Best Tulle Ever

I was so in awe of Wise Wanderer's Letterbox Trading Card-- Celestial Art: Moonlight Magic that I wanted to copy the technique. A picture does not do the card justice so I've included a ten second video that reveals the magic of this technique. (Posted with permission.)

Wise Wanderer explained that she used tulle to create the magical celestial sky, so I added that to my ''retail therapy" list. I found a variety of tulle colors at a Michaels store-- white, black, red, and others-- and chose black tulle with silver glitter.






One of the challenges of this card was reversing my thinking about the carving. I needed to carve away the positive space of the transfer so the dark sky would take on the starry effect created by the tulle. Typically I carve away the backgrounds leaving the main image.

Positive shapes occupy positive space. 

Negative space is the background area around the positive shapes.

In this black and white image of the three wisemen, the positive space is made up of the camels, the sand, and would also include the star. After the transfer, I had to carve away the black instead of the pink. A mind boggling experience.

Made me wish I had software to invert the image. After the fact, I did find online software that would do just that, such as: http://pinetools.com/invert-image-colors   Look at that. Doh!



I pre-cut 3.5 x 4.5 rectangles of tulle. I thought layering the tulle on the card would be easy, but it turned out to be tricky and messy because I was using glue. Once I found out Wise Wanderer used (double-sided) adhesive tape, the process was so much easier. Double Doh!

My favorite tool for double-sided tape is the Scotch Advanced Tape Glider (ATG gun.) Took awhile to get use to wielding the pink gun, but once used to it, the savings are worth it.


Buying the tape refills in bulk makes it SO MUCH cheaper. A good source for bulk tape purchase is: https://www.tapejungle.com/



Running strips of adhesive along the back edges of the card, made it easier to pull the tulle tightly across the card, but not so tight as to curl the card.  I could readjust the tulle as necessary and cut off any extra material.



A sidenote: if there are glitter restrictions, avoid using this tulle as the glitter will come off.


I loved how Wise Wanderer's card is framed with the black card stock and wished I had done that too. Instead, I used a slightly smaller size card attached to the back to hide all the adhesive and extra tulle. I chose a cream card stock for a desert look; although, I think a tan would have been an interesting choice to explore too. In the finished card, the reason for carving the star is more clear.  This is my final card-- Guiding Star.

A big thank you to Wise Wanderer for sharing her LTCs, her craft, and
the tulles behind them.