Leslie Rahye's Very Steampunk Valentine Blog Hop 2♥14

Hello everyone, and welcome to Leslie Rahye's 3rd annual Very Valentine Steampunk Blog Hop.  A complete, albeit short, list of blog participants is below, but you can start the hop with Leslie Rahye's blog .  As always, we are going to share some fun steampunk projects with you today, but along the theme of Valentine's.  So grab a cuppa, sit back, relax, and enjoy the fun.  There are just a few of us playing along today, but I am sure you will enjoy it all the same.  

I started my project with this empty button jar.

What do you see when you look at it upside down?  I saw a light bulb.  Well, there you have it, a light bulb it is going to be, steampunk style, of course.

Cut a 1" wide strip of corrugated cardboard long enough to wrap around the base.  You want the corrugations to run horizontally, just like a light bulb.

Paint both sides of corrugated cardboard with Silver paint dabber.  

When dry, adhere around bottom of jar lid.

Paint base of white tea light with Silver paint dabber.  

To finish off the tea light (battery operated), I added a small piece of metal mesh over the bulb and twisted the end at the top.  I added a bit of very thin gauge wire around the bulb, as well.  Then I glued on a couple of metal gears, as shown.  This will sit inside the bottom of the lid, so it can be easily turned on and off.

I made the hanging embellishment by first gluing two pieces of a broken charm to the key.  On the reverse side, I added a small metal gear to not only hide the glue, but to add a bit of strength to it.  I also used a jump ring to attach it to a small screw eye.

Front

Back

Next, I pierced a tiny hole in the top of the button jar (it is only plastic) and inserted the screw eye through it.  If you make the hole very tiny, you can twist the screw eye into the plastic, and it will hold. I did not mind that the screw eye protruded through the top because I will cover it later.

Cut out the middle size gear from the die using grunge board and heat emboss both sides with the rust embossing powder.

I glued the gear and a #14 plaque to the side where there was a flat spot on the jar.  I covered the screw eye with a larger metal gear and a metal flower.  On the front (see photo above) I embossed a Vintaj brass heart, added Vintaj Crimson patina over it, and sanded the high spots.  Then I adhered that to the front with another diamond studded gear, placing it along the side of the jar.

Here is a view from the back of my steampunk light bulb.

Supplies:

Adirondack Silver acrylic paint dabber (Tim Holtz)

Grunge board (Tim Holtz)

Corrugated cardboard

Sizzix Gadget Gears Bigz die (Tim Holtz)

Clear embossing ink

Rust Tapestry embossing powder

Metal charms, gears, findings

Vintaj brass heart

Vintaj embossing plate

Dollar Store battery operated tea light

There you have it, a fun, steampunk style light bulb for your Valentine.  You can always tell them that they "light up your life".  

I hope you enjoyed my project today, and be sure to visit the other fine artists in today's blog hop.  I am always happy that you stopped by, and I hope you will return soon to see what else I get into.
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Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, and have a wonderful week!!!

Barbara