Saturday, September 5, 2015

Peacock Wall Hanging



The new challenge at Anything But Cute begins today and is hosted by Niki.  She is calling it Mixed Media Makeover and here is how she describes it:

"Pull out an old card, tag, project, masterboard or embellishment that you weren't completely happy with or never completely finished. I want you to recycle it. We all make "mistakes" with our art right? Now's your chance to fix it. Redo it, hide the mistake, make it bigger, make it better, make it more beautiful or rip it apart and use the pieces! Give it a mixed media makeover! For this challenge you will need to include a before picture so we can see what you started with."


A year or so ago and before I got into mixed media I purchased this wooden shadowbox frame with the intention of painting it some lovely colour and filling the inside with mementos of either my grandchildren or perhaps of my daughter.  I wanted the frame to be nice and smooth but after hours and hours of sanding that wasn't going to happen most likely because I was going cheap and got it from the dollar store.  Once I reached my frustration level because it was staying rough, I stuck it in a plastic bag along with the latex gloves and sanding block and shoved it in a cupboard and there it sat until Niki told us her challenge and then I could actually create something with it that I knew I would be happy with. 


I yanked the little hinges off and set the cover aside and perhaps it will be something in the future if I can cut the plastic window out of it - yes plastic, I told you it was cheap.  Then I got to work transforming the bottom.  I decided to make a wall hanging out of it and treated it much like you might treat a canvas.

First I gave it a coat of Liquitex Super Heavy Gesso just to eliminate the chance of giving myself slivers since this thing was so rough.  Next I crumpled up some tissue paper, opened it back up again and glued it all over using Mod Podge.



I used a Prima flourish stencil with some Golden Light Molding Paste and gave the piece some texture on the sides and top.  Then after that was dry I glued cheesecloth all over the top, letting it hang over the edges.  I also added little pieces of an open weave fabric to the sides.  I didn't add any additional texture to the back since you won't see it.



The next step was to dig into my stash and add lots of lace strips and motifs, flowers, buttons, beads and bauble trim using Mod Podge.  Once everything was dry I gave it a coat of Liquitex Gesso to unify the colour since everything was a different colour.

Then I painted the whole project, including the back with some Craftsmart Aqua acrylic paint.  To create the peacock colours I dripped on some FW Silver Moss, Sun-Up Blue and Antelope Brown Inks and spritzed them with water to make them run.  Then I followed with Deco Art Peacock Pearl, Ice Blue Pearl and Purple Pearl acrylic paints that were dabbed on with a natural sea sponge.


Next I created the image by making the background of a free image from The Graphic Fairy transparent and adding it on top of free digital vintage script paper from Creavapeur.com.  Once the image was printed and cut to size I inked it with Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and distressed the edges.  I added a piece of chipboard to the backside in order to raise the image up a bit before I glued it to my hanging.  Then I added a few sequins from the dollar store to the image and the background.

Finally I covered a couple of screw eyes and a length of wire with some Ranger Aqua Alcohol Ink and then added beads from Arton Bead Supply, Michaels and Dollarama to create the hanger.  In order to ensure that the beads stayed where I wanted them, I added bead crimps.

I am going to enter this project in the following challenges:

Altered Eclectics - Anything Mixed Media Goes (no cards or ATCs)
Shopping Our Stash - Put a bird on it
That Craft Place - Mixed Media Anything Goes
Mixed Media World - Gorgeous Textures
We Love 2 Create - #18 - Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes

I hope you will join us for the September challenge and show us what you have made over.


14 comments:

  1. Absolutely beautiful piece of art, Cec! The texture is so rich with all those fabulous flowers, laces, ribbons and other so well insorporated elements! What vibrant amazing colours wonderfully blended together! Awesome!
    Hugs! Branka x

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  2. Cec, a peacock couldn't be more proud to have a place to perch like this! What I'm trying to say is this is AMAZING! I am in love with the texture you have made using all those textiles, flowers, beads and baubles! The color is perfectly peacock feather...you've aced it! This is truly one HOLY COW makeover! Big Hugs, my talented teamie!

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  3. My old Peacock (he was anoying at 5am but fun any other time) would be proud to look at this gorgeous piece! You sure do make me laugh! So glad that you were able to make something you liked out of something that frustrated you. Hopefully you didn't get any slivers! I just love the colors and the textures you have achieved with the frame and that central image is divine! Awesome sauce upcycle Cec! Hugz to you muffin! ~Niki

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  4. In a word this is -Gorgeous-. Fabulous textures, colour and details.
    Yvonne xx

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  5. Beautiful project Cec ! Love the colours and all the texture you've created is jsut delicious ! Sue C x

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  6. Fantastic job with your make over project Cec! Love the color you chose for your hanging and such fun embellishments.
    Hugs
    Samra
    Paper Talk with Samra

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  7. WOW! A stunning piece of art from a plain frame. The lace texture is gorgeous and the I love the colour. Thanks for sharing with us at Altered Eclectics.

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  8. http://welove2create.blogspot.nl/ Thank you for joining into the fun at the We Love To Create Challenge BLog, Love what you did with the lace and the background wow love it xxx Hugs Terry and good luck

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  9. ooooooooooooooh! WOW!!!!!!!!! what an awesome rescue of a "mistake"... i could stare at this forever & i bet i'd still see cool new aspects of it!!! thank you for SHOPPING YOUR (birdie!) STASH with us this week! ♥

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  10. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh gorgeous!! Love the colours, love the peacock...just beautiful! Thanks so much for joining the Shopping the Stash crew for our "Put a Bird On It" challenge!!

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  11. What a stunning colour, really eye catching!
    Thanks for joining us over at That Craft Place challenge.
    Sandie

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  12. GASP! This is sooooo amazingly stunning! I love it!! Thanks for joining us at Shopping Our Stash!

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  13. Stunningly beautiful. Amazing depth, rich texture, luscious colors - soooo lovely in every way. From zero to heroic transformation Cec. Wow. j.

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I love to hear what you think about my work, so please leave me a comment.

Thanks!
Cec