Gothic Garden-Peek-A-Boo Project

I hate seeing supplies going to waste and I enjoy a bit of a design challenge. That is the inspiration for my Gothic Garden Project. 

Supplies: Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Winter Shape Set, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Snowflake Shape Set, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Dragonflies Fancy, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Creepy Corners 1, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Gothic Border 6 Inch, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Art Deco Border & Corners, 2 Sections Bamboo Desk Organizer,  Black Velvet Paper, Weldbond, Bonefolder, Acrylic Paint-Shades of Blue, Red, Green, and Purple, Small Paintbrush, bag of BBs or kitty litter, Versa Mark, Ice Resin Enamels Tarnished  Bronze and Torched Copper, Judi Kins Embossing Powders- Opaque White and Perfect Peacock, Rangers Black Sparkle Embossing Powder, Heating Tool, Green Leaf Sequins, Mini Hardware Finnabair Mechanicals Metal Embellishments, Glue Stick-I prefer UHU, Washi Tapes, Nails with Large Flatheads, Hammer, Dura Clear Matte Varnish, DecoArt Dark Gray Fluid Acrylics,

1.   Separate all snowflake shapes from both Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Winter Shape Set and Snowflake Shape Set.

2.  Stack them into sets of three these will become your flowers.

3.  Measure black velvet paper carefully to line bottom sections of Bamboo Desk Organizer. This will become our "frame"

4.  Spend some time going through your acrylic paints and using spare shapes from GSLC Winter Shape Set to make your color scheme.

5.  After about an hour I settled on shades of blue, green, red, purple, and iridescent. They needed to look complimentary and pop once placed onto the black velvet background.

6.  Map out your garden using a piece of paper to assure best composition.

7.   Paint your snowflake flowers and place them  aside to dry completely.

8.  Paint two of the Fancy Dragonflies from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts collection.

9.  Assemble your flower once they have dried and allowed to dry again completely and weighted down.

10.                Attach the two GSLC Fancy Dragonflies together only in the center body portion. Wing should remain free as we will use it as a design feature when assembling our garden.

11.                Distress the Mini  Hardware using Finnabair Mechanical Metal Embellishments and Rust Paste Set.

12.                Glue one to each center of the flowers using Weldbond.

13.                Add Green Sequin Leaves to each to further the flower illusion.

14.                Allow to dry completely and weighted down.

15.                Use Versa Mark and Ice Resin Enamels of Torched Copper and Tarnished Bronze to distress the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Art Deco Corners and Gothic Border-Cure with heating tool.

16.                Use Versa Mark and Judi Kin Opaque White and Perfect Peacock to emboss the spider web and Rangers Black Sparkle Embossing Power for the spider of Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Creepy Corner Set-Cure with heating tool.

17.                Spider web looked too crisp so I toned it down with DecoArt Dark Gray Fluid Acrylics.

18.                Add a Washi Tape Border around the outside of Desk Organizer Frame using glue stick and bone folder to assure a perfect fit.

19.                Add a bit of the Washi Tape to the Center Border that separates the two sections.

20.                Reassemble your garden making not of where you will need to hammer your nails to giving variety of depth to your flowers.

21.                Carefully remove items from garden and use a hammer to place nails in correct locations.

22.                Use Weldbond to carefully glue all items into garden.

23.                Carefully flue GSLC Art Deco Corners and Gothic Border into their correct places.

24.                Allow to dry completely and weighted down.

25.                Add GLSC Spider Web to the top gluing into place with Weldbond allowing to dry completely and weighted down.

26. Add a decorative paper bee to the bottom portion securing with Weldbond.

27.                Because the desk organizer has a lip on the back you can use this to hang your gothic garden or you can add a small saw and tooth picture hanger if you prefer addition stability.

Over the Rhine's Wildflower Bouquet is the perfect song for this project:

If I die in the winter send roses
In the spring, magnolias
If I’m called in the summer or in the fall
Best of all – bring me a wildflower bouquet
In the dirt and clay don’t lay me down
And stare at a cold lonely hole in the ground
When I go to my Maker in smoke and ash
It won’t be your grief I crave
Your tears will not be necessary
Build a blazing fire, drink something merry
When the sparks fly off into the wind
That will be me blowing away
Bury my ashes with the dogs I’ve loved
My faithful companions from God above
And ‘neath a sycamore we’ll grow strong
And the roots will bear us away
If my one true Love should join me there
Mother nature soon will be aware
That sycamore will thrum and sing
And we’ll have left it that way
So I don’t want you to feel sorry
God knows how I despise your pity
And I’ll no longer bear the weight of worry
Those angry robes all fall away

Shredded Newspaper Technique

This is a tried and true technique using easy to find supplies to create a vintage layerd background. With a few easy steps you can feel like a professional multi media artist.

supplies: mister, newspaper or old book pages, metallic paint, distress sprays, brush, paper  bowl or plastic bowl,  gloves, matt gel

 

1.     Shred newspaper into random strips.

2.     Mist with ordinary water.

3.     Crumple up the shredded news paper into a small sphere.

4.     Be careful not to compact to tightly.

5.     Spray with distress inks of your liking. I prefer Tim Holtz tones of brown, green, yellow and blue.

6.     As you spray each time rotate the sphere to get random coverage.

7.     Gently spay with water and squeeze to mix the distress inks together.

8.     Paint the inside of a paper bowl or plastic container with metallic acrylic paint- copper is my go to color.

9.      Uncoil the papers and swirl around in the  paint covered paper bowl.

10.  Add more metallic paint to the paper bowl as necessary and repeat steps 2-9  until you have desired amount of augmented newspaper.

11.  Open the newspaper allowing to partially dry or fully dry depending on your desired outcome. The drier the newsprint the less contamination of the colors.

12.  Adhere to desired surface using a matt gel or glossy gel  medium of your choosing. I have used Mod-Podge, Golden, Liquitex and even Americana DuraClear.

13.  This would be used as a base for one of my hand bound, one-of-a kind treasure books or Houdini-Hideaway Boxes. Add more depth by using more inks or adding areas of crackle paste or other patinas.

Worth noting: Work quickly this is not a complex technique.

Use foreign papers if you are lucky enough to procure such materials. I have found some at local book stores, received some when I ordered  something from Etsy that came from overseas. Vintage books and magazines can sometimes be found for a great deal at your local thrift store  or at yard sales.

Try not to saturate the newspaper strips with distress ink sprays. The desired effect is to have some of the plain newspaper showing through.

Use disposable nitrile gloves to protect your hands and also if you do not like being messy. We prefer Grease Monkey brand and buy them at our local hardware stores.