Part one

of a planned 3.  I'm not religious but really like images of Madonna & Child and saw an article in a book which inspired me to have a go with my version. 

The base is a piece of board (21cm x 26cm) which has been covered in black velvet and painted.

The image was printed onto Decal Waterslide paper and transferred to copper sheet.  This was supposed to be stitched using the free motion stitching on my sewing machine but the guage of the copper was too thick really so I only ended up doing a small amount on the image by hand but did stitch the border on the machine.

The celtic knot and roundels are made out of copper and embossed.  Coloured with alcohol inks and glass paint.

The copper borders have been inked, machine stitched and a string of beads added.  Right, off to look for some thinner copper sheet and practise my free motion stitching as it isn't as easy as it looks on Youtube! Lol!

A gift for

Nicks birthday. Both are projects that I found in a book called "The Art of Stitching on Metal". Thankfully, I confessed this to Nicks as it turns out she has the same book! Lol! The dish is 3 different types of copper that have been heat treated and woven together. The woven piece is then placed on Kunin felt with a piece of chiffon over the top.

The whole lot is stitched together on a sewing machine and then heat distressed with a heat gun. The felt melts to give a lacy pattern and the chiffon melts away. You can distress as much or as little as you like. Whilst the metal is still warm, you bend and pinch the sides to give the dish its shape.

This may look easy but it was an absolute nightmare trying to hold it all together whilst getting an old temperamental sewing machine to do it's stuff! I did have plastic pegs holding the weave in place but decided to try and change the colour of the copper with my heat gun. That didn't work and it bonded the plastic peg with the silk and copper mesh. Blood, sweat and tears this project cost me! Lol!

The seed pod gift bag is a piece of thick silk edged with a decorative fibre with copper mesh on top. There are two larger outer pieces and two smaller inner pieces. Shaped and tied with the decorative fibre.

Altered Doll Challenge

Went to a car boot sale and found my Barbie; just ripe for a transformation. I originally wanted a smooth finish to my project, like brushed metal, but that meant she still stood out as a Barbie. Also, all those years of wearing high heels had made her not be able to stand flat so I knew mounting my figurine was going to be tricky.

So the textured look it was. Cut off her and bandaged her all over. Mixed some papier mache with pva and covered her all over. I had a pebble that I'd bought years ago as a tealight holder and I thought that would make a good stand for her. Unfortunately, because of the tippy toes and the generous proportions of her upper half, she would not become stable.

In the end I filled the cavity in the pebble with plaster of paris and stuck her into it but that didn't look right. Mixed some more papier mache and layered it on her and over the pebble to make it look like she's stood on the pebble with her dress draping over it.

Made some wings from copper mesh, outlined with krylon pen and sprayed with Glimmer Mist. And her crowning glory, a halo from copper wire.

I still have an action man to alter too but that will have to wait. But, at least he has flat feet. Lol!

Altered Fork

for a challenge set by Nicks & Heidi on Docrafts. Thanks to Nicks for traipsing round a car boot and providing me with said cutlery.

I never realised how sturdy forks are when deliberately trying to bend them!!

Decided to use my fork like a hand (albeit a very arthritic looking hand!) to hold all the charms I received in the charm swap. Mmmmmm basically because I couldn't think of anything else. Lol!

Jigsaw charms

made for a swap on Docrafts. Those jump rings and chains were very fiddly! Lol!

Bracelets

made with safety pins and beads. Saw this at a bead fair recently and thought it was quite effective and some (cheat) beading that I actually might be able to do (Lol) so gave it a go. The prong of the safety pin is loaded with beads and fastened. The head is then squashed slightly from the sides in to form a sealed hole in the centre of the head. These are all threaded with clear elastic thread, alternating top and bottom on each pin and with a bead also between each pin.

On Docrafts, Nicks set an altered art challenge and that was to alter a tin. I decided on a tuna tin and I wanted to use the tombstone moulds I'd recently bought. I'd also seen in a book a Day of the Dead Angel made out of tin and I wanted to have a go. That was after I couldn't get hold of the right size skeleton for love nor money!

Papered the inside of the tin, made the shelves, books and bible. Put soap in the little bowl and a Day of the Dead piccy in the frame and that was the interior sorted. Outer painted and an unamable subastance was used for moss. Lol!

Decided in the end that I prefer it without the Angel but she can always go back on if she fancies a change of abode.

Art House

After some prompting, I'm updating my blog. Not that I've done anything except this for Heidi's birthday.

I haven't done anything in purely black & white before and was inspired by a drawing I saw somewhere in b&w where it had a half triangular face. Anyway, I used my eyes and lips stamps into fimo which I'd rolled out quite thin with a rolling pin and then trimmed to size with scissors once 'cooked'. Square stamps onto mountboard and covered in deep embossing crystals. Also stamped into more fimo with the squirly stamp and painstakingly coloured alternate black bits. Same applied to top bit but stamped into black fimo and coloured with a white pen. This didn't work so well, hence only the small bit. Lol! Stamped bamboo tiles, a crown, bottle caps, grungeboard smoke, and clay bits and Bob's your uncle.