Alternative Way To Do Opals Embossing Enamel Transfers

As part of the Pipe Dreamink (makers of Opals embossing enamels) design team we are sometimes sent things to "play" with.One of the latest additions to their line is Abalone embossing enamel.It is finner then the other colours and has a milky beeswax look.On certain darker backgrounds there are iridescent highlights of colour.Unfortunately for me I knocked over the open and unused bottle and lost half of mine so I couldn't do too much with what was left.I did discover an Alternative way to make Opals embossing enamel transfers though and you don't need a skillet or melt pot for this.They are a much thinner transfer since you wont need to melt and pour a blob of the molten Opals.The Abalone was perfect for this as the colour is so soft and silky looking.

Here is some Abalone I ironed into a shimmery pale lavender material that was attached to thin Vilene(as per my Opals Paper technique). I then ran it thru the Cuttlebug several times in several different directions changing the embossing folders for the Cuttlebug each time



While this would make a great bg for a snow theme or Christmas,Wedding or Christenings etc I wondered if I could use the Abalone to do transfers directly into it and came up with the below way to do so...it is of course just a basic heat transfer but I had never thought this would work as I imagined the paper would absorb the Opals and not work.I was wrong.

1)Sprinkle the Abalone on to some material.I used white Satin.Place it on Gladbake (non stick baking parchment) and then put more Gladbake on top after you sprinkle the Abalone on.I had a chopping board underneath as I wanted my transfers really flat.




2)Iron this using a hot dry setting on the iron.The Abalone will melt into the material

3)Let it cool and then peel off the Gladbake.You will have a sold flat milky bg now that is what I call Opals paper.

4)Cover your toner/laser copied image with a very wet layer Versamark watermark ink.It is best to have a boarder left around the images as sometimes the edges get stuck in the transfer

5)Place transfer image side down on the Opals paper.Put Gladbake back on top and iron again on the hot dry setting.Here I go in circular motion over the parts I need.Don't press too heavy or too light...just nice even pressure.The heat from the iron transfers the image to the background.You can peel up the Gladbake and look.If the transfer is working you will see the image look milky but clear thru the paper.If not just place Galdbake back over and iron some more.

6)This is how it should look

7)Once it is cool peel off as much paper as you can and trim it as needed.Now fill the sink with warm water and place the transfer paper side up immersed in the water for a few minutes

8)Sart rubbing away at the paper using your thumb and the paper fails away to reveal the transferred image.Let it dry and if there are still fuzzy paper areas re-wet and rub away at those till all the paper is off

9)Here she is completed.Note the pinkish area at the top...that is where the transfer has not taken very well and part washed away when I was rubbing the paper off.I am not concerned about that as I am going to cover that area anyway.If you do a transfer that you don't like you can get them off by scrubbing at it with steel wool and re do it!!

10)Next I put the transfer thru the Cuttlebug several times and avoided the central image as I went.Then I coloured the flowers,eyes and lips with Tombow markers and the bg with iridescent Shiva paint sticks

This one was done the same but I used softer colours on the bg

and this one I used metallic colours

These look so pretty and when you hold them up to the light they seem to glow...hhhmmm another transformed candle in the making I think *grin*