The Shrine of Knowledge

Hi everyone,

      Recently Claudia (die amelie from Von Pappe II) was doing a workshop in Eastbourne.... 

"Can we meet up?" I asked....before adding "Hey, why don't you come and stay with us"?

     Claudia and I have been close friends online for ages....It is a really brave person who goes to stay with someone for five days in a foreign country not knowing if the online friendship can match meeting in person!!! But neither of us had any need to worry - it was like we had been friends our whole lives!

     She and I excitedly began planning for her trip over here...mainly plans for doing a workshop just for the two of us (lucky me!) as I couldn't travel to Eastbourne (and I was sad to miss out) and we both wanted to go to London for some antique bric-a-brac hunting....and the rest of the time was spent talking and laughing....Let me tell you, Claudia has the most wonderful sense of humour...I have never laughed so much in my life!

 We had a lovely day doing the workshop creation that I had missed out on......

Our choice of food for the day was, I think you will find, absolutely perfect.....

And this is what I made....

    Claudia had bought over some gorgeous gifts for me -  there was a parcel loaded with fantastic embellishments along with the most beautiful photos, text and script papers - including a handwritten letter dated 1946....that gave a really sad but very beautiful glimpse of history that she had found in a antiques market.

   With all those treasures I couldn't wait to get started on the shrine that she was going to help me make - Claudia is not only an amazing artist but she is the most brilliant and inspiring teacher! I on the other hand am a very nervous student!!! What if I got it all wrong? ;o) I need not have worried at all!

   The shrine is made from two mini canvas frames, covered in French dictionary paper. This was stuck to the frames with Mod Podge glue and the coated with Mod Podge.

When dry it was covered with a liberal wash of  Decoart Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide. It was important to not paint this neatly - as is my usual practice - neat, neat and neat - but instead just sweep it on, allowing it to pool in places. This was all very much against my instincts and I did struggle to just smoosh and dab in a random manner....

I kept looking at it thinking "This isn't neat and tidy...I really don't like it"....of course it isn't neat and tidy!!! - I had wanted to learn how to paint in a grungy style, and here we are - Grunge city!.....but my mind was still very firmly on neat and tidy....

     Then when this was dry I had to water down some red iron oxide paint and drip it down the canvas....Whoa!!!...not liking that either! But eventually I began to see it as fun...a smoosh here, a splash here....getting it wrong? Nope! there is no wrong!

    Then I had to get some Raw Umber paint and dab around the edges....

I looked at it thinking it was all ruined, I resigned myself to be eternally hopeless at grunge and I would return to my neat and tidy constructions. When the frames were dry I picked them up and my jaw dropped as I looked at them - for the first time I was seeing grunge art as I had wanted it to look and hoped it would look...I was finally doing it! 

It does work!

 Turquoise paint was applied to the center of the frames. Crackle glaze was dabbed over the frames - Claudia said a pupil at the workshop had dabbed it on with a finger instead of a brush (This is a really good method of randomly applying Crackle Glaze!) and then Antiquing cream was applied - I chose to use just the Patina Green Antiquing cream as I wanted the frame to be quite light. Carbon Black could be used to make it even grungier, but I decided not to go that far.

 I chose one of the antique dolls that Claudia had given me for the frame - I applied a wash of Raw Umber acrylic paint to make it look grungy and stuck it onto a circle sticker that had had a rusty effect added with Red Iron oxide paint with Turquoise dabbed onto it as a patina effect.

   

  A rusty heart was added to the other frame with a brass skull.

I stamped some labels and added them to the frames

I then joined them together with a brass hinge and added a brass label holder to the front...

And there it is....my shrine of grungy paint knowledge!

Thank you Claudia for sharing with me some amazing grunge techniques and more importantly for being such a caring and wonderful friend....

Happy crafting!

Laura xxxx

Queen Charlotte

Hi everyone, 

     I am here today with a creation I made a while ago - when I was experimenting with the Andy Skinner rust technique that I featured here at SanDee and amelies steampunk Challenges, I did several experiments with this wonderful technique and here is one of them...

 You can see the video for the Andy Skinner rust technique that I used here

This one (the background in the frame) was a bit of an experimental practice run. I wanted to see how the technique worked with just plain embossed card...

The answer is - not very well (at first) The card buckles as the sand texture paste is drying and the embossing began to lose a lot of detail. I glanced at it and dismissed it as a mistake....but I decided not to waste it anyway and do the paint effects as well....at the very least it was a chance to have a practice run with that as well...

    This one turned out very different to the rust effects on the creation featured here....I applied the paint much thinner....the Paynes Grey was only applied in patches and I did a watered down coat of Quinacridone Gold...I was really impressed by the results!

     So I decided to use it in a creation - and I loved the final piece

   I had a set of trio paper mache frames and decided to cut one down to a single frame and covered the cut end with card. After doing that I covered it with German text paper stuck down with Mod Podge glue. I then covered it with a layer of Mod Podge glue before painting it with Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide.

I then covered it with Crackle glaze

  I dabbed all over the edges with Raw Umber paint

I stuck the rusted embossed card into the frame

A dolls head was lightly painted with raw Umber paint before being stuck onto a brass flower and having a brass crown attached. A brass key was also attached...

Wings were cut out of rivet embossed card and painted with gold acrylic paint before being dry brushed with Raw Umber paint

A chit chat sticker was used that had been dabbed with Vintage Photo DI and attached to a brass frame

A brass screw brad was used to attach brown hemp string to the frame

So there is my Queen Charlotte creation....I hope you like it!

Happy Crafting!

Laura xxx

Tando Tin

Hi everyone!

Bit of a quiet summer for me this year...spending some precious relaxing time with family before the school year begins in September! - I will be back in the Autumn full of fresh ideas, but for now - here is something I made a while ago....

 If any of you follow my wonderful dear friend and OCC team mate Julia you will see where I got my inspiration from! (if you are not following her - why not?!!)

I am, and always have been, an avid follower of her blog and am always looking to learn any little creative trick that she shares....

While I am way off being as talented as Julia is, I do love to use her blog posts for inspiration and her recent teapot post was one of these. I had to have a go.....

I got the tin and gave it a coat of Decoart Gesso - I had never used this product before and I LOVE it! It worked so much better than any other Gesso I have ever used. 

Then I stuck some Tando swirls to the tin lid and covered with another coat of Gesso

 

Then I began to paint inspired by one of Julia's favourite colours - Decoart Media Fluid Acrylic Paint in Green Gold. I have to agree with her - the colour is gorgeous!

I then covered the lid with Decoart Crackle glaze and when dry I covered it with Decoart Carbon Black Antiquing Cream. I left this to dry before wiping away with a baby wipe.

I then dry brushed the lid with a tiny amount of Gold Decoart Media Fluid Acrylic Paint.

I painted some die cuts flowers with a mix of Green Gold, Primary Yellow and Titanium White Decoart Media Fluid Acrylic Paint. The flowers had been embossed and were coated with a coat of Decoart Carbon Black Antiquing Cream which was wiped away when dry with a baby wipe.  I finished the flower off with a light coat of Gold paint and a gold button.

 I used four smaller die cut flowers and painted these with Decoart Media Fluid Acrylic Paint in Gold I dry-brushed the edges with Caron Black and painted a brad with the Carbon Black paint too.

 I glued on some music serviettes to the side of the tin with matte medium and then covered with several coats of Decoart Ultra-Matte Varnish mixed with Green Gold paint. This was also then coated with Carbon Black Antiquing cream before being wiped away...

 Here is the completed altered tin.....

 I do hope you like it

Happy Crafting!

Laura 

xxx