Heavy Metal Princess!!!

It's time for the Funkies to show you their funk for the Frilly & Funkie challenge....sounds gross, but you know what I mean! Linda Coughlin of the Funkie Junkie is hosing this fortnightly challenge and the theme is "Altered Metals".  Linda says, "I love using metals in my card making and mixed media.  For this challenge use metals, but you must alter them somehow.  You can use alcohol inks, acrylic paint, embossing powder, or any other medium you choose. You can even dabble in rusting the metals yourself.  Have some fun and let's see your altered metals!" The design team has created some gorgeous metalized pieces...check them out, and you still have a week to submit your own. 

Linda Coughlin - The Funkie Junkie

Marjie Kemper - She Who Stamps and Scraps 

Teresa Kline - Paperie Blooms

Terry Horrall -  Terry's Work In Progress 

Sue Carrington - Stamping Sue Style 

Tammy Roberts - Paperie Sweetness

I haven't had the kind of mojo that lights my fire lately, and so I have been doing lots of creative magazine and book reading to ignite it.  Two in particular that I have revisited over and over, were Tim's first books, Distressables 1 & 2 (Hey Linda Ledbetter, start a new challenge using those as well, please). I started drawing out pictures in my art journal of ideas I had from viewing the books. They were all very different from my usual projected creations...hmmm, strange. One such project that really struck me was the 'Bottle Cap Buddy', on page 20 of Book 1. I love working with metals, wood, and natural materials the most besides getting painty and inky, so I threw myself into metal madness so to speak. I drew several images of my own 'buddy', so I knew exactly where I would start when I saw the challenge specifications for F&F.  I really wanted to do something different and exciting...something true to my creative nature and style but yet different.  This metal challenge was just what I needed to 'challenge' myself. I just wish I had more metal charms to alter...the supply is low, and these Vintaj Patinas are so much fun!!!
Warning: I took 67 photos to try to gain the best views and angles of this quirky project, and these 15 made the cut...sorry so many!

After getting all the metal pieces I needed to make Princess Metallica Spinster (Yes, that's her name. She is Mother Nature's little sister. The one who always took a backseat to her older sister, because she was only in charge of women and their biological clocks and not uh...the rest of the natural world! She was never married and had no children, but she loved to visit all of her nieces in the family.) I started painting each one with the Vintaj Patinas.

I painted more metals, sanded them all with reliefing block, and then gave everything a coat of glaze. I put the Princess together, but just didn't want her hanging around all the time, so I devised a way of putting her up (Well, really my doctor did.) so that I could look at her when I wanted and think of all the happy times when she came to visit me.

I found this metal gutter guard at a hardware store, and knew that I could use it somehow for crafting. it was very easy to transform into a tag...my Tim scissors cut right through pretty easily.

I gave it a good coat of Sail Boat Blue Alcohol Ink. I just could not ignore AI as it's my favorite to color metal. 

Since the edges could be potentially dangerous to my fingers or others, I wrapped the edges in Foil Tape. I added all the metal with brads and wire, then added a coiled wire to hang the tag up with. If you are still with me after this ridiculous story...thank you! Note To Self: I might need to check into some medication to stifle this craziness! Hmmm...or is this my style???

 

I am submitting Princess Metallica Spinster to My Mojo Monthly's challenge (no pun intended) of "Your Style", the Sunday Stamper challenge of "Embellishments", and Simon Says Stamp & Show's challenge of "Anything Goes". 

Supplies:


I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!