Metal Art - A New Venture!

Hello Peeps,

I have mentioned a couple of times recently that I was lucky enough to receive some Ten Seconds Studios goodies for Christmas. I hadn't really got a clue how to use them though, so I decided to have a little play and see what I came up with :O))

I had seen Linda from LB Crafts doing a demo at the Ally Pally show in September but only managed to stay for a couple of minutes so I just took what I had seen and kind of developed it from there.




I started off with some aluminium foil and used various colours of Ranger Alcohol Ink to shade the aluminium. I picked Red Pepper, Wild Plum and Slate for one batch and Meadow, Lettuce, Pesto and Slate for the next batch. I added couple of drops of Metallic Mixatives to add a little depth too but once I had finished I realised this was a waste of time cos they don't really show up on the finished pieces.

I have now invested in the DVD so I can see exactly what I am supposed to be doing - I had missed out a few techniques that I can see would have looked great on my project but that just gives me an excuse to make something else LOL




I used the coloured aluminium foil with my Cuttlebug embossing folders - wow, they really do work brilliantly and I just loved the effects that I got from them.

This post is probably going to go over two days as I have lots of photo's to show you - and loads of waffle too!!






I hit upon the idea of making something that is similar to what I tend to do with canvas yet I didn't want to waste a canvas by covering it all with the metal. A couple of months back I was in Lidl and saw they had a big pack of Foamboard on sale for a really cheap price. I had not heard of this before but thought it would be an ideal alternative to mountboard as it is a little thicker. I started the project by cutting a piece of Foamboard to 8" square. Next, I cut some smaller pieces to make a frame around the outside of the 8" piece, as I wanted to create a niche in the middle. I then cut out 12 2" square pieces which would form the bases for the metals.




Once I had all the outer pieces cut, I stuck them all together to make a base and frame. I was naughty and used Glossy Accents for this - it is the best for gluing this type of thing and whilst it is expensive, I have yet to find something that is as good.

I primed the base with white Gesso and once this was dried I painted over it with silver acrylic paint. I used Adirondack Dabbers as their silver is perfect, creamy, shiney and sparkley. Whilst I was doing all the painting I decided to leave off 3 of the 2" squares and I used some Gel Medium to make splodgy bits where the 3 would have been, so they look as if they have fallen off, if you know what I mean!




I am popping a few piccies of the finished piece on to the post now, there is still a lot to say so I will leave the post here and return tomorrow with the rest of the waffle and the finished piccies too.




Thanks for looking - this is something totally new to me and already I am addicted! I have just got the DVD as I said, and also I have some new tools coming my way as I really want to get stuck into this kind of crafting.

I would love your honest opinions, by the way, I don't know if anyone has any hints and tips they can give me about working with metals....all would be greatly appreciated. :O))

Hels x