CC3 Challenge 7 page 46 Painted Industrial

Seeing as this has been Steampunk inspired by Truth coffee shop, grab yourself a cup of joe and get ready for a photo heavy post.

This has been the most fabulous piece to play with!  I started with the life size blank traditional dress form which I bought from my local fabric shop.  I scribbled on her with white board marker to give me an idea of where I was going, not that I stuck to the design much, but it helped as a jumping point, and the fact that I could just rub it out and start again was so stress free!  I needed this as she was quite dear.

I then set about steampunking her using the Painted Industrial method shown in Tim's book called Compendium of Curiosities 3 on page 46.  Linda is hosting a challenge based on his book and chooses a different technique for each challenge.  You can read all the rules and join in here.  Every challenge has a Curiosity Crew's Choice winner where the  prize is sponsored by Tim Himself and then every odd numbered challenge like this one is sponsored by Inspiration Emporium.

This was how I started making her "skin"

I used a total of 5 different embossing folders.

Below you can see how I have distressed her skin with Black Soot Distress Paint after following the instructions.

To make the corset different from her skin, I decided to use the Walnut Stain Distress Paint and you can see how I constructed her corset below.

This is her in all her final glory!

I cannot tell you how many metres of sticky backed foil I have used on her, all I can say is a LOT!  My dear Vagabond ran overtime making all the embossed bits for me to stick in place.  

A bit of "skin" visible through the corset.

A close up of her chest where you can see I have added a game spinner from Tim's idea-ology line and some die cut cogs from his Gadget Gears die by Sizzix.

I wanted the back to look a little different from the front so I have made the clock embossed folder rather more aged looking by layering some of the antiqued bronze and walnut stain under the Black soot for extra colour and then took most of the black off the large cog folder so it shines out more on top of her blackened "skin" where I left more of the paint to dry before I stuck this cog on

I put her on a lazy susan and spun her around for this video I shot on my phone so you can see the whole effect in 3D.

I can't wait to take this in to the little habby shop where I buy all the trims, zips, thong and buckles as they do ask what I need all these things for if I don't sew and it was kind of hard to explain...I said I would have to show them when I was done!

What's on My Workdesk Wednesday 268? A Dressform

Hello fellow Desker from Julia's place over at Stamping Ground.

Today I am showing you the partially finished life size Dressform that I am busy with for this ongoing project.

I am also entering her into Linda's CC3 challenge as it is page 46 called Painted Industrial.  Hopefully I will have her finished in time.  I still have to do her clothes on her left hand side and her back.  Her "skin" is done.

So this is me for this week, now I am off to see what you have put up for perusal in your creative space.

What's on My Workdesk Wednesday 267? Lots of Cogs

Hello fellow Desker from Stamping Ground.  Today I have a pile of cogs on my desk.  Still busy with a huge installation project that I am doing samples for.  These are to go on a mannequin.  You might get to see her next week all decked out, but for the moment she is in her all-together...My friend suggested I should run a competition to see how many cogs go into this mammoth project...that means I have to keep count too! oops!

For those who have always been interested in my phone on my desk.  It is a clock and a light!  It runs on batteries and is such fun.  I got it at Typo in November last year.

CC3 challenge 6 on Page 37

Let me start by saying thank you to the Curiosity Crew for choosing my Truth canvas as the winner in challenge 4.  I am looking forward to receiving my stash of Tim products, kindly sponsored by him and Mario.  This week they are sponsoring the prize again and The Funkie Junkie Boutique is back to sponsor Challenge 6, and lovely owner Linda Coughlin is offering a fabulous $25 shopping spree to one very lucky CC3Cer!

I missed out on the last challenge because 2 weeks flew by before I had the chance to even get going.  I was not letting this challenge get away from me!  Challenge 6 is Page 37 from Tim's third book of Compendium of Curiosities on Linda's blog.

Sadly, the burlap canvasses are not available at any of my local craft stores so I had to make do with a Typo (Australian home decor shop which we have in South Africa too)  find of a finer burlap type canvas with a pre-printed letter on it.  In this case it was a Y.

I covered the letter with gesso, but it has shone through...this only happened when the whole lot had dried after I had added my tissue paper which I did while the gesso was damp as I was impatient...so I carried on (after 2 days of pondering what to do, I might add) as there was no going back at this stage cos I didn't have another canvas or any more tissue paper!

Here you can see the Y shining through the paint and the tissue paper, the 3D heart and butterfly sticker that I used on the canvas.

I found this dinky jar of glitter at a toy store.  I think it was being sold as "fairy dust".  I liked the scale of it and added it to my stash months ago which was perfect for the words I had chosen to use on this project.  I glued a heart on its lid to go with the theme.

I love using the drop shadow technique Tim taught us at the convention in March, I even add it to stuff that will throw its own shadow.  The butterfly below looks like it is really thick, but is in fact a sticker.

 Below you can see how flat the sticker is in comparison to the heart, glitter jar and metal embellies.

I was given these lovely circular metal word embellies by a friend and I use them sparingly cos they are precious.  You can see its fake shadow as well as the hearts.  I think they look really real in real life!

In the end, you can't see the Y any more and I learned my lesson...SLOW DOWN!  Over all I am happy at the end, but it was touch and go at one stage and nearly went in the bin!  That was my other lesson from this project.  Persevere, you can't tell what it will look like till you are finished!  I am not usually one to give up easily, but the Y really threw me for a day or two!

What's on My Workdesk Wednesday 266? NOTHING!

Yip NOTHING!

Well, if you discount the castors for under my teared tray on the floor, two large jars...one of acrylic paint and the other of Gel medium, the two Tim scissors and the left over lace that is...

You can nearly see all of the A1 green mat!

Sorry, should have told you to sit down first before making a statement like that!

Ok, off to see if you have something more interesting going on on your desk via our Birthday Girls place over at Stamping Ground!

July Tag for Tim's 12 tags of 2014

Every month I get excited for the 1st of the month because Tim presents us with another tag full of wonderful techniques for us to try.  It is kind of a mini Christmas anticipation feeling, like being a kid all over again!  I love it!

This month was no different and you can see his step by step instructions here.

Just over a year ago, I was gifted a whole lot of Sizzix dies and paper storage cubes etc by a wonderful lady who has since become a dear friend.  Some of the dies she gave me were perfect for this tag!  How AWESOME is that?

I really built up my "sand" to give the shells something to stick into and to add depth to the bottom of the tag.

 I did not have distress embossing powder in the right colour for the starfish, so I used distress glitter instead.

It is winter here, so this little guy took a long time to crack!  But crack he did and oh so nicely!  In the photo below you can see his depth too as I cut him from foam board. 

Roll on 1st of August...I am ready for the next mini Christmas feeling!