Steampunk Top Hat Tutorial

Good morning crafty friends, I have promised to do a quick tutorial on how I made this steampunk top hat

from this coffee tub

I have written most of the information on each photo, so don't miss any pic out, and then some in between, be warned it has lots of photos ☺️ so grab yourself a brew, get comfy and start scrolling and reading. 

Firstly I cut a circle larger than the base of the tub out of a sheet of thick card and glued it on the bottom. 

I used Das air drying clay, but any clay that can be used in a mould will do, e. g hearty paperclay, clay made from Powertex and stone art. You're going to coat it in Powertex so it will become quite durable. 

Once dry I brushed over the whole piece with Powertex pigments mixed with their varnish

To decorate I used more of KatySue design moulds, the distressed cogs and the rusty pipes mainly, these are from their new Industrial Steampunk range along with the metal sheet mould used to cover the hat. 

I moulded them and once dry I painted them to look rusty and old and added some Powertex pigments and guiding wax, then stuck them on, all round and on the lid too. 

I made the goggles by covering 2 circles I cut from a kitchen roll and covered them with clay moulded from the same metal sheet mould, I added acetate behind each cog then stuck on to kitchen roll circles. The middle piece and side straps are actually made with a hinge mould also by KatySue Designs. I then added a little clay key and a flourish on each lens. 

So there you have it a Steampunk Top Hat that not only looks good but is also useful for storage. Even better made from rubbish that we would normally throw away. 

Just call me a Womble ;)

Even though this is a tutorial I'd still like to enter it into some challenges, hope thats ok.

We love 2 create - Sept -2019 -anything goes

Sandee-and-amelie.steampunk - sept - anything steampunk

Mix it up challenge - Sept - anything goes + optional 3D

A bit more time to craft Sept -anything goes #99

Thanks for looking, I'd love to hear what you think, or if you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment. 

Big hugs Sue xx

Painting coasters - a step by step tutorial

Good morning all, I have been asked a few times how I paint my coasters and do the crackle background, so here's a bit of a tutorial. I'll do my best to explain the simple steps.

I started with an ordinary pack of coasters 

In this pic you can see 2 that I've painted the background and 2 ready and waiting for the crackle treatment.

After sanding the coasters I painted a few coats of my chosen base colour.  Allowing each coat to dry before applying the next. I usually go for a dark or strong colour for the base.

Once the paint was completely dry, I brushed over a coat of watered down PVA glue. Now this has to start to dry, but not dry out fully, before painting the next colour. A thinner coat provides thinner crackles, but dries faster so you need to get your next paint layer on quickly.

Then I painted over the semi dry pva with my chosen top colour. (Usually I use a light colour, white or cream) Try to do this fairly quickly and dont work the paintbrush over the paint too much.

As this top layer dries you will see the crackles begin to appear, I love this bit its like magic. ( Well they do say small things amuse small minds. lol) 

Here's a pic of the 4 coasters with the backgrounds all painted.

The coasters were then painted using Paint Fusion techniques and products.  

I used Distress inks wiped across the coaster to give a slightly more aged effect and then embossed the edges with gold embossing powder.

Each one then has about 3 to 4 layers of varnish applied, again letting each coat dry before applying the next.

So there you have it!

 Hope that helps with the PVA crackle background.

Happy New Year ! My first post of the year and a quick tutorial.

Welcome to 2011.... I have promised myself that I will spend more time crafting, participating in challenges and keeping my blog upto date this year.

I decided to start by tidying up my craft room and getting it better organised.

 Ribbon Storage Tutorial

I usually keep scraps and shorter lengths of ribbon in jars sorted by colours, but its not a very convenient way especially when I want to take it with me to craft elsewhere. I looked on the internet for alternative ways and like the ribbon ring method, But as I am not working and trying to watch the pennies, I decided to make some myself. They were really easy to make,

• I cut card to 4cm x 6cm, and trimmed the corners off at one end to give a tag shape.
• Then used cropadile to punch a hole at narrower end, about 1cm in.
• Then I used a ribbon punch to make the slits, punching from one side then turning and punching from the other making sure they meet up.
•  I made the slits on some a little longer to fit wider ribbon.
•  To finish them a bit neater I used a corner rounder punch on the bottom corners.  

Once I have threaded my ribbon on, I will hang them on  large jump rings, organised by colour and hang up next to my crafting table.