Tips and Techniques Thursday

Welcome to my first edition of Tips and Techniques Thursday.  I thought it would be fun to share some of the (sometimes useful) information I have floating around in my head, waiting to get out.  Some of the information here was either ascertained from friends, from books or magazines, or simply things I learned myself along my own art journey.  Let me begin by first apologizing for not crediting anyone in particular, as I simply cannot remember from whom or from where I learned them.  Instead, I hope you will enjoy reading, sharing, and possibly learning from them.  Most of them you may already know, so I always think of it as simply a memory refresher.


TIP #1 - When applying adhesive with either a red or white liner, it is always helpful to use a bone folder to burnish the adhesive down before trying to remove the liner.  It makes the adhesive stick to the paper more than to the liner, thus making it easier for the liner to be removed.  


TIP #2 - Speaking of bone folders, if you can afford to buy one, a teflon bone folder is well worth the extra money.  Nothing will stick to it, and it will not leave a shine on your paper when you crease it.  They are also quite nice for applying rub-ons, altering books, laying down collage papers, etc.  If glue oozes out onto your bone folder, it wipes off easily.  


TIP #3 - When running papers or die cuts through your Xyron adhesive machine, there is a way to prevent the excess stickiness that remains inside ornate shapes, as well as on the edges.  Again, using your bone folder, burnish the adhesive to the paper from the back side (the side with the liner paper), and also run your burnisher around the edges and inside delicate openings of die cuts before removing the shape from the liner paper.  If your Xyron adhesive has the clear plastic on top, then burnish the openings and edges from that side as well.  The few extra seconds you take to do this now will save you from trying to remove the unwanted adhesive on your project later.


I hope you enjoyed this weeks tips, and please check back often to find out what other useful tidbits I come up with.  


Thanks for stopping by.  You made my day!


Barbara