Claudine Hellmuth New Products Experiment

I have had an idea pinging around in my head for weeks.
Last night I finally got to try my experiment. The result was this new necklace. What's great about it is that I used Claudine Hellmuth's new paints and canvas to make it! (and a little gold embossing powder)

I just put the sticky back canvas into my web store, so I wanted to have a sample I could stand behind.

Ever since I saw Claudine demo her new paints and multi medium at the Craft and Hobby show, I have been wanting to do a little of my own experimenting. The paint colours I just love but it was the sticky back canvas that caught my attention. I selected the pink and green paints because they are two of my favorites from her collection.

Claudine came up with a resist technique using her multi medium. (featured many time on her blog). I applied some multi medium randomly on this foam stamp. I didn't want the actual design to be shown on the canvas, but I did want some areas to remain white. I heat set this before the next step.

I watered down the paint just a little bit and brushed it onto the canvas. As you can see, the areas with the multi medium "resisted the paint."

Then I pulled out a favorite rubber stamp from Christina's collection. I embossed with gold powder several times on both colours of paint. The powder heat set beautifully.

Now the fun began. I pulled out these copper wire circles. I assume they are normally used to make earrings...but for me, I prefer to turn them into a pendant. I also selected some fabric to "back" each circle I planned to cut from the canvas.

Once I selected the areas I wanted to feature, I cut circles out of the canvas. Then I removed the sticky back liner paper and stuck the circles right down onto the fabric...since they stuck in place, I could just use my scissors to cut the final backed circle out.

And then the experiment. How would sticky back do in the sewing machine?

Trust me, I have seen many a needle jam on my machine...so I was prepared for a little bit of a fight. THERE WAS NO PROBLEM!! Yippee. The sewing machine went through the canvas easily...even when I tested out the special embroidery stitches.!

My next step was to hand sew the canvas I cut to the copper wired circles. A breeze.

I connected the canvas pendants to a simple copper chain...and VOILA. Another wearable piece of jewelery made with the things I already have in my studio. No one will have a necklace like it. My next experiment will involve me sending the canvas through my printer. Claudine's site lists where to buy everything, but if you are in Canada I can easily mail you the canvas if you want to start experimenting with it too.