Altered Steampunk Bird

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This article is written by Barbara Rankin 

Barbara shows you how to take a wooden bird, a simple coffee filter, some jewelry findings, and die cuts, then combine them with ColourArte Silks Acrylic Glazes and other mixed media, to alter this sweet little steampunk-style home décor piece.  These techniques can be used for any project and will help you have a better understanding of how to apply them in your art.

This little wooden bird is going to take on a new life in Steampunk world.  I found this little guy by Art Minds in my local craft store.

bare wood bird

Remove the screw eye first.  Tear a coffee filter into strips and adhere to bird with Mixed Media Adhesive.

coffee filter adhered to bird’s wing

Paint bird with ColourArte Silks Bolivian Blue and beak with Silks Harvest Sol (mixed with a bit of Silks Mango Mama)acrylic glazes. [www.colourarte.com]

painted bird with Silks paint jars

Add a wash of ColourArteSilks Mallard Green to the breast, tail and wing feathers for a bit of highlight.  It is subtle but effective.

birdand Silks paint jars

Adhere a 6” x 7” piece of Ranger foil tape to a sheetof silver metallic cardstock. Die cut four wings and two crowns with the Cuttlebug Cut N’ Boss folder. I also cut out two hearts, not shown in photo. Trim lower portion of one of the wings for each side, as shown.

photo of metal foil covered cardstock and diecuts

Apply DecoArt Metallic Lustre Iced Espresso to crowns and Black Shimmer to wings.  Add ColourArte Silks Rusty Mauve to one heart, thenhit high spots with black archival ink (Noir Black Palette Hybrid ink used).  Add metal bling to crowns and shape crowns and wings with fingers.

photo of painted metal foil covered cardstock and diecuts

Begin adding embellishments to the bird.  Adhere two wings to each of the bird’s wings, layering one over the other.  Join the two crown pieces, shape and adhere to the bird’s head.  Add jewelry finding with black gemstone on each side of head for eyes.  Add curved tubular beads to each side of the bird’s tail feathers.

adhereddie cut wings, crown, eyes, flowers

Glue tiny bead chain with “Seeds” charm around bird’s neck, gluing bead chain together on top.  Cover the glued join with Tim Holtz’s Ideaology metal flowers and leaves.

photo of bead chain with “Seeds” charm around neck and metal flowers

Here are two side views of the finished altered bird.  Isn’t he adorable!

right facing bird finished

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Barbara is a mixed media artist who loves to teach.  She loves to learn new techniques and to share her knowledge with other artists.   She is a contributing artist in a book:  Make it in Minutes: Mini Albums, and has been published in several paper and online magazines.  She is currently on fourdesign teams, ColourArte, Sin City Stamps,Altered Pages, and Gina’s Designs.  She has served as a design team member for The Robin’s Nest and Creative Paperclay®, as well as guest designer for Craftwell USA, Unruly Paper Arts, and Gina’s Designs.

She lives in the Memphis, Tennessee area with her very supportive husband of 32 years, and her two Yorkies, Chloe and Zoe.

You can see more of Barbara’s work on her blog at Black Hole Art Studio or via Facebook – Black Hole Art Studio

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Filed Under: Mixed Media Project Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mixed Media 3D Flowers

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This article is written by Barbara Rankin

Barbara shows you how to make these beautiful 3D altered art flowers using simple household products.  All you will need is a roll of heavy duty aluminum foil and a roll of paper towels, along with some white gesso, acrylic paints, and flower dies or punches.  Barbara will also show you several ways to colorize and alter these beauties, and how to apply them in your art.

Spread some white gesso over the foil, lay paper towel on top and continue spreading gesso over the paper towel, ensuring the two adhere to each other well and there are no air bubbles.  You may find that you need to do this in sections before the gesso dries. Do not worry about wrinkles; they add texture.

applying gesso to paper towel and aluminum foil

Add DecoArt fluid acrylics in colors of your choice.  I used Phthalo Green-Yellow, Cerulean Blue, Titanium White Primary Yellow, Cadmium Red Hue, Primary Magenta, and Quinacridone Violet.

adding fluid acrylics to paper/aluminum foil

Spray DecoArt white mist through a damask stencil.  The white spray mist will pick up some of the color beneath it and give you a lighter shade of each color.  Perfection is not necessary because this is all going to be die cut into smaller pieces.

DecoArt white mist sprayed through damask stencil

As you can see, this disguises the separation of colors and makes it all cohesive.

photo of colored/stenciled sheet

Die cut flowers with any flower die.  I used the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.  You could also free-hand cut them.  You will have a nice selection of tattered floral pieces that all work well together.

die cut flowers from each colored section of paper/aluminum foil sheet

Use two sets of the flowers from the same or similar colors to make a single, fluffy flower. Before layering the petals, ink the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink. This will give some added depth and dimension.

Photo of the die cut petal shapes used to make a single flower

Layer the petals, largest to smallest. Make a hole in the center of each petal and add a decorative brad to keep them together.  Pinch and twist the petals to form a fluffy and full flower.  I used tweezers in one hand so I could grab each petal easier, while pinching them with my other hand.

Flower formed with help of tweezers

Here are all three flowers from this one sheet.

three finished flowers

Here are a couple of cards I made using two of the flowers.  I can think of many uses for these. I think they would look absolutely lovely in a mini album, scrapbook, page layout, or canvas.

two cards using two of the three flowers

two cards using two of the three flowers

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Barbara is a mixed media artist who loves to teach.  She loves to learn new techniques and to share her knowledge with other artists.   She is a contributing artist in a book:  Make it in Minutes: Mini Albums, and has been published in several paper and online magazines.  She is currently on several design teams:  ColourArte, Sin City Stamps, Altered Pages, Gina’s DesignsLasercuts, House of Cards Monthly Challenge Blog, and Craft Hoarders Monthly Challenge Blog.  She has served as a design team member for The Robin’s Nest and Creative Paperclay®, as well as guest designer for Craftwell USA, Unruly Paper Arts, and Gina’s Designs.

She lives in the Memphis, Tennessee area with her very supportive husband of 32 years, and her two Yorkies, Chloe and Zoe.

You can see more of Barbara’s work on her blog at Black Hole Art Studio or via Facebook – Black Hole Art Studio

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Filed Under: Mixed Media Project Tagged With: , ,