Patina and decoupage

Because of work, I haven't felt like starting a new project. Instead, when time has permitted, I've just experimented with bead-weaving ideas, played with patinas and colouring etc. Here are a few things I did today. The round tags are bronze and the flower vines are brass.

I've been thinking about combined patinas lately, what with the gesso and heat patina stamping here and the heat patina'd vinegar etched/buried patina stamping here. Therefore I picked out two of the tags from this experiment and added a peanut oil heat patina. (As a comparison, see these tags, which are just peanut oil with no prior patination.)

The dark tag above is almost burnt peanut oil on a "buried patina" (= leave metal in vinegar soaked sawdust).  [UPDATE: mixed up the info so here's the correct description of the tags.]  I'd polished the patina off with fine steel wool to get a shiny, textured surface so it was textured but not patinated when oiled. I also dabble with a second tag where the etched and slightly verdigris surface wasn't treated in any way before brushing on the oil. No pics of the front that one (i.e. the side the heat was applied on) -- but below you can see the back of it. I liked the softed colours it got.

These pics are macro shots: the actual size of the bronze tags is 17,5 mm in diametre.

If you've read this Manekis Pärlblogg post, you might've seen the branches below. I wasn't satisfied with the gesso finish so I dipped the whole thing in oil (rapeseed, not peanut this time) and heated it. Carefully as I'm not sure it's a good idea to torch acrylic-based gesso.

Nothing special, but I think it's an improvement. It's much darker, but you can still see some of the gesso, especially on the flowers.

And then, finally, a WIP photo.

One day I said to myself: "well, I've had this decoupage glue for textiles forever, when will I actually use it? Napkin decouapage on a piece of fabric could be a good foundation of embroidery or bead embroidery and I am looking for some fun, exciting and unusual surfaces to stitch on. If I don't do it today I'll probably never get around to it." So I found a cotton fabric scrap and a rose patterned tissue and begun work. It's one of those boring techniques were you have to wait for the glue to dry for 24 hours before heat setting it and being able to use it.

Now it is heat set and dried, but it's still laying around as I'm not sure what to do with it. Thinking jewellery (bracelet), but how do I want to embellish it? Could leave it as is, but using the decoupage as a surface was the original idea and I want something fun to stitch on... This is one of the bits and bobs laying around that I hope to be able to devote some time to after midsummer.

Apart from embroidery of various kinds, I'm really, really looking forward to some patina and colourisation sessions this summer. I'm obsessed with those two things, embroidery with or without beads and colour on metal, right now. (One patina I want to try soon, after seeing this, is heat patina on rusted steel and then of cause I'm dying to try coloured pencils and perhaps add some distress embossing.)

To end this post, another pic that'll appear on my other blog later this week: gold wax on black brass stamping (no, it's not Gilder's Paste). The wax really brings out the details, which the original shiny black finish didn't.

Decoupaged wood beads bracelet

This is another decoupaged piece of jewellery I've made using Décopatch papers (no 287). Normally I really, really dislike elastic jewellery, but as I didn't have any good clasps I choose to string the beads on elastics so I at least could finish my project (it's a long overdue project made with beads I got from Fru Pärla).

I thought my favourite decoupage paper looked pretty good mixed with the caramel brown wooden beads. On the first close-up you can even see how the graining slightly showns through the thin paper. I left one side free so the bracelet can be worn with some beads facing up and other facing down if one prefers that.

Decoupage pendants

Yesterday I wrote instructions for how I make my decoupage pendants in my other blog, Manekis pärlblogg. Text is in Swedish but if you're interested at least there are some pics (and you can always translate using Google Translate -- checkout the "share" button at the end of the post). And I might be translating it for this blog later.

For the pendants and rings shown I've used Decopatch papers on Vintaj's brass blanks and steel (?) rings from Bra Pärlor. If you like the rings and you're Swedish, you might want to check out that shop. They have 50 % off as they close down on Sunday (14/3).

More brass blanks: Decopatch paper pendants

So... more Vintaj brass blanks and more decoupage. This time I've used Decopatch papers, which are rather thin (like printed tissue paper) so the dark brass shows through somewhat and makes the motifs blend with the background. Using a decoupage glue with a slight "antique" yellow tint made the blend even more effective. The glue is rather thick so applying it on the paper, the brush made marks making it feel almost like a painting.

I plan on keeping the pendant on the right as it is, but wanted to make something more with the square pendant. Using the decoupage as a background. At first I thought I might add one of my paper flowers, but after preparing it (dipping several times in different lacquers) I didn't feel it matched the pendant. Instead I began thinking about adding more brass. For example a tiny swallow charm, also from Vintaj.


I also made a tiny pendant, only partially covered by a blue and golden piece of decopatch paper. This is more a first try, not so sure I'll use it as it is right now. I think the paper I used above would blend better and make a smoother "fading" from paper to metal.

Vintaj and Karen-Marie Klip

What would I have done if I had not gotten all those Vintaj blanks? I'm having so much fun experimenting with them!

This time I wanted to use my sheet of laser-cut paper motifs from Danish Karen-Marie Klip. As I was mostly just experimenting I didn't bother too much with the designs, I just wanted to see what the mix of dark brass and thick off-white paper would look like. So I simply cut out the leaves and glued them to the metal using decoupage glue. Rather fiddly as I don't have any tweezers -- special fine tweezers can be found among the papers in my Panduro shop, but it wasn't until I started using the tiny paper motifs that I realised it would be sooo much easier had I not thought the tweezers where too expensive and not that important...

Any way, here are my first three pendants, waiting to be sprayed with a matte sealant. Photo is a bit blurred, but I hope it's not too bad. I really liked mixing the brass with the sweet little cut-outs and will probably keep experimenting with it.

Rose in filigree

I'm having a bit of a Vintaj theme this week, I feel. Here is another pendant I've made using my last natural brass filigree piece I have in my stash.

Here is yet another way for me to use my blanks from the giveaway. I selected a large round pendant and decoupaged a cutout from one of my favourite scrapbook papers, Paul (SCRB 256) from Calambour onto it. I pierced a hole in the paper so I could still use the hole in the blank.

When dry I put some 0,5 mm Vintage Bronze wire through the hole and pushed the wire ends through a hole in the filigree piece. I then wrapped the filigree "petals" around the blank. Because of the wire, the filigree is a tad off-centre, but not so much it's annoying. The filigree not just added a frame to the floral motif, but added interest to the back of the pendant.

Ideally I would have wanted to use a different style of filigree, but I had to use what was in my stash. I'm still pleased with the results though.