Steampunk Shadow Box with Alcohol Inks - The Stamp Man Challenge

I am entering this Steampunk Shadow Box for The Stamp Man Alcohol Inks Challenge which closes tonight. It's only the second time I have entered but I remembered being so influenced by The Stamp Man shows on Create and Craft when I first started crafting, and I have learnt such a lot from them.

I painted the shadow box with a mix of Baltic Blue, Sky Blue, and Guacamole Fresco Finish paints to make a jade green to match the dominant colour in the Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante papers, and used a piece of this paper as the backdrop. I cut a Tim Holtz Alterations Die mannequin out of roasting tin foil and embossed it with a Cogs embossing folder. I cut the stand off and then cut it in half lengthways then reattached it to make two legs. I alcohol inked it by dripping colour on so it was quite intense, and picking out the various colours from the background paper. I cut a couple of Bigz Flourishes as a base for my feather arms and added the head from the papers. I then added a pocket watch face at the neck and some shrink plastic cogs cut from the Alterations Die at the shoulders to pull the elements of the doll together.

Slightly angled view to show the depth of the box

On the backdrop there is a clock from Dezinaworld highlighted with a piece of curved glass, and I used another piece to highlight the woman's face, and added some more shrink plastic cogs. The lightbulb is a keyring and it does light up!

The light only comes on if I hold it down, lol! I think it is meant for finding your lock in the dark!

Bottom right I alcohol inked a microscope slide, concentrating the colour around the edge and placed the lady image behind it so that she was framed by AI colour but not concealed, and edged it with Memory Foil tape in Gold. The acetate butterfly was alcohol inked and I added a vintage pen nib. The cog above it has been made from a mould in clay, and then metallic rub on added to enhance the raised areas. Above that is a piece from a watch used to frame another image from the background paper book. To the left of this are some more shrink plastic cogs. I used a hand from the Tim Holtz steampunk stamp set to point to one of his ornate plates which has been alcohol inked, and the Steampunk word was taken from an Artistic Outpost steampunk set. I alcohol inked the word and the hand just so they weren't stark white and filled in the frame with Glossy Accents.

On the bottom of the frame are some more shrink plastic cogs, a different cog mould, and a mould I took of some wings which I then made up in clay. I would like to thank Petra for letting me stamp up some of her images last night, and Alison when she was here the other week, who also let me use the mannequin die. What good buddies!

Steam Punk - A Light Bulb Moment!

For one of my Altered Element DT projects for May I have made this little Inventors' Shadow Box. The Shadow Box is by Twiddleybitz and can be found here. I was also sent this sheet of Playful Gents by Artchix, and a box of cogs, a light bulb, watch faces, and other ephemera which I have used in this item. When I received this pack I also received some other gorgeous goodies for other projects, but immediately put these items together for a Steam Punk theme. Sorry I should have photographed the sheet of images before I cut the two out I was going to use, but I'm sure you get the idea. Some of the men are 'playful' as the name suggests, but I chose the most serious ones with the handlebar moustaches for my Inventors, Professor Hydraulious Hornblower, and his friend, Dr Luddite Sprockett.

I was very impressed with the shadow box, which comes in very solid pieces which you just pop together in a tongue and groove sort of way, so you can decorate the pieces before you assemble it if this is easier. I started off by making an A4 sheet of background paper, using the Tim Holtz Timeworks masks, Distress Inks, a background stamp, and sequin waste. I covered each piece with some of this paper and edged it with gold paint and Vintage Photo Distress ink. I made two large cogs up in black shrink plastic, and adhered the two images to my microscope slides. I stamped the frame with some phrases from Creative Expressions Vintage Aviation set, and also used some computer-generated words, some of which I added to the frame and some to the slide images. My student, Jude, said that the technique we had been doing recently with image transfer worked a treat with computer text, allowing the background to show through, so this is what I did. I made a clock from one of the watch faces with a gold cog surround, and brad legs for hands, and adhered this to the hanging section. I stuck the whole box together and stuck the cogs from the set, and the shrink plastic ones to the frame. I then stuck the microscope slides to the base of the frame, and added the words 'A Lightbulb Moment', as my inventors have just made a wonderful discovery (they didn't tell me what it was). To finish off, I punched a hole through the top of the back of the frame and dangled a light bulb above their heads with invisible thread.

There is such a choice of steam punk elements at the Altered Element, and it is great fun to look back on this period in history.