Metal Madness

Metal madness is here. It's the moment we've all been waiting for....Kabukas and the new colours of metal have finally arrived. The boxes landed on my doorstep this week, it's all unpacked, priced, in the shop and yes.....it's on the website......YAY!!!! I can't wait to get busy and make some new samples for you guys to see. In the meantime here are the step by step instructions that I promised for the little aubergine trinket box.

1. Use "Smidge of Blue" and "dash of Red" to custom mix a gorgeous aubergine colour. I find it is really easy to achieve the colour required if you use your craft sheet as a mixing palette. Simply add a little water to a blob of each colour and mix thoroughly. If it is too blue, add more red and if it is too pink, add more blue until you get the colour that you are happy with. Use this to paint your chosen box.


2. Make sure that you box is completely dry before adding some gold highlight with a gold Adirondack Paint Dabber. Cut a piece of Plum metal to fit the top of the box.



3. Select a mould of your choice, place metal, coloured side up on the mould and rub firmly with a paper stump to highlight the design.

4. Use a small round tipped eraser tool to outline the image. By using a round tool first, it will start to stretch the metal without piercing any holes. Once the image has been outlined, re-trace the image with a pointed eraser tool to get a really sharp image.

5. Place metal on your acrylic mat and use paper stump to flatten down any crumpled areas of metal.

6.With metal coloured side down on a foam mat, use the ball end of a ball and cup tool to emboss a border of dots around all four sides of the metal.

7. Flip the metal over so it is silver side down on your acrylic mat and use the cup end of the tool to cup the balls. This will outline the balls for you, making them much sharper.

8. Leaning on the foam mat, use the pointed tool to scribble a background design.

9. Leaning on some scrap paper, use a patterned embossing wheel to flatten the edges of the metal. This will also add a decorative border. At this point, you would need to fill the back of the embossed image with a light weight filler to stop it getting squashed.

10. Add a small amount of Gold Adirondack Mixative to your felt applicator tool along with some blending solution. Gently dab on to the metal..TAKE CARE NOT TO RUB TOO HARD, IT WILL REMOVE ALL THE COLOURED PAINT IF YOU DO!!!!!

11. Add some Humungo sticky tape to the back of your metal and stick to the lid of your box. This quick little project would make a great gift for keeping special trinkets.