About Me

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I'm a retired primary school teacher, who started paper crafting in 2008, when I had a fancy to make my own Christmas cards. Since then, I have tried all sorts of techniques and styles - and I kind of like them all. I have been lucky enough to be on blog teams and large design teams and to do a bit of freelance demonstrating - and I love the challenge of working with different products. My crafting style is very varied - from junk journaling and art journaling, bookbinding and journal making, to quilting and patchwork - and of course I still make cards. This variety keeps me interested - and my crafty stash growing!! I'm always seeking inspiration for new projects.

Monday 13 January 2014

Melt Pot Mad!!

On Saturday, I attended a Melt Pot Masterclass with Hels Sheridan, at Pickwell Farm in Southampton. It was an absolutely brilliant day - and now is the time to share what I made!

We were provided with one large and two small canvases, and the first job was to scrape on some paint. A pale colour went all over the canvas - including the sides (I used Eco Green Mushroom). Having made sure this was dry, a medium colour (I used Adirondak Hazelnut) was then scraped on - only a bit this time. I found it hard at first, as too much paint went on at a time - but this can be rectified by scraping the pale colour over the worst patches once the layer is dry. Finally, a small amount of a darker colour (Adirondak Mushroom) was scraped on.
The next step (which I forgot to photograph) was to stamp onto single ply tissue with Stazon. Then the Melt Pot was turned on as we used wax to apply the tissue to the canvas. The idea is you brush the melted wax over the tissue and it kind of sinks into the canvas. You have to use your heat gun as well - and I got a bit carried away - you can see the yellow patches where I overheated the wax and the canvas!! 
We then applied mica powder onto the canvas for some shimmer. I decided to use Cosmic Shimmer Pale Gold as this would blend in with my overheated yellowing patches. That was great - but it then also highlighted where I hadn't checked if I had applied wax all over the canvas - and there are obviously bits that I missed!!   
So here is the 'finished' (sort of) canvas. This was photographed at home - so looks slightly different. We edged the canvases with paint applied with Cut and Dry. I used Adirondak Mushroom at the workshop, but changed my mind at home and went over it with a mixture of Eco Green Mulch and Black. The buttons, heart charm and key are all mine - but the other pieces are from the workshop.
These flowers were made from pouring molten UTEE from the melt pot into some fabulous moulds. The detail in incredible.It was a mix of Bright Gold, Silver Shine, Ancient Copper, a little black and a very little white. These moulds are just brilliant - another thing to add to my wish list!!
The little owl at the bottom is made from a mould that Hels made from an owl charm, using Mould and Pour. This was one of my purchases yesterday as there are some great possibilities for things to make moulds from!!
The red flower was a pre-made flower that was dipped into clear UTEE for the faux porcelain technique. And the little oval peeking out is a Spellbinders hat pin. Instead of pouring the UTEE into it, we put a piece of heat resistant craft sheet into the Melt Pot, put the hat pin on top of this, and then sprinkled the UTEE directly into it (I used Tropic Red and Lava Red).
There are lots of things I like about this canvas - and it will eventually go onto my wall. There are also lots of things I know I would do differently next time - but the canvas will be there to remind me not to make those mistakes again.

Thanks again to Hels for a fabulous workshop. And also to Carolyn from Pickwell for looking after us all.

I would like to enter this into:
That Craft Place - Use a Charm (the key)

Crafty Boots Challenges - Anything Goes
My Craft Creations - Anything Goes

See you soon.
Cxx

3 comments:

  1. Gorgeous, I bet you had fun making this and are pleased with how it turned out. Thank you for sharing your work with all of us at Crafty Boots Challenges.

    Dionne

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  2. This looks fabulous, glad you enjoyed your day :)

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  3. This is stunning. I am very envious of your day. Thanks for joining us at My Craft Creations.

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Thank you so much for visiting my blog and leaving a comment!! I really appreciate it!! Cxx