Wednesday, 24 April 2019

Hunkydory Review - Steampunk Grab Bag/Cogs & Gears Embossing Folder – Steampunk Plaque

This steampunk plaque is what Marc and I came up with using the Steampunk Grab Bag (Product Code SPGRAB - £5.99) and Cogs  & Gears embossing folder (Product Code EF107 - £4.99) which were part of a bundle of products sent to me by Hunkydory to review.
This project took me completely out of my comfort zone, I adore steampunk, but whenever I have experimented with the idea nothing ever seemed to come together as I had envisioned and to be honest everything looked pants!  But this time I had Marc to help steer me through and persevere.
The grab bag I received contained 33 assorted shapes made with 3mm MDF each approximately sized 1.2cm x 2.3cm. https://www.hunkydorycrafts.co.uk/spgrab-steampunk-grab-bag.html

I need to apologise for the lack of photos taken during the various stages of this plaque’s making, but with Marc and I going backwards, forwards and upside down so many times, with pieces being put on, taken off and then put back on again, we were just too too absorbed to interrupt the creative juices to get the camera out.
It was also very spooky but fortuitous that Marc had bought a few packs of his LaBlanche embossed puffy stickers with him because there was a clock face I had wanted and he’d bought everything he’d got because he wasn’t sure which one I had meant.  The screw heads, flower and small clock face from these packs couldn’t have been more perfect.
We even used part of the packaging for the background, which we mat and layered on gold mirror card that we’d embossed with the Cog and Gears embossing folder.  

I think it’s just about visible amongst all the layers and embellishments! https://www.hunkydorycrafts.co.uk/embossing-folder-cogs-gears.html
The wings were lightly dusted with gold micro glitter and then Ranger Glossy Accents was applied over that, following the folds in the wings.  The original cog in the middle of the MDF wings didn’t look quite right, however, with a LaBlanche flower and clock face added it began to take on the sort of look we were aspiring to.
The four cog corners were coloured in, the cogs in a kaki colour, followed by a layer of Glossy Accents and when dry, edged with a permanent black fine liner pen with a screw head sticker in the middle.  The surround of the cog was coloured in black and then left matt, with rough thin white lines using a white gel pen to help accentuate the colour before adding three more screw heads.   
We left it for a while before I decided to add yet another matted layer in black which I then painted with a thin layer of Crackle Accents and that’s where its been left the time being.  For photographic purposes I put it on a picture frame (first picture) and I quite like the effect, so when I am out charity shop shopping I’ll be looking out for something similar or perhaps a tatty metal frame to mount the plaque on.

As I said this project was well out of my comfort zone ……. and I definitely think I will go back to it …… there’s still something missing, I just don’t know what! There are more unused cogs and roman numerals left in the pack, perhaps I need to play with them some more, and even think about spraying them gold or silver???  We shall see …… so watch this space.