Faux Cloisonne Technique
Faux Cloisonne!
A very simple, yet elegant technique made using heat embossing colored images found in catalogs and magazines received in the daily mail!
According to the definition by Merriam Webster, cloisonne is the past participle of the French word cloisonner, to partition. It is related to or being a style of enamel decoration in which the enamel is applied and fired in raised cells (as of soldered wires) on a usually metal background.
When my mother and I traveled to China in 2006, we visited a cloisonne factory where they were creating everything from simple animal figurines to elaborate vases and plates. I was fascinated with the art form and am glad there is a simple way to create the technique for cards and other paper crafts.
I have a box filled with pages out of catalogs that I have saved. One of my favorites to use for this technique is Cold Water Creek catalogs because of the color combinations used in their clothing and other products. Seed and plant catalogs are also filled with colorful images. Home and bedding catalogs like Bedford Fair are good too because they offer bedspreads, rugs, and tablecloths in great color combinations. Now when flipping through catalogs, I find myself not looking at the item as something to purchase, but at the color combinations and patterns to use in card making. Believe me, once you try this simple technique, you will never look at a magazine or catalog in the same way again!
Faux Cloisonne How To:
What you need: line image stamp, colorful image from a magazine or catalog, Embossing Buddy to keep down static (optional), Versamark, gold embossing powder, and a heat tool.
Choose a colorful image from a magazine or catalog.
Rub Embossing Buddy over the page if needed to control static. Stamp your line image in Versamark and emboss with gold embossing powder. But be careful not to heat too much as the paper is thinner than card stock. Cut out the image and apply it to the project.
For these cards, I used pages from The Collector’s Guide Santa Fe, Taos, Albuquerque which my good friend Denise Carlson gave to me last year. It is filled with images of paintings and other artwork that can be viewed at various galleries in Northern New Mexico. It is a great resource for colorful images.
Here are some of the pages I’ve torn out of the Collector’s Guide. See what I mean? Aren’t the colors great?
