Last post I left off with embossing sheets of silver foil.
Using Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks, I give the embossed sheets some color and patina of age. Once alcohol inks go on and dry, they're pretty much there to stay. They won't wipe off with water, won't smear and they're translucent.
Lots of videos out there for application techniques and just what surfaces you can (successfully) apply these inks to, so grab a cuppa and watch a (YouTube) show or three to get the basics down.
I've chosen three different color combinations for each pattern of embossing folder I used. I wanted the different styles to stand out not only texturally but by color, as well.
This should make a good combination for my stag. The plan is: the sheets of riveted metal and diamond plate are going to be used to cover the main body of the stag. The gear embossed sheets will be cut out and used as accent pieces.
This gear piece has the right dimensions for fitting in the ears but there's just too much 'dip' there. They need to lay flatter. Answer: fill in the ears with some paper clay. You can see the ear on the right is already done, one more ear, an overnight drying and now we're ready to add that ear bling.
The ear pieces fit great now. I left just a bit of 'dish' still in the ears, but the pieces lay flat now with no pucker – yeah.
You may have noticed that antler and said what the heck?
I've got some explaining to do.
The night I added the paper clay to the ears, I couldn't work any further on the stag until the clay set, so I was cleaning up and clearing off my work station. As I put some things away I notice some jars of embossing powder that I had purchased a few months back but had yet to even break the seals on the jars. This embossing powder is very thick and is all about metal. I had seen a sample of it used on Tim Holtz Bigz Gear Die cut outs and it looked just like real metal gears. So I bought all the 'metal' colors but had to leave them sitting until the Holiday rush was over. As soon as I spotted them my brain started vibrating! How would a heavy heat embossing powder work on paper mache? My traditional method of Metal Steampunking with sheets of (dry) embossed foil is a tried and true procedure, but on something that has a lot of curves, it's really difficult and time consuming. Could this be an alternate method?
Part 3 has the answers and it will be up soon. Did you craft on today?
Oh T, you make me laugh! Thanks.