I have already confessed to being overly fond of things that sparkle, glint or shine. So it was a given I would just have to try printing images on foil. Besides, it's pretty easy to do and ever so affordable. I use generic aluminum foil from the grocery store and coat it with Golden's Digital Ground Clear (Gloss). Cut it to fit on a piece of computer paper, taping it on two sides with blue painter's tape. Most important is taping the leading edge, keeping everything as smooth as possible. Less critical is the taping of one of the long sides. Now I'd like to say- just pop it into the printer and click on print, but there is this moment of sanity when you ask yourself why you're putting this in your new printer while remembering just how much it cost. So it was with sweaty palms and whispered prayer that I gently placed my prepped foil into the feed slot. I stood there listening to the most frightening crunching, crinkling sounds, but out it came in fine shape. I actually did five that day. One hung up at the very end without damaging the image, one had a skip in an interesting place, two were perfect and the last one, well...was a minor disaster. It hung up at the beginning and was munched up by the printer. It was the last one and by then I had relaxed and exhaled. My super duper printer disengages when you cut the power and has doors to reach through and lift out whatever gets stuck. I reprinted that image and it, too, was perfect. The images have a tin type look to them, but in full color.
The mad scientist in me started looking around for other applications for my new found skill set. I've been working on a piece that has a tulip as it's focal point, but it is actually about the great tulip investment bubble. In my research I stumbled across a painting done at the time, FLORA. (Note the two faced woman on the right.) Since the image was in public domain, I downloaded and sized the image to suit my composition. I had prepared and fixed it making it ready to be incorporated into my painting. But first I thought I'd use a rubber stamp buttered with acrylic paint over top of it. When I lifted the stamp it pulled away part of the image. Oh how I fussed. I felt like a child whose lollipop had just been snatched out of her sticky fingers. About an hour later, when the wailing and gnashing of teeth abated, I realized that if I had glued it to the painting and then it failed that would be far worse. Decided to go to the coffee shop. On the way out the door, I grabbed my journal and a folder full of Golden product information. While sipping my consolation latte, I found that I needed to use a spray varnish to fix the image and not the workable fix that I had used. Alleluia!!! Okay, this will work for me! I kept reading and saw another technique... baked skins.( Future post ) Needless to say I'm seeing yet more opportunities. All of which should be tested out before affixing to anything. Although it started out being a disaster it ended up being like Christmas.
