How is it possible that it's Thursday already?! It's been a sprint this week, juggling multiple editors, magazines, and holidays. But it's been one of those awesome weeks, with all synapses firing and feeling like I'm in the zone. Getting in the zone, sometimes that's more than half the battle.
But I thought I'd drop in here and share a quick tutorial from one of the features I mentioned in my last post. This is such a simple craft and it's no different than spray painting through regular lace. But rather than a tidy, ladylike effect, I went for a more organic, spooky feel that's better suited to Halloween.
Although I'm showing this on dinnerware (not food safe!), you can use this process for just about anything you can spray paint. Try it on paper, bags, boxes, fabric or canvas, bottoms of serving trays (think cocktails), mirrors, even your pumpkin. No special skills required!
Materials:
Novelty spiderweb lace (See Resources below)
Fabric scissors
Repositionable adhesive
Flat, black spray paint or black spray primer
Scrap paper
My lace looked like the lace at the top left of the photo. I liked the web design, but I wasn't so fond of the spiders. So the first thing I did was cut out all of the spiders, leaving me with the bits of cobweb lace shown at the top right.
Once I had a pile of lace pieces, I sprayed them all with repositionable adhesive (I prefer Elmer's brand) and let them dry for a few minutes. After that, I arranged them on my surface, pressing them into place. In my design, I left some spaces open, overlapped other pieces elsewhere. The point here is to get an organic arrangement, so don't overthink it.
After the arrangement is in place, it's time to spray paint. I actually don't use spray paint at all for this - I prefer to use black spray primer. It's very flat, dries super fast, and since it's a primer, I know it's meant to stick. But if you can't find black primer, use a regular matte finish paint or black floral spray.
I like to hold my paint can a couple of feet above my design and spray in short bursts, so I get more of a misting effect. That way, I can add more paint if needed. I also keep my arm fairly stationary, instead of spraying back and forth. What I'm looking for are some concentrated areas of color and some that fade off a bit.
Once I'm finished painting, I let it dry for about 5 minutes, then remove the lace. (I can usually reuse the lace 2-3 more times, depending on how heavy the paint buildup is.) And that's it. I haven't sealed mine or taken any extra measures and none of the primer has flaked off, even after being stacked.
Resources:
Novelty Spiderweb Lace - I usually find this by yard at Jo-Ann, but you can find other lace versions at places like Party City, usually sold as tablecloths or runners
Repositionable Adhesive - I find Elmer's brand to be the easiest and most reliable to work with. It's often a little less expensive as well. It can be found at most craft stores.
Title image by Brie Williams
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