Gina's Designs DT Project - Steampunk Chest

Happy Friday! I hope you are all well and have some great plans for this weekend. What I have for you today is what I call my yearly steampunk project!  This chest was in my stash and is going to a friend who likes steampunk ( I hope she does!).

 The drawers have one of the plates from the Keys and Plates Set, several gears, and gears that were part of the Steampunk Frame.  The flat metal key from my stash as well as the purple bling on the key plate.

 On the top, I used the medium dressform from the Dressform and Wings Shape Set. The set come with three different sizes!  By the bottom of the dressform is one of the clock hands from the Clock Hands Shapes Set. The Heart with Gears is coming soon to the store. You can substitute with one of the hearts from the Steampunk Hearts set. Also on the front are flowers from my stash, a domino, and Tim Holtz's gear, pen nib and word plate.

 

 Above you can see the smallest size dressform and wings! The stamp in the right corner was actually found in the bead section at Hobby Lobby. The paper on the entire project is from Recollections - Regent Street.

This air balloon was part of the Steampunk Frame with the gear on the left added from the Gears Shape Set.

 On this side,  you can see I attached part of the Texture Plate - Gears to it.

This is a close-up. I applied different colors of inks to the raw chipboard. In the picture below, you can see that I used the same texture sheet with texture paste. Once the texture paste was dry, I applied different purple inks and Lindy's Sprays over the top of it.

There are several different texture sheets in Gina's Store. Stop by and check them out! Also used on the back was a spring, a plastic light bulb from a key chain, a mini card, metal gear from ButterBeeScraps and flowers from my stash.

Don't forget Gina's Designs is celebrating three years of being in business so you will get a
Free Birthday Shape Set with all orders over $20.00 during the month of May! 

If you are not already a member of Gina's Designs Craft Group on Facebook, get over there and join! We will be announcing other fun birthday activities there!

Gina's Designs Products

Clock Hands Shape Set

Dressforms & Wings Shape Set

Steampunk Frame

Texture Sheet Gears

Gears Shape Set

Keys & Plates Shape Set

Heart of Gears (Coming Soon!!) - you could substitute with Steampunk Hearts

Gina's Designs DT Tutorial - Should I Gesso?

Hello fellow chipboard lovers! I know many times you have read on this blog that I started my project out by using gesso. Gesso (which is pounced jesso) is primer. It gives your paint or glue something to hang onto as well as giving a tone that will allow the true color of your paint to be seen. 

In the picture below, the vintage lady on the right is how Gina's Designs chipboard will look when you receive your order. The lovely lady on the left has a coat of gesso applied to her.

 The ladies from above have invited a few of their friends to help show the effects of using gesso on Gina's chipboard pieces.

 

 First up are the sprayed ladies! I used the same amount and the same color of Lindy's spray on them, but the outcome was very different. The lady on the right has the gesso applied to her.

Next we have the painted stripe girls. I hope you are able to tell from the picture the differences. Starting from the top, I used a heavy body paint (Titanium White) and you can see the head on the left still is showing some of the brown undertone from the chipboard. The next three colors are your basic acrylic paint. You can tell the yellow and pink on the left have soaked into the chipboard. Since the lady on the right had a layer of gesso first applied, the brightness of the colors can be seen. While it is true the black paint looks good on either piece, my preference is to still gesso!

I embossed both sets of wings from the Dressforms and Wings Shape Set and a key plate for a project I am working on. I used gesso on the bottom piece, but not on the top nor on the key plate.  You can definitely see the difference! 

 Here is another shot of them on a different background. The wings on the right has gesso applied to it.

Again, the same amount and the same color of embossing powder was used on the items.

Gesso is available at art supply stores as well as your big box craft stores. There are so many brands of gesso out there for you to chose from. My recommendation, start with a small, cheap jar and experiment!  If you are looking for that true color, use gesso. If you don't want to give your pieces several coats of paint, use gesso. Looking for the darker color to come through like the embossed pieces above? No gesso!

So it is up to you, to gesso or not to gesso....only you can answer that question!

If you do have questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section!

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Dressforms & Wings Shape Set

 Keys & Plates Shape Set
Vintage Ladies Silhouettes Set

Other Products Used:.

Lindy's Stamp Gang Embossing Powder - Magic Moon Pearls

Hampton Art Stamps Embossing Stamp Pad - Emboss!

Studio 71 - Gesso
Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray - Blue Hawaiian Blue
Americana Paint - Lamp Black & Poodleskirt Pink
Liquitex Heavy Body Paint - Titanium White
FolkArt Paint - Daffodil Yellow