly Fluff and press the piece down.
Lift the piece out of the fluff and tap on the back of the piece to shake off any excess. I really didn't have much tap off and didn't have any problem with adhesive left behind in the jar.
Run your fingers along the edges to smooth and define them. Be aware that the adhesive may still be very wet so you may move clumps of the fluff. If that happens, simply press it back into place. You may use a fine edge, like the tip of the tweezers to press into the fluff to add definition. You can also scrape it away in areas to create definition like I did here in between the two leaves. (In the finished example above, I added the definition as shown, to the leaves on the left. The leaves on the right were just shaped along the edges so that you could see the difference.)
You can apply the adhesive to the floral pieces on either side. In the two finished examples above, I did the same flower, one with the adhesive on the curved side and one on the concave side. You can see that the finished result is very similar.
If you need to add fluff to areas that are thin looking, simply add a bit more adhesive where needed and dip the area with the adhesive in the fluff.
Shape the edges again.
As before, use a tool to define any small detail areas, for instance the area in between the petals.
To add fluff to a brad, hold the brad in the tweezers and apply adhesive to the top and sides of the brad head.
Dip the brad into the fluff and shape.
Allow the pieces to dry about 15-20 minutes before shaping or assembling them. Once dry, the fluff will be securely in place and should not come off. You will be able to easily press the brad through the center of the flower. I handled my pieces several times and didn't have any problems with fluff coming off.
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