Products Used
- Oracal 631 matte black
- Teckwrap Matte Rainbow Holographic Silver Chrome Vinyl
- Frisco Craft transfer tape (12in by 5ft)
Motivation
As many readers and frequent visitors to my IG account know by now that I have had some personal struggles recently. It’s been the reason for the lack of content at the end of July and most of August. I’ve been working to get back to my passion for crafting and wanted to help find some inner peace. Some of what brings me joy is holographic vinyl, weeding beautiful designs, and creating art. That was my motivation behind my most recent piece.
I love rainbows, so much that I often say it’s my favorite color. It’s fun to work on big vinyl design that I have absolutely no plans for yet. I enjoy layering vinyl. That’s what I set out to do and I am so very happy with the final project. It came with it’s own set of nightmare issues that had me rage quitting one day and starting over another.
The Rage Quit
A couple of months ago, I split an order of TeckWrap Craft vinyl with my mom at FoyFamCreations. Part of that order gave me two 12″ x 12″ pieces of the matte holographic chrome vinyl. I finally used one piece to cut this beautiful mandala for weeding the next day. When sitting down to begin working on it, I pretty quickly messed up when my hand slipped and dropped some of the excess being weeded away fell back onto the design. As irritating as it was, the booboo wasn’t too terrible and I set out to fix it…then did the exact same thing a second time…then a third time…and a fourth time.
After that fourth drop, I became so frustrated with how messed up the vinyl had become (and honestly mad at myself) that I balled it up and threw it right into the trash can and went to bed. I. Was. Pissed. The next day I decided to give it another go. By the time I started refilling and weeding it again, I was determined to not make the same mistake again.
Second Attempt
Although it is sped up on my recent IG process video, the weeding part of the process video took just over thirty minutes. Thirty minutes of painstakingly ensuring the excess being weeded away didn’t fall back onto the design and that I didn’t accidentally remove parts that are to remain as part of the design. I almost succeeded. Luckily for me, the balled up failure in the trash wasn’t as damaged as I had thought from the crinkling and I was able to salvage a few small pieces from it to replace the pieces that went missing on the second attempt.
The Next Mistake
This part you won’t see in the process video. It was pretty infuriating and I decided to cut it in post production. A recent trip to the Dollar Tree allowed me the chance to restock transfer tape. I have had so much success with using the Magic Cover transparent shelf liner as transfer tape on past projects. I love using it. Since this project was a bit larger than others, I cut a new piece from a newly purchased roll. Then it let me down.
I’m not sure if it’s because it is possibly an older roll, got too warm at one point, or if the process for producing it has changed. Whatever the difference, it was horrible. The adhesive was gummy, rubbed off onto my fingers and the design easily, and didn’t work as transfer tape. At. All. After a few attempts to burnish the design and lift it away from the backing, I knew it wasn’t going to work. One saving grace is that it was somewhat easy to remove from the design without messing it up. Thank goodness because this second cut was my last piece of the matte holo vinyl.
Finishing Up
No more screw ups at this point…I promise! I switched over to my tried and true Frisco Craft transfer tape and had no problems. Using the parchment paper technique for layering helped me quickly and easily line up exactly where to lay down the design. For now, the transfer tape remains on the design for eventual placement onto a wooden or metal surface to create a wall hanging. Now I just need to decide whether or not to make it one of the oh-so-popular Dollar Tree pizza pan signs that I keep catching glimpses of on IG.
Now on to order more of that matte holo vinyl…
