That Craft Place Challenge Blog: Faux Leather technique by Trudie Howard

Welcome to my first tutorial of the year.

Yesterday we launched our first challenge which you can find here and I shared my faux leather stitched notebook, this tutorial will show you how to create the basis of this project.

Here goes!

To start making your faux leather, you need a few basics to get you started. Some Kraft card, (this is just standard Papermania card), some glycerin, a spritz bottle and some water. Mix together in your spritz bottle about 1/6 glycerin, top up with water and give it a good shake to mix it together.

Spray your card with the mixture, quite liberally and pat in. DO NOT rub the card as this will break to many fibres, we want it to soak in. Turn sheet over and do the same on the other side. Repeat a few times until you feel the card getting pliable but not wringing wet.

Screw up your card. Be careful not to tear, it is strong but don't be to rough with it. Flatten out, spritz again if needed and screw up, trying to make different creases this time.

Once you are happy with your created texture, flattern out again and use distress inks to highlight your creases. I have chosen to use Vintage Photo, Marmalade Spice and Crushed Olive. You can use cut and dry foam to do this if you like or like I have, just used the ink pads straight onto the card.

Choose an embossing folder to add more interest to your card. Run it though your embossing machine. You don't want your card to be to wet at this stage, especially if you are using an electric machine.

Once embossed, your card should look something like this, now leave to dry completely. Clean up any mess and wait!

Once you card is completely dry, you will feel how it doesn't feel like card anymore. The glycerin has helped to soften the fibres. Now it's time to pick out the embossing detail. I have chosen to use Walnut Stain distress ink for this as it is darker and helps to create more depth. Use cut and dry foam or a smoothy for this stage. Trim to required size and add more ink to the corners and edges..... This helps with the worn look of the faux leather.

For the final stage use Crafters Compainion spray and shine to seal the inks in and to add a varnish to your card. You can use a gel medium or modge podge to do this but I haven't tried these out yet! If there are any fibres sticking up, you can just tap them down with your finger. Make sure you cover the whole surface as this will seal it and make it hard wearing.