Cabachon from Computer Printed Picture

This was yesterday's experiment.  I had wanted a button or cabachon for a lily of the valley block I am doing in a round robin and, of course, could not find anything like that in the stash. 

 I did manage to find a picture I liked on the internet and printed it out very small.  I took a large-ish plastic button, about the size of a quarter, and used white glue to attach the picture to the flat back of the button.  The picture is just on regular paper, by the way, not photo paper and it was printed on my regular inkjet printer.  At this point I used E-6000 to glue the front of the button to some firm cotton fabric so I would be able to attach it to the block. 

Next I looked for advice from the girls at CQI and another group of friends to see what I could use to give the picture a glassy finish and avoid the ink running during the process.    They had wonderful ideas to share with me but in the end I went with what I could find around the house since most of my stash is packed away in the trailer. 

I tested it on a scrap of computer printed paper and was pleased that the old bottle of base coat nail polish I found did not make the inks smear.  I also tested this Sculpey Satin Glaze and it did smear the ink.  So, on went three coats of base coat nail polish!  After that was dry, I added several coats of the Sculpey glaze to give the piece the thick glossy coating I wanted.  A word of warning though - best to allow a couple days for the glaze to dry thoroughly.  I didn't and should have!

So, here is the button sewn down to the block through the fabric showing around the edge.  Now for the beads!

And here it is completed! It was an interesting experiment and worth exploring again.  I'll have to see if I can refine the process more.