Nordic Elves

 

I had fun with this little MDF piece from Madhatters Lasercut Designs.   The original design was for two wizards, but I wanted to turn it into a Christmas theme with Nordic Elves.

I built the stand and painted it to look like planks of wood, and then added a small stencilled design on the centre of each side.  I added texture paste and ice effects to the top for snow.

The elves were then painted and fixed in place.     For the window element I painted a stone effect around the edge, and painted the star in yellow/gold.  I gessoed the back element and random;y applied red, blue and yellow ink pad ink onto it mixing them with a blending pad.

MDF Trunk

Front

Hi all.  Thanks for popping in.  Today's make is a trunk (or large box) that I have been working on.  The MDF box was from Madhatters Crafts.  I have a lot of magazines piled on a table and I thought this was ideal for storing them in a tidy fashion.

Rather than paint it I decided to use some paper/card. I needed some A3 to cover the largest section of the box - so it was raid my craft stash.    20 years ago we used this green leather effect card for my daughter's wedding invitations, and I loved it so much, that I bought some extra card when we visited the Paper Mill on year at the Clark's Village.  It was perfect what I had in mind.

Back showing hinges

The trims. hinges and clasp all just had gilding Pebeo gilding wax applied in a deep gold that looked like brass.  I applied it fairly randomly so that it looked a bit "worn/aged" in places.

I must add that the hinge mechanism is brilliant.

Side view showing faux handles

Although I think I actually built the handles the wrong way (I believe there should actually be a gap between the "strap" and the box - but hey ho it doesn't matter I wouldn't have used them as handles as such anyway when it was full.   I created a leather strap with Hearty Clay.  The strap mould I had wasn't wide enough so I used the dragon skin mould to create a "croc skin" finish, which I then painted with brown acrylic paint.   The whole thing was then sprayed with Crafters Companion Spray and Shine.  This made the card shine, and although it was a bit "patchy" in places, it added to the "aged" look.

I have just to to finish the lining of it now - with some more A3 paper from my stash which is a sort of pale green marble effect.

Another Steampunk Owl

As I mentioned the other day, I have been going through my stash of MDF projects that I bought back in the winter.   (The idea was that some of them would be useful for the grandchildren to work on)   Anyway I discovered this kit, and I knew exactly how I wanted to paint the owl   (It is another Madhatters kit by the way).

I used Pentart Rust Effect and Patina paints again for the most part for this.   The base ring was done with the patina effect, with the rust effect on the numerals.  I also used Patina for the base layer of his eyes, and then subsequent layers I used the rust effect.   The owls "glasses" and body (it was all small pieces to give the metal effect) was  painted with Pebeo Paynes Grey mixed with white gesso, and then each piece was edged with black Nuvo ink applied with a sponge.   The rivet details were done with Pentart Relief Liner, and I also used a bit of this on his claws before painting them yellow.

I am not really "INTO"  Steampunk, but I admire the cleverness of a lot of it, so I was pretty pleased with how this turned out.  In fact to be honest I was  pretty chuffed with the result, as it was exactly hos I had envisaged it.   (I hung it on the wall in my hall to take a photo of it, and confess I haven't taken it down as I like it so much !!!!!!)

Steampunk Owl

As the weather has improved and I can get outside to paint, I delved into my stash for some MDF projects I had bought in the winter.   I had great fun painting this.   The kit was from Madhatters.

I used Pentart Rust Effects and Patina paints to paint it.  Rust effect for the base, key and cogs, and the Patina effect for the owl.

Before I started to paint I added Nuvo drops, and some outlines with Pentart Contour Liner. I also add some Pumice paste to the key to make it look even rustier before I painted it.

(I have discovered another steampunk owl in mu stash .... so keep an eye out for that one!)