Art Recipe Wednesday: Vintage and Steampunk Pendants

Hi my darlings, I hope you are having a great week!
I've been away for a couple of days enjoying the beauty of Irish wilderness in west of Mayo, recharging my batteries before new projects, challenges and classes. It was my so much needed time with my husband I'd promised him in... ehm... June?
Anyway - it was amazing how lucky we were with the weather - and how enchanting, magical these places are... I fell in love in Atlantic and west coast from the first sight 9 years ago and let me tell you - this love is even stronger now! If you want to see what I mean you can check my Instagram profile here - it is the best way to be up-to date with my latest projects, posts, travels and other adventures:)

Today is Wednesday again, so as I promised - I'm back with new Art Recipe for you! I was thinking about creating something small and useful (wearable?), not complicated and possible to make in many variations - and that's how it all happened... ( last Live with Prima Show with  my Brand Ambassador, Kasia could be also one of the impulses...)

Altered Pendants - a bit vintage, a bit steampunk... something for everyone!

The idea is very easy: combining Prima Mechanicals (especially the big ones: caps, pendants, watches and pendant caps) with a dose of bling: Art Ingredients Glass Beads  (it's amazing how they are matching ANY kind of project) and mixture of Glass Glitter adding amazing sparkle and depth. I started a couple of weeks ago - just experimenting with Ice Resin, but last night the madness started... Just have a look!

You know I love everything industrial, mechanical, steampunk - so of course I had to try simple combination of watch parts with Art Ingredients and the effect is far better than I expected. Then I started including vintage photos into my pendants (Tags and Stickers from my 7DS "Cold Country" collection) and to be honest - I think they look cool :) It's an interesting mixture of vintage and industrial look... which makes my heart melt. Oh well... Just give me more stuff and time!!!

So, here it goes - Art Recipe for Altered Pendants and simple step-by-step tutorial for you!

1. First step is choosing the right elements to assemble your pendants (of courser you don't have to use them as pendants later, right? Try thinking about key rings, fridge magnets or stylish home decors... or maybe big embellishments for your altered books or journals? Possibilities are endless!) As I'm a hopeless collector (turning into hoarding lady very soon, I suppose!) I have a nice selection of elements to choose from - but for this post I focused mostly on supplies which will be easier to get by most of you: Prima Mechaniclas, watch and clock parts, Prima crystals, and stickers from "Cold Country" collection instead of vintage photos :) Art Ingredients Glass Beads and Glass Glitter were the "bling and sparkle" factor!

2. I started with putting all elements together -  I used Art Basics 3D Gloss Gel and Soft Matte Gel which I put in a fine tip bottle. They work great but it's important to let them dry perfectly until they get clear before adding a coat of Ice Resin - or they will stay white forever :) I didn't glue the big bottle cap on the biggest pendant properly - I wanted to remove it later to decorate the base without it.

3. I let the gels dry for a moment - they got more sticky - and I sprinkled my Art Ingredients in the desired areas: inside the watches and caps and around the big pendant. To create more interesting effect I mixed different shades of Glass Glitter and Glass Beads for different sections of the projects.

4. Using Soft Matte Gel which I'd put into a bottle with fine tip applicator a couple of days ago I added some crystals, beads and texts in my pendants. I also sprayed the "mechanical" pendant with a bit of shimmering spray (Primary Elements with water) to change the colors of the beads and glitter. 

5. When my glue was dry and clear I mixed 2 ingredients of Ice Resin (in 1:1 proportion), stirred it and applied into my caps and watches. As it takes a longer time to dry it (especially in colder, more damp places - insert Ireland here) I took my final photos on the next day. You can also consider replacing Ice Resin with larger amounts of Ranger Glossy Accents.

6. In the meantime I took off the bottle cap from the biggest pendant. It wasn't glued - on purpose - because I wanted to add some color to metal and glass beads. I used 3 colors of  Vintaj Patina (Verdgris, Clay and Victorian Gold) to color my pendant and beads. I simply applied it with a sponge and dried.

7. When the project was dry I sanded off a bit of the color to make it  look more natural and added some brown shimmering spraying on the top ( Burnt Umber Primary Elements with water). When the project was dry again I applied a coat of Vintaj Glaze on the top of the metal and beads and glued in my bottle cap back. Now, just to wait for Ice Resin to get dry...

Here are other projects based on similar ideas - and I'm sure there's more coming!

Here are products from our Mixed Media Place Store listed for your convenience:

I hope you like the pendant idea - and I hope to see your ideas! Remember you can always post any projects based on my products and ideas on my official FB wall - I'll try to check them all :)

Thanks for visiting me again - and please make sure you will check beautiful projects by Lena and Riikka - it is just crazy what is my talented Creative Team making for you!

Sending hugs

Sail On!

Hello, Friends!
Today is the day when I have the pleasure to introduce another member of my Creative Team!

If you don't know Riikka, believe me - you really should!

She is an absolutely inspiring Artist from Finland whose creativity is limitless (as you will see in a moment...). Talented on so many levels, passionate and a wonderfully warm and friendly lady I'm so lucky to have on my Team...

But enough talking, you really need to see this project! :)

Hi there! I'm beyond thrilled to be here on Finnabair's blog and to show you my first DT creation.

This project is one of those that I have had in my mind for quite some time and when I heard the lucky news of me getting to this new DT, I knew that this one had to be my first project.

The story behind the creation is a bit of a mingle, but let me try to take you inside my head for a second.

Not so long ago I did a canvas inspired by a Finnish metal band called Turisas.

Even earlier this year I had got to know the singer of another Finnish metal band, Thaurorod.

When he saw the Turisas piece and we got talking, I promised to make something inspired by Thaurorod, too. I started to listen to the songs differently after that promise and not long afterwards I had chosen piece called "Overboard" for my source of inspiration.

The lyrics talk about stormy seas, unknown waters and sailing to distant horizons.

Of course there's a deeper meaning to the words, but the storming sea and sailboats had already set my ideas flying.

The perfect base for this music inspired creation just fell into my hands.

My husband builds his own guitars and he received an old one to be used as parts for the new creations. As he had stripped the guitar from everything he needed, including the neck, he then asked if I wanted the body. As it was wooden, heavy one, I immediately saw it as a base for a mixed media creation and the whole project started to take shape in my head.

My vision was to create a stormy sea with a sailboat in full canvas trying to navigate to the home shores. I also wanted the piece to have textures so I had the idea of building some parts of the foaming waters out of ephemera. You can see them as waves or even shoal hiding under the surface, threatening the tall ship sailing forward. 

I recorded a video while working with the piece, but edited it in the form of a step-by-step project rather than a complete from start to finish video as the project took me two days to make.

You will see me using 3D Gel as an adhesive or Modeling Paste to create the waves. Art Ingredients like Glitter, Mica Flakes and Art Sugar also added some really special accents.

And can you also spot two stencils?

 

I hope this project inspires you to try out the new Finnabair mediums and see what they can be used for!

Push the limits and be a little mad professor mixing them and experimenting with the results.

Hoist the sails and sail on!

Hugs, Riikka

Products used in this piece:

Isn't this project breathtaking? Want to see more of Riikka's talent? Visit her blog, you can also send some love on her facebook or you can follow her on instagram or you tube.
Hugs,