I first saw Dicrofibers at a scrapbook convention. Susan Pickering Rothamel from USArtQuest was demonstrating how these fibers can be fused together to create exceptional textures for use on cards, in collages, etc. I was fascinated and immediately purchased the Cottage Garden set. Over time, I even purchased some additional sets. But, like many of my craft supplies, I never got around to using them. I honestly think it was just the fear of jumping in and trying a new technique without someone next to me to help.

The fear is over! With YouTube and DVD’s it’s like having the expert by your side.

Check out the video Susan made to understand how these fibers work. Basically, they come in amazing colors (from earthy to vibrant), you lay a few fibers together, optionally sandwiching some sparkly things (like mica chips or yarn) between layers, press it with an iron, and you’re done! You end up with an amazing flat “sheet” of fibers! You can easily cut out, die cut or punch shapes from the material or just use it “as is.”

Spring has sprung where I live in Columbus, Ohio and this weekend I saw my first butterfly! It’s lacy iridescent wings glittered in the sun. I was reminded of sparkly Dicrofibers and decided to dive in and try to use them in a project. Now that I’ve done it, I don’t know why I waited! They are easy to work with and it’s really quite fun to lift up the parchment paper and see what you get.

I arranged Lily, Periwinkle and Carnation Dicrofibers in the shaped of the bird that’s part of the Spellbinder’s Mix’d Media Elements Die. For fun, I put some opalescent fusible chips between the fibers. I pressed it between parchment paper for 3 seconds using an iron on the silk setting. When I lifted the paper I had this beautiful little piece of fiber! I used the die to cut it. There were some stray fibers so I trimmed those up with scissors. I cut out a small wing by hand from the piece that was left. Add a black rhinestone for the eye and you have the cutest little bird! While I had the die out, I used brown mulberry paper to die cut the branch.

Next I fused some Fern and Blue Iris fibers together with some sparkly gold yarn I got from my mom’s house. I used the Martha Stewart Butterfly Stamp and Punch to punch out three butterflies.

Lastly, I put together a mix of fibers, fused them together and cut out a small “nest” using scissors.

To assemble the card, I first stamped the background image using Hero Arts Antique Writing stamp CG120. I colored the stamp with Tim Holtz Distress Markers, huffed on it and stamped the background. To help give some definition to the butterflies, I stamped them on the background. Then I adhered the Dicrofiber punches with Great Tape. Use pieces of Great Tape to attach the bird, nest and branch too.

The sentiment (TPC Studio Secret Garden) is stamped on craft paper, torn and adhered to the card with brads. Layer than on a card base and you’re done!

The result is a bright, shiny, lacy, blend of fibers that really glisten in the light. I’m amazed out how quick and easy it was to create with Dicrofibers and really encourage you to give it a try! If you watched Sue’s video you saw that you can even use them with a rubber stamp (not clear stamps – only rubber) to create some amazing pieces you can use on cards, scrapbook pages or altered art projects.

I recommend the Dicrofiber bucket because you get a nice range of colors to play with (12 of them!), the parchment paper you use when you press (ok, iron LOL) the fibers together, some opalescent fusible chips and instructions.

For more of my projects, check out my blog on the Create & Craft site. And, if you’re in Columbus, Ohio, stop by The Artist’s Markeplace at Artiscape this Saturday, April 14, 2012. I’ll be there demonstrating USArtQuest products!

Happy Crafting!

Joe

I have a stash of metal tags that I often experiment with and add to a deck for inspiration.  I love metal tags because of their strength and resilience.  Today I came across one of my metal tags that was blank on one side.  So today I am going to experiment with metal and US Art Quest’s versatile products to get this tag into the deck.

This piece of metal is made of tin.  It’s messy from my working on the other side.  But I like things to start of in a ‘natural’ state.

The first thing I did was add a little color to the metal with alcohol-based inks.  I also added a little texture, with a piece of lightweight cheesecloth, adhered to the bottom, right corner with clear-drying Perfect Paper Adhesive (PPA) in Matte finish.  Because of my metal substrate – I was a bit of a brat and hit this with a heat tool to speed up drying time.  Be careful when handling hot metal though!

Next I used the PPA to collage some punched out book text onto the tag.

And I also collaged a book text flower onto another piece of metal that I’m going to layer.  This is probably brass – but I like mixed metals.  It’s a Vintaj metal blank that I’ve run through an embossing folder and rounded the corners to make it contrast to the background tag.  I brushed the PPA across the entire metal surface to give it a bit of tooth for the next step.

Next, I floated a layer of 101 Heavy Artist Cement over a stencil, overlapping the metal and the book text flower element.

I then layed the stencil over the larger metal tag and did the same where the pattern would match up when the pieces were layered together.

Not content to do the same thing twice, I added additional texture to the 101 Heavy on the smaller metal piece by laying a small piece of mesh fabric over the top and gently wrapping it around the edge of the piece so that it would come into contact with the more raised portions of the cement and give me a random impression.

Remove the mesh… and see what you get.  Isn’t this a cool texture?

I hit these two piece with the heat gun, but just for a moment to start the process.  Because it is metal, the surface can be heated up a bit to help.  But realistically  I need them to dry naturally, for the most part, or I’ll just end up with a dry ‘skin’ and the material underneath will stay soft and not hold the texture and shape for the steps that are coming up.

So while I’m waiting for the cement to dry, I took a small pinch of dicrofibers and placed them on a non-stick teflon craft sheet.  I held them in place with a wood skewer while I ran the heat tool over the top to fuse to each other in a thin layer.

Once the cement was dried, I added a wash of Perfect Pigments Fluid Acrylic Paint in Cobalt Turquoise Hue to the corners of both metal pieces.  I used my heat tool to dry this thoroughly.

Then I added a wash over the top and remaining areas of Yellow Ochre.  This really gives the paper a vintage look and goes into all those textural nooks and crannies of the cement.

Lastly, I used the texture sponge to dot the edges with a bit of Burnt Umber.

I brushed a small amount of Cobalt Turquoise Hue onto the tips of the petals of this mulberry flower as well as the edges of this cardstock ruler embellishment.

And used the texture sponge to add a bit of the color to this tin dragonfly embellishment as well.  I sprayed it with water and used a baby wipe to remove some of the paint, to form a ‘patina’ appearance.

One thing I hadn’t done with my metal tags yet was to layer multiple pieces of metal together.  Usually this has to be accomplished by drilling a hole through the pieces to attach them.  But I decided to test the durability of the 101 Heavy for this purpose as well.  So I layered the Dicrofibers underneath the square piece of metal and adhered them to the top of the metal tag.

Lastly, I stained a bit of ribbon with the Yellow Ochre paint and ran it through a hole I punched in the tag with my Cropadile.  I layered a small mica circle around the hole for embellishment.

Here is a closeup view of all the wonderful textures on the tag.

And the final tag view.

So the verdict is a resounding ‘YES!’.  You can mix Heavy 101 with metal and create some neat effects, plus utilize the strength of the material to adhere your elements to one another.

Now if Spring would just get the hint from this tag and decide to show up…

US Art Quest Products used today:

• 101 Heavy Artist Cement
• Perfect Paper Adhesive (PPA) in Matte finish
• 3/4″ Stroke Brush
• Dicrofibers, Bark color

• Perfect Pigments, fluid acrylic paints in Cobalt Turquoise Hue, Yellow Ochre and Burnt Umber
• Tinz – rusted tin shapes, Dragonfly
• Mica Rings, Small
• Texture Sponge

Thanks for looking!

Sally Lynn MacDonald
www.sallylynnmacdonald.com
www.facebook.com/sallylynn.macdonald

Congratulations to Debbie Berndt from Michigan!
She was the 1st Place Winner for our Dicrofiber Valentine’s Day Contest. Debbie won a $100 Shopping Spree to www.usartquest.com. She created a 13 page hanging scrapbook to give to her daughter for her wedding. Debbie used almost all of USArtQuest Products like Dicro Fusible Fibers, Mica Tiles & Shapes, Perfect Paper Adhesive, Styl’ine Stickers, MicaColor Watercolor Palettes and much, much more. Good Job Debbie!!! Stayed tuned… USArtQuest is having a Spring Cardmaking Contest and you could win next!

Submit your projects using Dicrofibers and you could win $100!

For a downloadable PDF please click here: http://www.usartquest.com/pdf/dicrofiber.pdf