Palace of the Sea Dragon

I'm sooo excited!  I have been invited to join Chocolate Baroque's Guest Design Team!!  This is such an honour, I'm absolutely thrilled!   As those of you who have visited my blog before know, I've been a fan of CB stamps for years and I have quite a collection ;)    My first design project  for them is a piece of home decor, a wall plaque, featuring stamps from CB's Sea Dragon and Underwater Kingdom sets.  I have used the large plaque from Tando Creative as the base; Versafine Ink - Onyx Black and Blue Lagoon; Brushos; masking fluid and some acrylic paints from my stash. 

I started by giving the plaque a coat of white Gesso to prepare the surface for painting.  I then used acrylic paints in blues and greens (some pearlescent) to create an underwater background, blending bands of colour.  

When the background was dry I stamped and heat embossed the palace image in black, then I masked it.  I stamped some sea weed and mermaids in blue using second generation ink, as I wanted them to appear further away than the palace.  I wanted the palace to be a muted image as it is in the depths of the ocean, which is why I stamped on top of the background.  

I wanted to add some 'watery' texture to the background, so I got my brayer out.  Using the blue ink I loaded the brayer, scrumpled a piece of copier paper up and opened it back out, then rolled the brayer ONCE over the paper.  This transfers the texture of the paper onto the brayer.

I then rolled the brayer in one direction once over the background.  I repeated the whole process until the background panel was covered.  It really gives the effect of ripples and waves underwater.

I love using Brushos in my work, they're so versatile.  I sprinkled a few grains of each colour into different sections of a palette dish and added a little water.  I turned the Brushos into pearlescent paints by adding some silver acrylic to them, and after removing the mask I painted the palace.  I kept the colours muted to add more perspective.  I had previously painted the seaweed in the same way.  When the colours were dry I gave the whole thing a coat of clear varnish to protect it.

While that was drying I stamped and heat embossed the Sea Dragon and other images onto another piece of white card and cut them out.  

I painted each image, some with ordinary Brusho paints and some with pearlescent Brushos.  I added some glossy accents onto the bubbles and jewels to make them pop.  When they were dry I also gave them a coat of varnish to protect them.  I punched a couple of holes in the top of the plaque and threaded some ribbon through to hang the plaque with.  I  attached the painted images onto the plaque with dimensional glue for a 3D effect.

I love making home decor  and mixed media pieces, and I think this is a lovely example of combining the two.  Great for the home and it would make a lovely present!
Thank you for popping by my blog today, I hope you enjoyed it and will come back soon!  :)