The slump

So, one of the things I've been up to behind the scenes lately is working on a whopper of a craft project. You don't see too many DIY-fails around here. That's because usually, if I've committed to doing it, I've got some good ideas about how to make it happen. When there's a fail, I show it to you. You might have thought those Christmas Ornaments late last year were bad... well what I'm about to show you was a whole lot worse!

It started with this: 

Sorry for the asterisks - I want to respect Ginny's privacy as I so militantly protect my own! 

This photo was taken on January 26, 2014.  Ginny's birthday was approaching, and I decided I wanted to make a craft to give her as a present. I've always thought it's cute for a family to have something in their house that says their last name and then "Established ____," with the year the parents got married. I had wanted to make something like that for Ginny for quite some time and thought this birthday (her 30th!) would be a perfect chance to do it. I hate my handwriting, almost as much as I hate to read the writing I do with a paintbrush. I knew I needed to think outside the box.

Some internet research turned up Omni-Gel. Have you heard of this stuff? You can print a document off your computer using a laser printer, and then cover it with three coats of Omni-Gel to make a decal. Sounded sweet to me! I designed the art on the computer, printed it off on a plain piece of 8.5 x 11 copy paper and got to work. 

There was a reason I had my cake pan hanging out in the picture above. Once you've brushed on three coats of Omni-Gel (one horizontal, one vertical, one diagonal), you've got to get rid of the paper. Once its good and wet, the paper should just rub off the back. 

And that was basically what happened. Or so I thought. It was white paper, and I tried hard to remove as much of it as I could. At this point, I thought I was done. The Omni-Gel bottle mentions that the decal might look "milky" but will dry clear. 

I figured that it looked clear enough once it was dry, but I was worried. It wasn't quite perfect. If you'll notice in all of the photos above, there's a bit of a line in the middle of the heart. At first, I thought I'd leave it like that for some kind of contrived-distressed look. But. as the days went by, I began to realize it just looked sloppy. So, I actually shook my printer's toner cartridge and then printed a second draft. Three coats of Omni-Gel later, followed by some paper removal, I was back on track. 

I let the decal dry, which I think was probably the right decision. I even used an old textbook to flatten it because it had gotten a little curled. Next up? Application! 

It was actually stumbling upon this burlap canvas at JoAnn that inspired this whole project. Nothing says Ginny quite like a stretched burlap canvas. Once I removed the wrapping, I followed Omni-Gel's instructions for application: wet the surface, and the back of the decal, with Omni-Gel. Put them together before the Omni-Gel has a chance to dry. 

Holy crap. 

This is not good. 

No, you're not seeing some kind of freaky photo effect. Your screen is fine. It really does have that glowing translucent blue glow in the middle. Yikes. 

Maybe once it dries, it will actually be clear? And not milky, and not blue? 

Nope. 

Stay tuned for more of this crazy story!