In my personal opinion, its better to do this technique in foil. At Sassoon we were taught that you can pretty much do everything you can think of with foil, plus you have more control. When you use a paddle ,plastic wrap, and cotton, and all that extra crap; it takes more time and the product usually dries out which causes it to stop working. use a clear hloss or conditioner at the toot and smudge a mid level, then a lighter level on the ends. tit isbetter if you have long foil or meche since you will not be folding the packet. place another long piece of foil or meche over the hair and fold in the corners to secure. meche you will not have to fold. as for pattern, the posibilities are endless!