Beneath the Sea

Hello, Friends!

When I saw Rebecca's final project for my Team, my heart stopped. 'Epic' is the only word to describe what she's created - a magical underwater fantasy... A real treat and amazing inspiration!

Hello my lovely creative friends...

Well today brings closure to my time on the Finnabair Creative Team, this will be my last project for this amazing team.
As I type I am feeling mixed emotions, I feel a little sad, I feel excited to see what the new team will bring and I also feel happy to keep on creating new and funky projects, the craft journey is never over is it?
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Anna from the bottom of my heart for choosing me to be a part of her team, receiving that e-mail letting me know I was accepted was such an amazingly joyous moment in my life. I will let you all in on a little secret. I applied for this team knowing it was a long shot, thinking in my head it was a slim to none chance of making it through, I really had serious doubts in myself and in my work. However I made it, I was chosen.
My point here (I do have one), ALWAYS believe in yourself, believe in your work (others do!!), challenge yourself, set goals, do not doubt yourself, reach for the stars....you never know, you just may grab a couple of those stars!! (they are not out of reach). 

Ok moving right along to my project this month, let me introduce you to my second edition ocean themed mixed media OTP. In late July I created a mixed media canvas called Oceania.
At the time I did not make a tutorial but by popular request I am happy to bring that to you now but the project this time is on a much larger scale. Please note the below tutorial is for the outside of the box only, the inside of the box will require a whole different tutorial. 

This case is a Julie Nutting Alterable Doll Luggage Set by Prima. I had been hoarding this in my stash for quite some time and this being my last project, it was time to take this epic challenge on. Isn't this case amazing?

and the inside:

To begin I applied some Art Basics Modeling Paste with a palette knife through the Prima Elementals Bubble Stencil. I applied to the front, back and hinge side of the case. Allowing ample time for air drying before moving not to the next step. 

I am always head down over baskets and and boxes in thrift shops collecting little treasures such as the ones you see below. I adhered some dangly beads from the top and twisted cheese cloth from the bottom. Also from the thrift shop I picked up this ball of thready wool, using a palette knife I applied a stack of Art Basics Modeling Paste to the top and bottom of my case, then taking looped sections of wool I begin to push it into the paste with my fingers. 

As my paste was still obviously nice thick and still very wet I begun placing beads, these beads were beads from an old broken necklace. They make a perfect ocean floor don't they? For some of the larger beads I added a dot of super glue behind the bead before pushing it further into the modelling paste, just for that extra support.
Randomly amongst my ocean floor I also adhered in bronze embellishments, seaweed, anchors and fish. As my paste was REALLY thick this section took at least 3 days of full drying time, keeping in mind it was rather cold here in Australia (summer would have been a different story). 

Let's take a moment to look at my fish, what you are looking at here is two pairs of old earrings.  The fish tails are one pair, the fish bodies are another pair. Art can be made from so many different things, never go past that box of old weird looking old jewellery in your local thrift store without having a little look.

My fish gills are made from a cut bronze flower, in the second photo below you will see the fish lips have been cut from the flower stamen. 

Below you will see as part of my background I have also adhered some Prima Mechanicals Jump Rings, this just adds further texture (and will later hold micro beads).

The next step is time consuming but also I think therapeutic and relaxing. I took some Art Basics Heavy Black Gesso and covered the entire outside of the box. You need to really get into everything with the gesso, use a large brush for the larger flatter sections and a small headed brush to get into all the small fiddly sections. 

Once the black gesso had completely dried, it was then time to apply some gorgeous colour. I really wanted lots of different shades of blues and green so I did use quite a few different paint colours.

My paints of choice were Lumiere Halo Blue Gold, Lumiere Pearlescent Blue, Lumiere Metallic Olive Green, Silks Teal Zircon, Silks Bolivian Blue, Silks African Jade and also Art Ingredients Mica Powder in Teal (which had been mixed with a small amount of Art Basics Soft Gloss Gel). 

If you zoom in on this photo and now have a look at the jump rings you will see they contain Art Ingredients Copper Micro Beads, these are held in place with a small amount of glossy accents. 

Upon close inspection you will see the ocean floor contains more treasures in the form of extra beads. You will see more colour!! Art Ingredients Glass Beads in Cobalt Blue and also Black Micro Beads. 

To further accent the colour and add even more dazzle dazzle I sprinkled on very small amounts of Art Ingredients Gold Mica Powder to the top and bottom of the box. Spritzing with water until the desire look was created. I allowed some to drizzle from the top to create a gold shimmer through the water. 

Using a black watercolour pencil from Prima The Basics collection I circled around my larger raised circled and smudged my pencil marks with a damp finger. 

Upon closing I would also now like to thank my fellow Creative Team ladies, you have made being on this team amazing, enjoyable, fun and entertaining. You have all taught me different things and supported me in many ways, for that I thank you from the happy dancing place in my heart x x.

As always my friends keep happy and always keep creative. 

~ Rebecca ~ 

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