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Cream City Ribbon Wall Art
A blank wall is never a fun thing to look at. Framed pictures or paintings may be expensive, and it’s always such a joy to show off your own works of art to visitors and guests. If you are renovating your home, remodeling a room for a nursery, or simply thinking of innovative ways to decorate, Cream City Ribbon brings you a new project that you can accomplish with your friends, family members, or children. You may also use this technique for your scrapbook.
Mounted Cream City Ribbon Wall Art
Materials:
- Cream City Ribbon of various colors and designs
- Cream City Ribbon scraps
- Watercolor
- Paint brush for the watercolor
- Brush for the glue (you may use an old eye make-up or lip brush, small enough to make lines)
- 2 pieces, 1/8 illustration board
- Glue
- Double-sided Tape
- Scissors
- Glitters (optional)
- 1. Prepare Your Mount.
Step 1. Choose a design or image outline. You may get a page from your child’s favorite coloring book, or print out an outline of an image. You may pick a cartoon character that your child loves, or choose an image that suits your home design or theme. The heavier the GSM of your paper, the better.
Step 2. Once you have this ready, you may now prepare your mount, so that later on, all you have to do is frame your Cream City Ribbon artwork. Your mount will be 4 inches larger than the paper on which your image is printed on.
Measure your illustration board. Add 4 inches to each side of your image paper. Cut your board accordingly.
Step 3. Once you have cut this board, you now need to attach a string so you can hang it on your wall later. On the top 1/3 of your board, make two sets of parallel holes. Then tie your hanging string or Cream City Ribbon through these holes.
Note that the Cream City Ribbon is very strong and can hold up this mounted artwork.
Step 4. Prepare your mount frame. Cut your second piece of illustration board, to work as a frame that you can place on top of your artwork, once it is mounted on the first illustration board. Cut your frame, using a width of 4 ½ to 5 inches each.
- 2. Color your Image with Cream City Ribbon.
Remember that with your Cream City Ribbon, there are a lot of possibilities. You can shred it, cut it, quill it, tie it, curl it, shape it, and so forth. Don’t be afraid to try out new things!
Step 1. Work on your artwork. Paint your image outline with watercolor. Be as creative as you can, this will serve as the base of your artwork, and the basis of your ribbon use.
Step 2. Once you are finished painting your image, you can work on your outline.
Make an embossed outline of your image. Twine a long strand of your Cream City Ribbon, and glue it onto the image outline. This way, coloring into the image will be easier, as it also serves as a border.
Step 3. Fill up the various areas with color and texture. Cut your Cream City Ribbon into very small pieces of different shapes. Using your paintbrush, spread glue into the area that you want to fill. Sprinkle and spread your Cream City Ribbon pieces into the area.
Step 4. Variation of texture, shape, style and technique is fundamental to making a unique and beautiful artwork. For another area, use a different technique. You can wet your Cream City Ribbon scraps by putting it under running water or spraying them with water. This way, your Cream City Ribbon, made with natural cotton, will shape into whatever you want.
Now that your Cream City Ribbon is more pliant, you will be able to separate the strands of cotton yarn that it was made into. Use this cotton ribbon, and glue it onto one area using the same principle used in the previous step.
Step 5. Another technique is to quill your Cream City Ribbon into the shape of the area you want to fill. Once you have done this, glue it onto the paper by spreading the glue (using the brush) on one side, and pasting it onto the paper.
Step 6. Shred your Cream City Ribbon into very thin pieces, and cut them into 1, 2, or 3 inch pieces. Spread glue on the area you want to work on, and scatter your Cream City Ribbon shredded stems on this area. This should look like scattered hay, or grass.
Step 7. Make plenty of knots on a length of your Cream City Ribbon. Place a distance of about half an inch between these knots, and cut at the center. You now have plenty of little knots to fill up an area. Glue onto paper. You can use little glue dots for this to make it neat. If you want a quicker technique, you can brush the area with glue, and just scatter the little knots onto it.
Step 8. Put curly frills on an area. The length depends on how long you want the curls or frills to be. This step is best used if your image is that of a person or character with hair. Take a piece of your Cream City Ribbon, and glue one end (about just 3 mm) to your paper. Shred the ribbon up until the glued portion.
Ask someone else to hold down the glued portion of the ribbon while you curl each strand. You may do this several times, until you fill up the whole area or head portion.
Step 9. Cut your Cream City Ribbon according to the length or width of the area you want to fill and lay them down flat. You may glue them onto the paper vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. It’s really up to what you think is best for your design. You may put glitter on top of these laid down ribbons to add texture and shimmer.
Step 10. Make variations of the various techniques discussed here to continue filling out the various areas of your image.
Be bold. You may use Cream City Ribbon that is contrasting to the watercolor you used for the area. Keep in mind that with Cream City Ribbon, you can do as you please. Make waves, make loops, make quills – whatever you like.
Step 11. LET YOUR ARTWORK DRY FOR AT LEAST 12 HOURS, OR FOR BEST RESULTS, LEAVE IT TO DRY OVERNIGHT.
- 3. Mount It, Frame It, Hang It.
Once your image artwork is completely dry, you may now mount it on the boards that you previously made.
Put double sided tape at the back corners of your page, and place it at the center of your illustration board. Tape the frame on top of the paper, making sure to cover the edges with the frame.
If you want it to be more secure, you may place acetate or a transparency film over your artwork. This protects it from dirt and direct sunlight. In doing this, you also prevent the artwork from getting destroyed by curious hands.
Cream City Ribbon encourages recycling and using materials that are environment friendly. Recycling is a great help to the environment, and is easy on the pocket. Make projects that are eco-friendly and wallet-friendly. Don’t throw away your Cream City Ribbon scraps. Use it for other craft projects.
Now, you can hang your piece, and let others marvel at how your Cream City Ribbon Wall Artwork was made.
Be proud of your own creation.
Be proud of how creative you are.
Be proud of how you helped the environment by using natural ribbons.
Choose Cream City Ribbon.
Make “THE NATURAL CHOICE”.
E-mail us at ccr@creamcityribbon.com for more information, or go to our main website at www.creamcityribbon.com for craft ideas and techniques. Order custom ribbons online today!
About the Author
Cream City Ribbon is currently the ONLY U.S. manufacturer of this unique product. Our climate-controlled factory is housed in a historic cream brick building close to Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s revitalized center. Trademarked in 1995, Cream City Ribbon® is the only environmentally friendly, American made ribbon on the market today.
<http://www.creamcityribbon.com>
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