Ambassadors' Spotlight

 

Hello friends,

Today our Brand Ambassadors will show you their inspiration. April theme is old and covered with patina. The host is Iwona Marchewka.

Patina or rust is a constant struggle in my head while creating a project. This time, however, the patina won, a beautiful turquoise fairy that looks amazing in combination with any color.

'Old and covered with patina' is this month's theme and I chose an old watch for this project. The watch was naturally so beautiful that I kept its natural colour, just adding a few stains and creating a patina effect.

Products I have used - all the images linked to Mixed Media Place online store:

What a great topic for this month's projects - “Old and Covered with Patina” technique assemblage.  Anything vintage or old is right up my alley; add patina, and I’m all in. I have a piece of brass I added an image transfer to with soft gel medium. You add several layers to the front of a printed image, let it dry, turn it over and spray with water to soften the paper, and rub with your finger to remove the paper backing. You repeat the process until all the paper is gone. Tedious, but amazing results. Google it for more information.

The photo is then added to the brass plate with the medium and distressed on the edges. A bit of paint, punched holes, and eyelets complete that element. 

The chipboard is painted with black gesso and several layers of effect pastes are added. When dry, add a dusting of brass and gold rush metallique paints. The fire ruby wax gives it a bit more contrast and punch. 

The 6x6 wood canvas is the base. It is covered with tissue paper using soft gel. I added a layer of cracker paste with the stencil. When dry add a layer of black gesso. I used the blue and mint green patina paste for the next layer, blending as I went. The brass patina is applied with a soft brush and your finger. 

I used 3 mechanical flowers dusted with brass paint and added a pearl to the centers. The vintage key and the 2 small mechanical nuts were all patinaed with paint and waxes. The last thing I did was add them all onto the wood canvas with 3D matte gel and edge with a bit of hazelnut metallique paint. 

Products I have used - all the images linked to Mixed Media Place online store:

I love Assemblage! It is always interesting to consider such work and think about the meaning.

This time I got a work about inspiration locked in a cage of condemnation and fear.

The work is based on a Gesso Black, then I applied a Texture Paste — White Crackle. And when the paste dried, I painted the surface with Liquid Acrylic. And at the end, I added Matte Wax.

Products I have used - all the images linked to Mixed Media Place online store:

A spoonful of you

What a lovely theme, don’t you agree?! “Old and covered with patina” is just a fantastic theme that sparks the imagination and gives you multiple choices! I decided to do my assemblage on top of a canvas after some thought. 

I used one of my own old projects as my jumping off point. I did it years ago as a workshop sample and it included a white crackle base with a rusty composition on top. I used that this time, too, but instead flipped the canvas so the piece has a frame immediately. As I wanted the full attention to go to the patinated center piece, I added just a couple of pieces of an old book to the frame. To adhere them I used Clear Gesso. 

The focus on the composition is the old spoon. I gave it wings using cardboard piece I had spotted from a sale. On top I mixed Mechanicals with doodahs from my stash. There are broken jewelry pieces, screws, buttons, and a bobbin, to name a few. I layered most of the embellishments before adding the rusty effect on top, but the Antique Label I put in afterwards as it already had the gorgeous patina. 

To make my piece “covered with patina” I first added texture fantasy pastes on top of the composition. There might be a hint of the actual color in some place, but I mainly colored everything after the pastes had dried. I went with Anemone and Coral set as the pinkish tone worked well as the base layer while I then could add the turquoise tone on top, just highlighting the patina. After the first texture layer was dry, I then added rusty tones on top using acrylic paint and Liquid acrylics. I mixed Tiger Orange and Nude to a dark mahogany tone of acrylic. To add shadow here and there I also added a touch black gesso in the mix with a really wet brush and let the color bleed. I also used that to make a few black splashes to the background. 

Now my project was rusty, but I wanted to add a hint of weathered copper patina in there as well. To my eye that turquoise makes the red rust just pop! So, I finished the piece with turquoise-colored texture fantasy paste from the Anemone and Coral set and then added a light touch of Patina Blue wax as well. 

Products I have used - all the images linked to Mixed Media Place online store:

The old scrap perfectly fits the theme of the work and the patina effect. I focused on metal and fun mixing paints with stripes. Finally, I added a bit of gilding for contrast.

Products I have used - all the images linked to Mixed Media Place online store:

Have a great day!

Finnabair Team