My Steampunk Muse

Hello everyone!  Barbara here. I am really excited about my project today.  Okay, I know I am easily entertained, but when it comes to steampunk, I really am, easily entertained, that is!  I could not wait to work on Gina's Steampunk Cage Dressform.  And here she is!!!

Directions:

I painted the cage portion (front and back) with the Iron paint from the VerDay kit and let dry for one hour.  Then, following directions with the kit, I painted a second coat of the Iron paint and sprayed with the Patina Solution while the paint was still wet.  You will probably need to work in sections if your paint is drying quickly.  Here are the rusted pieces after the Patina Solution was allowed to sit for 24 hours and do it's thing.

Use the same process to paint the dressform pieces, but use the copper paint instead of the iron paint.  The Patina Solution gives a bluish green patina to the copper. 

I used Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue to put my dress form and cage together.  I have found it to be the easiest glue to use, and it really does "grab" the chipboard nicely.

• Very Important Tip:  I discovered that my chipboard had swelled from the Patina Solution and I was not able to slip the chipboard strips through the holes in the base and top.  What I ended up doing was using a craft knife to trim the little extender pieces so I could push them into the holes.  So, you may prefer putting the cage portion together before painting and adding the patina solution.

I wanted all of my remaining chipboard pieces to also have a metal look, so I heat embossed the floral border and scrap pieces of the Chainlink with Silvery Shimmer ink and silver embossing powder.  I wanted the chain link to look weathered, so I used a Versamark pen randomly, mostly where the links join, and heat embossed with Black Soot distress embossing powder.

The floral border and some metal embellishments were adhered to the top of the cage, as shown.

The bird cage was inked with Golden Glitz ink and gold embossing powder.  Metal gears, bird, and resin flower added to cage, as shown.  I added a small piece of jewelry chain to hang the bird cage.  The chain link was adhered to the cage posts.

Some metal clock hands were adhered to each post, as shown.  Square metal jewelry pieces and tiny metal beads were adhered to each gear "tooth".  

I glued some tiny watch parts to the body of the  dress form and found these tiny metal bird beads in my stash, adhering one to the shoulder and two to the top of the cage. 

Front

Back

Gina's Designs Products Used Steampunk Cage Dressform

Ornamental Birdcages Shape Set

Chainlink 8x8 Panel

Border Sticks Floral

Other Products

VerDay Paint Kit (TenSecondStudio)

Silvery Shimmer and Golden Glitz Delicata ink pads

Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue

Black Soot distress embossing powder

Silver embossing powder

Gold embossing powder

Watch parts

Metal jewelry bits and pieces

I absolutely love how this turned out and had so much fun embellishing it.  I want to do another one and see what other ways I can come up with to embellish a "sister" piece. What great "things" do you have in your stash to add to her? 

I hope I have been able to get those creative juices flowing and inspired you to try making one of these for yourself or a friend who loves steampunk.  It will make a wonderful inspiration piece to sit on my desk and admire, and hopefully keep the mojo going.   So, head on over to Gina's Store, Blog and Facebook Group to keep up with all the fun things we have in store for you!!!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful, creative weekend!!!

Barbara