Grungy Steampunk Watercolor Brush Cup for Creative Embellishments

Hi all.  Kelley here for Creative Embellishments.  I had taken such a long break from crafting that I forgot just how much I enjoy getting inky and messy.  I wanted to branch into playing with watercolors and purchased some materials.   I am so hard on my acrylic brushes that I wanted to make sure I kept my new watercolor ones safe.   I found this tin in my stash and thought it would be the perfect cup to hold the brushes.  It just needed a little love.   

I knew I wanted to use a clock face and wings, but due to the small size of the cup the proportions were to big for everything to fit on the front.  While I figured that part out, I covered the entire thing in strips of tape in vertical and horizontal directions, making each strip a different size.  I purposely left wrinkles in the tape to add texture.  I covered with coarse texture gel and then when dry, painted with black paint.   One thing I love about these chippies is that they can be coaxed to bend around corners without cracking or breaking.   The key is to move it slow and the wet matte medium helps loosen the fibers as you bend.  I used the Large Clock Face 4", Wings Set 3, Gear 1 1/2" , Gears 1", and loose parts to layer to the front and around the sides and then painted black.

After everything was dry, I thought it needed even more texture....I had scrap piece of the fishnet panel left over from another project and put some texture paste through it.  When I lifted up the panel piece I got this wonderful imperfect texture.   I still have the piece to use on another project but got a very unexpected but happy additional use out of it.  I covered the entire thing with Dr. Ph. Martin's irridenscent calligraphy ink in copper.  A few drops go a super long way.   I sprayed with some Lindy's stamp gang sprays in brown shades to tone down the shine.   I used just a couple of drops of the Jade calligraphy ink to add highlights and color to the back of the lightbulb.

Under the Sea with Creative Embellishments

Hello.  I am back up on the Creative Embellishments blog today with a new project.   Love the all the steampunk and sea themed items.  It pairs so well with the Graphic 45 collection.  Click on the links to go directly to the blog or the store to check out the items.

I found this cool latern over a year ago and have been saving it for a fun project.  When I saw the steampunk Octopus I knew I needed to do an aquarium with the lantern. I first inked the Octopus with amber liquid acrylics from Dr. Ph Martins then sprayed with coral Heidi swap mists.  I used dark bark prima chalk edger and a rust ink pad to darken the edges.

I used seaweed 2 and seaweed 3 to build out my acquatic seen inside the lantern.  I used the rust ink pad to ink the one to give it more of a coral feel and different shades of green and rust for the other.  I added sand, shells, and netting to finish off.