Tips and Techniques Thursday

Hello again, and welcome back to another Thursday edition of my tips and techniques.  Today I  am concentrating on a technique, as promised from my post last week.  I showed you that you can take your plastic packaging from some of the embellishments you buy and use them to make more.  You just need to look at it and see if you think it will work well.  (See my post from last Thursday).  In the photo below, you can see some of the pieces I made from packaging plastic, with the exception of the flower.  I used a Vintaj Arte Metal flower as my mold.  I used Paperclay to make the pieces.  It is an air dry clay and very easy to work with.  Just follow the directions on the package.  Drying time also depends on your weather.

The first piece, pictured below, is the one I made using the Vintaj Arte Metal charm.  I first colored the flowered with Amethyst Vintaj Patina.  

Next, I used Gold Leaf Rub n Buff and Copper Gilder's Paste, which acted as a bit of a resist when I added the Onyx Vintaj Patina over the entire flower.  I was attempting to tone down the color a bit.  

I used a soft cloth to remove the black color, and much to my surprise, some of the rub n buff and gilder's paste came off as well, revealing the amethyst color once again.  I was very pleased with this outcome.  

My next piece is the cute little owl.  I first colored him with Clay and Quartz Vintaj Patinas.  I removed some of the Quartz color and then added Onyx Vintaj Patina, with just a tiny dot of Quartz, to color his eyes.  I still wanted to shabby him up a bit, so I put a thin watered down wash of Onyx Vintaj Patina all over him and then quickly removed it.  It was just enough to make him look old.  I think he looks like he was carved from a piece of wood, and then left in someone's barn for awhile.  What do you think?

My last piece was also made using the plastic packaging shown in my last week's post, but it broke while I was working with it.  I first added Gold Leaf Rub n Buff, Verdigris and Copper Gilder's Paste, then a heavy wash of Onyx Vintaj Patina.  I removed the Onyx color, and again, much to my surprise, the pastes were acting as resists, and their colors shown through once again.  As I buffed the piece with my cloth, the shine started showing up, and it began to look more and more like a piece of metal.  

Even though the piece broke, I was able to salvage it by gluing it back together and covering the break with a gem stone.  I planned on using one in the middle anyway, so this just turned out not to be a big deal.  We can fix a lot of our mistakes if we just put our minds to it.  

I hope you enjoyed this week's edition of tips and techniques Thursday.  I will be going on hiatus for a few weeks to take care of some things, as well as get my studio back in some sort of order.  I will still be posting as usual, just not my Thursday tips and techniques for a little while.  

I will, however, be back soon enough, and until them, please come back often and see what I'm up to.  

Many crafting hugs to you all,

Barbara