We’re about to redecorate our lounge in shades of grey-blue, so I was commissioned to create another altered art canvas similar to this one, but with a matching blue as the main colour. It’s taken a day to do and has laser-cut, 3D printed, buttons, wood and polyurethane-cast elements as well as a few embellishments from my collection.
Back when I was a Craftwork Cards design team member, I came up with a dress form for a papier-mâché torso and it sort of became my trademark make. When thinking of a final project to finish off my decoupage papers, it came to mind to make another, and what better design to use than the Modern Floral?
The dress follows the template available for purchase here. Unfortunately, the torso I use is no longer available from Creativ Company, but may be available elsewhere. I recommend using patterned paper rather than decoupage paper which was a little fragile for all the proper folding.
First Edition Deco Maché Modern Floral decoupage paper is available from Craft Stash.
It seemed only sensible to create a full papier-mâché object – after all decoupage is just one last layer of the process. I chose to make a coin tray using the Modern Floral decoupage paper. The matt adhesive says on the bottle that it will stick to almost any surface… I can attest to that as even cling film was grabbed firmly making one of the usual steps in moulding the papier-mâché a little tricky. Again, I rushed the process (which I have corrected in the list below) which probably made things more difficult for myself. Drying overnight has left the tray very rigid and I’m sure it will hold up in use. Having used the glue, I think it would probably stick firmly enough to the microwave meal tray itself if you didn’t want to do papier-mâché.
Over the last month or so, I have been working on a new sculpture of a dragon. Made from scratch, I first start with a tin foil armature (the essential shape and skeleton of the beast) and then cover it in stages with Pal Tiya, a specialist modelling material that handles like clay but hardens in water. Once the Pal Tiya has cured for a week submerged in the pond, I let it dry. Fine details were modelled with an epoxy clay which sets rock hard over 24 hours. The fibres in the Pal Tiya make fine detail modelling quite difficult, especially at this relatively small scale. I finished off with dry brushed acrylic paint. The sculpture is designed to go outside and should be weather resistant.
I have a penchant for sugar-free mints, especially when they are on show at the till in an Aldi. Their ‘complimints’ come in a small lidded tin, and I have often thought how suited to altered art it would be. So, this weekend I got on with altering one, upcycling it to enclose two mini-albums.
On a recent trip to Co. Antrim (Northern Ireland), I visited the Dark Hedges. Now made famous by ‘Game of Thrones’ using it as the King’s Road, Dark Hedges is an avenue of ancient beech trees. As a memento of the visit, I’ve created this layered shadowbox using a photo I took. The card is 300gsm to maintain the stiffness of each layer, particularly of the branches which are too slim for glue/foam pads.
I cheated a little by duplicating a couple of the trees, tweaking their branches rather than creating five trees from scratch. I think with the intermingling of the branches, there is sufficient distraction for me to get away with it 🙂
I found it tricky to get the depth of field and wonder if the left-hand side needs a third tree. Overall, the 3D effect seems to be effective – which is just as well as it took ages to achieve! There are seven layers front to back, with the road slanted front to back to emphasise the depth of field.
A little while ago, I managed to get hold of some empty cigar boxes. One caught my eye, a wooden one, and a quick spray of white paint later, it was ready for a makeover. All I need to do now is find a place to put it (or a buyer!).
My crafting mojo has wandered off, somewhat inconveniently for earning an income, but hey ho, it happens. I have been doing some ‘pottering’ in the studio though and here are a few altered art pieces I have managed to get made…
I mentioned that I’d been working on some Christmas projects after hearing that I have been given a table at a very popular craft fair in November. Here are six MDF Christmas lanterns for tealights – they are 10cm cubed and will contain a glass tealight holder. I had a fair bit of brain ache when working out what would work without bits dropping out if they weren’t connected to anything else. I obviously got it right as nothing is missing, and I was chuffed to cut each design correctly on the first go.
I’ve been playing with resin this week and in these overlarge bottle caps (5.5cm diameter) I’ve added clock parts and snowflakes over a resinated book page. I love the layering that is achievable with resin, and the depth the layers create within the piece. I’ve completed seven different pieces designed to be used as Christmas tree decorations, perhaps with a steampunk theme? Resin isn’t cheap so each of these will be £7.50 each.
Unfortunately, due to the gloss reflections, the photographs don’t do them justice! The snowflakes are more translucent white than opaque grey and layer well within the resin.
