Flocking     A Step-By-Step guide, written by Shirley Fyfe

If you are anything like me, you love adding things to your scrapbooking pages, cards or other papercraft projects that really adds some dimension and texture – things that entice the viewer to want to touch!

I just love those pattern papers that come with the flocking (or velvet) finish to them . . . don’t they just make you want to reach out and run your hands over the paper?

What if I told you that you could replicate the same feel at home on your own chipboard letters, stickers, frames, pattern papers, grungeboard and so the list goes on!

It is very easy with Plaid’s ‘Soft Flock’ Fibre Kit

Whilst the kit does come with detailed instructions . . . let me show you how simple it is to use by covering the Heidi Swapp chipboard letters that I used on this board book!

I found it easier to adhere the letters that you want to use into place – that way you know that they aren’t going to remain in place throughout the whole decorating process.  Of course, if you are working on large letters – say Basic Grey Monograms or even some of the large Grungeboard pieces you probably wouldn’t need to worry about attaching them to your project first.

Using a paint brush, begin by painting a generous amount of the ‘Soft Flock Adhesive’ onto your letters.

Don’t be too sparse with the adhesive otherwise the fibres will have nothing to attach themselves into BUT don’t be so over generous that the adhesive runs off the sides either (apologies for the blurry photo below but hopefully you can still see what I mean).

Once all your letters are covered, it’s time to add the ‘Soft Flock Fibres’ – it’s just a simple matter of holding the bottle about 20 centimetres away from the item you are covering, and shall we say ‘puffing’ the fibres onto the adhesive.

Don’t be tempted to touch the fibres at all – you just want to apply a very generous amount and then sit the whole project aside for 24 hours to thoroughly dry – yes . . . I did say 24 hours! Don’t be tempted to try and see the results before this time as I can guarantee you will be disappointed – patience really does pay off with this product!

NOTE: It does say on the instruction sheet that you can remove excess fibres after only 1 hour BUT I found it was just as easy to sit the whole project aside for the 24 hours and then move onto the next step.

Don’t be limited by just covering chipboard either . . . the brad on the below flower was actually orange BUT since I really wanted one that size and I didn’t have it in the colour I wanted, I simply painted it with white Gesso and then applied ‘Soft Flock’ to it as well!

Once you have left the project to dry for 24 hours, it is then a simple matter of using a soft dry paint brush to gently brush off all the excess fibres – make sure you catch all these onto a scrap piece of paper and return them to the ‘Soft Flock Fibres’ bottle for later use.

It really is amazing what a lovely finish can be achieved with Plaid’s ‘Soft Flock’ Fibre Kit –it’s certainly one product that can be used over & over again AND it’s really going to last you a long time!