Monday, September 9, 2013

Birds and Bees Coaster Tiles Wall Hanging

Hello Paperclay® fans, and welcome back.  It is so hard to believe that the Summer is almost over and Fall is just around the corner.  It is plenty hot here, so it still feels like Summer to me.  And there are plenty of bees buzzing around, so I wanted to do something cool (no pun intended) with the honeycomb pieces I showed you how to make in my last post.  If you missed it, you can click here to see it.  This project is so easy to make, "even a caveman can do it".


Supplies Used:

Creative Paperclay® modeling material
Delight™ air dry modeling compound
Three 4"x 4" square coaster tiles
Six 4" x 4" squares print paper (Close To My Heart-Buzz and Bumble)
Push Molds (Mod Podge)(Premo)
Flexible plastic texture sheets - Music Background, Honeycomb (Carolee's Creations)
Distress ink (Wild Honey, Black Soot, Vintage Photo, Tarnished Brass, Brushed Pewter, Antiqued Bronze)
Acrylic Paints (Folkart Yellow Ochre)(Ceramcoat Charcoal)
Twinkling H20's (Mandarin Citrine, Golden Monarch, Ginger Peach, Mystic Blue, Iridescent Blue, Key Lime, Golden Jade, Rose Petal, Jasmine, Wild Plum)
Cropadile
3/8" gold metallic eyelets (8)
4 large jump rings, 2 small jump rings (Tim Holtz)
Decorative hanger (Melissa Frances)

Directions:

Make a 4" x 4" template from a scrap of printer paper, fold in half, and punch a hole through both halves near the edge, as shown.
Use this to mark placement of your holes for hanging your three coasters together, as shown in photo.
Cover each coaster, front and back, with the CTMH print papers, reversing the patterns, as shown.  (TIP:  Re-punch your holes each time you add the paper so you can find them easily.)  Now is a good time to distress ink the coaster edges.
Add eyelets to each hole, not only for strength, but to also finish off the holes.

Paint the honeycomb pieces first with Charcoal paint, then hit the tops with Yellow Ochre.
For the music background, spread a very thin layer of Paperclay® over the texture plate, the same as done for the honeycomb.  Allow it to dry before removing from the plate.
I was going for an old parchment paper look, so I added a very watered-down wash of Yellow Ochre, dabbing with a paper towel to get the color variations desired.  
Hit the high spots (the music notes) with Charcoal.
Next, I had made quite a few embellishment pieces using the Delight™ modeling material and various push molds.  Delight™ dries more flexible, even when it is a bit thick, so I used it for my embellishments in case I needed the flexibility.  So I laid out my three coasters, arranging my tiny pieces to see how I want to place them.  Nothing is glued down at this time.  
Color the various pieces to your liking.  I had a blast coloring these, and my inky fingers were a testament to that fun.  I colored the pieces using not only the acrylic paints, but also the distress stains and Twinkling H20s.  If my colors were too bright to my liking, I added a light coat of Vintage Photo distress stain.  That always tones down the brightness of colors.  And if you look carefully, you can see that the bird on the branch is so delicate and it broke apart into three pieces.  I am still going to use it and I am going to show you later on.

Now the fun of seeing your piece come to  life begins.  Adhere your Delight™ pieces in a pleasing arrangement, as shown on each of the three tiles below.



Add your jump rings through each of the eyelets, as shown below.  The larger jump rings go through the eyelets, then a smaller jump ring is used to join them.
Here are some close-up views of the pieces.  Don't you just love this little bird nest?
My cute little bumble bee.
And how about the rusty look on this key?
I was going for a bit of a rusty wrought iron look on these flourishes.
And remember the broken branches on this piece?  Normally, this would be my little secret, but I really wanted to show you to never give up because so many things in our art work can be "fixed" or "covered up".

Here is an example of where I layered one piece on top of another.  I love how the tiny pink flowers add to the piece.  I used them as fillers to bring all three coasters together.

These flowers and leaves were a bit too bright for me, so this is an example where a light coat of the Vintage Photo distress stain toned down the brightness.
Whew, I know this is a long post, but I have to admit, I had a blast making this piece.  I absolutely love working in mixed media, and Creative Paperclay® and Delight™ are certainly going on my list of mixed media to use for my altered art.   So, what will you make with it?  Well, you have a chance to show us.  

We are having a Halloween blog link up on 5 October.  What better way to showcase your work and share it with the world!!!  And you never know, you could win one of the prize giveaways.  So go ahead, give it a try.  Create something with Creative Paperclay® products and link up to the blog to enter to win!  
I am so glad you stopped by today, and I hope you enjoyed my project.  Please check out the Creative Paperclay® online store, and visit the blog for more inspiration.

Have a wonderful week, and play with some clay for the link up!

Barbara

16 comments:

  1. OMG, these tiles are amazing Barbara and I love your honey combs!! Stunning make and like usual such clear step by steps, - thanks for the inspiration, - I need to get me some paper clay!! Hope it's available in the UK, - off to check now....

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  2. Such a sweet piece! Love the honeycomb! I have the clay now for some texture plates. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  3. Lovely! I'm looking forward to getting my hands in some paperclay very very soon. I lean towards polymer, but think there something here. Thanks for sharing!

    ~Susan @TheBoredZombie.com

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  4. I loved the honeycomb designs and the push mold pieces. Very unique and creative.

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  5. I think you might have one me over to Paper Molding. These pieces are seriously gorgeous and I am in love with the 3D and the texture. Your work is just gorgeous:) I will be watching and learning!

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  6. I just love Creative paperclay, going to be fun doing the Link Up party, I have a fun project planned.

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  7. WOW! So unique and creative! They are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing all the great pics. Shared!

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  8. Very cute project! Love all of the fun accessories!

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  9. uggh! I need to go get this stuff - these all looks so fun! great project!

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  10. You're collages rock! They are so interesting and you put so much work into them!

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  11. They came out beautifully! Never worked in this medium, have to try it now! TFS!

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  12. Wow Barb I really love how this project came out, now I have to get some templates!

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  13. Wow Barb I really love how this project came out, now I have to get some templates!

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  14. Wow Barb I really love how this project came out, now I have to get some templates!

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  15. WOW as my mouth is hanging WIDE open and am STUNNED at your amazing creativity! TFS! I look forward to being inspired by you!!! Have a great day!! From #sscnet

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  16. Love this tutorial! You explain step by step for those of us that are a bit creatively challenged!

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