Portal to The Unexplained Altered Book

I loved messing around with altered art. I want to share a interesting and creative Altered book. To access the unexplained the variety of cogs and gears must be manipulated to open the portal. Unlike other books this book opens differently.  

 From afar, I wanted the viewer to see the differently elements protruding, almost trying to escape from the gateway from beyond, to draw them closer. Once closer, I wanted to focus on the portal itself. My goal was to make the viewer want to venture into the distance, into the unknown realm within the book.

 

To open "The Unexplained", the various cogs and gears must be manipulated to unlock the portal, which then allows the user to dive into the unknown.  With peaked interest and curiosity, the viewer is now emerged completely within "The Unexplained".   

 

 It is unexplained, the primal drive we have to go further and further into the unknown. The risk we take to explore further in to the depths of our art and our passions.

   

 Once inside, the viewer is still curious by protrusions of the unexplained emerging from within the book. Drawing us further and further into the deep depths of the unknown.

 

It spikes our interest and we dive deeper with in our imagination and with the art in front of us.

 

Have a great creative Day

Supplies:

Andy Skinner

Industrial Elements 

DecoArt Media

DecoArt Media:  Texture Sand Paste, Matte Medium, Crackle Paint, Decou-page Matte.

Fluid Acrylics: Quinacridone Gold, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Yellow Iron Oxide, Diarylide Yellow, Carbon Black, Paynes Grey, Burnt Umber, Pyrrole Red,

Tando Limited Creative

Stampendous

Andy Skinner Curiosity Stamp ASCRS04, Andy Skinner Unexplained StampASCRS09, Industrial Industrial Stamp ASCRS03

Ammonit Box using the new Andy Skinner Fossil stamp set and Stampendous Enamels

Hi all

Another teaser for you; a project made using Andy's fantastic new stamp range. The good news is it is being released THIS WEEKEND and when they are finally available you can get them here!

 Here is the finished project and below is a brief outline of how I created it.

I painted the box lid and base. Triple embossed the lid using Stampendous Enamels, and stamped into the lid while the enamels were still molten.

Once cooled, I used DecoArt white antiquing cream, paints and metallic lustres to give depth to the ammonite. I love it - very touchable! Hope you like it too. For a detailed step by step, have a look at my blog.
Thanks
Suz
x

Products used:

DecoArt: Paynes Grey and Titan Buff Media Fluid Acrylics

Extreme Sheen Antique Bronze Metallic
White Antiquing Cream
Metallic Lustres in Black Shimmer and Iced Espresso

Stampendous Products:

Andy Skinner Fossils Stamps (being released at the Stitches ICHA this weekend. Find them here after launch!

Frantage Embossing Enamels in Aged Copper, Aged Gold and Aged Scarlet

Other products used:

Archival and Versamark ink pads and a small cardboard box

King Spook - Brenda Brown

Hi Everyone, Brenda here.

I'm back today to share a little hanging with you .....

.....  made with the new Spook set of stamps Andy has designed for Illusionary Artists.

http://www.andyskinnercrafts.com/store/c10/Illusionary_Artists_Stamps.html

I love this set and found I used three out of the four stamps on this project - I was thinking at first I was only going to use King Spook himself but the text and skulls jumped straight in as I was developing all the elements.

I began by creating the background first, using the DecoArt media paints, DecoArt media gesso and some text from this set as well as the Tech Trauma set. on a media board from Tando Creative.

The frame went through several layers of embossing and painting, sanding and inking to get to this finish.

And King Spook was stamped and painted on a piece of media card with yet a different background which included Andy's Sunburst stencil.

I loved how this came together - I didn't have exactly this picture in my head to start with but I'm happy with how it finished up. 

If you are interested in seeing the process steps for each of the elements they are over on my blog and can be found here.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope your weekend is going well.

hugs Brenda xxx

Click on the product links in the post above to be transported to the retailers.

'Dead Stylish' Tag

Hi all,

A quick post to show a fun tag I've created using some of Andy's new stamps from the Illusionary Artists 'Spook' set. 

I used DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics on the stamped images, and several Metallics on the background and part of the crown and strap. 

The background is a Tando Creative greyboard tag. This I split into 4 layers (details on my blog) to make the tag a bit thinner, then I embossed it with Andy's Starburst stencil before decorating. Products used are in the pic below.  

 I used a pyrography tool to singe the edges and add the dimples.

Little tip here, the Spook stamp set also gives you a FULL alphabet to play with (it's the Ouija stamp!) and that's what I've stamped, embossed with Stampendous Black Pearl Lustre embossing powder, coloured with paint washes and cut out to create the words. Having snipped out the letters I glued them onto a background I had painted with the red. Then the shrink plastic sign and wire were added to finish it off. More details on my blog. Thanks for looking! Suz x

Picture of products used - though forgive the stencil being in the wrong packet - it's called Sunburst not Tornado!

Click HERE to visit the store

DecoArt products used:

Media Fluid Acrylics: Cobalt Teal, Titan Buff, Pyrol Red Quinacrydone Gold, Paynes Grey

Dazzling Metallics and Extreme Sheen: Copper, Splendid Gold, Zink, Tin, Iced Espresso

Andy's products used:

Spook Stamp Set and Sunburst Stencil

Tando Products used:
Greyboard Tag

From my general supplies I also used Archival and Versamark ink pads, jewellery wire, shrink plastic, cosmic shimmer glue a hole punch and the pyrography tool.

ATC simple Background technique

Hello and thanks for stopping by, Mark here with a little tutorial for making quick and easy backgrounds using the Decoart Media Fluids.

I have been a big fan of Atc's for years now as they appeal to my inner child who collected all manner of stickers and trading cards. Not only are they fun to make and trade they are also a perfect way to try out new techniques without working full scale.

For this post I have used Atc blanks in mdf and grey board ( I prefer working on the thicker substrates as they hold up so much better than the traditional thick stamping card stock and when finished just feel more substantial and special some how.

Start by painting the Atc with a couple of coats of Tinting Base to give a nice white base to work from.

Apply a couple of drops of Media fluid to a craft sheet and squidge ( technical term ) the Atc face down into the paint, Wiggle it around a little and carefully pull the Atc away from the craft sheet, this will create a nice textured pattern to the surface of the paint.

Repeat with more colours.

You can mop up the excess paint with additional Atc's so nothing goes to waste.

Using the tinting base or some of the Titan buff added to different colours will help lighten the darker colours and turn the translucent colours opaque.

sliding the Atc or tag around in the paint will help blend the colours together. when building up the different layers its some times necessary to let each coat dry first to avoid muddying the colours to much.

Also keep in mind if stamping with black ink the background needs to be kept on the lighter side other wise the image you stamp may not show up very well.

Keep adding layers of colour until you are happy with the results. To keep the colours on the brighter side use slightly less paint and dry between layers

To get a more muted finish try applying the different colours whilst the previous stage is still a little wet and by mixing in a little bit of the tinting base to tone down or lighten the colours.

This back ground was done by adding several colours to the craft sheet at the same time with a little squidging ( technical term ) and wiggling in the pant.

Stamp choice can be important and I have found with some of the stronger backgrounds stamps with a lot of fine detail and open space can get lost a little, finding a stamp that has a lot of inked rubber works well.

Stamp the image with a fresh or juicy archival ink pad.

I have used lots of Andy's stamps that are available from Stampendous for My Atc's and tag and once stamped they have been finished with a Gloss Varnish as I really wanted the colours to pop.

I finish the outside edge of the Atc's with a black Copic and some of the edges have been distressed with Archival Ink.

I finished the Heart Atc off by nailing several panel pins into it.

As always a huge thank you for stopping by. xxx.