When I joined the Viva Las VegaStamps! Button Fairy swap, I immediately knew which stamps I would use.
Fairies are whimsical, honorable in their own way, but ever willing to trick you if they can. The Steampunk Dogface fairy, with his dog-like aspect, lets you know he'll test you, but once he's accepted you, he's loyal forever. Doesn't mean he won't trick you, but mostly his tricks will result in steaks gone missing, and drool on your pillow, and he'll follow them up with toothy grins and slobbery kisses.
Supplies:
Amazing Clear Cast Resin
Creative Paperclay®
May Arts Ribbon
140 lb .watercolor 8x20 inches
Silk tissue Rice Paper-Natural
Unryu Paper-Natural & Brown
Illustration Board
9x12 300 lb. watercolor paper
Faber-Castell gel sticks-Lt Blue, Black, Sienna, Orange, Yellow, Green
Acrylic Paint-Metallic Copper, Metallic Crystal Green, Metallic Black Pearl
Krylon Pale Gold Leafing Pen
5 Buttons of various size
Gellyrol- Metallic Gold, White
Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor Colored Pencils-Lt. Blue, Lemon Cadmium, Canary Yellow, Dark Sepia, Prussian Blue, Gold Ochre
Scissors
Thin wire
StazOn Inkpad-Jet Black, Saddle Brown
Golden Soft Gel Matte and Heavy Gel Medium Matte
E6000 adhesive
Using my gel sticks (which are the cheaper version of Gelatos), I swiped color onto the watercolor paper, and spread the color with generous amounts of water. I added more color, then more water, smearing with both brush and finger until I was happy with the result.
With the StazOn Saddle Brown I stamped the Tall Tree image several times across the page, re-inking after every 2 or 3 stampings. Then I smeared a little more green gel stick around the foliage.
I tore a few strips of the Unryu paper and decoupaged it with Soft Gel where I most wanted to lighten (natural) or darken (brown) the color. It's a bit thicker than the silk tissue paper, and also has these thick threads that create really cool patterns when you add the gel medium.
I repeated the process with the silk tissue rice paper building up texture and a glaze that gives the piece a hazy, mystical look.
Once all the soft gel had dried, I added more gel stick where I wanted to increase the intensity of the color, and to highlight some of the threads from the Unryu paper (It's pronounced Oon-Roo or Oon-Doo).
Matte gel was used rather than glossy because I wanted to photograph the piece, and glossy shine is hard to do. I was happy with the matte though, because it gave a softer, mistier look.
The Resin Pieces
Although VLVS! has tons of wing stamps, I used a cloud stamp for the shape of my wings. I wasn't interested in the detail of the image, just the shape, because I intended to use drywall tape for the texture. I stamped the image onto a piece of illustration board, using both the front and back of the stamp, then made a mold.
I also used molds already made, one from rolled paper roses, a star-shaped piece from a shower curtain embellishment, a machine piece that I cannot identify and a piece of dried fungus (which I decided later not to use for this piece).
The Button Fairy and Flowers
I stamped the Steampunk Dog Face onto a piece of Unryu Paper, cut it out and colored it with colored pencils and gel pens. Then after rolling some Creative Paperclay to a thin layer about the same thickness as my resin wings, I took the same stamp and pushed it into the paperclay, then trimmed around it.
When the paperclay had cured, I used Soft Gel to adhere the Unryu image over the paperclay.
I painted the resin wings with acrylic paint, and picked out the drywall tape texture with the gold leafing pen.
To assemble the button tail, first, I wove a piece of thin wire through the buttonholes to make it stiff. Then I wove ribbon through, using it to tie the tail to the paperclay fairy. I used heavy gel to stick on the wings, and then adhered the entire fairy to the background.
I used a touch of acrylic paint to color the flower castings. I wanted to keep the translucency, so I just brushed on enough paint to add a bit of color.
I laid my button fairy and flowers on the watercolor painting and moved them around until I knew where I wanted them to go. I realized immediately that my painting wasn't large enough. I wanted a stiffer support anyway, so I painted up a 9x12 300 lb. piece of watercolor paper with metallic black pearl.
Heavy gel medium was used to adhere the Button Fairy because of the weight. Because the flowers were resin-slick, I used E6000 to adhere them.
I went back to the Heavy gel medium to adhere the whole piece to the 300 lb. watercolor paper.
For more of my work with Viva Las VegaStamps!, Amazing Mold Putty, zentangle-inspired art, and daily links to tangles, tutorials, and giveaways please visit my "Life Imitates Doodles" blog. ~ Sandra Strait
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