Are you a hoarder like me? I can't throw anything away including empty tins and boxes.
So this week, just to prove my husband wrong when he says that I never use all the junk I save, I decided to make a mini-mixed media Christmas tree ornament in a cute little Mento's tin I saved months back.
I started off by slapping some rough texture paste onto the inside and outside of the tin and letting it dry. I punched a hole in the top of the inner section of the tin using my Cropadile ready to insert a ribbon for hanging later.
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| Mentos tin with rough texture paste |
Once the texture paste was dry I used Art basics Heavy Body Gel to add embellishments from my stash to the outside of the tin. These included the child's face, melange pebbles and art stones by Finnabair and metal leaves from Tim Holtz.
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| Add embellishments with Heavy Body Gel |
When the gel was dry I opened the tin and added more elements to the inside.
Once all was dry I gave areas of tin or metal still showing a touch of white gesso so my inks in the next stage had something to grip onto.
After a quick blast with my heat tool to make sure the gesso was thoroughly dry, I spritzed the inside and outside of the tin with Dylusions Ink (drying with my heat tool between sprays).
I decided that I wanted the ornament to look as if the closed tin had been lost for years so the colour had faded outside but when it was opened it would reveal vibrant colours.
To get the faded effect I used a technique I picked up from Finnabair during a recent workshop I attended. I used white gesso and dry brushed the outside of the tin. It's important that your brush is pretty dry for this as if wet you will simply move the inks around. I repeatedly dry brushed with white gesso, drying in between each brushing, until I was happy with the level of 'fade' on the tin.
Next, I used Pebeo Rennaisance Gold gilding wax on the tip of my finger to highlight details. To add depth I then dry brushed the whole outside of the tin with Goldfinger acrylic paint from the English Cottage range by Indigoblu.
Once happy with the outside, I opened the tin to reveal the more vibrant colours inside. Again I highlighted with the gilding wax then I added some sparkle using Finnabair's amazing glitters and Soft Matte Gel. The glitters are amazing! I used two shades from the Crimson set and a goldish shade from the Ebony & Ivory set.
To finish off I took some 5mm double sided satin ribbon in scarlet and dry brushed it with the Goldfinger acrylic paint I had used earlier. I simply knotted the ribbon and threaded it through the hole I had punched in the top of the tin.
All ready for my Christmas tree.
If you have been inspired to try a little mixed media for yourself I would love to see your art. Please share it on Instagram and tag me @craftsiteshop.
Supplies used are available to order from Craftsite.co.uk. Just click the item to go to the website.
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| Art Basics Heavy Body Gel |
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| Art Basics Soft Matte Gel |
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| Pebeo Gilding Wax |
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| Pebeo Gesso |
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| Goldfinger Acrylic Paint |
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| Finnabair Glitter Crimson |
