Steampunk: Mottled Bone and Experimentation

 

“If, at first, an idea isn’t absurd, there is no hope for it.” – Brallick

 

 

 

1.      Put dots of pumpkin spice and a marigold yellow on your page and then swirl your brush to get the two to blend yet have distinct color on the page.  Before that dries, paint over with antique gold color and cover whole page, then, quickly, use a paper towel to take up some of the gold and other paints so that there is a bone color showing through in places.  Let dry.

 

1.      Choose a stencil and, using a bronze paint, make some circle or odd circles on your page.  Dry.

 

1.     Use a gel stain, if you have it, I am using Americana Gel Stain, walnut, to do a splash of the darker color here and there on the page, letting it sit for a few seconds and then wiping it off.  This begins to give a mottle look.  Dry.

 

1.     I did another layer of shimmer, in that I used  Deco Art, metallic acrylic paint, White Pearl, over top in a thin layer.  Then I used a soft kleenex to wipe a bit of it off after a few seconds of sitting.  This allows some of the shimmer to stay without it being a whole slather of metallic. 

Note:  my page is a bit lumpy and bumpy from another earlier page being 3D, so it helps with the mottled look. 

2.     Now, as with all, this is the next step – adding images, words or numbers, etc. 

 

3.        Tidying up with a bit more stencil work, and outlining, and a bit of mark making.

 

A huge part of experimentation is that you are willing to fail and to learn whatever lesson there is to it.  This page is far from my favorite, but I realized that I can use a die cut as a stencil.  Why I never thought of that before is beyond me.   And, sometimes your pages are buckled because of the page before (why didn’t I think of that when I put the button on the girl’s dress?)  and I learned…. with every flail, I learned… wait, isn’t there a poem that is my favorite that sounds like that?  Yes, yes, there is… tomorrow

©Carol Desjarlais 5.14.21