A Toilet Roll Steampunk Tag Album - and a DecoArt Tutorial

Hello, servus and welcome back for another tutorial for the DecoArt International Design Team Blog (featuring Andy Skinner) which I am proudly part of!

Browsing the net I recently found some wonderful mini tag albums made from toilet rolls and I felt the urge to finally do one of these myself!

And as some of you might already know Meresanth from "Meresanth Krafts" has recently opened her brand new online store "Retro Kraft Shop" where she offers the most wonderful vintage steampunk crafting goodies.

She generously sent some more of her treasures along with my order so I could have a play with them and create a project for her shop blog - and this is the result:

It was a lot of fun to play with all the watch parts and lovely embellishments, lace ribbon and designer papers! But now on to the promised tutorial:


To make your own mini tag album you will need:





- DecoArt white Acrylic Gesso
- DecoArt Americana Acrylic colours "Red Iron Oxide" and "Sea Breeze"
- DecoArt Dazzling Metallics "Bronze"
- DecoArt Decou-page matte







- some bristle brushes
- 5 toilet rolls (and your Sizzix or Cuttlebug to get them real flat)
- a tool for making eyelets
- wire and some pliers
- designer papers of your choice
- scissors, glue, eventually some sticky foam pads
- some small tags (or the Sizzix "Tag and  Tie" die, which I used for my tags)
- some stamps and stamping ink for further embellishment
- Distress ink "rusty hinge"
- various kinds of washi tape


Items used for embellishing this project that are also available on Meresanth's Retro Kraft Shop:
- Prima "Printerie" stamp set
- Vintage Neutral - K&Company Paper Pack
- Bronze Metal Branch
- Bronze Metal Key 4
- Watch Dials and other Watch Parts
- White Lace 
  

Step 1

Flatten your toilet rolls using a bone folder or (even better) your Sizzix or Cuttlebug.

Step 2

Give the rolls a thick coat of white DecoArt Gesso.

Step3

Take the DecoArt Dazzling Metallic "Bronze" and paint your rolls once the Gesso has dried.

To do so load your brush with some colour and stipple the colour onto the edge of your roll:

Then use the same brush (or your fingertips) to direct some of the applied colour towards the roll's center with gentle and fast strokes:

See to it that you don't work too evenly. Let Mr. Random be your guide ;)

Step 4 

Next apply some DecoArt Americana "Sea Breeze" - but this time the colour has to be stippled on and around the edges - that way it looks like spots of verdigris patina.

Step 5

Load a brush with some heavily diluted DecoArt Americana "Red Iron Oxide" and sprinkle a lot of stains on your rolls and do this from both sides. This will add a little more depth to the bronze look. 

Step 6

Punch some holes for the eyelets. You can set the eyelets right now but can also add them later.

Step 7

Cut five tags from designer papers using the Sizzix "Tag and Tie" die and your cutting machine. 

Step 8

Choose some designer papers for all sides of your painted rolls and cut them to rectangles that don't cover the eyelets and leave an edge about at least half a finger's width - so your beautifully painted edges remain visible. Leave one of your painted rolls untreated - we will later use it to create the cover.

I also distressed and then blended the edges of my cut to size paper panels with DI "rusty hinge"before I glued them in place.

Step 9

Add some pieces of washi tape here and there. Create layers and overlaps.

Step 10

To make the cover wrap some lace around the "front roll" and glue it in place. Then embellish to your liking. 

I used some watch parts, metal embellishments and some stamping on the cover. But you can do whatever you are up to.

Step 11

Cut two pieces of wire to size (depending on how many pages your album shall have). (leave a bit more on both ends to form two tiny rings at each end - but for now leave the ends straight so you can insert them through the eyelets). 

Bend your two wire pieces into circles by "wrapping" them around one of the DecoArt colour bottles' caps. They have the perfect diameter for book rings ;). Assemble the album before you finish the wire ends!

Step 12

Assemble your mini album once you have embellished all the pages. 

Insert your cut out tags. 

Curl up the wire ends at least once (see picture above) to close the rings. Then use pliers to form small rings at all ends, so no one gets hurt by any sharp and pointy wire ends. 

Done!

On the inside of my album I used some of my newly "found relatives" from my last visit at the flea market at the famous Vienna Naschmarkt. I made colour copies and blended the edges with DI "rusty hinge".

I hope you can see at least a bit of the shine of the DecoArt Dazzling Metallic "Bronze" - as it looks so very cool!

I love the colour contrast of the "verdigris" and the shiny bronze! It is what keeps the album's design together.

I had to fix the spring to the cover with a brad. All the other embellishments were glued on using DecoArt Decou-page matte and/or sticky foam pads.

The tiny metal branch was fixed to the clock face using a small piece of thin wire.

And don't these calendar rings look just great? The bell jar image is a stamp from the Prima "Printerie" stamp set (as are the stamped words and the "Welcome" at the back cover).

I hope you will be making your own toilet roll steampunk albums soon! Thank you ever so much for stopping by and the encouraging comments! (Ssssst...he's my personal favourite: ;)

Hugs and happy crafting,
Claudia x