Technique of the Week: Adding Shine with Gilding Flakes by Pam Nelson

This week’s Technique of the Week features a new product by Nuvo – Gilding Flakes.  These beautiful flakes will add lots of shine to your cards.  I decided to pair these flakes with one of the new dies from the Memory Box Holiday catalog.

To begin I cut a piece of Lapis Blue Stardream paper to 4” x 5 ¼” and used the new Memory Box Batavia Channel Die (#99815) to die cut the left side of the paper.  I prepared the surface with a powder tool, used Versamark to stamp the Magenta Multilingual Merry Christmas sentiment and then embossed it with White Diamond embossing powder.

 

The Nuvo Gilding Flakes come in three colors – Radiant Gold, Silver Bullion and Sunkissed Copper.  There are a lot of flakes packed into each of these jars so they will last a long, long time.  Before you begin using the flakes, I recommend you place your card panel in some type of container or plastic tub and then begin applying the flakes.  You can store the unused flakes in this tub or empty them back into the jar.  Because the flakes are so lightweight they move around easily - don’t do this technique near a fan!  A little hand vacuum or Swiffer cloth works great for clean-up. 

To add the flakes to the die cut, I first applied a strip of 2” wide Scor-Tape to the back of the die cut area.  Place the card front, adhesive side up, in the bottom of a plastic container.  

I began putting some Silver Bullion Gilding Flakes onto the adhesive area – just place the flakes onto the adhesive and press lightly.  You can also mix colors of the gilding flakes, just add the colors that you want.  

When the entire adhesive area is well covered, (and while the card front it still in the plastic container), begin burnishing it with your finger to remove the excess flakes. 

I also like to use the back side of a piece of Ranger Cut-N-Dry Foam to burnish the flakes until you have a smooth surface.  You can also use a stencil brush to burnish the gilding flakes – just use the brush in a circular motion and brush away the excess flakes.  

When complete, wipe the card front with a Swiffer cloth to remove the little excess bits of foil.

To create the background piece for layering, cut a piece of white cardstock to 4 ½” x 5 ¼”.   Apply ¼” Scor-Tape on the outer border of the rectangle.  

Remove the release sheet from the tape, place it in the piece in the plastic bin and cover with the silver gilding flakes.  

Follow the same steps to burnish the foil (including the edges.) 

To finish the card, cut a piece of fun foam to slightly smaller than the Lapis Blue card front.  Remove the Scor-Tape release paper on the back of the die cut, add adhesive to the rest of the card, and then adhere to the fun foam.  Apply more adhesive to the back of the fun foam and then center it on the background piece.  Adhere the whole piece to A2 card. 

I added some sequins for interest and placed a drop of Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops in the center of each sequin.  

I think this would be a great technique for “production” cards.  Once you start using these flakes you won’t want to stop so why not do several cards at one time?

You can see this card in person at Art ‘n Soul so I hope you will stop by to see it.  My photography skills just don’t capture the shine from these flakes.  Stay tuned for future Techniques using this beautiful new product.