Thursday 24 March 2011

Travel Bracelet step by step

Sorry it has taken me a while to get back to you guys with the instructions for the travel bracelet, life just gets in the way of things sometimes. Anyway, I guess better late than never. This is the photo that I previously posted of the bracelet but since then I came to the conclusion that it was lacking something so it has been tweaked a bit since then, finished item can be seen at the end of this post.

So for this project, I used Tim Holtz CMS108 Travel Labels and CMS102 Air travel, Paperartsy Fresco Finishes Snowflake paint, shrink plastic, Broken China and Antique Linen Distress Stains, Stazon Ink, Gold Krylon pen and lots of Tim Holtz Idea-ology goodies.

Are you sitting comfortably....then I'll begin. Pour a puddle of Paperartsy's Snowflake Fresco Finish paint on your craft sheet and use a piece of cut'n'dry foam to apply a thin layer of paint on a sheet of shrink plastic. Allow to dry thoroughly and flip over to apply paint to he other side.

When you are happy that the paint is dry, use Stazon ink to stamp all your images. I stamped enough to make three bracelets, one for me, one for the lovely Karen and one for Sweet Pea. Allow to dry and carefully cut out the images.
Flip the images over and stamp the back using the map image from the Air Travel set of stamps.

It is very important that you hole punch your shrink plastic before you shrink the pieces. Bear in mind that the hole will also shrink so I used the smallest size hole on my Crop-a-dile, this gives the perfect size hole for Tim Holtz jump rings.

I like to use a heat gun to shrink my shrink plastic but if you prefer, it can be done in the oven, simply follow the instructions on the packaging for this. The trick to shrinking shrink plastic with a heat gun is to keep the heat moving all the time so that the plastic shrinks evenly. I also use an acrylic block to flatten it out while it is still warm.
Apply some of each colour Distress Stain to your craft sheet and use a small paintbrush to carefully paint in the images. I like to start by painting the lightest colour over the whole piece and then blending in the contrasting colour. The key to using Distress Stains on a slick surface like shrink plastic is to give the surface a rougher more porous surface for the Stains to stick to and this paint works like a dream. It is a chalky finish that is sooooo smooth and leaves a beautiful surface to stamp on.
Once the Distress Stains are dry, use the gold Krylon pen to edge the shrink plastic. It's not a nice look to see those thick white edges. Sometimes, I use a black Sharpie marker but I felt that something more decorative was called for for this project.

They look so pretty!!

Now it's time to start assembling the bracelet, so once you have cut the chain to length and have attached your clasp, all the elements are going to be attached with jump rings. If you have not used jump rings before, you need to know that it is important to open the ring correctly otherwise the will not close properly again. Look at the picture below, you will see that I have the ring pinched between my thumb and finger on both hands , one side will be pulled towards me and the other, pushed away. Don't be tempted to pull the ring open sideways, it will all go horribly wrong!!! Now that you have mastered the art of opening jump rings, go ahead and add them to your bracelet. It's a nice touch to add other things such as Tim's baubles in the same jump ring as a piece of shrink.

So here is the lovely Karen modelling her bracelet for you. You can see how I have other Idea-ology items on the bracelet now. The tassels were really nice additions and I also added some very narrow sheer ribbon to my jump rings for the finishing touch.


Hope you have as much fun making bracelets as I did.
Lin

36 comments:

Kaz Hall said...

OMG....Lin This is just wonderful!!! Thank you soooo much for sharing this tutorial, the bracelet looks amazing!! I want one and I want one now!! Those paints are so lush, will be making another purchase very soon thank u xx
kazx

Helen said...

Gorgeous, gorgeous and thanks so much for doing the instructions.

ScrappyDandyDoo said...

oooooooooooooooo this is lush!!!
didn't see my name on the list though :(
LOL,
J xx

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for sharing this with us! Love it, love, love it!
Thanks again.
nickipeex aka The_Phyth

Joy said...

So awesome! I think I'm going to have to try this! Thank you for sharing your instructions.

Allyson said...

I keep telling myself I don't need any more paint...but now I know I do. I love the bracelet. Thanks so much for posting the instructions.

Gillian .... said...

This is gorgeous Lin, lucky Karen and Sweet Pea. Loving those Fresco Paints, thanks for sharing the tutorial. Hope you have some news soon:) x

Linda M. Cain said...

Outstanding!!! What great fun. You outdid yourself with this.

~Linda

shari said...

What a great tutorial, I can't wait to try this. Thanks so much for sharing the instructions. Shari (cricutrookie)

peggy aplSEEDS said...

beautiful project!

Unknown said...

I LOVE this bracelet! Thanks so much for putting together a tutorial. I can't wait to make one.

MvM-design said...

Love it Linda, thanks for the tut ;-)
Greets Marleen

Daniele said...

|Having seen it in the flesh I still can't believe its plastic stamped, the charms look so real and wonderful, although having struggled with my little birdie I think I'd better practice first abit
hugs and smiles

Elaine said...

Great bracelet - love all the charms and extra bits!! Thanks for the step-by-step instructions.

Suze Bain said...

What a fabulous bracelet and what a fabulous tutorial, there's plenty new techniques there for me to try.

The Sparkly Fairy said...

This is great. I tried to make something similar, but reading your tutorial I think I know where I was going wrong! Thank you x

Paula Phillips said...

This is absolutely gorgeous! Thanks so much for the inspiration!
Much Love,
Paula aka JournalArtista

Elaine A said...

Lynn -

Thank you so much! This is just gorgeous!

Elaine Allen

Trish said...

Thank you Lin, the bracelet is gorgeous, and the instructions clear!

Lululiz said...

Great tutorial, thank you.

Minxy said...

OK so now i definitely need some of that paint.. hope you have some for ally pally?? The bracelet is LUSH <3

emilysnan said...

hiya gorgeous bracelaet and great tutorial too thanks for that x can i ask you why you did not colour the charms before shrinking the plastic ?? i usually colour in first but just wondering thats sll
thanks again
xmaggiex

wendy vecchi said...

I said it before...and I'll say it again...this is THE coolest!

Lindy said...

Oh my, this is just the coolest! I pinned it on Pinterest and the pin includes the URL to your blog and to the post.

Lucy Edmondson said...

I loved your tutorial so much, Lin, I had to give it a go straight away as I love sp. I hope you don't mind, I have a blog post going on on Monday and have linked to you and mentioned the paints, which I think are terrific,

Lucy x

Anonymous said...

Hey, what brand and type of shrink plastic did you use? Did you sand it first before painting? I would love these details. Thanks you. your bracelet is fabulous.

yoursartfully said...

Thanks Lucy, that's very kind

yoursartfully said...

I'm a real fan of Lucky Squirrel shrink plastic. I prefer the translucent one most of the time as it is less sticky than the others when heated. For this technique, there is no need to sand the shrink as the paint gives it the tooth/key that it needs.

Lin

Mabel said...

Was wondering if you could use photos from a vacation. Do you know if that can be done.

marief said...

Vraiment très joli...

Countrygal said...

Great tutorial! thank you so much.

MaRyKaY said...

that is just awesome. I love that. thanks for sharing the tutorial with us. I am going to have to give this a go. I have the air travel set too.
great bracelet

Scrap Recup said...

J'adore, c'est magnifique ! I love, it's wonderful. Bravo !
Fabienne
http://scraprecup.blogspot.fr/

Unknown said...

I have not seen something like this since I used to watch the Carol Duvall show, of which Tim Holtz was a great guest. I really miss those craft shows that used to be on. Thanks for some new nostalgia!

Claudia N. said...

I wanted to thank you for this awesome idea and tutorial, Lin!

I only recently managed to finally make one of these gorgeous bracelets and I LOVE it! It was you and this tutorial that brought me to crafty blogland and on my stamping and mixed media journey - something I cannot imagine to live without anymore. Thank you so much!!! This really made my life more "whole" in a way.

Hugs and wishes,
Claudia x

paperfusion said...

After a 4 month hiatus from scrapbooking, needed to recharge my creativity! I am looking for alternative ways to use my enormous tim stash! Thanks for this tutorial, can't wait to try my hand at it!