Altered Moroccan Frame

I picked up this cool Moroccan Picture frame last week with the idea of altering it.

It is made from Acacia wood and had a simple white wash applied with a little distressed sanding.

I began by adding lots of different colour washes using Decoart Americana and Traditions acrylic paint. A layer of gesso was added on top of  each colour wash and sanded and scrapped back to reveal some of the layer below. 
The shutter doors I decided would look good rusty as well as the embellishment's…
I know.. I know but I cant help it!! I had to add some rust, I am just totally drawn to its fantastic vibrant colours… I am the same when it comes to Moroccan spices!

Here are the finished results, you can click the pictures for a larger view.

I made a box to fit behind the frame opening to fill with a few curiosities.
The picture is of a Moroccan mother and child to which I constructed a driftwood frame around.

 

Fibres and lace were attached to back of the driftwood frame,  a heart made from Lutrador and a TH number plaque (rusted obviously:) were attached to the driftwood.

The background of the box was painted with Decoart Crackle texture and some Moroccan postal papers were glued into place.

This project actually took my much longer than I had planned for but was good fun to do.

 

Andy

Drift….. Faux Wood Tag

I managed to spend an hour yesterday doing a bit of blog hopping which is rare these days, on my travels I saw a few tags made using the Tim Holtz Texture Fades Wood grain Embossing Folder.
I have had this folder for a while but never felt inspired to use it until now so I combined a few techniques together on Personal Impressions 300 gsm plain white card to produce my take on it!


Paints and mediums used are from Decoart.
Before I go, here is My Grungeboard heart that I shared on Facebook yesterday.


Have a great weekend everyone,
Andy

Fancy a dabble?

Have you ever fancied dabbling in ceramic decoration but after seeing the costs of kilns and equipment been put off?
Then this maybe good news for you if in the Surrey area!
I am going to be running a series of six ceramic design evening workshops at the Old Dairy Studios in Oxted Surrey starting on Thursday August 23rd 7pm – 10pm and each month there after.

The classes will start with underglaze application, layering underglaze and rubber stamping with Duncan EZ onto a vase, the classes will progress with advanced techniques.

Your finished pieces will be glazed and fired in the Old Dairy Studios kiln for you after decoration.
Discounts are offered if you book all six although you can book the workshops individually.
Ceramic paints and pottery will also be available for students to purchase at discounted rates allowing you to use the techniques at home and the Old Dairy will fire your piece for you when you have finished…. Ideal for Christmas gifts!
For more details or to book click the link   The Old Dairy Studios
Or email Jo at:  Olddairystudios@gmail.com

Rusty Fish!

Here is a neat way of using offcuts and scrap pieces of grunge board, I literally save every scrap in a box.

Meet my Rusty fish family, or as my daughter used to call them Pish!

 

I roughly sketched some ideas onto paper first.

 

The main bodies have been constructed from scraps of grunge board cut to fit together to form a fish shape.

Each section was then given a different Timeworn technique and a couple of new ones

Rather than using scraps you can draw directly onto a sheet of grunge board and cut it directly from that.

After painting, each section was then glued into place onto a piece of card, once the glue was dry I cut the body shape out.

Hearts, cogs, wings and crowns where die cut, painted and glued into place for the fins and tails.

Have a good day,

 

Andy

I'm Back…Time to get all mystical!!

Hi everyone,
I know I've been very quiet on here the past couple of weeks but I have had lots going on in the background both privately and work wise with deadlines to meet, that said I have awoken this morning seeing that lovely light at the end of the tunnel!!
Firstly I would like to say a big hello to everyone who attended my workshop at Paper Arts in stroud last Sunday, I will be back again on September the 9th 2012 running the fabulous Gothic Tando Clock workshop pictured below, you can find booking details here.

Another big hello to Gwen and everyone attending the Juice Journal workshop pictured below yesterday at the Stamp Pad in Greenfield Saddleworth, I had a lovely day and was so very well looked after, thank you Gwen for your wonderful hospitality.
I will be back at the Stamp Pad on the 14th of October running the Gothic Tando Clock workshop pictured above.
Next weekend I will be at the Craft Barn in Lingfield, surrey where I will be demonstrating on Saturday the 4th and holding the Juice Journal workshop on the Sunday, this is fully booked unfortunately but the good news is I will also be running this workshop at The Stamp Attic in Wantage on August 11th, there are still a few places left so come and get painty fingers with me!!!

Time to get all mystical!!

Here is the Fortune Tellers Book I recently made for the Calico Crafts Blog.

I love this box because the recess in the front allows for so many options.

You can see more pictures and also read how I constructed it over at the Calico Crafts Blog
That's it for now,
back real soon.
Andy

Weathered Wood

Unfortunately I have no artwork to show on this post, I have done lots this week but it all has to be kept under wraps at the moment so instead I decided to make a little video on Decoart weathered wood crackle medium, as I get asked and also receive many emails concerning this product.

In the video I explain different ways and ideas in which to use and control the medium so hopefully the email questions will start to decrease :)

 

 

Andy

New Video, May's Altered Bottles

Thought I would share the fantastic work from some of the delegates on the last Evil Elixir Mixer Workshop…. Sit back and enjoy!

Andy

The Craft Barn Extravaganza & Stuff!

What a whirlwind weekend at the craft barn! It all started on Friday when I held a workshop using the cathedral box.
The run up to the workshop was tense as there were a few problems with the boxes, thanks to poor Ian who had to physically saw them in half just an hour before the workshop began!!

When everyone arrived I was in panic stations, but this quickly passed as they were such a relaxed and lovely group and I soon calmed down.

Here is the tea caddy we made.

 

I returned home that evening to stock up with samples for the next two days only to get stuck on the M25 for 3 hours, there really is not a strong enough word to describe how I feel about that road!

Anyway, I returned Saturday morning fresh and raring to go, set out my table in good time and was all ready for the doors to open at 10am.
As soon as I started demonstrating with the blending tool it became apparent that I had a very wonky table, three cups of spilt tea later, one going straight into my heat gun, paint stripper thingy it was starting to get beyond funny!!

It was however lovely to see everyone and catch up, it was especially good to see Lindsay mason there who was on the table next to me working her magic with Ranger glue and seal and Distress Inks!

 

Ok where was I?……. Oh yes, so got back to the accommodation at 6pm, we had arranged to go out for drinks and a meal at 7pm, I was running a little late so Liz Welch kindly told me the directions as it was only 5 minutes away... Now I am one of those unfortunate people who can only hold that sort of information for a very short period before most of it has left my brain! 45 minutes later I am still driving and searching for the venue, Obviously being male asking for directions is not an option lol, so at this stage I decide to grab a take away,  go back to my room, watch the tennis and big time sulk!

Here is my version of one of the new Tando Creative Carriage Clocks, loved doing this!

 

Sunday went much smoother I'm happy to say, I got the table sorted and there was no more crying over spilt tea and the M25 on the way home was bearable.

 

I was very happy to see this week that I have made it as the spotlight artist over on the Decoart Helping Artist site, been hoping for this for a while now, below is the link to the article.

http://www.decoart.com/helping-artist/andy-skinner/

Well that's about it for now, working on lots of stuff that has to be kept under wraps at the moment, I will however be demonstrating at the Art Shop 11 - 12A Bondgate Darlington DL3 7JE this coming Saturday.

Andy