Steam Power

Hi there, welcome to my blog  :)  I'm sharing a mixed media canvas that I created in my favourite genre - Steampunk!  If you have visited my blog before you'll know how much I love Steampunk.   I began with a blank white canvas.  I then attached a piece of rice paper to the top half of the canvas using decoupage glue, the rice paper had a 'brick wall' pattern on it which was great for this artwork, as I wanted to create a 'Steampunk warehouse' feel for this piece, and I used Steampunk tissue paper on the bottom half of the canvas. I also added a torn piece of a book page to look like something had been pasted on the wall then ripped off. 

I then decided to add some texture so I applied some metallic texture paste in copper and blue through a couple of stencils and allowed them to dry naturally.

To add detail to my art work I decided to use die cuts, chipboard and wooden embellishments.  I painted all the pieces with metallic paints, except for one or two that had been cut out of metallic card.  

Now it was time for the fun part!  Time to assemble the embellishments to complete my artwork.  This was always going to be a 3D piece, I had created the first layer with rice paper, tissue paper and texture paste, the next layer was created using some of the die cuts placed to create a base for the centerpiece.  I then used several pieces of scrap cardboard to lift and attach the large cog and lightbulb centerpiece.  

I attached the rest of the embellishments and a couple of words around the canvas.  As a final touch I added some tiny red beads for extra texture.  

                                                 

I am really happy with this result!  As I've already said I love creating Steampunk artwork , and this piece is no exception.  It's full of colour and texture, and I enjoy creating a little story to go with my art work.

Thank you for dropping in today, I hope you enjoyed this post - come back soon!  :)  

Festive Canvas

          

  Hello and welcome to my blog :)   I want to share a mixed media canvas that I created for Christmas.  For this piece I chose an A4 canvas and painted it with a layer of white Gesso.  I created all the embellishments from Hearty Air Dry Clay, using several silicone moulds.  

                                         

What else would I choose to make the centrepiece of my festive canvas but Father Christmas himself!

I used Cadence paints to colour my artwork, choosing a nice apple green colour to paint the canvas as a background for this piece.  I used other colours of the paints on the embellishments as appropriate.  I wanted my artwork to appear old and distressed, so when I was happy with the colours and composition I painted the whole piece with a brown laser gel and wiped the excess gel off with a damp cloth, leaving some gel in the corners, nooks and crannies to replicate years of dust and dirt that would have got trapped there.  

I l I oved creating this artwork!  It is something I have wanted to do for a long time, and I am very pleased with the result.  

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today, I hope to see you here again soon  :)  

Inspiring Katya

Hello there, welcome to my blog  :)  I have a bright and cheerful card to share with you today, featuring more beautiful stamps from Chocolate Baroque.  I have used stamps from the Katya, and Words of Inspiration sets; one of the CB Strip Stencils, alcohol pens, a gold pen, DO inks and a couple of gems from my stash.

  

I took a piece of an old calender for this one, I liked the effect of the perforated edge of the paper plus the paper used is excellent for colouring.  I stamped Katya in grey ink then coloured her with pens.  I used a gold pen to accent the headdress and added a few gems.  I then used a DO through the stencil as a background.   

I matted the focal panel onto a piece of red card then attached it to a white base card.  I stamped a couple of words on spare paper and added the stencilled background.  I matted them onto red card and attached them to the card with 3D foam.  

  

This is a quick and easy card that could be used for all sorts of occasions, including to cheer someone up which is something a lot of us need at the moment.  

Thank you for visiting my blog, I hope that you've enjoyed this post and that you'll pop back again soon  :)

My Mate Bert.

Hello, welcome to my blog :)  This is a lovely Steampunk project that I completed several months ago, at the beginning of UK Lockdown during the Covid 19 pandemic.  I needed something to cheer myself up and what better than some Steampunk!  This project was from a kit that I got from Stamps Away (Ali Reeve), which I 'tweeked' a bit, adding a few touches of my own.

The kit is called 'Steampunk Man' and includes a skull and a couple of large cogs made from plaster of paris, some MDF cogs, the elements to create a pair of Steampunk goggles and much more.

                           

 

I put the base and stand together and painted them with black gesso.  I added patina with a mixture of paint and black texture paste.  I then painted the skull with black gesso.  The next step was to create the top hat.  The kit included all the elements to make the basic hat.  The rim is made of MDF, the rest of the hat is made up of strips of black card.  On some narrow strips of the card I squeezed PVA glue in little blobs along the middle of the strips, and left them to dry.  When they were dry the blobs were clear and domed, I then added some of the patina mixture and some gilding wax made the strips looked like rivetted metal.  I wanted to decorate the top of the hat so I put some black card in an embossing folder with a metal tread pattern.  I applied gold, silver and copper gilding waxes to the embossed card, giving it a worn, distressed and rusted appearance.  I cut the card into pieces and attached them to the top of the hat, trimming the edges to fit.  I wanted to create the effect of a patchwork of sheet metal.   

There were MDF cogs in various sizes included in the kit which after painting with black gesso I added some EP, also from the kit, which gave the cogs the appearance of pitted metal.  I then added a little of the patina mixture to each cog.

 

I created some more embellishments using clay with moulds from my stash and painted them with gesso.  I then added some patina mixture as before and then used gilding wax to create a metallic finish.  I also added gilding wax to the sides of the hat and the MDF cogs.  I created several other embellishments and treated them in the same way.  

I attached the strips of 'rivets' and some of the finished cogs to the hat with a mixed media gel.

I  added some clay screw heads to the top of the hat, to create the look of metal sheets that are 'screwed on'.  

I followed the instructions to create the Steampunk goggles, added gilding wax and attached them to the skull, which also has wax on it to bring out the features.  

I then attached the rest of the embellishments to the stand, placing them so that you have something to look at from all sides.

I absolutely love this!  It was a lot of fun to make and I think it looks stunning!  As I've said it was a kit from Stamps Away but I added several of my own embellishments and the patina mixture is mine too.  He stands on the desk in my craft room and keeps me company as I craft!

Thank you for popping in today, I hope you've enjoyed this post.  Please feel free to continue browsing my blog or leave me a comment, and I hope you'll come back soon  :)  

 

The Old Boiler Room

Hello, welcome to my blog  :)  I am sharing a piece of Steampunk home decor today, which in my opinion is a marriage made in heaven lol!  My love of Steampunk and Industrial genres never fail to inspire me and I love creating pieces of artwork in those genres.

For this project I have used an MDF substrate, a shadow box with a border of cogs; I have also used light air dry clay and moulds, Steampunk printed paper, black Gesso, acrylic paints, metalic paste, coloured crackle paste, printed 3D card figures and printed Steampunk die cut pieces, MDF cogs of various sizes, greyboard die cuts, Glossy Accents, Liquid Acrylic Wax, greyboard embellishments and black texture paste.  

 

I assembled the shadow box and added the base frame, then I painted it all with black Gesso.  I also painted the MDF cogs with Gesso.
  

I took some Steampunk themed printed paper and cut it to size to fit inside the frame, then  I distressed the edges of the paper with scissors.  I blended brown ink to enhance the distressed edges.  I used a small cog stencil in one of the top corners and applied some black texture paste.  I then did the same using a stencil of Industrial Lighting.  When the paste was dry I painted the light bulbs with a yellow neon acrylic paint and added some copper paint to the fillaments and also to the cogs.  I applied a coat of wax to the paper before attaching it inside the shadow box.

I created some pipes, cogs, screw heads and 'metal' sheets using air dry clay in moulds.  When dry I painted the clay embellishments with metalic paste.  This gave them a 'pitted' metalic texture and look. 

The next step was to age and distress the 'metal' pieces.  I applied some metalic copper paint by 'splodging' it on with a brush randomly.  I then added a mixture of black sand texture paste and turquoise paint, which gives the effect of Verdigris.  

For the next step I took the frame and applied copper crackle paste then left it to dry naturally, that way it gives better, natural looking crackles.    

It was now time to place all the pieces into position before attaching them with multi purpose media gel.  

I decided to add a couple of inventors.

After attaching all the embellishments inside the the shadow box it was time to attach the ones around the frame.  I had painted and aged the MDF cogs that came with the shadow box so I arranged them around the frame and attached them with the multi purpose media gel.  I also added a few printed die cut embellishments.

This is a project that I have wanted to do for a while, and I'm really pleased with the result.  I am especially happy with the way my hand crafted boiler turned out!  It was a lot of work - definitely not a quick project - but so worth it and I enjoyed every minute of it.  

Thank you for popping in today, I hope that you have enjoyed this post.  Feel free to browse further on my blog or drop in again soon  :)