Steampunk Jewellery Plier Stands (by Anne)

I have been meaning to decorate my jewellery plier stands for ages and finally got them finished.

I had a bit of a problem with these in that they started off as a plain varnished wood surface. I initially coated them with white Gesso with a view to painting them with acrylics. However, the Gesso did not bind well to the varnish layer – eek! All ideas were halted. These need to be fairly robust and a tonne of flaky chips after a short use was not what I wanted!

I then discovered Powertex and yay, I would be able to rescue and decorate my plier stands after all. Coating the entire surface with rice papers and torn kitchen towels would create a tough protective skin over the surface and prevent the feared chipping off of the base layers.

HOW IT WAS DONE

I first collected together lots of embellishments; die cut cogs and pipework (Sizzix dies), MDF Keyplate (Powertex), metal clock hand and chains, old light bulbs and screws.

I tore out images from Creative Rice Paper (Powertex). This particular sheet seems to be out of stock but there is a similar Victorian Steampunk Paper available. I also separated layers of kitchen paper and tore them into pieces to coat the surface. This would add texture and a protective layer.

STAGE ONE

First I applied the torn decorative papers using Easy Coat Mat Medium. Ivory Powertex was then painted on to blend in the image edges.

STAGE TWO

Next layers of kitchen paper were bonded all over the surface. Some were glued down with Ivory and some with Terracotta Powertex. Die cut card embellishments were also coated with Powertex and glued down.

Texture was added by applying Easy Structure Paste through a texture stencil.

I also had a try at the rust technique. I mixed some Rusty Powder into Ivory Powertex along with a few drops of white wine vinegar. This was painted and dribbled over the surface (extra powder sprinkled on top) and spritzed with water and vinegar before leaving overnight to develop. I spritzed at intervals, several times. I avoided the areas that will be in contact with my pliers. 

STAGE THREE

Next I brushed over and added colour using Acrylic Inks in Tangerine, Egg Yolk, Aqua and Metallic Gold.  

STAGE FOUR

I also applied a little gold Pebeo Gilding Wax on some areas. When fully dry and cured (I left them for 3 weeks) I coated the surface with Easy Varnish to fully seal and protect.

I have included lots of images of how all the surfaces were built up.  

Texture and die cut cogs have been added. 

Rust and colour added. 

Side finished with stronger thick greyboard embellishments. Any large embellishments protruding from edges need to be strong (thinner card would be prone to warp and bend).

I started with a larger clock image on the other side. 

Die cuts and texture added plus a metal clock hand for dimension. 

Finally finished with thicker embellishments and more dry brush work and gilding wax.

Love this character. 

Texture and layers built up. Waiting for the rust to develop. 

Building up the layers of transparent colour makes so much difference.

The second plier stand started off in the same way. 

At this stage you might feel like giving up. What a mess! 

Just keep going, adding layers of rust texture and colour. 

Just loving the gorgeous layers of texture and colour.

I used several layers of the die cut pipework together to make them thicker and stronger on this side.

Wooohooo – this is soooooo yummy (or is it just me – tee hee).

Another end panel. 

I used an MDF keyplate (Powertex) to embellish this end. 

The final colouring makes such a difference.

The final side had a couple of little storage wells. I won’t really be using these so a perfect place to embellish with larger items. 

I had fun adding recycled light bulbs, screws and bits of chain etc. I used structure paste and Powertex treated kitchen paper as a 3D glue to hold things in place. 

Initially I had added a thinner die cut cog to the end but it wasn’t really strong enough. Here I added another thick greyboard cog over the first. Much more practical. I also added a small MDF Butterfly.

Here you can see more of the Steampunk treasures added. I also added some 3D Sand and Balls. 

Love this Steampunk birdie peering out.

Well I hope that all these pictures have not overwhelmed you. I wanted to show how all the stages were built up. It also shows the stages that look awful, perhaps where a beginner might give up! Remember, if it all goes wrong just keep applying colour, inks or coloured varnishes. If this fails and you are really not happy – just paint over the whole thing with a base colour of Powertex and start again.

Hugs, Anne xxx.

The White rabbit's watch

                    If you see the White Rabbit please tell him I've found his pocket watch! 

 I've used the ivory Powertex to stick and paint my March project pack together and sprinkled on sand and balls to give some amazing texture. 

Then I sprinkled some of the black bister crystals onto my work where I wanted some real depth.  I diluted my blue and green bisters and put them into spray bottles I gave everything a really good spray, this diluted the black crystals and it seeped around the textured areas just as I had hoped.

When everything was dry I mixed some rusty powder with some vinegar, sand and ivory Powertex and used an old brush to apply this where I wanted my rust. Over the next 24 hours I resprayed the watch with a vinegar and water mix to reactivate the rusting effect. When I was happy with the rust I left everything to dry and brushed on Powercolor and Colortrix pigments mixed with Easy Varnish to accentuate a few areas and add some metallic elements.

I hope you like the results! 

Thanks for looking, Traceyx

Wonderful Egyptian Journals

It was fantastic to be able to have the space to create a canvas when I was up at hq. But it wouldn't be a project from me if it wasn't a journal really. So here are three journal designs I put together for the Egyptian show.

To start with I coated  bases of the Tut and Nefertiti journal with yellow ochre Powertex. With the scarab journal I used black Powertex on the base. I then stenciled a sand and Ivory powertex mix through the wonderful things stencil on the covers. I coated the Tutankhamen and Nefertiti heads with a little of this sandy mix to give an extra bit of texture to the plaster busts. 

I made some easy 3d flex clay and stamped into it with the stamps I specifically designed for the range which were the Heiro Heaven for the Nefertiti and Tut journals.

 Scarabella stamp for the front of the scarab journal. Some hessian for an extra bit of texture. I also used some of the mdf pyramid and ank trio on the front of this one. The pyramid was stencilled and the ank I put a little clay on the front and stamped into it. I did the same for the ank and pyramid on the back of this journal. The cracking of the easy 3d flex gives them extra dimension and lots of texture. For the inside of this journals covers I placed some rice paper over a black and gold base.

The first image was stuck straight on to the darker base and the second I painted a little ivory powertex on first before putting the rice paper on. It was interesting to see the different effects that you could get using them on the different coloured surfaces.

I sprayed all the journals with brown bister and then dry brushed for the varying shades of colour. The pages were also sprayed with the brown bister to make them looked aged and I also stamped some of the pages. Hope you are inspired by this wonderful range, we'd love you to share you makes on the powertex addicts united page on facebook. We love to see what you have been creating. Toodles Anna xXx