Stickers and Sketchbooks
Lots of people have been asking about my Xyron machine so I thought I'd post about it. Here's a picture:
Basically, a Xyron machine is a sticker maker. You feed papers and thin objects into the mouth, crank the handle, and out pops your item with adhesive on the back. It's really easy to use. I've been experimenting with it to see what works well and what doesn't. I decided to put all my experiments onto my inspiration notebook (a recycled child's art sketchbook). I sloshed some paint on the top, then covered it with my Xyron experiments. Here's what I learned:
- collage papers and other such card stock go through the machine very easily;
- "slippery" paper eventually goes through, but you have to be patient;
- papers that have some texture (like painted tracing paper) go through pretty easily;
- points of torn papers don't always get adhesive on them, so you might need to use gel medium or stitching to secure those edges;
- things that are relatively flat do go through (like the plastic leaf on the upper left of my notebook); however, a leaf like this
that has a bit more flex did not do well.
- According to the literature you can put buttons through the machine, but let me warn you, they have to be thin without any edges! I put two buttons through the machine. The first was flat; the machine was ornery, but it worked. The second button had just the tiniest of lips and the machine literally came apart at the seams. OOPS!
Last week I worked hard to create something for the Quilting Arts "Rock On!" challenge. One of the things I wanted to do on my quilt was to draw a pair of eyes. I went onto the internet to get drawings of eyes as reference. I struggled with creating eyes that looked realistic, even in a simple line drawing. I wonder what makes eyes so hard to draw; they're not really very complex shapes. Maybe it's because they also convey emotion. At any rate, here's a peek into my sketchbook. I did manage to make one eye that I liked; it's at the top left of the left-hand page. We've been asked not to reveal our challenge entries; they might be published! That would be very cool.
Basically, a Xyron machine is a sticker maker. You feed papers and thin objects into the mouth, crank the handle, and out pops your item with adhesive on the back. It's really easy to use. I've been experimenting with it to see what works well and what doesn't. I decided to put all my experiments onto my inspiration notebook (a recycled child's art sketchbook). I sloshed some paint on the top, then covered it with my Xyron experiments. Here's what I learned:
- collage papers and other such card stock go through the machine very easily;
- "slippery" paper eventually goes through, but you have to be patient;
- papers that have some texture (like painted tracing paper) go through pretty easily;
- points of torn papers don't always get adhesive on them, so you might need to use gel medium or stitching to secure those edges;
- things that are relatively flat do go through (like the plastic leaf on the upper left of my notebook); however, a leaf like this
that has a bit more flex did not do well.
- According to the literature you can put buttons through the machine, but let me warn you, they have to be thin without any edges! I put two buttons through the machine. The first was flat; the machine was ornery, but it worked. The second button had just the tiniest of lips and the machine literally came apart at the seams. OOPS!
Last week I worked hard to create something for the Quilting Arts "Rock On!" challenge. One of the things I wanted to do on my quilt was to draw a pair of eyes. I went onto the internet to get drawings of eyes as reference. I struggled with creating eyes that looked realistic, even in a simple line drawing. I wonder what makes eyes so hard to draw; they're not really very complex shapes. Maybe it's because they also convey emotion. At any rate, here's a peek into my sketchbook. I did manage to make one eye that I liked; it's at the top left of the left-hand page. We've been asked not to reveal our challenge entries; they might be published! That would be very cool.
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