Breaking Out

Hello and welcome to my blog  :)  I have something very different to share with you today.  I've really got into my mixed media lately, and one of the mediums that I am really enjoying working with at the moment is light air dry clay.  I use it with moulds and cutters to create 3D projects.  For this project I have used the latest moulds from Katy Sue Designs 'Realms of Fantasy' range, plus a few that had been released previously; I have also used acrylic paints, Pearl-Ex paints, Starlight paints, Hearty air dry clay, some dies and an embossing folder from my stash.

To start this project I made all the clay embellishments, pressing the clay into the moulds and then turning them out and letting them dry overnight.

Next I painted a mask with black gesso, and let it dry.  I used the Dragon Skin mould and some more clay to create some skin, then I moulded it over the mask and left it to dry insitue.  

I then created the eyes in the same way and added one of them to the front of the mask, adding it to the skin and over one of the eye holes.  I placed the other eye inside the mask behind the other eye hole, moulding it gently to the shape of the mask.  I removed it carefully and let it dry.   

When the clay was dry I painted the skin, eyes and claws with green acrylic paint and left them to dry naturally.

I made some clay ferns in both white and green clay, painting the white ones when they were dry.  I did this to create a variety of colours of ferns, making them look more natural.  I also created some clay tree bark with one of the moulds, and painted the bark with brown acrylic when dry.  I then added some highlights with Starlight paint by dry brushing over the bark.  I then die cut some cogs from black card and added gilding waxes.  I also made some clay cogs and did the same when they were dry.




I painted the eye balls with my old favourites, Pearlex paints.  I wanted the eyes to have a bright sheen to them.  I painted some veins with a very fine brush, and painted the slit iris black, before adding Glossy Accents.  I added another piece of skin on the other side of the mask and treated it in the same way.

I then added highlights to the skin with another Starlight paint.  

I added some strong PVA glue under the skin and the eye on the outside of the mask, then attached the other eye to the inside of the mask with 3D glue gel.  I began adding the cogs, hinges and some faux sheet metal that I had made from black card that I embossed in a folder before colouring it with silver gilding wax.  I cut the faux sheet metal into pieces and attached them to the mask with glue.  I then added some clay screws on top to make it look like the 'metal' is being held in place with them.  I added a clay lock and key to the mouth, to give the effect of clockwork.

I painted a canvas with acrylic paint and when it was dry I attached the mask to it.  I then attached the bark, breaking it into smaller pieces to fit it around the mask.  Finally I attached the claws and the ferns, to give the illusion of the creature peering out from a leafy forest.

.  As you will know if you have visited my blog before I LOVE my mixed media, and as soon as I saw these moulds I wanted to create a piece of artwork based around a decorated mask.  These  moulds by Katy Sue Designs are beautifully detailed, and I know I'm going to have a lot more fun with them!  The only question is .....is the lizard trying to break out from the clockwork man, or is the clockwork man trying to break free from the lizard?!!

Thank you so much for popping in today, I hope you've enjoyed this post, feel free to browse other projects on here, and leave a comment if you like!  I hope you'll come back to visit again soon  :) 

Unlock Your Destiny

Hello there, welcome to my blog  :)  I have another piece of mixed media art to share with you today, a canvas featuring the fabulous Andy Skinner Illusionary Artists stamps.  I have used stamps from the Gothic Grunge and Spook sets and also from Andy's Steampunk set; Pebeo Dyna acrylic paints, black gesso, Pebeo gilding waxes, white embossing powder, Versamark ink, black Softform paste, black sand texture paste; acetate, wooden cogs, a stencil,clay and metal embellishments from my stash.  

  

I began by taking a white canvas board and arranging the various elements and stamps  that I wanted to use for this project on it.  I moved them about until I was happy with the composition then I took a photo so that I would remember where everything went.  I added some white texture paste through a brickwork stencil and let it dry.  

I took a couple of architectral images and spread black Softform paste over them, then left them overnight to dry completely.  When dry I just peeled the paste off the stamps and all the detail of the stamps had been captured in 3D. 

 

Meanwhile I had been busy whilst waiting for the paste to dry, I attached all the embellishments to the canvas and painted everything with black gesso.   I added the metal bird when the paint was dry.  

I wanted to add some stamped images too, one of which was a clock from the Steampunk stamp set.   I decided to stamp all the images that I was going to use onto acetate, and heat emboss them in white.  I wanted some texture behind the clockface and to have it in 3D from the canvas, so I drew around the stamped and embossed image which I had already cut out, onto a piece of cardboard.  I cut the circle out and peeled some of the top layer of card from it.  I then painted it in black gesso and attached it to the canvass.  

I wanted to add some rough, almost rusty texture to the cogs and the clock, so I added a little black sand texture paste to them and left it to dry. 

 Once all the paint and texture pastes were dry it was time to add some colour.  Using the dry brush technique I added some  Red Blue Dyna paint to the stencilled wall and the die cut wall.

I used metallic copper paint on the cogs, clock and tree, and gold on the single clay face and the padlock. I also added a little gold paint to the texture paste wall.  If there was any colour where I didn't want it I just painted black gesso over it.

The next step was to add silver gilding wax to create some highlights to the different textures.   

I also added silver gilding wax to the Softform paste embellishments which really brought all the lovely details of the stamps out.  I then attached them to the canvas.

On a piece of Kraft card I stamped the Ouija board image and embossed it in white EP.  I tore the edges of the card and blended Vintage Photo DI onto them.  I then attached it to the canvas, and added the rest of the stamped images on acetate.  

And here is the finished canvas.  I have had so much fun creating this, doing all the techniques, making the embellishments, and playing with colours.  I love mixed media and it is a while since I created something like this.  I have loved playing with Andy's stamps too of course!  I like to try and find different ways to use all my stamps, and these images  have lots of detail and interest which have enabled me to adapt them to create this lovely mixed media piece.

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