Best and detailed post on SOSPESO TRASPARENTE

Hello my dear crafters......
Shalini this side.....
Today I am extremely happy to be able to share this fantastic post with you....
We got a number of requests regarding this beautiful craft called SOSPESO TRASPARENTE and I know there are not much online sources where u can this learn art from so specially for you all ladies and with due permission of MONICA ALLEGRO ...the inventor and the owner of this amazing craft.
Since everything is COPYRIGHT so in the starting only I would like to take the opportunity of asking the apologies from MONICA .....if at any point of time if we go wrong from her techniques....
Also she has many many brilliant techniques and will try to introduce maximum to you...in the starting we will begin from very basic and go to higher levels.....
We are very thankful to Monica for helping us in this post .
And ofcourse I wanna add here that CRAFTERS CORNER is the only place where u get sospeso trasparente material at best and lowest price in India.
So I hand over now to Dr. Sonia for rest....
Here it is:

Sospeso Transparente bouquet

 Hi friends, Dr Sonia here with my latest love " Sospeso Transparente " which is a special 3D volume decoupage technique invented by Italian artist Monica Allegro.
           My job here is to introduce you to the technique , pique your interest about this beautiful crafting technique and share some of the little tips and tricks  I picked up when I experimented with Sospeso transparente !

Sospeso Transparente flower

           When I first came across Sospeso Transparente , I tried to research more about it and wanted to try my hand at it but I didn't know what to buy and frankly speaking most of the tutorials I chanced upon left me confused and with the feeling that "oh its too complicated and expensive!" But once I got my hands on Sospeso films and made my first flower, I fell in love with it big time...Believe me its a sheer magical experience when a bit of plastic is transformed in your hands within seconds to an object of such magnificent beauty! Its  a must try craft!!

What is Sospeso Transparente?

Quoting Monica Allegro herself " Sospeso Transparente  means transparent and raised up process"

The technique basically involves heating special plastic films and making 3 D shapes out of it.

Sospeso Transparente sunflowers

How to get started?

If you have never tried Sospeso and want to get a feel of this amazing craft I will suggest you start with Printed films [instead of paper veils and  fabric tapes ....we'll come to those later in subsequent posts!]

           So this first post on Sospeso will be about Printed Films as its the easiest and guaranteed to make you fall in love with this beautiful art !

What Sospeso Transparente material do you need ?

Just 3 things....

1. Printed film design
2. Embossing Pad
3. Embossing tool set

   

   Sospeso Transparente

   Printed Films
   

   

   Sospeso Transparente films

   This is how the printed films look- they are special plastic films with beautiful designs printed on them. What is so special about these films patented by Moinca Allegro ? -- unlike other plastics these are safe, non toxic and do not let out hazardous chemicals when heated.
   Embossing Pads

   

   Embossing pad

   Unlike the embossing pads we use in parchment and punchcraft the Embossing pad for Sospeso Transparente  is super soft and made of special material which can take the heat and wont damage the delicate printed designs on the printed films.
   Embossing Set
   
   
   

   

   Wooden embossing tools

   Those who have dropped by my blog Cards Crafts Kids Projects know I like to craft with multiple media such as clay, punchcraft , parchment etc and so I do have a collection of plastic as well as metal embossing tools but they are not a good substitute for Sospeso Transparente because of 2 factors : 1. Wood due to its special heat conduction properties is best to emboss the  hot plastic films 2. These special Monica Allegro designed embossing wooden tools are the most gentle on the delicate designs . The plastic and metal tools are more likely to leave scratch marks on the delicate designs.

What Additional Materials do you need?

• A good scissors 
• A heat source -For Sospeso Transparente printed films, you can use a candle , a heat gun or even a hair dryer- I experimented with all 3  and will tell you about each!

Sospeso Transparente Heat options

Steps of Sospeso Transparente with Printed films

1.Cut out design 

Sospeso Transparente 

This is the only time consuming part of the whole process-- cutting out the  beautiful designs !

Tip : 

• Be careful not to let sharp scissor points scratch the design-- my little assistant [ my 8 year old] managed to badly scratch one of our sunflowers while fuzzy cutting the flower but since the design itself had lines ,its hardly noticeable on our bouquet!
• Dont just cut the outline..cut the petals inwards just like you would do for paper flower making to be able to shape the flowers better.Then only will you be able to allow the flower petals to curl fully on heating!

Cut the petals inwards

• For the sunflowers I did not cut the petals right to the center but stopped at the brown demarcation.
• For some flower designs let your cut line reach nearly till the center but be careful not to chop off petals! 
• Also when you cut ,do exercise your artistic license and snip off sharp corners and round off edges!

2. Heat the cut design

Sospeso Transparente 

When you heat the flat design it will magically curl and you can shape it into dimensional flowers and leaves.
Heating with the candle

The most popular heating tool is our humble candle. Heat from the non printed side of the film.

Tip :

• Use a good quality candle which doesn't smoke a lot and leave residue on your plastic film! 
• Keep your embossing pad and tools near your heat source as speed is of essence here..you need to heat your flower, immediately put it on your embossing pad and shape your petals with the  embossing tools while its still hot and malleable!

At what distance should you hold the cut design from the flame? Depends on the candle really! I found that tea light candle flames are smaller and I had to bring the film within an inch to get the film heated . With the candle shown above even at 2 - 3 inches distance from the flame the flower petals would start to curl-- which is the sign for you to put it on the embossing pad and emboss.

Heating with the hair dryer

Hair dryer

Heating with the hair dryer is recommended by Monica Allegro in her book of Sospeso Transparente ! She recommends heating the flower while placing it on the embossing pad and embossing it at the same time without switching off the dryer! I found the hair dryer took more time and I didnt have the patience for it!
Heating with the Embossing Heat gun [mine is by Ranger]

Heat Gun Embossing

Many of you know I have a crafty little girl at home who likes to try any new crafty technique she sees. My 8 year old was fascinated seeing the Sospeso Transparente flowers come alive in the candle flame but was too scared of the fire! So we experimented with our heat gun and it was super fun because she could hold the flowers in her hand while heating the flower with the heat gun held at a distance and watch the petals curl gently.

Our finding : 

• Amongst all 3 heat sources, the candle is the quickest but its more difficult to control the precise area you want heated. You may need to use a forceps for heating small leaves and branches!  
• The heat gun was faster than the hair dryer but more gentle than the candle. You could get more precise control over heating the flower design by pointing the gun from a distance and only 2 - 3 seconds was enough to heat the film !

3.Embossing

Embossing

When you heat the plastic film it starts to curl-- quickly transfer to your embossing pad and emboss.

Tips :

• Heat and emboss the petals before embossing the center of the flower
• Choose which size of embossing ball you want to use
•  for bigger petals use the larger size ball end
• for a more gentle embossing use the larger ball
• to get a deeper embossing use the smaller more pointed embossing ball end

  

  Embossing

• To give a convex curve to your flower petals- place the design side face down on the pad and emboss the petals running your embossing tool along the center of the petals
• running the tool from the center to the petal edge gives a more gentle curve 
• running the tool from the edge to the center- gives a more pronounced curve

Embossing

• Emboss the center of the flower by embossing it from the "right" side- dont be too rough or you can scratch the design off!

Emboss

• Hand - sculpt the flower

Hand- sculpting

Monica Allegro does recommend hand sculpting and yes-- its one of the most fun parts about Sospeso Transparente --In the picture above I could actually get the sunflower center to cup and the petals to fan out by sculpting with my fingers while holding the flower over the flame -- use both hands while you do this so that you can control the shape nicely!

4. Reheat and Emboss if needed

One of the best things I liked about the Sospeso Transparente technique was that it was quite forgiving of your mistakes and can make even a perfectionist happy since it allows you to reheat and reshape any petal or part whose shape you are not happy about!

5. Adding Flower Centers

Flower center options

Sospeso Transparente flowers look gorgeous just as they are but if you want to add a little something extra to your flower center, you can add pearls, rhinestones, pollen, glitter balls or chunky glitter using normal white glue or hot glue [but with care since the heat can alter the shape of your flower slightly]

Sospeso Transparente Sunflower

Most Sospeso Transparente projects add the flowers to home decor frames ,wall decor, glassware, metal-ware and jewelry. I loved the flowers so much I wanted them to be the sole star so made a Bouquet of Sunflowers. I  could make this  whole bouquet of Sunflowers from a single printed film!

Bouquet

More links to Sospeso Transparente tutorials

• How to make the domed center of the sunflowers : Sospeso Transparente flower tutorial 
• How to make a bouquet with the Sospeso Transparente flowers : Sospeso Transparente Bouquet tutorial 
• How to give the Ice crystal Effect : Ice crystal flower
• How to make Sospeso Transparente flower centers
• Fabric Sospeso Transparente tutorial 
• CD recycling with Sospeso Transparente 
• Paper veil Sospeso Transparente tutorial and Sospeso Transparente special techniques

Where to buy Sospeso Transparente Materials :Click here for :  Sospeso Transparente supplies

And stay tuned for more Sospeso Transparente techniques in the coming weeks.
Some tips added by MONICA :

-- To increase the volume of a flower you can stack more flowers

-- When you're using an hot air must be protected with a piece of cardboard, the parts that you do not want to heat and shape.
-- If you accidentally scratch the film with the tip of the scissors you can paint over the colors for glass line.
-- Sometimes it's possible, again with glass paints change color or fade or finish the edges or small parts.

We hope u liked this....for any query please drop us a comment.

Hugs Dr Sonia

Crafters Corner DT team.