Andy Skinner: Steampunk Style Canvas

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back to Andy's blog. It's Candy here and I am sharing my latest steampunk canvas with you.

This little 4" x 5" canvas may be small in size but packs a powerful statement when hanging on a wall.

Andy has partnered with the fantastic people at Creative Expressions. His line features many amazing products with new ones recently being released.

Now let's dive into the process to make this canvas and all of the products used:

Begin by ramdonly spreading some of Andy's Cosmic Shimmer Strata Paste over the surface of the 4" x 5" canvas. I have done this with a palette knife. This gives a wonderful textural appearance to the canvas with it's thick smears and bits of what looks like mica and other textural elements. Heat set to dry.

Now for Andy's Cosmic Shimmer Lava Paste. Again, applied randomly with a palette knife, the Lava Paste "explodes" with dimension when heat set. I love the added interest those little raised areas provide. Gently heat with the heat tool. Let cool for a few minutes before continuing.

At this point, your canvas will look something like this. Crazy texture and dimension!

Using Andy's new Mixed Media Transfers: Steampunk and Ephemera Emporium; I added the black detail to the very uneven surface using the little sticks included with the transfers. They are a nice thickness of transfer and adhere to the surface so well.

Here you can get a closer look at the Mixed Media Transfer Images I chose to use as well as the addition of the fabulous Andy Skinner Cosmic Shimmers Super Nova Embossing Powder. With it's rich charcoal color with silver metallic pieces mixed in, this embossing powder gives very cool detail. This design of the waterfall dots is from Andy Skinner's Creative Expressions Enigma Stamp. Just stamp the image using an Embossing Ink pad. Shake the jar and then sprinkle the embossing powder over the stamped image. Remove all of the excess powder back into the jar. Gently heat set with a heat tool so as not to damage the Mixed Media Transfers.

Now your canvas will look something like this and it's time to add the color .... GLORIOUS COLOR!!

There are six wonderful Andy Skinner Cosmic Shimmer Artist Pigment Paint colors. For this canvas, I chose Cobalt Teal, Quinacridone Gold and Yellow. These paints go on so easily and they are transparent enough that you will see all of the black detail from the Mixed Media Transfers even when painted over! I used a mix of about 60% paint to 40% water to create the colorful background. You can also blend the colors together easily with these paints as they such wonderful quality paints with their transparency. I also applied some stronger consistency of paint along the top and sides and gave them a mist with a water bottle. They run beautifully down the canvas.

Before I started adding the metal pieces to the canvas, I decided to add some more of the Cosmic Shimmer Super Nova Embossing Powder randomly on the sides of the canvas. To do this, I simply touched the Embossing Ink Pad to random edges of the canvas. Then I sprinkled the Embossing Powder over the ink and removed the excess back into the jar. Then I brushed away an extra powder I did not want on the canvas with a small paint brush. Then gently heat set the powder in place. You can see the dark gray metallic mixed areas around the edge of the canvas.

I had some metallic pieces in my stash that I thought would bring even more life to this canvas and give it even more of a funky steampunk feeling. To glue all of these pieces in place, I used Andy Skinner's Cosmic Shimmer Quick Grab Glue. It dries clear and doesn't take long to set up.

Around the edge of the canvas, I first added 1/2" double sided tape and then covered it with a 1/2" piece of black washi tape with scientific table on it. Very steampunkish!

Finally, to give this canvas a very different mechanism to hang it. I fashioned a little wire loop to hang the canvas on a wall using some of Andy Skinner's Rusted Wire. This was glued in place using the Quick Grab Glue. Then I screwed two little eye hooks in place 3/4" from the outside edge of the canvas. Next I simply wrapped wire around a little 6" ruler that had been tinted with Andy's Cosmic Shimmer Yellow Artist Pigment Paint. The edges of the ruler were blackened by wiping black acrylic paint across the edges using my finger. First wrap the wire one time around the ruler and then run the free edge through the eye hook. Be sure to have the ruler hanging from each eye hook the same length. Then wrap the rest of the wire around the ruler. Done!

I completely did this project in two hours. It was fun and easy and working with these products is truly so much fun!

I hope I've given you a little inspiration to try some of these products on your next mixed media masterpiece! Don't be afraid to experiment and try something new!

Here is a handy link to all of Andy's Fab Products at Creative Expressions:

CLICK HERE

'Til next time ...