Friday 13 March 2015

2015 #5 Bouquet of Barbed Wire {by Alison Bomber}

2015 Theme 5: Deconstruction

Hello all, it's Alison (butterfly) here from Words and Pictures.  It's lovely to be back here at PaperArtsy to indulge in some Deconstruction.  It's no secret that I enjoy a bit of crackle and rust, so the theme for this month looked like lots of fun to me.  I've been playing with stamping in rust - yup, in actual rust - and to make it a hat trick of my favourite things, I played with my weathered crackle and rusty stamping in an old book - fully deconstructed, wouldn't you say?! 
I started by roughly applying rusty coloured Fresco Finish paints to the pages of my book - Brown Shed, Autumn Fire and, I think, a touch of French Roast probably for added depth. Then it was time for the Crackle Glaze, applied with a palette knife and in varying thicknesses to get different sized crackles in different places.


Once the glaze was dry, I added Chalk Fresco paint over the top and let the magic happen. Then it was time to try out stamping with the Rusting Powder.  If you've never used it, I highly recommend it, though you do have to deal with a slightly stinky craft room while it's working! I've only used it to rust metal embellishments before now, so I tried it out on scrap book pages first, and came to the conclusion that Perfect Medium was a good key for the powder, as well as giving a good clear image (and not being too messy to work with!).  So I stamped some of the spikiest, prickliest flowers from Darcy's new releases - these are all from EDY14 - in Perfect Medium (nice and sticky) and sprinkled the Rusting Powder over the top.


EDY14


You can see the grey granular powder adhering nicely to the stamped images here.


Then it was slightly heart in mouth as I spritzed the whole page with slightly diluted white vinegar - you need to get it quite wet to activate it, which means the powder will inevitably disperse a little - and left it to rust...


Here it's just starting to turn (after about half an hour in my particular craft room climate).  I love how the spritzing means the eventual rusting slightly blurs the image as the decay spreads outwards.


And I couldn't be happier with the end result.  I gave a little extra body to the thorny flowers with just some rough "colouring in" using Autumn Fire and Brown Shed again.


And how else would you bind a bouquet of barbed flowers together other than with rusty wire?  It's fed through some Brown Shed covered eyelets and you have to remember to bend and unbend the wire when you want to close and open the book, but I think the effect is worth it!


The words are the title of a 1976 TV series, adapted from a book by Andrea Newman.  It doesn't look at all an appropriate story for a seven year old, and I'm pretty sure I didn't watch it, but I've had the phrase A Bouquet of Barbed Wire in my head for most of my life so who knows where and how I absorbed it... but it was clearly the right phrase for this most uncomfortable bunch of flowers.  The Jet Black Archival stamped words are layered over tea/coffee soaked Wax Tissue Paper.

Indulge me with one final close-up photo... I just love the glint of the texture in the sunlight!

So that's my rusty stamping - something I'll definitely be doing again.  It works well with quite a strong, bold image as here, but I'm also really curious to try it with something more detailed - the spread of the rust should end up almost "colouring in" the image by itself.  I bet it would look great with some of the PaperArtsy Hot Picks or Ink and the Dog vintage images.  I also like the double whammy of weathered crackle and rusting... lots of decay for you today!

Thanks so much for dropping in, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how you play with Deconstruction this month.

Alison x
Words and Pictures

Wow..WOW! This made my heart skip a beat, I love rusty things, so beautiful in the right light. I think many people will have tried the rusting powder on metal/wood objects but you have shown how amazing this powder is with stamping.. A truly brilliant technique Alison, thankyou for sharing with us. ~Darcy

We would love you to join in with challenge #5: Deconstruction If you are inspired by any of our guests who blog with us over the fortnight, then please join in and link up your creativity HERE. 

All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Deconstruction link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, March 22nd, winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

36 comments:

Helen said...

wow, this looks fabulous!

Maxine Jones said...

Looks gorgeous! Love!!! Peace x

Craftyfield said...

I do love the idea to stamp with rust! The effect is fantastic, you can even see a texture, unlike chalks or mica powders.

Ruth said...

Absolutely wonderful Alison...I'm so impressed with that gorgeous rust, just love the whole composition...awesome! Ruth x

Inky and Quirky Designs said...

Well I never.....stamping with rust!! Absolutely brilliant!
Big hugs
Donna xxx

sally said...

I knew I needed some rusting powder & this has convinced me! Amazing textured effects there :-)

Sally

Cocofolies said...

WOW!!! This is an incredible bouquet!!! I'm really amazed by the process you have followed to reach such a stunning result on the flowers... Really gorgeous!!! You master all the techniques so much Alison, thank you for this great step-by-step. Love your work here using Darcy's fab flowers, perfect! Coco xx

Fliss said...

Wow Alison! What a totally amazing creation and thanks so much for explaining how to get such a stunning effect.
Fliss xx

Paper Profusion said...

This looks wonderful Alison - rustilicious in fact! Enjoy your weekend. Nicola x

Etsuko said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Julie Lee said...

What a fantastic idea! You have 'boldly' gone where no ruster has gone before! I don't know if that's hyperbole as well as the famous double negative; but I've never seen stamping with rust before, so it could well be a first. Anyway, I loved not only your process pictures and your end result, but also the incredible tension as we held our breath - and waited!And we were not disappointed. Magnificent and fun! Can't wait to give this a try! xx

Etsuko said...

Wow! Beautiful pages Alison, great idea and amazing result.
I have interest the rusting powder but I never use it. I always have wondered how to use it. Now I have figured out to your description. Thanks I give it a go! xxx

Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries said...

Great playful pages..such a nice rusty effect Alison!
Greetings, Alie :-)

Lucy Edmondson said...

So imaginative and such a brilliant result!

Lucy x

massofhair said...

I like this a lot, i might have to get me some of that rusting powder although my sensitive olfactory system is objecting just at the thought lol.

Brilliantly gobsmacked and mind wandering through stamp collection as i type. Sensational project and very inspiring Alison:-) xxx

Seth said...

This is spectacular. I love the effect of the rusting powder!

Sherry said...

Fabulous altered pages and that rusting effect is marvellous! I remember that TV series - not the sort of thing to watch with your parents! Great title for your page though xx

Dagmar said...

Oh wow - what a great work and a fantastic inspiration!!!! It's so cool! Have a great weekend :-)

SCarol said...

Wow, its awesome. Love the crackle and rust.

Miriam said...

Fabulous project Alison. I soooo need to get my hands on rusting powder!

Kirsten said...

That is spectacularly wonderful! The rust looks incredible & I love the texture of it & the crackle. I have got rusting powder somewhere, really need to find it.....

Redanne said...

Oh wow Alison! This is such a fabulous technique, I would never have thought to use the rusting powder in that way - the result is phenomenal - a fabulous piece of work!

Hazel Agnew said...

Enjoying the contrast between the age of the rusting and Darcy's funky modern designs! Love that you can still see the book page peeping from behind the crackle and yet again, you have inspired me to scuttle off and rummage! X

Terry said...

Oh this this is rusty perfection, Alison! I love the rusted effects against that crackled background! Gorgeous!

Dorthe said...

So absolutely gorgeous, Alison- WOW it looks fantastic after rusted, and with the rust tones smearing out on the paper,
what a beautiful spread , and love your words to go with it.
Dorthe ,xo

Unknown said...

Very successful experiment Alison. It looks fabulous!

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Unknown said...

Amazing page - what great techniques for the rusting too xx

Sandy said...

What do you say when you don't have the right words? You say WOW!!! And thanks for showing us this beauty!!
Sandy xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

Wow! This does look fabulous - such an incredible mind to come up with this!!! Chrisx

Carmen said...

Clearly I live under a rock as have never seen or heard of that rusting powder which I now NEED with a passion. This is such a gorgeous piece - I would frame it if I were you so it could always catch the light :)

Unknown said...

Fabulous, Alison!! XOXO-Shari

Art By Wanda said...

Way Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!

Deb said...

Alison, that is inspired, love everything about your journal page! Stamping with rust, what an amazing and innovative idea!

Karen Petitt said...

So very, very clever! Love it Karen x

CraftyHope said...

I have never seen a product produce a rust-like effect like that before. I've been wanting wanting something like that for ages. How very cool. Thank you for sharing it with us. Oh, and your rusty flowers and the whole page are so awesome!!

Sandie said...

Wow!!! Amazing page and technique. Love everything about it and creating rust is going to be my next project!!