Cabinet of Curiosities or... Steampunk Deer

Hi again my friends, I hope your Holidays are the best and you have enough time to spend it with your loved ones doing the things you simply enjoy the most!
As I promised you in our Christmas Blogpost, today I'm back with my latest project, a bit quirky mix of steampunk and Christmas inspired home decor... in short words, let me introduce you to my Steampunk Deer and its little Cabinet of Curiosities!

I think I had this paper-mache deer for ages, it was never the right time to use it, I hadn't any idea how to decorate or paint it properly and then, one day the inspiration struck me: I needed something really fun to do, something special, a bit crazy, a bit quirky - something which I can put on display in my house with a real pleasure. I ran to my beloved rubbish boxes and started digging to find the right elements to put my vision together... luckily I've got quite a lot of elements to choose from, so there is no problem with mixing and matching! I pulled out my Art Basics, after a minute or two I added my Art Extravagance Black Sand Texture Paste and some Mica Powders and I was ready to create!

Are interested in some more details?
No problem! I was concious enough to take some photos for you...

First of all, I was sure I needed a box for my Steampunk Deer. I was really inspired by the look of cabinets and boxes of curios I ran onto somewhere in the net months ago and I was planning to do something similar to that! I haven't got any nice wooden or chipboard boxes, so I decided an old chocolate tin will do. Here is how it all started...

I've primed the chocolate tin with Art Basics Heavy Black Gesso. It took me just a moment to dry it and after that I was ready to add some texture and patina to it - Art Extravagance Black Sand Paste was a perfect choice for that!

Next I used my Art Basics 3D Gloss Gel to decorate the tin with a bunch of interested establishment and findings - I'm sure you can recognise some of my Mechanicals, some of my Art Ingredients Melange Art Pebbles, some of Sandra's Relics and Artefacts... but don't ask me where I got the other ones - I'm a real hoarder, remember? I checked with my deer where to place the elements of course - I needed space for this little guy too!

When my 3D Gel was dry I painted all the textures and elements with Art Basics Heavy Black Gesso again and dried it with heating gun. Next I used my Art Ingredients Mica Powders mixed with water to create some shimmering sprays and I added lovely shiny, sprayed coat on the top of everything.

Finally, to finish my Cabinet of Curiosities I added some Art Alchemy Metallique Paints on the details of my "collection" and sprayed the whole box with fixative to make sure the shimmer from my Mica powders will stay in place.

The little box was ready! I could focus on my deer now and let me tell you - I had tons of funt embellishing and painting this magical creature. The process of gluing the elements you know already - I used the same 3D Gloss Gel as in the tutorial above!

There is one element I'm particularly proud of: the beautiful, golden eye of my deer - just look at these lovely, long lashes! I knew I was keeping this doll's eye for a good reason!

The process of painting and adding shadows to this part of the project was slightly more complicated and time consuming and it included coats of Art Basics Heavy Black Gesso, my new Art Alchemy Opal Magic Paints, Art Ingredients Mica Powders and a bit of patience.
I absolutely loved every minute and I can't wait to create something similar in the future...
I hope you like it too!

If you are looking for the products from Art Basics, Art Ingredients and Art Extravagance lines, or my Mechanicals - try your local shops which carry Prima Marketing  or visit our Mixed Media Place Online Store. We've been on the move in the last weeks and we've experienced some serious difficulties with computer system but we should be in full operative mode very soon!
For new Art Alchemy Paints and more new products we still have to wait a bit...

I keep sending you the warmest possible hugs