This project is a tutorial found here from Pink Poodle. I used a small canvas from a pack of 10 I found on clearance at Micheal’s. The size is 8″ x 10″. Here’s how to do this:
I began with a white canvas and poured three colors of craft paint, chocolate brown, dandelion yellow and flag red, into the center. Only pour as much as needed to cover the white. Using a credit card scraper, I smeared the paint all over the canvas including the sides. You could use only one color as your base coat, paint it with black gesso, or use a burlap canvas like Pink Poodle did. I did not have one.
Next, cut rectangle pieces from scraps of fun foam. These are your “metal” pieces. I layered them until I was satisfied with the look. I left the center open for the phrase. I used hot glue to secure the fun foam. I only smeared a bit of hot glue to the back rather than a bead of glue because it squishes out the sides with to much glue. You don’t want squish but if it happens, it happens. You can scrape the glue away with your credit card scraper if it’s really noticeable.
When they were all attached to the canvas, I made the rivets using hot glue. Press gently to release a small spot of hot glue, pull glue gun upward and twirl until the glue releases. I would practice this on a scrap piece of paper until you are comfortable making these. If you make your rivets to big on your pieces, quickly scrape them off with a palette knife or credit card scraper. You’ll leave a bit on the fun foam, but that is not a problem.
Once you have made all your rivets paint the fun foam with black gesso. or black craft paint. It’s alright to get some of the paint on your canvas near the edges of the fun foam. Turn the piece often because there are all kinds of nooks and crannies you won’t see. Let dry.
If you have stencils and modeling paste now is the time to use them. I used two different patterns. If you don’t have stencils you can make your own or smear the paste randomly on the canvas. You are just creating texture here. If you don’t have modeling paste use gesso. If it’s not thick enough add talcum powder, powdered marble dust or even corn starch. Make sure you get the sides of the canvas too. Let dry.
Here is where I substituted materials. Pink Poodle used metallic rub-ons and Inca Gold. I had neither, and given the price, was reluctant to purchase any. Instead I used metallic craft paints. I found these on sale at Hobby Lobby and bought 5 of them.
They are: Aquamarine, Solid Bronze, Peridot, Regal Red, and Chocolate Brown. I already had the antiqued gold.
Beginning with the fun foam pieces, I painted them all the antiqued gold. Do this as a dry brush, letting the black paint show through in spots. If you lose to much of the black, dry brush it back on after the gold is dry. I dry brushed some of the chocolate and bronze metallics on the after the gold. A little bit goes a long way, less is more here. You are still letting some of the black show through.
I used the metallic Chocolate Brown as the base color on the canvas-almost dry brushing it on. The colors are applied giving the most coverage with the first color and diminishing the coverage with each subsequent color. The second color, Regal Red was dry brushed over the chocolate. Next came the Solid Bronze and last the Aquamarine. Use the Aquamarine sparingly, it is quite bold. This gives you a wonderful depth of color on your piece.
I added a phrase to mine which I had printed on paper, cut out and glued down. Once I glued it down, I decided I didn’t like it. It was stuck down well and would not budge. I painted over it so it matched the rest of the background. I used stamps with black ink instead of the computer print out and it does give it a more steampunk/grungy look which is what I’m going for.
Now it’s time to add the embellishment pieces. You don’t need metal, but that’s what I used. Here is the multi-media piece:
The glue hasn’t dried completely, which is the white you see. It will dry clear. I am not happy with the way the phrase turned out. I will probably change it.
I hope you will give multi-media art a try. It’s a lot of fun and you can use whatever you have on hand.
Purple Whimsie 