Slump, part 2

So when we last talked, you saw that my project looked ugly, even after it dried. I was disappointed, but I'd already made the decal twice and figured I could do it a third time without too much trouble. That big bottle of Omni-Gel has enough to get you pretty far. All I had to do was remove the attached decal from the burlap canvas...

[insert record scratch sound effect here].

Yikes.

Maybe you were thinking there wasn't anything I could do to the first draft of this project to make it look uglier. You were wrong. It quickly became clear that reusing the same canvas wasn't an option.

Back to JoAnn I went, to pick up another canvas. They were cheap, so I wasn't worried about the expense, though I was coming down to the wire on Ginny's birthday party, which was held on February 1. I wound up having to just let go of the dream and plan to give it to her after the fact. Getting ready for the party took top priority!

So, back to the drawing board I went. I printed and prepared a new decal. I decided to change my approach a little bit this time by using a Norwex cloth to try to remove even more of the paper. I assumed that the white areas on the first draft were that way because there was paper residue left behind. So, with the Norwex cloths, I gave the back of the decal a good scrub.

Here's draft two, all ready for application!

Look how pretty - and clear - the decal is! Ready for action!

Or not. This is the second draft - just the corner. Sorry for the weird glare. but you get the idea. Despite all of my hard work to remove the paper, it just didn't look right. I didn't get it all. And those blue areas? Not a clue.

I was feeling pretty hopeless when I had a sudden brainstorm. It was difficult to remove all of the paper because it was hard to see the tiny little bits. But, if the paper were colored, it would be easier to see!

I decided to check that theory with an experiment, on a smaller scale. I nabbed a piece of red paper and got to work!

The red paper rubbed off easily, though I did use the Norwex clothes to check my work. I've got permanent red stains to prove it!

With the paper gone and the decal dry, I laid it on top of some white paper to check for any red paper remnants. You might see a tiny bit of a pinkish tinge, and I'll admit that there was one. But, I also reminded myself that the adhesive Omni-Gel layer was supposed to help the whole thing dry clear. And I also reminded myself that the background I was going for actually wasn't white - it was burlap. Not having a burlap-colored piece of paper lying around, I went for the next best thing.

I tested it out on the burlap canvas - and thought things looked A-Okay!

Then I glued it to this blue paper. And I thought things were looking pretty good!

So, back I went to the computer, where I printed out my design on orange paper.

So, I soaked the decal in the water before trying to remove the paper...

and that's where I leave you for today! Will orange paper be the answer? Stay tuned to find out!