Sunday, September 2, 2012

Turn everything into gold : How to use metallic foil

beetle brooch, diy, fashion diy, metallic foil
Insect brooches covered with gold foil

Everything is a diy here: the jacket, the top and the brooches :D

Unusual brooches with the shape of beetles are not very easy come by. You may need to visit more than a vintage shop to find them or browse a lot around the web. If you, like me, can't wait to have something you like, I hope you'll appreciate this diy solution. I took some plastic toy insects and transformed them into shiny gold beetle brooches.

 To recreate the look I was after, a good imitation of gold, I mean shiny and mirrory I used gold metallic foil. It's a thin film  that can be transfered to any surface very easily. You only need a specific glue for foiling. 
I like the result and now I'm tempted to use this foil over pretty much everything around the house.

Spille uniche come quelle a forma d'insetto non sono molto facili da trovare. Dovrete scovarle nei negozi vintage o cercare molto sul web. Per fortuna possiamo evitare l'estenuante ricerca nel modo che ci diverte di più. Realizzeremo delle spille dall'appeal vintage partendo da degli insetti in plastica giocattolo.
Per ottenere una buona imitazione dell'oro, riflettente e luccicante utilizzeremo la foglia metallica. E' un sottile fim dorato che, usato in combinazione con una colla specifica,  può essere trasferito su ogni superficie. Questa tecnica è semplice da realizzare ed il risultato è effettivamente simile al metallo. 

Plastic toy insects
 

You'll need:
  •  Metallic foil 
  • glue for foiling 
  • plastic toy 
  • brooch base
  • glue
Vi serviranno:
  • Foglia metallica
  • colla per doratura
  • animali in plastica
  • base per le spille
  • colla
Apply the white glue
 Cover the beetle with the special glue for foiling and let it dry for 5 to 10 minutes. When it becomes transparent and sticky you're ready to apply the gold foil.

Spennellate l'oggetto con la colla per doratura. Lasciatela asciugare per 5-10 minuti. Quando sarà diventata trasparente siete pronti per procedere all'applicazione del film metallico.


 Cut tiny pieces of foil with scissors to be able to wrap it around curved surfaces easily. Press the foil over the scarab. Apply some pressure with the finger over the whole surface and the gold will stick on it. Peel off the film and you've done.

Ritagliate il film dorato in piccoli pezzi così sarà più semplice stenderlo su superfici rotonde. Premete con il dito la pellicola sull'oggetto da dorare per traferire l'oro sulla sua superficie. Rimuovete la pellicola.


 Repeat the process untill the whole object is covered.
Continuate a ripetere l'operazione fino a quando tutto l'oggetto non sarà ricoperto.

  
 Some insects have beautiful, iridescent bright colors. In order to reproduce those shades I used the diyer secret weapon and painted some of the toys with nail polish.

Alcuni insetti come gli scarabei hanno una corazza cangiante. Per riprodurre quei bellissimi colori possiamo sfoderare la nostra arma segreta e dipingere alcuni insetti con lo smalto.

Glue a brooch base behind the beetles.

The finished brooches are very nice. To prevent them from tarnish you can apply an alcohol based varnish. You can buy a specific one or use clear nail polish. I tried this but in my opinion it ruins a little the gold finish so I'll leave my brooches without any top coat. We'll see if they'll tarnish or not. If they do we can always apply a new film of metallic foil over them and they'll look like new.

Infine incollate la base per le spille sul retro degli insetti. Una volta terminate le spille possono essere protette dall'ossidazione con una vernice a base di alcol. Potete acquistarne una specifica o usare dello smalto trasparente. Personalmente trovo che questa finitura renda la doratura leggermente opaca, quindi non la utilizzerò per le mie spille. Dopotutto se dovessero ossidarsi basterà dorarle di nuovo!

9 comments:

Carmen said...

That´s a really cool idea!
xx
www.clothesandcamera.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

this is genius! only i'l feel like they were climbing up my neck! scared of creepy crawlies sadly :-( but u hav amzing DIYs!
http://www.thatssewnaija.blogspot.com/2012/09/fringe-benefits.html

Namrata K said...

I love this idea! These look like the Oscar De La Renta brooches. Nice one!
Would you want to follow me? I already follow you and love your DIYs!

N
http://seasoncheck.blogspot.in

Rita Carvalho said...

Such a great DIY! I couldnt tell these were plastic! :)

http://seelovemake.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Wow they were so ugly and you made them look so beautiful.

Citro Mduro said...

so beuty accesories
the creative handicraft
i like this

ABI said...

They look absolutely fantastic!!!!

xx

mtg said...

I'm loving this! Where did you buy your gold foil? The kind I have is very hard to handle (it's too thin). Judging by your photos your foil is much better. Thanks.
xx
Maya

Matter Of Style said...

hi Maya I heard tha some foil can't be touched with hands because it frays. This is very easy to use and should be also easy to find. I bought it in the hobby corner of an hardware store. Maybe you should ask for a roll for foiling. This is the link to the exact product I used
http://www.stamperia.com/eng/elencoprodotti.php?cod_grupp=009&cod_sott_grupp=001
hope this helps :)