Altered Art: Book Folding

Posted on 31st August 2015 by perfectly4med

Regular readers of my blog will know that when I try something new, I tend to go straight for it, often not practicing first, and sometimes not really having any clue as to how the finished project will turn out. Well, I was recently asked by one of my Studio regulars if I had tried book folding… I haven’t, despite it being all the rage at the moment.
I thought it couldn’t be that hard, so decided to fold the Studio logo () into a spare hardback (The Tommmyknockers, if you’re wondering). I watched a quick video on YouTube, and got on with it. Two hours later I discovered that to avoid the art piece apparently advertising a Jackie Collins book title, I’m going to have to stick in a few more pages…

What I have learnt doing this: firstly, it takes time. A lot of time. Secondly, italics and swooshes need more pages. Thirdly, too many letters makes for poor resolution and difficult to read final result. And finally, I think this may be addictive, and I’m going to work on the method more so that I can be even more ambitious with the art form. Time to hit the charity shops methinks…

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Inspiration Seeds: an altered art assemblage

Posted on 2nd April 2015 by perfectly4med

I recently undertook a house clearance, and one of the items that caught my eye was a wooden caddy that had been used for many years to keep tea bags in:
I decided this box needed a new lease of life, and rescued it from the pile destined for the tip. A quick discussion in one of my Tuesday evening groups came up with the suggestion to make it a seed storage box. After a bit of a rub down, addition of some moulded embellishments and some cut and layered lettering, I painted everything with Americana Decor Chalky Finish in Lace:
I then decided to age it, and covered it in tarmac and left it over night to ‘set’ before cleaning it back to get the vintage look.

It was at this point the seed of an idea took root and I decided that it would become a ‘seeds of inspiration’ box and went on to cut out and make matchboxes, pillow boxes and seed packets ready for my collection. Over the past few weeks I have filled, labelled and collected and here present my altered art assemblage ‘Inspiration Seeds’:

Now when I have a creative block, I can dip into my box, and with just a few items can hopefully spark off the next piece of creative genius.

Sandy Toes Beach Hut Clock (for Jones Crafts)

Posted on 16th December 2014 by perfectly4med

This month I have the gorgeously summery ‘Sandy Toes’ collection from Kaisercraft to play with. I also got sent a Candy Box Crafts Bird Box Clock Kit to work with… So I combined them both to make this beach hut themed clock.

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Altered Art Baccy Tin

Posted on 27th November 2014 by perfectly4med

I once smoked cigars, back when I had money to burn. Cigar boxes are great for altering. Then came the career change and I switched to an occasional pipe, and no longer were boxes in ready supply. Instead I have an increasing pile of round tobacco tins, as I was sure I would find a use for them (other than hoarding screws in them that is). Well yesterday I had a spark of inspiration (I blame the new medication) and I’ve spent some time using skills with a piercing saw that I picked up at college. A pierced celtic knot allows the contained pot-pourri pong to escape and gives tantalising glimpses of the bits ‘n’ bobs included. Perfect piece of pungent upcycling!

Top tips:

Find stencil patterns to adapt – that way you know whole chunks you wanted to keep won’t suddenly fall into the bin
Remove all labels and adhesive from the tin before you start cutting
Use a decent piercing saw and a blade with high number of teeth per inch for a smooth cut – change regularly even if you don’t manage to break the blade
Use a jeweller’s bench peg to work on as it’s so much safer and easier
Regularly clean your cutting surface of the metal burrs – I didn’t at the start and that’s what has sanded off the gold around the edge
Mark the cutting lines on the inside of the lid and cut upside down as well – this reduces the bounce of the metal as you can hold it closer to the bench peg
Work from the middle out to help keep everything as rigid as possible
If you need to flatten out the final piercing, hit with a flat hammer onto a flat surface a couple of times.

‘Made In The Image Of God’ Mirror

Posted on 1st July 2014 by perfectly4med

I’ve been using the tarmac technique again today, again on a trusty Ikea mirror. This time, I’ve used my Silhouette Cameo to cut shapes and letters from 300gsm card which I’ve stuck down directly to the frame. I kept the waste to use as a stencil later to layer the colours. Both colours are metallic, and much more iridescent in reality than in the picture. Careful masking with the waste layer and touching up with a brush allowed the lettering to be picked out against the main colour. I put an Art Deco style border around the mirror itself just to pick it out a bit more – of course, the viewer will be framed nicely. Add a bit of bitumen, rub back, and the piece is done.

Available to purchase (or order), £25, p&p extra. Please email with your requirements.

Upcycled Mini-Egg Tube Storage Solution

Posted on 27th March 2014 by perfectly4med

The master of crafty invention, Tim Holtz (along with his friends at Ranger Ink), has come up with a brand new mini-applicator tool for the ever popular Distress Inks – if you’ve not come across it yet, it’s circular and smaller than his previous rectangular ones. I’m still waiting on my order for the tool, but I had a delivery of the replacement foams…

I came up with a storage dispenser for the foams, but the design was a little flimsy and I wasn’t entirely happy with it. As I was munching through some Cadbury’s mini-eggs (don’t you just love this time of year?) I was pondering the design… and then realised as I was about to chuck the tube away that it might be the solution. A quick check showed it was just the right diameter to take the foams, and a new design was born. Before… and after:

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Design Team Call: Second Round

Posted on 1st October 2013 by perfectly4med

I managed to get through to the second round of the Creative Expressions Design Team Call 2013-14, and the next challenge was to create a project using their ‘Belle of the Ball’ stamp set. This comes as a rubber sheet which needs cutting up and mounting on the foam backing suitable for use with acrylic blocks – some of the images could have done with a little more space round them, but I managed 🙂

The closing date was yesterday, which allows me to share the projects with you – and yes, I did more than one: one to show I can make a card, another to demonstrate I can think outside the box, and a third to demonstrate altered art and making something out of a cheap pound-shop photo frame. The centre canvas one is quite a size, and even the bow is adapted from the dress stamps. The frame one is a 4×6″ aperture, with the centre coloured dress mounted in front of the glass – printed with Versacraft black ink onto white cotton and coloured with ProMarkers.

I’ll share another tip with you – the label that accompanies the rubber stamp sheet laminates well, and the foam covered stamps stick nicely to it and the whole lot still slides nicely into the original packaging. Perfect storage solution 🙂

Altered Art Book Pages for a card

Posted on 28th September 2013 by perfectly4med

It’s my turn to post again over at the Crafting Cafe, and this month the theme is ‘altered art’ with the sponsor once again the fabulous Delicious Doodles. I’ve printed their Pansy & Butterfly digistamp directly onto old dictionary pages – for more details, go to my post on the design team blog.

Christmas Stained Glass

Posted on 5th November 2012 by perfectly4med

I’ve just posted my latest WOW! Embossing Powder project over at the design team blog. I learnt quite a lot about embossing powder onto glass! Follow the link to also learn how I managed to take a photo of a mirror without being in it…