Saturday, September 14, 2013

Saturday Step by Step - The Chemist's Sketchbook

Hi everyone and welcome to a Saturday Step by Step here at Frilly and Funkie. Buttons here to show you how I altered the sketchbook featured as my DT project for the 'Anything Goes' challenge (which runs through to next Tuesday HERE). Let's start with a reminder of how the sketchbook looked when it was finished...


Let's start from the beginning with one plain A4 sketchbook and the panel I made for the centre. Being rather OCD about centralising things I marked out where the panel would go and also masked off a strip down the side of the front cover.


I applied Wendy Vecchi black embossing paste through one of the new Tim Holtz stencils to random parts.


Having dried the paste (it doesn't take long) I filled in the blanks using the Wendy Vecchi brick wall stencil.


Now how's this for a challenge - I added the lighter coloured Distress Paints (Frayed Burlap and Bundled Sage) in patches directly onto the black cover. As you can see, the coverage was really good, showing just how opaque these paints are. They are also very wet, which for this was ideal as it allowed plenty of time to mist them gently with water and blend them well before they dried.


As the lighter colours started to dry I blended the darker colours (Peeled Paint and Walnut Stain) over the top, once again misting gently with water. You may notice that I used a piece of sponge to help blend the paint too, dabbing lightly to move the paint around (again, another bonus of it being wet).


I let the paint dry 'naturally' rather than employing a heat tool as I found this way it allowed the paint to continue to react with the water and blend more. It also seems to start to develop something of a sheen if I use a heat tool, whereas leaving it to dry ensured the finish remained matte. I then added a layer of watered down matte Glue n Seal with a paint brush to protect the surface. This wouldn't be necessary normally but I know how much abuse this sketchbook is likely to face and wanted to protect the cover as much as possible initially.


With the surface covered, I removed the masking tape and then glued on some filigree metal pieces with Glossy Accents (it's strong stuff!). If you add Stickles into some of the recesses it creates a jewel like effect as it dries flat.


Nearly there peeps! With the cover finished attention turned to the inside covers. I dry embossed paper using a diffuser to give a flat portion to stamp on.


I swiped across the raised areas with some permanent sand coloured ink and then stamped chemistry images onto the centres using Watering Can Archival Ink.


Finally I blended Frayed Burlap Distress Ink around the edges and misted the pages to 'set' the ink. Once dry they were layered onto the inside covers.


If you want to see more of the finished results you can find them HERE. In the meantime I hope this has given you an insight into my experiences with Distress Paints.

Thanks so much for joining me. Have a great weekend, hugs Jenny xxx

17 comments:

  1. A totally stunning make Jenny and I bet your son loved it and is actually using it!

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  2. I think you know how much I love the book already (and my beloved Chemist!) but it is always good to see your step by steps, this one is excellent! Fabulous work on the book too. Hugs, Anne x

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  3. Brilliant step x step Jenny. Superb crafting on the book with your ever present incredible detailing. Nicola x

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  4. Jenny the details of how you created this make are fab! It looks wonderul and I am sure will be a treasured possession! a fab step X Step xx hugs

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  5. Fabulous stepxstep Jenny ! This is a real treasure for your son and I'm sure he'll love using it. Sue C x

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  6. Brilliant step by step Jenny. The finished book looks fabulous. Hugs Rita xxx

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  7. What an amazing journal! Thank you for talking us through it,

    Lucy x

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  8. Completely superb Jenny. The effects you achieved are inspiring. One day I hope.........one day.
    Thank you so much for sharing the process :o) Mo x

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  9. Completely superb Jenny. The effects you achieved are inspiring. One day I hope.........one day.
    Thank you so much for sharing the process :o) Mo x

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  10. You make it look SO easy!! I guess I'll have to break out my embossing paste :) Thanks for sharing :)

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  11. Wonderful StepXStep, Jenny! Love the process and of course the finished project! Very inspiring!

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  12. A fantastic step-by-step, Jenny, with brilliant tips along the way. I hadn't noticed that heating the paints gave a glossier finish than air-drying - will have to check that out. It's such a cool notebook... I'm not surprised it's already in use. Oh, and I think you've persuaded me of the "necessity" of the Watering Can inkpad!
    Alison xx

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  13. This is fantastic! Thanks for the great step by step.

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  15. Amazing, loving how you made those pages using the diffuser.

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