Steampunk Tag by Amanda Southern

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As I said last week I love the extra large MDF Tags by That’s Crafty!, so much so I have just had to use one again for my post this week. This week it’s all gone grungy and steampunk so hope you like it?

Here’s what I did:-

Starting with the largest of the MDF tags by That’s Crafty! I gave it a couple of coats of black gesso. When dry I stencilled through the That’s Crafty! Dinky COGS stencil with black embossing paste, I stencilled through it 3 times to cover this large tag. Once the paste was completely dried (I always leave this several hours). I added my first layers of grungy colours using metallic Pan Pastels. I then sealed the pan pastels with a quick burst of cheap hairspray.

I then needed to add a rusted look so first roughly smeared versamark embossing ink over the cogs and then added a copper and blue embossing powders then melted them with a heatgun. The embossed area’s just looked a little shiny so I dulled them down with similar paint colours, applied with my finger, so that the finish was more of a matt finish with some of the shinny parts popping through.

close up of the cogs

Down the left hand side I stamped with Versamark and used the same embossing colours. To finish the background, I added the top of an old tap, for some reason I have acquired a collection of these.

Now to add my embellishments to the tag. I stamped this fabulous man and old tap onto thick white card with black Archival ink. I then coloured with Distress inks picking out the heart with a red Distress pen. I then gave them a cracked look which I haven’t done this technique for ages but this is how you do it.

Cover your image with Versamark ink and totally cover with clear embossing powder, I’ve used ultra thick crystals, melt and then repeat a couple more times (I’ve done 3 in total you may need to do more if using a fine clear embossing powder) Once the last layer has been applied let them cool a little then pop them into the freezer for 15 to 30 minutes. As soon as you take them out of the freezer bend the card to crack the embossing powder layer to get fabulous cracks. To further enhance the cracks, I rubbed in antiquing cream and when dry buff it off the embossing and it leaves a great effect in the cracks.