Starshine Salon: May 2013

Faux Fused Glass Pendant

You can make faux fused glass pendants with Sakura Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul Mixers!

I had just made some “Crystal Lacquer film” for a project I had in mind when I saw Tammy Tutterow’s tutorial on making faux fused glass pendants with shrink plastic and Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE). It looked like fun, but I wanted to try it with my Crystal Lacquer film instead of shrink plastic, so I postponed the project-in-progress and used my “film” to make my own faux fused glass pendant.

Here’s how I make the Crystal Lacquer film. The base is the package from a set of metal dies. I pour in some Crystal Lacquer, add Terri Sproul Mixers and stir. The package has a little rim that holds in the Crystal Lacquer. These were made with Copper Penny and Green Pearl. When the Crystal Lacquer sets up, it is adhered to the plastic. You can cut it with scissors or in a diecutter.

I diecut some hearts.

Then I heated UTEE in a Melting Pot. A word of caution: The Embossing Enamel and parts of the Melting Pot get very hot!

I punched holes in my hearts and put a piece of thin wire through each hole. Using the wire as a
handle, I dipped each heart into the melted UTEE. The Crystal Lacquer film became very flexible
when heated, so it is better to have a nice deep reservoir of melted UTEE and make a quick dip. If you have to move the piece around in the UTEE for too long, it can become distorted (which might
be a cool effect for some projects).

I set the hearts to cool on a heat-resistant nonstick sheet.

While you are dipping your pieces, you can scrape them against the edge of the Melting Pot to remove excess UTEE. I was trying to get a thick coating of UTEE and ended up with the UTEE dripping off my pieces. I trimmed it off with scissors while it was still warm and smoothed out the edges by heating them with a heat gun. I removed the wires and cleaned out the holes with a small round file.

Then I made some jewelry! Here is one of the hearts with a brass charm on a chain:

And here is one with a brass charm on a memory wire choker with glass beads:

This process is easy and has so many possibilities! You can include embellishments or combine
multiple pieces for more complex pendants!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Sakura Hobby Craft, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (0)

Circus Invitation from Sin City Stamps

I made the easiest invitation with the new Steampunk Circus stamps from Sin City Stamps. This new plate has several clown stamps, a bunch of phrases, the cutest little gears and a few other things, as well!

This invitation is perfect for a circus, carnival or clown theme party! You could easily make a stack of these and then use the same stamps, along with the others from the Steampunk Circus plate, to make favors and decorations.

I set up all the text with my word processing software and printed it onto ivory cardstock. The
invitation fits into a standard business envelope, which you can get in lots of different colors at craft, stationery and office supply stores. I spaced the text so I could fit in the images I wanted to use and still trim the invitation to 3 7/8 inch by 9 ¼ inch to fit into the 4 1/8 inch by 9 ½ inch envelope. The typeface is called Showcase Gothic.

I stamped the images with ColorBox Chalk Ink in Blackbird. I stamped a few with StazOn ink in black, and it did show the detail very well, but it just didn’t have the richness of the chalk ink. I had planned to add color to some of the images, but once I added the color to the text, I decided I liked the invitation the way it was.

I am using the first invitation to invite YOU to a Clowning Around Blog Hop with the Sin City Stamps Design Team! On June 8^th, each Design Team member’s blog will feature a “Clowning
Around” project using Sin City Stamps. Start at the Sin City Stamps blog to visit all the participating sites and get details on how to win a prize!

See you then!

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Paper Crafting, Sin City Scraps, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (0)

Steampunk Fairy Wings for Sakura's Fantasy Blog Hop

Welcome to Sakura’s Fantasy Blog Hop! Our Design Team has been dreaming up new projects for you! When you get to the end of this post, just click on the Linky icon to visit all the participating
blogs. You can enter to win two bottles of Crystal Lacquer by commenting on each designer’s project and then voting on your favorite in a comment on the Sakura Hobby Craft blog. And for the month of May, you can save 20% off your total purchase by entering the code "Sakura05" at checkout!

My fantasy project is a set of Steampunk Fairy Wings. In the picture above, I fastened them to one
of my handcrafted mannequins with a piece of my hand dyed seam binding (that’s my newest color). Here they are on their own:

Sakura's Crystal Lacquer made this project so simple! You don’t have to measure or mix it. You just apply it where you want it!

I started with a pair of fairy wings from a local flea market:

I cut away the fabric and chose only the top portions of the wings. I thought I would have to sand away the white finish, but once I started to sand, I saw that I could pretty easily peel the coating off.

I chose some metal gear embellishments and then colored the wings and some of the gears with Vintaj patinas. The gears came in two sizes, and I wanted some a little larger, so I cut a few out of metallic paper with the Spellbinders Sprightly Sprockets dies.

I chose the paper I wanted to use as a base, traced the wing frame onto the pages, and cut the wing shapes out. I decided to put gears on only on side, but I wanted something pretty for the other side.

I glued the paper wings together with Crystal Lacquer. I added a little distress ink to the edges of the "reverse" side and then coated both sides with more Crystal Lacquer. I adhered the clock side of the paper to the frame with a little more Crystal Lacquer.

I put the gears in place using more Crystal Lacquer as glue.

When that had set a little, I poured Crystal Lacquer into my frame, making sure it filled all the holes in the gears:

You can see the Crystal Lacquer ran outside the frame. That happened because the frame wasn’t
perfectly flat; the lacquer followed the curve and ran out. But it was easy to fix! When the crystal Lacquer was set but not hard, I just cut the excess off with a pair of scissors.

The Crystal Lacquer is somewhat opaque while it is wet, but it dries perfectly clear:

To hold the wings together and allow them to move, I glued the wings to a metal hinge with Crystal Lacquer. Here’s the side that you see from the front of the mannequin:

And one more shot of the gear side:

The wings are about 8.5 inches tall. I wish they were big enough for me to wear!

I hope you will try making your own fairy wings! As always, I welcome any questions you may have!

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

P.S. Don’t forget to visit all the blogs in today’s hop. Just click on the Linky:

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Mixed Media, Sakura Hobby Craft, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (20)

Time Warp Altered Sakura Milk Can

My second milk can project is a companion piece to my first ("Time Flies") and a tribute to one of my favorite movies, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Even if you’ve never watched this cult classic, you’ve probably heard parts of the soundtrack, including “Time Warp.”

Here’s the milk can without embellishment:

I love how Crystal Lacquer sticks to metal! I prepared my paper to cover my can. This is a vintage clock face on cardstock, stamped with my phrase in ColorBox Chalk Ink in Dark Brown and painted with 7 Gypsies Color Wash in Walnut Forest.

I coated the cylindrical portion of the can with Crystal Lacquer using a foam paint brush, put the paper in place, and coated the paper with more Crystal Lacquer. When the Crystal Lacquer was dry to the touch, I added another layer on top of the first.

I had these lovely doll parts that remind me of the friend who first took me to see Rocky Horror:

I sewed the arms to the handles on the sides with button thread. I punched holes in the can, matching the holes in the doll bust, then tied the doll head to the can with embroidery floss. I used Crystal Lacquer to glue the bottom of the can to the top of a vintage tin turned upside down:

Finally, I made my Time Warp Doll a watch face necklace:

I hope you will try making your own creations with Crystal Lacquer. During the month of May, you can get 20% off your total order at Sakura Hobby Craft. Now is the perfect time to try Crystal Lacquer and Sakura’s other great products! Just enter the code “Sakura05” at checkout.

Also, Sakura is hosting a blog hop on May 18^th! The theme is “Fantasy” and Sakura’s Design
Team is dreaming up amazing art to share with you on that day! There will be prizes, too! So be sure to check back here on May 18^th!

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Mixed Media, Recycled/Repurposed, Sakura Hobby Craft, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (1)

Art Journal with Sin City Stamps and Terri Sproul

This is the first page of my first art journal!

Sin City Stamps has a new plate of Art Journal stamps just in time for Terri Sproul’s online art journal class!

Terri offers a free online mixed media art class every Tuesday night at 9 p.m. Eastern time. To get all the information and links for the classes, visit the All Things Terri Sproul Facebook page. Terri is a great teacher and I love her classes. She is knowledgeable and generous with her knowledge, laid back and fun.

Right now, Terri is presenting a series of Art Journal classes. Each week, she shares an idea or technique and then asks the class members to interpret the idea or technique in their own ways. You don’t have to participate to watch, but it is pretty fun to try out new things! If you missed the first couple of classes, you can watch recordings of them.

The new Sin City Journal stamps include the words “Art” and “Journal” plus some interesting textures and patterns, as well as an alphabet block, a number block and a pretty flower. I will be using these stamps throughout my journal.

My page is the first “homework assignment” for the class. Terri asked students to buy or make a blank journal and to get some supplies. The supply list appears at the top of the All Things Terri Sproul page. But you don’t have to get everything on the list!

For the first page, students were asked to get some acrylic paints in colors they liked. I found these on clearance:

I got the Strathmore Mixed Media Journal that Terri recommended, and I’m really glad I did. The paper is nice and heavy, so it stood up to all that I did to it. Before I did anything messy, I inserted a piece of wax paper under the first sheet, to protect the rest of the book. I applied a coat of white gesso. Then I added my colors. I don’t paint that much, and the only paint brushes I knew the location of were foam brushes, so that is what I used. I liked the pink and lavender but I wanted to distress it a little, so I added a little of the slate color. I didn’t like how that looked, so I used a paper towel to remove some of the paint by dragging from side to side. I liked the texture that gave, but the colors still looked too pure and new. I like things a little aged, distressed, or antiqued. So I mixed some maple Gel Stain into some acrylic glaze and brushed that over the top. That gave it a look I liked.

Terri painted and inked her first page. I love fibers and fabric, and I knew that I wanted to incorporate them into my page. So I gathered up some pieces I thought would coordinate well with my background. It turns out that the samples from my very first cold water dye batch looked great with my background color!

Using the Sin City journal stamps, I stamped the phrase “Art Journal” onto a piece of pattern tissue paper with dark brown ColorBox Chalk Ink. Then I cut the paper to the size I wanted. I cut a piece of the embroidered trim and a piece of hand dyed burlap, decided where I wanted them, applied Mod Podge to the page, and adhered the pieces to the page. Then I added some Mod Podge on top. The tissue paper tore, and I mended it with a little extra piece. I didn’t apply to Mod Podge to the bottom of the scalloped trim, which gives it a little difference in texture.

Finally, I used a transparent ruler to mark dots for threading my seam binding through the page.
I put a line of dots one inch away from each other and one inch away from the top of the page (starting and ending at ½ inch away from the sides of the page). Then I put another line of dots two inches away from the top of the page (one inch away from the other line). I used a long-reach punch to punch holes where I marked the dots. Then I cut two equal lengths of seam binding. I used transparent tape to hold the ends together so I could thread them through the small holes (sort of like the plastic that binds the end of a shoelace). Then I trimmed the ends and tied a bow.

Here’s another shot of the finished page:

Don’t be afraid to try this! Everyone’s first page looked different and they all looked great. This is a chance to learn something new and use it your own way in your own art. It’s free and fun!

As always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Starshine Wishes,

Karen