ATC Details

I’m pretty new to ATC swaps on a large scale, so I keep forgetting that it seems to be the custom to describe in some detail how the ATCs are made. So, to embellish on any earlier post, I’m providing more information about how these ATCs for a swap were made.

The background is Tyvek that I painted with Golden quinacridone colors; I love those acrylics because they are translucent, but heavily pigmented for beautiful color.

The birds started with watercolor paper that I had previously painted with fabric dyes.

I stamped the birds with a clear Versamark stamp pad, then embossed them with ultra-thick embossing powder. I sprayed Adirondack color wash sprays onto the paper, then laid newsprint over the top and ironed the paper until the embossing powder was absorbed. The strips along the side were created the same way, but one set of leaves was stamped with green acrylic paint, embossed, then ironed to remove the embossing powder.

(Btw, I have an article on eHow with detailed instructions and pics of the above process; if you visit and read the article, please be sure to rate it!)

I added details to the birds with Micron pens. Then I glued the birds and the strips onto the Tyvek, then glued the whole thing to illustration board so that it would be sturdy.

I wanted to dip the edges into ink and embossing powder, but I completely forgot that Tyvek MELTS with heat, so when I started heating the embossing powder, the Tyvek started pulling away from the edges. I decided instead use a Krylon gold-leafing pen to color the edges.