Steampunk Brooches

I have always felt the allure of steampunk, since before I knew it had a name, or even was a thing.  The Victorian nostalgia combined with a future of steampower and gears, the mystery and genius of Nicola Tesla, yes please!  So when I saw these Deep Dish Jewelry findings, I knew I had to do something special.  Their design also held a wonderful surprise for me, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

MATERIALS

Zinc Jewelry Findings Oval and Rectangle

3D Crystal Lacquer

Steampunk Debutante Tags

Distress Stickles

Various Gears, charms and pins

Grungeboard Wings and Key

Teal Adirondack Paint Dauber

Distress Ink: Pummice Stone

Pinbacks

 As limited as my sewing ability is, I have built a corset, and I would really like to make steampunk costumes.  So I decided to start with some cool brooches that would have an industrial, artsy, slightly miliatry feel to them.  Obviously victorian, nouveau and gears are a must! One girly one for me and more Tesla for the Boy.(my boyfriend)
I put on my Caravan Palace Album for background inspiration, selected my images and used the shapes that came with the charms as templates for trimming though they were a little larger than the bottom.  Once I had my images trimmed to fit I put a dot of 3D Lacquer inside and stuck them down. MAKING SURE THE CHARM EYE WAS IN THE DIRECTION I WANT FOR MY CHAINS TO HANG!!

 I chose my tiny gears and a couple small charms for inside.  My initial plan was to layer crystal lacquer and gears, letting each layer dry, giving it a 3D feel, but here's the surprise... those shapes that came with the Jewelry Findings are actually nicely protected acrylic that fits perfectly on the top of the finding like a shadowbox!!  So I scrapped my Lacquer filling idea for a loose gear shadowbox.  It's kind of a "Duh Chelsea" moment I know, but I was super excited!  And I wanted to make sure you know you have the option of either one.  So I added a little Distress Stickles to my images inside, as well as some Crystal Lacquer on the Light Bulb, and let them dry overnight.  I also Embossed a clock image on the grungeboard wings and painted them with teal Adirondack Paint Dauber, and inked the Grungeboard Key with Pumice Stone Distress ink.(not pictured)  I left these to dry as well.

 The next day...
I peeled off the protective film from the acrylic shapes and arranged my charms and clock gears (from a real clock) inside.  I put a thin line of Crystal Lacquer along the top rim lip and placed the front window panes in place.
While that dried I sanded the raised surface of the wings, and inked them, then glued the wings and key to the backs of the Findings with Crystal Lacquer. Behind that I glued the pinback also with Crystal Lacquer. Finally I attached all the hardware using jump rings, a few charms and the chain on the Finding loop and then a couple charms and a pin in the other end of the chain. VOILA!!!

The top pin is my girly one and the bottom is the Boy's, more industrial one.

Here's a closer view of the Brooches themselves.  Feel free to comment, or ask questions, I love sharing ideas, that's what it's all about!  For more great ideas check out the Sakura Design Team Blog!  

Merci!

-Chelsea

Movies I had on for inspiration while I worked: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Hellboy.

Playing in the Dirt: Part 4

Thought I would feature photos from the Boy's garden, since I have mostly posted ones from Mom's.

Everything is growing along great!  Been harvesting and deciding what to plant next as space is freeing up.  At the boy's I've harvested 12 huge green beans off the pole bean, 2 heads of bibb lettuce as well as the usual herbs.

 The herbs are thriving, even better than the ones at Mom's

 The tomatoes are starting to bud so that is very exciting too.

 Here is the most recent lettuce I harvested.

The neighbor's veggies we share half the garden with has a thriving zucchini that is shading some of our plot, so I have moved the eggplant in hopes it can get more sun.  All the onions I had transplanted from under that shade didn't make it so I have sewn more seeds.  

At Mom's the cucumber is getting close to harvest time, lots of tomatoes have been picked, lettuce too,  the strawberries in both gardens are gearing up for a nice big crop.  Next on the planting agenda, beets and red carrots.

Shiver Me Tin-bers!

This tin was so fun to make, the moment I saw it my mind swirled with ideas.  I jumped in with experiments and loved how it came out!  Summer eventually gets me excited about Pirates and they come hand in hand with Mermaids.  So naturally I ended up with this  swashbuckling Pirate/Mermaid theme.  Oh it's so fun, I am really excited to share!

Materials:

Crystal Lacquer, Gem Particles, Color Crystal Lacquer, Glass Tiles, Jewelry Finding, milk tin, StazOn stamp ink-jet black, Ship and mermaid rubber stamps, Rusty Pickle Pirate coupons, seashell stickers, key stickers.

First I selected my materials and decided how I wanted them arranged.  Next I stamped my images directly on the tin using StazOn Jet black ink.  It stamps on EVERYTHING!

 Next I arranged my stickers inside the Jewelry Finding and sprinkled in some Peacock Green Gem Particles, filled it with Crystal Lacquer and set it aside to dry for a few hours.  I also stuck 2 key stickers back to back to make it double sided and covered it with Crystal Lacquer letting each side dry before coating the other side.

While I waited on those I colored my stamped images using the Color Lacquer, I am pretty sure I used almost every color in every set!  It was fun to use the Glitter colors on the Mermaid tails.

I filled in the skull and swords of the Pirate  Flag with Clear Crystal Lacquer and once all the lacquer had dried, I started to attach my paper pieces with the Clear Crystal Lacquer

I punched a hole in the lid of the tin with my Crop-a-dile and attached it , the  Jewelry Finding and the key with some pieces of string.  Using the Clear Lacquer  I attached a small square glass tile over the X on the Treasure map to highlight it.  Then I added bubbles to the empty space around the swimming mermaid.   I waited for it to dry, and VOILA!

(Click on the photos to enlarge them)

I hope you enjoy this project!  Be sure to comment, I love sharing ideas, and follow my blog, I dabble in all kinds of fun stuff.  Also check out the Sakura Design Team Blog, those ladies are super talented!

Avast, ye skervy, land loving, knaves

~Chelsea