Can You Hear Me Now? - Steampunk Style

I've had the same cell phone cover for a lot of months - it's pretty enough - red with a little bling, but I was ready for a change.  I don't have an iPhone (still bitter about all the trouble I had with itunes way back in the day &, yes, I am still carrying a grudge) so my choices are a bit limited, especially since I refuse to have anything to do with flowers, birds, stars, hearts, kittens or pastel colors - just not my style.  Kept looking & searching for the perfect cell phone cover, but no luck.  Then I had an epiphany - I have paint!  I have stencils!  I have glue!  I have gadgets!  Why am I looking for the perfect cell phone cover when I can make one exactly like I want it?

I started with this perfectly clear cell phone cover.  First step was to cover it completely in black gesso since nothing was going to stick to that slick plastic.



Next up was to paint it in, of course, Art Alchemy's Steampunk Copper.  The next layer was a piece of old sheet music that I stamped with more notes, set on fire for the burnt edges & adhered to the case with some soft gel gloss medium to be sure the edges wouldn't fray up.

Not a bad start, but no where near finished.  This is my first pass.  The placement was ok, but it was definitely lacking in color & needed more personality too.  This was definitely something I could fix & fix it I did.

I pulled out the paints, the stencils & the Gorilla Glue & spent the next few hours making the cell phone cover of my dreams - ok, that's an exaggeration, but it is one that suits me a whole lot better than anything else I had seen in my search.  See, no hearts, no stars, no flowers, no kittens & no pastels.

I think this is one of my favorite things to do - take something that's so dull & ordinary & transform it into something uniquely personal.  I'll be doing a lot more of these projects in the future so stayed tuned...  :-)

FYI...Halloween Has Been Rescheduled...

I know...I know...weird, right?  Who moved Halloween?  Ok, maybe it wasn't moved - maybe it's just me & I decided to buy a bunch of weird things all at one time.  What can I say - they were on sale & I thought they were cool so I got 'em to use for something.  Don't exactly have a plan...but it'll come to me...just give me a little time...          
So, look at all the crazy stuff!


All this came from Retro Art Cafe.  I was looking for the perfect skull stencil, got sucked into their site &, well, this is what happened.  I found the stencil I was looking for & a whole lot more that I didn't know I wanted, but once I saw it decided that I couldn't live without it.  All the skulls!  All the skeletons!  All the dragons!  I mean, honestly, who buys just one of these?  That's just crazy!


I sat down & tried the stencils out immediately - big fan of instant gratification.  Check out the skull stencil - love it!

Bigger than I thought it would be, but looks exactly like I wanted.  The skull, rib cage & moth stencils are all made from oil board.  This is the first time I've bought oil board stencils - all my others are plastic or mylar.  I'm not too sure about how long these are going to last or hold up since I also use them with soft gel gloss to texturize.

 Here's the moth made with soft gel gloss & some Art Alchemy Micro Beads sprinkled on top just to see what it'd look like & what would happen with the stencil.

The gel wiped right off so I guess I'm ok there.  I'm still considering spraying them with a protective coating just to be on the safe side.

All the chipboard pieces that I ordered - the dragons, scroll work, antlers - came still attached to the chipboard it had been cut from which was great because, once I punched out the pieces I wanted, I had a new stencil!  These definitely need a protective coating or they aren't going to last too terribly long.  I love that fact that I got a 2 for 1 deal here.  Now I've got more dragons to play with & who wouldn't like that?!

My favorite thing that I got was the crow skull cameo.  It was just perfect for a little goth/steampunk crossover cuff bracelet - my new favorite piece of jewelry.  Whatcha think?

It's Christmas...In May!!!

Ok, not really, but it felt like it when I got home yesterday & my package had arrived from Scrapbooking Warehouse with the 4 jars of Art Alchemy Metallique acrylic paint, 1 jar of their Opal Magic acrylic paint, 2 jars of Micro Beads & 2 clock face trinkets I had ordered.  Nothing makes me happier than new art supplies...well, maybe a few things..but new art supplies are right up there. See all the pretty?  Aren't they gorgeous?

I already had a few jars of the Art Alchemy paint & absolutely love them.  They have a nice metallic sheen to them that reflects the light nicely, they truly are opaque & they spread easily - the weight & thickness are perfect.  The colors are awesome too.




Here's a chart of the colors I got this time. Ignore the one with the XX through it.  I still had blue paint on my finger so that didn't work.

I can't really decide what color the Blackberry is - a dark chocolately brown or a purple with a brown undertone.  Hard to decide. The Emerald Green looked more teal to me online & its another one that's hard to pin down.  It looks green, but as you can see, it pulls out blue.  I love it though & it's exactly what I wanted.  If I were into mermaids, this is the color I'd be using for sure.  The Brass Hardware is nice & bright & true.  Deep Waters is also true with no undertones that I can detect - very pretty.  The Violet Green Opal Magic paint, I'm on the fence about - on light paper, it barely shows green, but on the dark paper, I love the shimmery purple that shows up.


I tried out the Art Ingredients Micro Beads by running some soft gloss gel through a stencil, then pouring the beads onto it.  The beads are about the size of a poppy seed & very hard to corral.  I was able to get most of the excess back into the jar, but I think next time I'll mix them in with the gel before I use them - I think it'll be a lot easier, a lot less time consuming & less wasteful.

So, what did I do with all this awesomeness?  Take a look.


Keep in mind though that metallic paint is hard to photograph so you aren't getting a true picture of just how amazing these colors are.  I used the black Micro Beads for this, but decided that the painting was looking too dark, so spread some Brass Hardware on them.  The substrate is cardboard with black gesso.

If this has convinced you that you just can't go another minute without having the Art Alchemy paints & Micro Beads, I highly recommend ordering them from Scrapbooking Warehouse - I'm not shilling for them or being paid by them, but they've got great prices.  The paint was $3.88 a jar & Amazon wants $10.79 for most of the colors.  WTH???  If you do get some or, if you've been using them, let me know how you like them.

 And if you can tell me how to get metallic paint to show well in photos, you will be my hero & my new BFF.  :-)

Adventures in Vintage

So, a lot of what I do in my art involves "repurposing" items - you know, using things in ways they were never intended.  I've always got my eye out & am picking things up off the street if something looks interesting & has good texture.  Yeah, I know, ick - that's why we have soap & water, people.  I know I look like a crazy person doing it, but, hey, check the blog title.

Today I did not pick anything up off the street (only because I didn't see anything worth picking up), but I did go to a local vintage market & came home with some awesome items.  The moment I laid eyes on these chairs, I heard them screaming "TAKE US HOME!!!" (again, blog title).

 Now, I'm not touching these chairs - they are absolutely perfect in every way & have found their forever home in my kitchen.  Aren't they gorgeous?

 I immediately knew what I wanted to do with the wings. You'll be seeing them again, but in a whole new way. I promise it won't be in the way you imagined either.  :-)


This clock is in bad repair, but I think it's still really cool.

Inside it's stamped "J.L. Cobb & Company Clock Manufacturers, 18 Maiden Lane, New York."  I haven't been able to find any information on it yet, but I am curious.  I'd like to know a little more about it before I go taking it apart so if you have any information, I'd love to hear from you.  I have no intention of trying to have it repaired, but I just know that it must have all sorts of gears that will delight my little steampunk heart - it's going to be like Christmas in May when I open this baby up!

I don't have any clear idea what I'm going to do with the rest of my bootie - all I can tell you is that it will have absolutely nothing to do with what it was intended for...

Testing...testing...is this thing on?

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m finding starting a blog to be scary, intimidating, frustrating & about half a dozen other emotions I can’t, as yet, identify.  So, I’m gonna keep it simple – this is an art blog or a blog about art or mostly about art because I could find something utterly enthralling that I just have to share that’s not art related & throw it in here because, well, it is MY blog.  But for a start, it’s a blog about art – let’s go with that for the moment.

Getting this blog & my website up & running (coming soon!) has taken a huge chunk out of non-work time, but I’m still sneaking in time just about every day to work on my own art which is always mixed media.  I love mixed media because there are no rules (REALLY not a big fan of rules) & I can use whatever I want to create.  If I don’t have paint & glue on my hands most days of the week, I am not a happy camper.  Weird the things that make you happy, right?  Keep your expensive French perfumes, give me the smell of paint! 

My absolute favorite paints are the metallics & they’re just about the only ones I’ve been using over the last few months.

I love the depth & glimmer they add to my pieces.  I include in this category the powdered mica flakes which I generally mix with soft gloss gel & use as paint.  Just gorgeous!  Here’s a little brass owl I bought at a second-hand market – I added a nice patina to him & then rubbed in some copper mica flakes while the paint was still damp. 

Much better now!  I was going to send him to my best friend who lives too far away, but when I showed him to my mother, she liked him so much, I gave him to her instead.  Sorry Deb!

I'm always interested in what other people use in their art & how they use it, so, please, drop me a line in the comments below.  Or tell me how you felt getting your blog up & running or designing your own website - tell me I'm not the only one who feels like she's floundering around here (lie to me - it's ok - I won't mind, this time).