Pretty brads

Another new discovery today. I have some large, brass brads that have been sitting in my craft drawer for over a year. I don't know why I bought them but they are of little use to me. I was going to send some to a swap hostess but they are very boring. Then I remembered one of my favourite techniques that I have used for making beads and decorating metal discs. It came from Issue 13 of Cloth, Paper, Scissors (Dipped & Delightful by Kelly Perkins) and I have used the techniques hundreds of times since I read the article.

I dabbed two colours of alcohol ink onto the top of the brads and let it dry. Then I rubbed the tops on an embossing ink pad and dipped them in clear embossing powder. A quick blast with a heat gun (using tweezers to hold them) and another dip into clear embossing powder. Before I reheated them I tapped out a tiny amount of silver or copper embossing powder and a little glitter ready for the next step. It just saves time before the embossing powder cools. So another blast with the heat gun and I dipped the edges in the metallic embossing powder and a little of the glitter. More heat with the heat gun to blend them all together and I allowed some of the embossing powder mixture to drop off onto some paper/craft sheet/glass/tile. Just one little drop as the top of the brad was a bit deformed and heavy due to too much powder. This creates a nice dome when the brad is held upright. Once cool there is a beautiful decorative brad that is much nicer to send as a swap gift. The little drips that are the by-product of the technique can be picked off the paper/tile/etc and stuck onto cards, ATCs inchies or whatever as they are slightly coloured and sparkly.