Iris Folding

We're starting a new challenge this week - and of course it has to be I and J. As ever, all you have to do to join in at Use Your Craft Stash (on FB), is to use your old stash, and make something with a link to I or J. It could be a technique, a colour, a product, a card fold, an embellishment - or whatever you can think of. 

I have to admit that "I" was a little tricky for me. But I eventually decided to do some Iris folding (something I have only done once or twice before, many years ago), and when searching for a pattern, I came across one for an Ice-cream and one for an Ice-lolly (or they call it a popsicle). Both patterns are from Pinterest, and have the watermark of Circle of Crafters, but unfortunately the website seems to no longer exist, and I couldn't find a Pinterest account linked to them. I did, however, find a private FB group called Circle of Crafters Iris Folding, so have joined so I can share my makes on there. Their iris folding patterns seem to be all over Pinterest, despite not having their own webpage anymore.

Here are my cards.

 

I have some step-by-step photos - but I have to admit to having made a bit of a mess up with my first attempt. So, some of the photos are from that attempt, and you will notice the papers for the ice-lolly are different. The mistake I made was to complete the iris folding, then try to cut the piece to size to go on a card. Cutting it with a knife didn't give me the edge I wanted, so I made the mistake of passing them through my Gemini. Of course, it compressed everything, leaving an imprint of all the layers from the back showing through on the front. So, my top tip is to have the topper cut to size BEFORE you cut the aperture.

So, to that end, I sized the patterns to what I wanted, then printed two copies of each - one for the actual folding, and the other I cut out. I used the aperture on the paper to draw onto the back of the card (be careful to get it the right way round), and then cut it out. I used Ivory pearlescent card.

 

I then used low tack tape to stick them over the pattern - still with the back side upwards. Each pattern comes with a list of which numbers go with which paper - A, B, C etc - you just choose what you want to use for each one.

You need strips of each paper, and you fold them over. I don't fold them completely in half, although you can do. I fix each piece with a small piece of double sided tape.

 

You end up with the "iris" left in the middle. You can leave this blank to see the card underneath, or cover it up (which is what I do).

    

 

I put a piece of copy paper on the back to stick to all the exposed bits of double sided tape. I then made them up into cards.

  

We look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Happy crafting,

Cxxxx