Faux Verdigris

I had fun making this one.  The paper was aged using distress inks which I spritzed with water.  I freehand embossed the copper and then created the verdigris effect using acrylic paints, first adding a layer of black, letting it dry a bit and then wiping it off and then adding a further layer of light green and white (a bit of both, not mixed) by stippling it on, letting it partly dry again and then wiping it with a tissue.  The star is cut from Makin's Clay and I created the texture on it by pressing a piece of vintage lace into it.  I painted it black and added some metallic rub-on over the top.  I made the wire look rusty using Distress Embossing Powder.

Three Ms - Metal, Mesh and Messy

Yep, I'm still alive! I haven't been feeling very well, hence my lack of posts lately. I haven't done much arty stuff either, which is not good, although I have managed a few ATCs.

These ATCs are for a swap I'm hosting on the DoCrafts forum. Each ATC must have an element of metal, mesh and something messy (eg. paint, ink, etc.)

On the top one, I created the middle section by freehand embossing some copper, heating it until it went all nice and orangey, painting over it lightly in black acrylic and then sanding it lightly with fine grade sandpaper. I created the texture around the edges using extra heavy gel medium, copper mesh and plasterboard tape, painted with copper acrylic and a black acrylic/PVA wash. The words were painted on shrink plastic in acrylic and then shrunk.

The background on the second one was done using two different types of mesh. I painted over it with a thick layer of acrylic and heat dried it to create some texture, then added copper embossing powder around the edges. I made a tile from Makins Clay, which I rolled with a piece of lace on top to create the texture. The face was also made using Makins Clay. I made it in a mould and then pressed a flower bead into it three times, leaving it in place the third time. I painted the tile and the face the same colour as the background, stuck them on and then went over the whole thing with some copper metallic rub-on to bring out the texture.

The background on the third one was done in a similar way to the second, except that this time I dry brushed it with two different colours of acrylic rather than using a metallic rub-on. I used aluminium mesh on this one. The house was stamped onto aluminium which I coloured with alcohol inks and then embossed. I rubbed over it with some sandpaper to bring out the embossed lines and make it look distressed.

The background on the final one was done again using different types of mesh. I painted over it with black acrylic and then covered it with red and gold embossing powder and stamped into it. The main image is stamped onto alcohol inked aluminium and the words and stars were painted onto shrink plastic and shrunk.

Makin's Clay Pendant

This is my entry for this month's UK Art Raffle (there's a link on the right). This month's theme is circles - whatever you make must have a circle on it somehere.

I started off with a circle of Makin's Clay which I'd rolled with lace over the top to get the texture. I then made the face using a mould and stuck it on and added some rolled strands of clay for the hair. I made holes at the top and bottom using a fine embossing tool. When it was dry I painted it with black acrylic and added some shimmer using a mixture of Mica Powders and PVA glue.

Finally I added beads which I attached with with wire and some black thonging.

More ATCs with Mica Powders

These are ATCs for Sheila's swap on DoCrafts. I created both of the backgrounds by scrunching up some black paper, dropping various colours of mica powders into a mixture of PVA glue and water (they float on top) and then painting the powders on, picking up some of the powder and some of the PVA and water on my brush, and picking up a different colour powder with each dip of the brush. The effect doesn't really show up very well on the pictures - in reality they are very shimmery and shiny. For the top one I cut flower petals and leaves from the same paper I used for the background and edged them and the card with gold metallic rub-on. I added a gold button for the centre and turquoise wire which matches the turquoise tones on the paper for the stem

For the bottom one I made the sun from Makin's Clay using a mould and painted it black and then painted over it using a similar mixture of PVA, water and mica powders. I then added lines of mica flakes to represent the sun's rays.

Black and Another Colour

These are my ATCs for Cazro's December Colour swap on the DoCrafts forum. I've made them a bit early, but I want to send them with the November ones to save on postage costs.

On the top one, I've created the background using green embossing powder on black mountboard. I stamped the image into Makins Clay and painted it black because I didn't have any black clay. I then added metallic rub-ons over the top in green with a little bit of gold. I finished it off by adding some ribbons and a star brad at the bottom.


The middle one was done using a lace stamp with Versamark ink and adding Perfect Pearls powder over the top. The heart was cut from Makin's Clay and texturised using a piece of lace. I painted it black and then added metallic rub-on. I've layered it onto black net and red mesh and have added some more black net and a heart brad at the bottom.

The final one was done by inking the whole background in turquoise, stamping the image in Versamark and embossing it with clear embossing powder. I then inked over it all in black, placed a piece of paper over it and ironed it until all the embossing powder lifted off. I then created the background for the main image by inking it in turquoise and spritzing it with water. I stamped the image in black Stazon, cut it out and stuck it on. I then added a piece of black ribbon and a paper flower at the bottom.

Copper and Texture

This is my other ATC for the texture swap. I created the background by sticking various textured items into PVA glue, then painted over it in copper acrylic and added a couple of other metallic colours over the top to pick up the detail. I took a small square of copper sheet, curled the corners, bashed it up a bit with an embossing tool and then heated it until it changed colour. I then wrapped copper wire around it and stuck it onto the background. Finally I added the frog, which is moulded from Makin's Clay and painted with three colours of metallic acrylics, and two small copper brads at the corners.

Dream

This is an ATC I made this morning. I'm not saying who it's for in case they read it.

I started by cutting the hole in the ATC then created the background using various textured items and painted over them using a mixture of metallic paint and PVA glue which I heated to create even more texture. I added some metallic rub-ons over the top and then attached the sequin waste behind the hole.

I moulded the face and wings from Makin's clay and painted them with silver acrylic . I added silver embossing powder on the face and a bit of blue embossing powder on the wings then added a bit of Stickles. I stuck the wings and face on using silicone glue and added some beads and wire to the bottom.

Finally I added the word dream, which I stamped into three layers of silver embossing powder on a separate piece of card. I added some silver brads at the ends to make it look like it was pinned on.