Documented - for SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges

Servus, hi and welcome to my blog!
Today I am sharing my make for our March challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges.


As always our challenge theme is "Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial" and I decided to go for a vibrant orange rusty colour scheme this time.

I've used some Calico Craft Parts again (as I need to use up more of these with non-design-team-projects for their blog due to increasing storage space issues...well, I guess you know what I am talking about).

I have used one of their oval shaped MDF Mixed Media Boards together with the beautiful Steampunk Multiframe wood shape and a screw head from their collection of mini hardware wood shapes alongside some of my favourite DecoArt and DecoArt media paints and products.

The portraits of the three gentlemen were taken from a sheet of Tim Holtz designer paper (I think it was from one of his Halloween themed paper stashes) and I have also used one of his Quotations Metallic Stickers.

I started with punching two holes so the panel could be mounted if I wanted to.

Next I cut the portraits to size and glued them behind the multiframe using matte DecoArt Decou-Page. Once that had dried I added a thick layer of DecoArt Triple Thick on top of all the three portraits and set the multiframe aside to dry naturally.

This is how the dried Triple Thick looks...

In the meantime I had painted the oval board with a thorough layer of DecoArt Americana Burnt Orange acrylic paint.

While that dried, I painted the cogs on the multiframe using Burnt Orange Americana paint and DecoArt Extreme Sheen paint "Vintage Brass" using a detail brush.

For more texture I stamped a bit of a rust pattern onto the raised cogs frames using an Andy Skinner stamp and black archival stamping ink.

Later, after the Triple Thick had fully cured, I added a wash of DecoArt media Burnt Umber fluid acrylic paint on top of the painted cogs to tone everything down a bit.

I wanted to create a worn looking crackled background on my oval panel, so I used a pot of DecoArt media clear Crackle Glaze that had been open for quite a long time which had the Crackle Glaze start to dry out a little - instead of being quite liquid-y it had become a kind of paste - but could still be applied with a palette knife. I love to use this older Crackle Glaze as it doesn't level out as the fresh stuff does. This way you can build up layers of Crackle Glaze and get more uneven edges around the areas that weren't covered by it.

I've tried to capture the look of the dried and crackled plate so you can see the areas that were matte - which means there was no Crackle Glaze applied - against the glossy, crackled ones. This forms the base for a cool effect I wanted to create...

...by applying a mix of Carbon Black and Raw Umber DecoArt media Antiquing Cream onto the whole panel and letting it cure.

If you then go in with a soft damp cloth and wipe back the Antiquing Cream from the glossy areas (where the Crackle Glaze also works as a kind of resist while the matte areas take on the Antiquing Creams nicely), you get beautifully contrasting areas of bright orange with visible crackles against darker areas with matte texture.

Once that had dried, I applied DecoArt Gold Rush Metallic Lustre around the panel's edges and the edges of all the cogs using my fingertip.

Using a brush I diluted a bit of the Metallic Lustre to add sprinkles to the panel by loading the brush ad tipping against it with my other hand.

I decided to add a screw head to one of the cogs and painted that with the Metallic Lustre too.

For more dimension I stacked some sticky foam before I mounted the multiframe to the oval panel.

Then I finished off my steampunk panel by adding a word sticker.

I had added some Gold Rush Metallic Lustre to the sticker's edges too before putting it in place.

Done!

Some close ups:

and once more the finished panel: 

I hope you like it!

I hope to see you play along with us soon and of course you need to check out the team's makes to get your full dose of amazing steampunk mixed media inspiration! ;) 

Simply click HERE to get to our challenge blog to find out more! 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx