I have been doing a lot of travelling over the last two months, and I have so many chores to do when I am home that I am getting behind on my mail art. I have lots of things started, but few finished, ready to mail. I have a lot of correspondence to catch up on as well. I made two envelopes while I was on a trip to Alaska, but I didn’t take a photograph of them before I mailed them. I am counting them anyway.
200! I love the texture of these. Did you use bubble wrap?
All the stained envelopes started with laying strips of colored crepe paper over the envelopes and then spraying them with water from a spray bottle. This leaves the various color patterns on the paper. Sometimes I use a gelli plate with bubble wrap to add another layer of color or texture. For these envelopes with the dots, I painted directly on the bubble wrap with acrylic paint and then pressed the envelopes onto the bubble wrap. This gives a positive, thicker texture than the more subtle gelli plate print. I haven’t run across anyone else who uses crepe paper and water to stain paper in the eight years I have been doing it. It is really a lot of fun, and one never knows what the result will be until the crepe paper is lifted (still wet) off the paper or envelope. The crepe paper cannot be water proof or flame resistant, as the die will not release when wet.
I love them too. Please share the technique!
Thanks for your enthusiasm. I described my process in the reply to andytgeezer, which you can probably see right now if you are reading this reply. This process is a lot of fun, a bit messy, and will stain your fingers if you are not careful. I used surgical gloves for a while when removing the crepe paper, but now I just make the strips a little longer so I have a dry end to hold on to when removing the crepe paper.