2016 #1 Pins and Needles Box {by Catherine Johnson}

2016 Topic 1: Transparent Art

Hi everyone Catherine Johnson here to talk you through this little box I made for the transparency topic. As soon as I heard transparency my thoughts ran to vintage stamps and stamping on acetate. This isn’t a medium I use often, and vintage isn’t usually the style of crafting I gravitate towards, but I loved the Buttons Ink and the Dog stamps and the photo stamp called out to be stamped on acetate. As the theme of the stamps were haberdashery, I kept to that theme and altered a box into a cut little pins and needles box.

Step One: I grabbed my paint colours and started layering down the Haystack and Guacamole fresco finish paints. I then grabbed some dark green ink and stamped the emotion definition panel from Ink and Dog Buttons 4 and the Pins and Needles words. On top of this I then stamped using the Guacamole paint the button square. This provided a lovely layer onto of the inked stamping.

Step Two: Next I wanted to add a border of grunge paste as I wanted the top to be very textural so I mixed the grunge paste with Guacamole paint to colour it and then roughly applied it. I also added some different kinds of trim to the box sides to add different kinds of texture.

Step Three: After the grunge paste was dry and the trim glued down securely I added more paint and ink to make them blend in with the colours of the box. I then started adding some Baltic Blue to the mix as a contrast colour.

I then started on the topper for the box. I knew I wanted some fabric and sewing to go with the theme. I chose some canvas and some denim coloured fabric and applied stamps and paint to both and then did some sewing with the sewing machine using different stitches. I stamped the main photo imagefrom Ink and dog Buttons 4 in Stazon on to the acetate and then added that to the layers of fabric by sewing it into place. I then added trim to match the sides of the box. Stamping in Stayzon onto the acetate works really well. I love the fact you can see through the images to the layers below.

Ink and Dog Buttons 4

Step Four: Inside the box I applied the same colours, but also some book paper to tone down the background. I added the same image as on the top of the box, but this time using paint to stamp which doesn’t provide the same clarity as the ink, but looks good against the book print. I added the denim fabric to the base of the box and then made a small pincushion which fits into a corner to that it can both hold the pins and act as a tool when sewing too.

Step Five: My finishing touch was to add the buttons to the top of the box with a bit of bakers twine. The whole box is so textural now and I am so happy with having created something so different from my usual style – and it’s useful too!

I love the way the stamped acetate works and this may well be the first of many future projects featuring acetate. Using Stazon meant the image remained crisp and didn’t smudge and I think the vintage stamps look just like old slides as a result. The clear image and the layers underneath work well together and sewing the acetate to adhere it into place means no messy glue visible.

Catherine

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Thanks Catherine, this has such a lovely vintage feel to it, truly the kind of thing you would find in your Grandmothers sewing box. You are right the acetate makes that vintage photo look even more so, resembling the mirror-like qualities of early 19th century photography.

We would love to see how you interpret this Transparent Art topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #1: Transparent Art, on this page HERE.

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas, particularly if you were inspired directly by their post. 

Links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Transparent Art link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, January 17th. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.