VINTAGE LADY

This is the 2nd canvas that l have done. The inspiration was looking through some Steam Punk Books. I do have a selection of Dover Books that l have downloaded. The hardest part of this project was the cutting out. It required a steady hand and a brand new sharp craft knife. PLEASE PLEASE BE EXTRA CAREFUL WHEN USING A SHARP CRAFT KNIFE. 

99% of the tool and materials needed to make a project like this are available from your 1 STOP CRAFTING SHOP - THATS CRAFTY ON LINE. I can highly recommend a visit. I have a very large collection of goodies that l have bought from them and the crafting goodie box is building weekly!

If you want a copy of the Large Victorian Lady then please send me a message and l will email you a pdf/png that you can colour in or if you want the coloured version please advise your preference.

 MATERIALS USED:

1x 12"x12" Canvas - Print out of Victorian Steam Punk Lady - Dylusions Large Stencil - Diamond of a Border/Chequered Dots - Studio 490 Wendy Veach - Art For You LCS093 - Oxford Impressions - London Telegraph - Dylusions - Further Around The Edge - Stampers Anonymous - Classic Favorites - Classics #6 - White Stamping Card Neenah Classic Crest Card - Selection of Water Colour Pens ie AquaMarkers - Tim Holtz Distress Markers - Archival Ink - Jet Black [Always use this when working on canvases due to being Water proof] - Dew Drop Brilliance - Galaxy Gold/Starlite Silver/Moonlight White - Selection of Pan Pastels [Orange/Brown/Red] - Dylusions Ink Spray - Crushed Grape - Mod Podge - Matte - White GESSO - Kaiser Craft Stamps - Grunge Font - Black Line Pen [Waterproof] - Selection of Acrylic Paint Colours [for back ground] ie Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints - Silver Foil Sweet Wrappers - Selection of various width Brushes. - Brush Cleaning Pad [Perfect for cleaning brushes after using glues etc] - Spray Bottle cleaned and filled with water. - Craft Knife and New Sharp Blade - Craft Mat - Cutting Mat or Glass Mat - Sharp Tipped Scissors - Heat Gun - Cosmic Shimmer Clear Varnish Lacquer - Can Cheap Hair Spray

 LETS MAKE A CANVAS!

The first thing we have to do with any new canvas is to 'PREP' it. A layer of GESSO will help the inks and paints move a lot easier on your canvas. You can also mix the Gesso with paints to make the paint stretch longer and your not having to remix a colour three quarters of the way through.

I like to let the Gesso air dry and not take a heat gun to it, this is just a personal thing and l tend to prep all the canvases as l buy them. I also look at the £1 shop or such like they sometimes have wonderful offers... I bought 4 12"x12" for £4.35. I know they were not tight as a drummers drum but by using the M.D.F square l had made that the canvas slips over this helps me in my stamping so no worries.

After the Gesso had dried l put down a layer of colour here l wanted a feeling of fire, with the browns, orange and red's. You can make the background what ever you want. This is your project while you can take inspiration from everywhere make it your own. If you don't like what you have done trust me l have done it... All you have to do is go back to your Gesso and lay down another layer and start again. Don't feel you have to throw it away YOU DON'T!

Now then the part that you will have to sit down in a calm place relax and become one with your Craft Knife! Taking the print out try to cut as close to the black line as possible. The best way to attack this is to mentally section the print out and just cut out that section. Its a lot easier than trying to cut out it all. So take your time relax and go for it.

After you have cut it out place it in a container where its not going to be damaged ie an A4 plastic container.

Lets now have some fun. Stamping and stencilling the canvas. Its very easy to become ridged in what your doing. Some people find it hard to just do it and not worry if all the stamp has not been transferred. In Altered Art its doesn't matter if part of the stamp is missing or if the stencil has bleed. Just take a deep breath and go for it. After all what damage have you done? Its only a canvas that can be painted over. Also if you don't like one part then just hide it with an embellishment of some interesting surface like the toffee wrappers. 

A little bite of good strong glue like the Mod Podge will secure almost everything you want to throw at it. If not then you have other glues but try to keep away from those if you can as once its been secured it could damage the canvas if you try to remove it. Leave this form of glue for the end embellishments when your xtra happy with what you have done and these are the finishing touches.

When your stamping the canvas please don't forget that the edges need work doing to them. Here l have stamped, stencilled and used some coloured stamped images that l had cut out again as close to the black ink line as l could.

As the back ground grew there is a point when you have to say to your self  'STEP AWAY FROM THE CANVAS!' you have done enough. What needed to be done was to secure the Victorian Lady into place just off centre  When it had dried once again l left it to air dry l wanted the glass dome in the image to look like glass so a layer of the Clear Varnish Lacquer when dry gave that impression.

While this layer was drying l stamped out 'VINTAGE' using an Grungy looking type face then ripped it out. Now then the wonderful Pan Pastels. They are a dream to work with and they just make any crafter/artist look good when it comes to blending. I used 3 different colours to make the white card blend into the overall colour pallet of the canvas. A quick blast of Bog Standard Ultra Cheap Hair spray fixed the colours and made them secure and non of the pan pastels would be able to be wiped off.

What l did do was to take a black nibbed pen and just go round some of the stamped items that l wanted to stand out more. Also some of the water coloured stamped images where l had cut a little to close to the colour by adding a line it made it look uniformed.

There you are l hope that this canvas will inspire you to dig out your paints visit That's Crafty on Line and add a few extra bits and then search out those cheap canvases and enjoy this new platform. There is nothing stopping you securing some of your A.T.C's onto the canvas as an added interesting point. By having the basics they will set you up for a very long time to come and if your anything like me this wonderful world of Altered Art will embrace your artistic talent [and you all have talent no matter what you may think!

When l started to do this form of Art what l first did was to go through my stamps and stencils and placed them all into a container. This way l knew l had my core of tools and l didn't then spend hours trying to find a stamp and then become frustrated. By having everything at hand that can be reached leaves you more time to be creative.

I hope this might inspire you to give it a go and enjoy the freedom.

Any questions please send me a message and l will get back to you as soon as possible. Happy Crafting and may 2013 be a wonderful creative year for you all.