Thursday 14 March 2013

Boxing Clever by Buttons

Hi everyone, and welcome to my second GDT piece. My offering this time produced fingers which needed some serious scrubbing but the end results were definitely worth it.
The stamps I used for this one were the small but beautiful Gibson Girls set available from The Artistic Stamper. These elegant ladies were perfect for adding some well needed refinement to my texture-filled boxes as you will see from the following images.
Now the original plan was to decorate a small round paper substrate box to house my bracelet collection. I had an idea in my head about the sort of look I wanted to achieve but it took a fair bit of experimenting to get there.
It all started with embossing metal foil sheets applied to the box. This was then covered roughly in a mix of blue and green alcohol inks to give it a slight verdigris feel.
Next came a layer of Distress Paints - red, yellow and orange all mixed together over the top of the inks (with fingers!!) with particular attention paid to the embossed areas. By then attacking it all with wire wool I finally had a real rusted/verdigris look.
After some extra dabs of alcohol inks I stamped out the Gibson Girls images with Coffee Archival Ink onto tissue paper. They were torn apart carefully and applied to the box with Glue n Seal. It was important to ensure that the more delicate features (in particular the eyes) were placed in areas where the embossing would not distort them. Using these smaller images meant this was far easier to achieve.
To finish a little extra ink and paint were applied over the top to help blend the tissue in further. Next, attention turned to the box rim. I used a mask and white texture paste (with a heat gun - what can I say? I'm impatient!) Finally for the little box I added a small ribbon pull.
As this process worked so well on my bracelet box, attention turned to a larger suitcase housing my (rather large) nail polish collection - well, although it did the job well the purple/black/white/green pattern wasn't the most fetching!
Obviously this involved covering a far larger area, so planning where to place the faces was important. The handle and other metalwork also needed attention. I turned again to the same alcohol ink mix and twisted ribbon around the handle to make it far nicer to use and look at.
And so both boxes were completed, coordinated and could now be proudly displayed here (and in my bedroom!) I hope you like them as much as I now do. I've got one final GDT post for you later this month so I hope you'll join me for that. For now, keep crafting!
Jenny Marples
Pushing The Right Buttons
Stamps used - Small But Beautiful Gibson Girls

20 comments:

mark gould said...

How absolutely stunning. Great colours xx

Astrid Maclean said...

What a fun original piece! Love it!

...the yorkshire fox... said...

...amazing work, so much thought & detail in your pieces, great inspiration...Mel :)

Deborah said...

Love that verdigris look and the contrast around the rim of the lid. Amazing!

Brenda Brown said...

Beautiful pieces, bet they look stunning in your bedroom.
Xox

Redanne said...

Oh wow Jenny, these are beautiful pieces, really love the verdigris effect and how the Gibson girls still shine through. Love the treatment of the metal work too. Wonderful!

Sid said...

Great project love the texture !

chrissie said...

Amazing work on this beautiful set.

Love Chrissie xx

Aquarius said...

Stunning work - thank goodness for alcohol inks to cover the difficult parts and results are well worth the mucky fingers. Just love it.

Patricia Howarth said...

Two Stunning projects, Jenny, I don't know how you come up with all your creations, I would love to have a 'smidgin' of your creative mind. Stunning.
Lots of love from Patricia xx

Rossella said...

Lovely projects, jenny.
Rosie x

Artyjen said...

Great to have matching storage...especially when you make it yourself ;) Bet it looks cool in your room.
xoxo Sioux

Annie said...

Fabulous projects with amazing outcomes Jenny. Love the embossing and stamping.

TFS

Annie x

Terry said...

I saw these of FB! Lovely boxes and what great texture you have added! I give up on my fingernails! Thanks for sharing! Hugs!

Words and Pictures said...

Really gorgeous... I love how the faces loom out of those amazing layers and swirls of colour - such depth and beauty to them, and an amazing patina. The embossing looks stunning too - what a wow of a project, Jenny!
Alison xx

Kelly said...

Wow, you sure come up with the coolest things! Love the colors, just so amazed at all the things you have done with the boxes. Beautiful pieces.
Hugs Kelly

http://blog.timetocreate.com.au/ said...

Oh My Goodness! This is seriouly WOW!
The colours are divine and so are the concepts. Wear your fingers as an arty badge of honour.

Janny Jager said...

Very very beautiful.
Greetings Janny

craftytrog said...

Wow! Fantastic effects! Very inspiring!
Alison xxx

Paper Profusion said...

Brilliant piece Jenny! Yummy textures and stamping. I especially love the rim of the lid. Nicola x