Steampunk Christmas Tree

Hi everyone!

    Here is the last of my 'Tree Trilogy'!

Warning - Heavy picture post here!

   Saving the best for last? I will leave that up to you to judge! This one was certainly the most difficult and was very time consuming...the others were very easy craft projects - this one however.....well, I wasn't sad to see it finally finished!!!

     It all started with seeing a wire tree on Pinterest!...the picture showed wire twisted around a polystyrene cone...and I loved the idea...and from there it evolved into a Steampunk Grunge tree...

     I had bought some rusting powder and had left it aside - I was too nervous to try it. Now I wanted rust items so I had to take the plunge. I gathered various bits and pieces and smothered them in the powder and vinegar...I am not sure if I did it right - but I got some very nice rusted pieces from it.

     I bought some thick 2mm copper wire and twisted rusty wire around it.

     I wound it around the polystyrene cone (which was then used for the patchwork tree) I made the bottom into three strands and secured these with the rusty wire so that it had a very secure base - otherwise it wouldn't have been able to stand up. So I had the basic Christmas tree spiral shape....Looking at it now I wish I had taken some 'progress' shots! At this point it needed some major 'Grunge' work...it was bright clean copper (you will see some traces of that gleaming copper wire here and there - see below!).

   I dabbed the tree with Bora Bora and Chocolate Pudding Fresco paint. I then dabbed some matte multi medium onto the tree and 'threw' some rusting powder at it and then sprayed it all with vinegar.

    I left it alone, hoping that the rusting powder would work it's magic - and I was very impressed! It had been a very shiny copper tree - and now it looked amazingly grungy - with a liberal coat of rust and tinges of green patina everywhere, occasionally the original copper is peeking out...lovely! I did just finish it off by lightly dabbing some more Bora Bora Fresco paint over some of the rust to highlight the texture......

.....I also adding some sprinkles of Copper and Verdigris embossing powder to add to the texture....

     At times I was worried I was heading into too much grunge and even now I look at it and think "was it too much?"....But I was really trying to get heavily into 'Steampunk Grunge' thoughts at the time - which is usually a real struggle for me - and for once I managed to go totally over the top as being neat and tidy didn't even enter my head! I do look at it now and think "Arrrghhh - it is sooo messy" and I have to tell myself that that is the way it was meant to be!!!

      Then onto the fun of constructing the decorations....

Some of the rusted embellishments had rusty wire added as hooks and some were glued directly onto the metal....

I had selected some typical steampunk style embellishments such as gears and keys,

 I also added things that were not exactly steampunk themed because I wanted to have some variety

       There had to be an angel at the top of the tree! So I used a wooden angel decoration and it got the rust treatment.

I used a bookplate sign and covered it in rusting powder. It flaked off slightly as I was preparing it but I think that just adds to the rather intense grunge look going on here! An organza bow stained with Walnut Stain DS was added here.....

        Another rusted key

A metal Fleur-de-lys was covered in rusting powder and vinegar

I used a brass metal brooch embellishment and cut some patterned paper to stick inside. A rose shaped bead was painted with Bora Bora Fresco Paint and sprinkled with Verdigris embossing powder

        A die cut holly leaf was sprinkled with Copper embossing powder with a tiny added sprinkle of Verdigris embossing powder. I over-heated the embossing powder to create the extra texture.

        I used some white organza ribbon that was stained with Evergreen Bough Distress Stain and tied into bows

  A wooden Christmas tree decoration got the rust treatment

As did the gears.....

and the heart.....

The flowers were covered in Bora Bora Fresco paint and sprinkled with Copper and Verdigris embossing powder. A copper screw shaped brad was used as the center of the flower and a brass leaf completed the decoration.

Another metal decoration got the rust works

and I had to have another heart on there....the rust looks gorgeous here

I had a bird embellishment and I painted it with Bora Bora paint and dabbed it with copper and brown paint too...adding some sprinkles of copper and Verdigris embossing powder

 A button got thrown in the rust mix too....and came out gorgeously eroded with rust..so I added some brown hemp string and that got put on the tree...

    So there it is - My Steampunk Christmas Tree! I hope you have enjoyed my 'Tree Trilogy' - Thanks so much for being here to take a peek....

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