Friday 29 August 2014

How to Make a Honeycomb Diamond

This honeycomb decoration making malarky is addictive.  Here's the third and final [for now] honeycomb experiment - a diamond honeycomb decoration.

Following exactly the same method as the traditional honeycomb decoration, however; I only had three sheets of gold tissue paper to make this version - but this honeycomb design was only to sit on top as an embellishment, rather than fold all the way out to create a hanging decoration.  If you would like to create this style, you will need at least 8 sheets.  Fold the sheets four times to create your layers:
...and then cut the four sides off to remove the folds and create your pile of tissue paper sheets:
Using the template created for the traditional honecomb decoration, I created my diamond template
 over the top to keep some of the glue line markings the same [they'd worked before, so I wanted to keep them!], with only an alteration for the top part of the diamond. I wanted to experiment with a tighter honeycomb design, so added 3 additional lines.  For the diamond, the alternate glue line sets followed this pattern: set 1: line 1, 3, 1, 1 and set 2: line 2, 2 [photos below will help make sense 
of this a little later - apologies if I'm losing you!]:
I also decided to use this DIY to test out some alternatives to the trusty glue stick.  With tighter, closer glue line patterns, a glue stick sometimes creates lines too thick, that then loose the honeycomb design, so a uniform line of glue can help - I tried both a glue tape and double-sided tape to test:
Lining one sheet of tissue paper and using the guide for the lines to glue, I started with the glue tape [lines 1, 3, 1, 1]:
..the glue tape adhered well and was simple to apply - holding the tissue paper taut helped an even application and you can easily see where it has applied.
Add a second sheet on top [as the metallic tissue paper is only really coloured on one side, I alternated this also, having the colour facing up on one sheet and down on the next] and add your glue to the second set of lines [line 2, 2]:
...add your next sheet and go back to lines 1, 3, 1, 1 and continue until your pile of tissue paper has all been glued together.  Leave to dry fully [this wont take long and a heavy book may also help]:
Cutting the diamond shape from the glue lines template, I lined it up on my tissue paper pile and used a craft knife to create neat, precise lines and cut my diamond:
Finally, I added a loop of thread at the bottom and top [as this is not a hanging decoration, cut away
 the excess after the knot], loose enough that the tissue paper diamond can be opened fully:
 
I then added double-sided tape to the top layer:
...and adhered the diamond half to my surface.  I then added the tape to the second half and opened
 the diamond fully, sticking in place:
...adding a ribbon, it makes a pretty awesome present embellishment:
...and shows the design of the tighter honeycomb at the top and wider honeycomb along the bottom:
At this stage, I enlisted the help of the double-sided tape again to tidy up any areas that become unstuck once the tissue paper layers were pulled apart:

P.S - If I'm totally honest, I could have done with a few extra sheets of tissue paper and I think this is where the double sided tape saved me - it was strong enough to take the strain of the pulled sheets - something glue sticks and the glue tape couldn't hold.

P.P.S - craft glue, pva glue or glue of any runny consistency [even my beloved glue gun!] will.not.work.  What it will do is run through the thin tissue sheets and glue every sheet together,
 just so you know:
have a great weekend and see you next time x
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6 comments

  1. Thank you for this wonderful tutorial. I was inspired and used it to make this card: http://madebycharlottec.blogspot.be/2015/08/oma-en-opa_23.html

    Kind regards
    Charlotte

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