2021 Topic 4 Free to Fly: A Wooden Box with EAB [by Jennie Atkinson}

 2021 Topic 4: Free to Fly

With a faux technique that looks anything but fake, Jennie has put her subtle touch into a unique and beautiful box project. It's certainly got me itching to try it too!

~ Keren.

Hi everyone, it's Jennie (Live the Dream) with you today and having to admit to being a wee bitty obsessed with creating wood effects using Raquel's Infusions Technique!

I have been experimenting with different colours of Infusions, depths of colour and how best to utilise the little bits of walnut crystal. So here is my latest project using an Eileen Hull box die, a recycled grease-proof paper tube and an empty ribbon spool.

I am very pleased with how wonderfully woody the box looks looks but disappointed that the tissue doesn't quite disappear into the background...but it is all about experimentation and it still has a vintage feel to it.

The box is a perfect size to create depth without being too deep, so there are flower and butterfly clusters both inside and outside the box.

And the design follows through to the base. You can see how the walnut crystals sit on the top of the spool to create the effect whereas I have blended them into the tube.

For my free to fly quotes I have used EAB12 Travel and Journeys, HP1005, along with butterflies from ESC23.

EAB12

HP1005

ESC23

For the all important wood effect technique just two little wonderful pots of goodness!

Satin Glaze

Gold Sands Infusions

To get the deep colour of the wood effect with this relatively light colour I have needed to use a few coats and a few different brush techniques, although all based around Raquel's initial technique.

I start by getting colour onto the board using a weak mix of Infusions and Satin Glaze.

I then shook Infusions onto the wet paint ...

...and use more Satin Glaze (neat) to smooth the crystals out, always making sure my brush strokes go in the same direction.

I keep repeating this process until I get a really deep colour with the walnut crystals pulled in straight, but random lines.

I have done exactly the same in making the papers for the box, building up the colour and using the crystals to create the effect. However, I did create a panel effect for the front of the box by cutting my paper into 1" strips.

Which then got glued randomly onto a piece of board.

These were my pieces before being cut using the die, they don't look particularly woody ....

..... but when cut look surprisingly real !

There was just a little bit of cardstock left to stamp some butterflies so everything matches.

A huge thank you to Raquel for this great technique, but it is worth trying different colours, layers and brush strokes to create a different effect. I would not have thought that Golden Sands would go to such a gorgeous deep colour. The technique worked well both on cardstock and the tube and ribbon spool which were more porous. 

It is worth looking through your box dies to see how this technique could be used to create lovely wood effect boxes...needless to say I am working on another at the moment!

Happy crafting!

Jennie x

Blog: Live The Dream

Instagram: @atkinsonjennie