Monday 1 February 2016

16 days remaining - The Shaving Foam is out

Good evening crafters.  Sorry for the late post.  I did promise a couple of makes today - but I'm afraid I've still been quite snuffly, so only managed to have a little experiment this evening.

Crafting offers us an abundance of possibilities, and I love revisiting old techniques.  The shaving foam technique is one of those I tried many moons ago - but we have different inks, paints and powders to experiment with, so there's always the possibility of a new discovery.

Because I'm obviously feeling sorry for myself, the craft comes downstairs.  Lethal.  Stupid.  But I do it anyway - and watched a great program on Madagascar.

Set up a tub to put the shaving foam in, allow enough room to spread the shaving foam and then lay the card in - you don't want to be faffing about in a small container.  Cheap shaving foam does the job.  I think this was 40p, and it still smells lovely (probably!! Snuffle snuffle :) ).  Get lots of card ready, it's a great way of using loads of scraps and making them into something lovely.


Pop your shaving foam into the tray


And spread out a little


The first thing I want to show you are spritzers.  There are soooo many available these days.  There will be the pure ink spritzers, or those with a mica content.  Mix and match them, they all work wonderfully


Spritz


Either take a print straight away, or use a paintbrush to mix the inks


To take a print, pop your card into the shaving foam.  Press the card down so the ink will be able to soak into the card


When you lift the card, it will still have loads of shaving foam coating it


Remove the excess foam, I used a spatula knife, and pop the foam back into the container as you will be able to use it again.  Look at the amazing print!


Give the foam another swirl, and take another print.



Second print, still very cool indeed.  It almost looks like material doesn't it.


Try adding another colour to the mix, and take another print


The way you move the ink and foam will effect the print, so here you can see if swirled it into a circle


Next, paint.  Acrylic paint is great for this technique.  I used different makes of paint, but they all worked well together


Initially I watered the paints down with water and added them to the foam.  Swirl again, as before


You can see how strong and vibrant the colours come through on the first print


The second print is more subtle, but equally effective


I then added the paint direct to the foam to see what happened


Perfect


Next, mica powders.  Once we had to add a bonding agent to our mica powders, but these days all that's required is a liquid, as the bonding agent is already mixed in with the powder


I dusted the mica powders onto the foam.  I spritzed it with water, and then took a print without swirling the foam


The print is quite patchy, but I quite like it


Now, if you mix the mica into the foam, it just disappears


Next, alcohol inks.  I love the way these start eating into the foam, but the colours stay really vibrant. 


Look how bold the print is


I've used the palette knife to smooth the foam this time, to see how this will look


I got a very gentle print from this one.  The colours don't stay as vivid as they do when I was using the acrylic and spritzers



Add a couple more drops of colour


And another vivid and beautiful print can be easily created


Okay, try this.  I've spread the ink in the foam, and then layed a mask gently on the foam


Lay the card onto the mask, press down gently.  Lift the card off as usual, and just allow the ink to sink into the card


When you remove the excess foam, you will have the mask print, with that cool marbled effect


I popped the mask back on, and then spritzed over the top.  I actually did two prints, the first one, as above (which I have forgot to photograph!!  Sorry)


For the second one, I removed the mask, and then took a print of the remaining ink


Pretty cool!


Okay, that's enough of that.  Now the really boring bit of cleaning up.  Urgh.  

Hopefully tomorrow I'll use one of these in a finished piece - the others will be sent out to the winner of todays work when the Crafty Countdown draws to an end :)

24 comments:

Paper Art Memories said...

I've forgotten about this technique think I will be buying some shaving foam tomorrow lol xxx

Paper Art Memories said...

I've forgotten about this technique think I will be buying some shaving foam tomorrow lol xxx

Always Learning said...

Hi Leonie, Sorry to hear you are feeling unwell. Hope you will be back to your happy self soon. Thank you for the post. I have never tried this technique so I am looking forward to trying it out. I really like the different effects using a variety of inks and paints etc. The countdown is nearly over. Happy crafting. Love Karen x

Cazro said...

Hi Leonie 16 DAYS!!!!!! Wow, that's brilliant, so looking forwarad to your new venture. Odd coincidence, or is it! yes I watched on Hochanda last week, there was a bit of Shaving foam around. Well I bought some at the weekend, still haven't got round to using it, maybe tomorrow. I have a challenge to prepare for and it could work out to be a a good background.
sorry you have th esnuffles, hope you feel better soon. Take care and keep it up, the time is going fast now. Hugs Caz

Margaret A said...

Hope you feel better tomorrow..I got a lovely surprise from the postman today which really cheered me up. Thank you so much Leonie it's stunning.x

Margaret A said...

Hope you feel better tomorrow..I got a lovely surprise from the postman today which really cheered me up. Thank you so much Leonie it's stunning.x

karenlotty said...

Hope you feel better soon. I suppose the only saving grace for having a cold now is that you'll be well and truly over it in 16 days time!
Thank you for showing this technique again. I tried it a few years ago with misters - will have another go with acrylics, mica and masks!

kittyedavies47@gmail.com said...

Hi Leonie.
I hope you will soon be feeling better.
Wow you made some lovely patterns, Thank you for all the photos.
Take care Kitty.

hollyberry said...

I do love the shaving foam technique,it is one of my favourites. Love all the different inks you have shown us in this post. Now you have so many lovely backgrounds to use.
Hope that your cold is better today(Tuesday),mine is still going strong.
As karenlotty says at least having it now should mean you are fit and healthy in 16 days time!

carol edwards said...

Hi Leoni hope the cold soon improves for you. Love all the different ways you used the shaving foam. Never thought of putting a mask on as well. Thanks for sharing and all the pictures. X

lilian said...


Hi, haven't tried this for ages, used to love to do this with the children when they were small
Hope the cold improves soon.
Best Wishes Lilian in Cornwall

A Happercrafter6 said...

I used shaving foam on a workshop with Sue Wilson years ago and haven't tried it since. Your instructions are great - thank you and there are so many things to add to the foam. Sue sprayed the card afterwards - do you need to do this, or is just drying sufficient?
Jan
Northampton

julie_woolston said...

Wow these are amazing effects Leonie, I've never tried this, I might have too now.
Hugs Julie xxx

Wendy L said...

I have never used this technique but I am very tempted now, xxx

Anne said...

I haven't done this technique since I did a workshop with Sue Wilson. Would never have thought of putting a mask on the foam. Some wonderful ideas, Leonie. Thank you.

Anne (Northampton)

Unknown said...

Thanks for showing us this,your instructions were great,off to the shops now for shaving foam. Hope you are feeling much better. Nearly forgot 15 days and still counting!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Leonie have done this with ink but not with the other things you have used. Shaving foam on the shopping list this week! Looks very effective using the mask. Hope you are feeling a bit better today and are now over the worst. Best wishes Jackie x

Patricia Howarth said...

Morning Leonie, This technique always amazes me when I see the 'print'. I remember seeing Dawn do this technique (the first time I had seen it), and I was absolutely 'stunned' at the results, they are amazing. Thank you for showing us all the different items you can use, and the different results you get, and from your 'sick bed' too, you poor thing, keep warm and dose yourself up with lots of hot lemon and honey, and lots of rest and tender loving care from your doggies.
Lots of love from Patricia xx

MFM said...

Love shaving foam back grounds. Have a few projects made using it, but lovely to see all the types of effects you get using other mediums.
Hope you feel better soon. You don't want a red nose when you fly from your cocoon into the world once again.
M F Mxx

Myra said...

Hello Leonie,
I love this technique too and I think I may even try it with the children! We would have to do it in small groups butit could be great fun! Maybe I'm just asking for trouble!! Thank you for sharing all the hints and tips and the lovely results! Xxx

Chrissie Roberts said...

Some great prints Leonie. I hope you feel better soon. Stay wrapped up and keep warm x

JackieCou said...

I do love this technique and thanks for showing a few different things to use. I've only used alcohol inks so far. Would colour burst powders work I wonder?

Hope you feel better soon x

Diane said...

Great test lab!! So good to see all the different results together......hadn't thought of using masks....brilliant idea!!!!
Look after yourself x

Heather Treble said...

Hi Leonie,
Great ideas, I have some backgrounds made this way which I still haven't used, must have a go at some of the different paints and inks I have and use up the backgrounds.
Hope you feel better soon,
Heather