Broken Heart

A couple of months ago ago I created this steampunk inspired canvas with a large rusty gear and it has been sitting in my studio staring at me because I wasn't sure if I was happy with it - I wish I had put the gear on a smaller canvas.  Then yesterday, I saw the new challenge called Rusty and Crusty at A Vintage Journey and decided I would leave it as is and enter it in the challenge.  I started searching for the photos I took and couldn't find any.  I had a computer crash a while ago and I thought it recovered just fine but I guess not because I seem to be missing some folders. 😒

I took the photo of the finished canvas today and since Mother Nature is off her meds and can't decide if she wants it to snow or not and the sun can't decide whether to shine or not, I am getting shimmer from the metallic paint because I used my office lamps.  Next time I want shimmer to this extent, chances are good it won't happen.

Here is what I did:

1.  Stole a wooden heart from my husband's workshop.  It is 8" in diameter and was one of the first things he created and cut when he got the laser cutter.
2.  Conned him into cutting a wooden circle and three wooden hearts in various sizes and cutting a zigzag line down the length of the smallest one. (I know, I am so lucky to have him and the laser cutter available to me.)
3.  Glued the circle and then the largest heart to the gear using Soft Gel Medium Matte (Golden).
4.  Coated the gear and the circle with Coarse Pumice Gel (Golden).
5.  Glued a variety of hardware, electronic bits, buttons and small wooden gears to the circle around the heart.
6.  Covered everything in Black Gesso (Art Basics).
7.  Glued the next largest heart on and covered it in Black Gesso.
8.  Sponged randomly over everything with Espresso and Black Acrylic Paint as well as some Worn Penny Metallic Acrylic Paint (DecoArt).
9.  Painted the broken heart pieces with a mixture of Dark Scarlet Acrylic Paint (DecoArt) and Black Cherry Acrylic Paint (Folk Art).
10.  Joined the broken heart sections with copper wire and then sponged the edges with Worn Penny Metallic Acrylic Paint before I added it on top of the heart stack.
11.  Prepared the 12" x 12" canvas board (I wish I had used a 10" x 10" canvas) by coating it with White Gesso (Liquitex) and then gluing on some crumpled up tissue paper with Mod Podge.
12.  Stenciled clocks through a stencil called Mini Time Travel (TCW) using Light Molding Paste (Golden).
13.  Painted the canvas with Natural Tan Grout Acrylic Paint (DecoArt) and then sprayed with Gathered Twigs Distress Spray Stain (Tim Holtz).
14.  Adhered the gear using Soft Gel Medium Matte.
15.  Sponged more Worn Penny Metallic Acrylic Paint and more Black Cherry Acrylic randomly over the background.

This was fun to make and for a change there wasn't any deadline for it.  I need to play like this more often.