Friday 2 February 2018

Melt It Challenge at A Vintage Journey Challenge Blog

Hi everyone xx Hope you are all well and keeping cosy if you live in a cold climate......for those of you in sunnier climes enjoy the weather x I just can't wait for Spring to arrive xx
Today I am sharing my project created for the lovely and talented Julia Alston's challenge theme for A Vintage Journey blog, which is 'Melt It'. Here are the challenge details as described by Julia:

"This month we're asking everyone to MELT IT! Get out the UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel), beeswax, encaustic wax, embossing powders or good old wax crayons and a heat tool and get melting to create something in a vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journalling; industrial, timeworn or steampunk style!"

Our sponsor this month is COUNTRY VIEW CRAFTS, who are giving our randomly chosen winner a £20 gift voucher to spend at their online store.....so definitely worth entering!! We, the Creative Guides, ( DT) choose three Pinworthy projects  who will receive a Pinworthy badge to display on your blog.

I had such fun with this challenge theme and decided to play with Shrink Plastic as well as my Melt Pot, which had not seen the light of day for a few years !! 
First of all a Bee Crafty MDF Art Board was covered in gesso then painted with Raw Umber by Decoart. Once dry Decoart Weathered Wood Crackle Medium was randomly applied  to the substrate as I only wanted a few areas of crackle. Once the crackle medium was dry the Art Board  was painted with Decoart Chalk Paint in Lace. My wood mounted Egyptian Stamps, which I have had for over 20 years, were used to stamp the background in  Sepia and Forget Me Not Archival Ink. Once satisfied with the stamping, which was not perfect as I was attempting to create an aged feel to my project, Vintage Photo DI was applied, creating some depth to the cracked areas.
It took me ages to find my shrink plastic, carefully hidden amongst other treasures in my stash. Once again Egyptian stamps were inked with Archival Ink in Black then  once stamped were roughly cut out to create a variegated edge. When my heat tool reduced the image size  Vintage Photo Distress Ink was applied. 
A torn piece of 300gsm card was covered in Ranger Perfect Medium, enabling the UTEE to stick to it.  My heat tool was then applied to the embossing powder on 4 occasions before stamping in to the medium whilst still warm. (nb The Egyptians stamps were also covered in the Perfect Medium before applying to the UTEE as it prevented the step from sticking) TIP - if you are not happy with the stamped image then you can just heat it up again and stamp until you are satisfied with the outcome.
Jet Black Archival Ink was applied to another of the stamps and I was pleased to see that it adhered very well on the enamelled surface. 
Then it was time to play with my Melt Pot and more UTEE powder in Gold. ( I also placed some UTEE Flex in with the powder as it makes the molten powder more flexible when it hardens...not sure if it has been discontinued but it is really beneficial, especially when trimming stamped areas with scissors or a craft knife)
First technique was to pour the molten powder in to a silicone pyramid mold. 
The second technique was to pour the molten powder on to my craft sheet and then stamp in to it with a Nefertiti stamp, which again had Perfect Medium applied to prevent it from sticking. 
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Print Books, which were a gift from my lovely blog friend, Redanne, were used to finish this piece and using my fingers I applied a coat of Decoart metallic Paint in Ice Blue, the edge of the Art Board was also given a coat of this stunning colour, which really pops against the background colours. (I have decided I must use more of my Tim Holtz gifts/stash in projects this year)

Please take  GREAT care when using a Melt Pot as the liquid is very very hot and you should always use both hands when pouring. 
For more inspiration by fellow Creative Guides Please click HERE, which will take you to the AVJ blog.

Have Fun & Happy Crafting xx
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21 comments:

  1. What a wonderful 'Melt It' creation Annie - I love all of your Egyptian items - the wonderful stampings (like the wall of a tomb telling the life of the inhabitant!) and the melted stampings and images - the crackle and great mix of colors - thank you so much for joining in on my challenge this month! Julia xx

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  2. Love your beautiful Egyptian piece, some great ideas there. Have a great weekend, hugs, Valerie

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  3. I so enjoyed my trip to Egypt (quite a few years ago now) and this has taken me right back there to the museums, the pyramids and the wonderful river boat journey we took up the Nile to so many amazing cultural and archaeological sites. Your fabulous layers, stamps, elements and images are brilliantly put together - I love it xxx

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  4. What a wonderful way to showcase your love of all things Egyptian, Annie. Those melted stamped images look real good in gold , drawing your eye to appreciate all the stamping and delicate crackle on the backdrop.
    Hope you have a lovely weekend
    Hugs x

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  5. So creative and thank you for reminding me about the melt pot. Fabulous creation and thank you for the inspiration x

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  6. Wow Annie, this is sooooo stunning!! Fantastic effects and it really looks like soething dug up out of an Egytian tomb! Love it and I can just see how much fun you had with it!

    Hope your weekend won't be too busy...
    Big hugs xxx

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  7. Wow Annie, this is fabulous, what a wonderful collection of techniques and images, I feel like I've just had a walk among the pyramids! Never thought to use the Shrink plastic for this theme but what a wonderful idea and love the stamped UTEE as well, I never remember to do that so thank you for the reminder! Great project, thanks so much for sharing it, Deb xo

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  8. Oh my this is an awesome Egyptian project. I love the opulent rich colours of copper and gold. I haven't used my melt pot in years either.
    Yvonne xx

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  9. That Melt Pot is so much fun, I must agree. You did a fabulous job on this project. Thanks for sharing your ideas with all of us. Hugs, S@ndy

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  10. This is such a stunning Egyptian piece Annie, the stamped in UTEE images are fabulous and I just love the whole design of your board. It really does look like a real relic! I have never heard of UTEE Flex but it sounds like a great product and I really should get my melt pot out and use it again too! Thanks for the shout out too my friend. Hugs, Anne xx

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  11. Wow this is great and sounds like you had so much fun using older suppliers and techniques! Sometimes we get so obsessed with discovering new we forget the great stuff we already have - so happy you didn't as this is wonderful! xxx

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  12. This is amazing Annie! So many wonderful techniques and images all in an Egyptian style! Just fabulous. Jennie x

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  13. Well, what can I say about this wonderful Egyptian piece of Art. This really is perfection Anne. Lots of work and thoughts were put in to the whole story and it has worked so well. Delighted to see more of the art pieces that you do so well. Hugs Mum xx

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  14. Annie, this is FABULOUS! Big applause from me for using your melt pot to make that amazing artifact front and center! It looks to be carved from stone! Every single detail is so well thought out and placed, and I love this from the stunning crackled and stamped background to the painted print blocks! (And everything in between--those shrink plastic pieces look made from clay!

    PS I have a drawer full of shrink plastic and the melt pot, but haven't used either--they scare me! Now I'm inspired to dig them out and play! Hugs!

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  15. Annie, every time I come to your blog, I see something amazing! This melt it piece is fascinating. Love the Egyptian vibe. One country I would still love to visit someday. What a very creative piece. Love all of the embedded stamped images mixed with the other melted pieces. The background with the hieroglyphics is really nice. Love the torn cardstock and the wonderful gold pendant in the center. Nice job!

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  16. How inspired to add shrink plastic to the melting mix! Love the textured stamping - such a cool technique - and the wonderful Egyptian treasures you've stamped, melted and shrunk to create this fabulous panel.
    Alison x

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  17. Awesome ideas Annie and fabulous results - I love it! This is just so clever - and so much detail to look at too! Hugs rachel xx

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  18. This really is wonderful! We are home for a little while so hoping to get my melt pot going! Hugs,Chrisx

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  19. awsome, love this ;O)

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  20. Wow, what a wonderful project! I enjoyed learning about all the different techniques you used - amazing 😁. Wishing you a happy new week! J 😊

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  21. This came out fantastic. Great artwork.

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Thank you so much for taking time to visit my blog. I really do appreciate your comments and will always do my best to return them.

Annie x