Vintage Findings Friday....Creating Resin Papers

Hello there.  I'm here today with a project that I've had a lot of fun playing around with.  You might remember me posting THIS tutorial way back in February about making your own resin embellishments using Ice Resin. Well, if you went out and bought all of the supplies, then you're in luck...today's project is another fun use for the resin.  If you haven't bought any yet, maybe it's time to broaden your horizons and play around with this product. (psst...there's a discount code at the bottom of this post should you decide to take the plunge...or replenish your supply!)

Today we're going to look at creating resin coated vintage papers.  A woman at the Ice Resin booth at the winter CHA show was demonstrating some techniques using the resin on paper and I've been itching to try it ever since.  My first thought was how beautiful it could be using stamps along with an emboss/resist technique.  

So let's get started.  (you might want to grab a drink, there's a lot of info here! :-) )  The first thing I did was to stamp my images onto vintage papers using Versamark ink, then heat emboss with white embossing powder.  (I think they're kind of pretty like this, too...I might have to do this again and stop right here!)  I used images from Mehndi Medallion, Harvest Berries, and Daydreamer.

So why vintage papers, you might ask?  Vintage papers tend to be more fibrous than papers of today, which tend to be thicker and crisper.  The fibrous nature of the vintage papers lets the resin seep into the paper and really change the appearance.  They take on a beautiful, translucent appearance.  I tried it on a few different new patterned papers and the effect just wasn't the same...it just kind of sat on top of the paper, giving it a shiny appearance, which could be cool, just not quite the look I was going for here.  It's all in the fiber make up of the paper though, so some new papers could be fun, you'll just have to play around!

ETA:  Many of you have been asking about the vintage papers.  Yes, they are just cut from old books, sheet music, etc.  The lined piece on the right is from an old grocery list notebook.  As for finding vintage papers -- antique stores, thrift stores, and yard sales are great places to look.  You could also check your library...mine often has a cart full of old books setting by the doorway that they are giving away.  

So, next step was to apply some distress inks, which of course resist the embossed images.  I used Mustard Seed and Fired Brick for this piece...the Mehndi Medallion piece uses Tattered Rose and Tea Dye.

After I was happy with how the inks were looking, I took a damp paper towel and wiped off the embossing, just to get rid of any excess ink.

So now comes the messy part.  I prepared my kitchen counter by laying out a garbage bag.  Then I mixed up my resin in a plastic cup that I could just toss when I was finished...make sure to follow the package instructions precisely when mixing the two-part resin.  It's important to get it right or your papers might stay sticky forever.  (Not that I would know that)  I'm going to coat the papers that I stamped and inked, as well as some plain papers that I can use in my diecut machine.  

I used a foam brush to brush the resin onto both sides of the paper.  It will pick up the texture/wrinkles of whatever it is laying on, so make sure that when you're finished the side you want to use is facing up.  I found that it was helpful to let it set for a couple of hours and then pull it up off of the plastic bag before it gets a little too sticky.  I hung mine by tiny clothespins onto a little makeshift clothesline to finish drying.  But you would be ok to leave them on the bag as long as you pick them up and move them a bit before they get too stuck.  

Notice how the resin gave them a little deeper color and a pretty aged appearance?

(See that pretty blue/green Daydreamer paper on the right...yeah...he didn't fare so well...you won't be seeing him again.  Run-in with the plastic bag.  Paper too thin.  Got stuck.  Not pretty.)

Now comes the really had part....waiting for it to dry.  The resin takes about a day to dry.  I did mine at about 2:00 in the afternoon and it was pretty dry by the next morning.  Completely dry by that evening.  So if you're needing this for a project, plan ahead for sure!  

Like I said earlier, the resin also makes the papers translucent.  Whatever is on the backside will show through to the front.  Very pretty, I think.  

So here are the finished papers, all dry and ready to go.  After coating my papers with resin, I had quite a bit left, so I mixed in some Pure Poppy ink (from the refill bottle) and made some resin embellishments (all molds from Mold Muse on Etsy).

And here are the cards I created with my papers... 

First off, I created a Thanksgiving card using the Harvest Berries paper.  And since it has that wonderful translucency, I decided it needed to be used as a window.  What's the point, really, of having this pretty translucent paper if I'm just going to stick it down to some cardstock, right?  

So I used the Mega Mat Stack 1 to cut a window from the front of my card base and adhered the resin paper to the inside.  I didn't want to cover up the background too much, so I just used a simple Fillable Frames diecut and sentiment from Autumn Acorn.  The resin flower was one that I created with my leftover resin.  

Next up is the Mehndi Medallion paper.  I decided to attach that one to a sort of "faux" card base.  I used a piece of cardstock and left a tab at the top, which I scored and added a strip of adhesive.  I adhered this to the resin paper which makes up my card front.

And for an embellishment I used some of my plain resin papers with the Beautiful Blooms dies.  The other good thing about the resin is that it makes these vintage papers much stronger...sometimes they are a little fragile, but the coating of resin makes them quite strong.  Not to mention shiny and pretty!

All supplies used on these projects are linked at the bottom of this post.

I hope you enjoyed today's post!  Are you ready to give resin a try?  If you are inspired by this post you can purchase the resin supplies at Ellen Hutson LLC and save by using a special promo code just for you. When you get to the checkout page please type in the following promotion code exactly as shown to receive 10% off your entire purchase: inspiredby   Ellen let me know that the resin supply is getting a little low, but she's expecting more soon.  You can email [email protected] if you would like to be notified when more Ice Resin arrives. She has made the code valid for the entire week in hopes of avoiding any disappointment for those of you who might try and shop and items are out of stock.  This promotion is valid on Friday, August 26th through Friday, September 2nd on in-stock items.

Just one more bit of information...if the resin interests you and you want to know more, this is a great book...it talks a bit about resin paper, but also lots of other techniques as well. 

Have a great weekend!

~Betsy