frog dog studio: Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space

Today we have a very special guest from the Amazing Crafting Products Creative team, Sandra Strait. She created with our January kit and we would like to share her creation with y'all today.

Hello! Sandra Strait here as a guest poster for Frog Dog Studio. I was so thrilled when I received the January Frog Dog Studio kit. It included a wooden mini-album from Genuinely Jane Studios in the shape of an old-fashioned telephone booth. I'm an avid Doctor Who fan, so I immediately thought of a T.A.R.D.I.S. (Time and Relative Dimension(s) In Space). These are the ships that Time Lords use to travel time and space. I decided I'd make one of my own.

You never see much of the ship's interior, which looks like a telephone booth on the outside, but is humongous on the inside. I took that as my inspiration and decided to try and create some interiors that might belong in such a ship.

The kit has lots of other exciting pieces -- tissue with the names of cities printed on it, Liquitex Acrylic Inks, pleated cardstock, clear stamps, stamp-pad and assorted ephemera. My first challenge was to decide what I would use and how.

Some of the ephemera caught my eye because I'd need to make panels and knobs. But the crystals were too thick. And the cards would make good panels, but would two be enough? I decided that I wanted the shapes of these things but in a thinner layer.

Amazing Mold Putty to the rescue! It comes in two parts, Part "A" and Part "B". One of the putties is white and one is yellow. You mix equal amounts until the piece is entirely yellow and then you flatten it, and push your item(s) into it.

You have about five minutes before the putty sets. (There are excellent instructions at the Amazing Crafting Products site that can help you learn more).

I mixed three times, using each ball to mold several items. I even decided to mold the bottom of the Liquitex Ink bottles. I wanted my molds to be shallow, so my objects would be 3D but not too deep.

After letting the Amazing Mold Putty sit for 5-10 minutes, I pulled the ephemera and bottles free, and set them aside for use on other projects.

Having made my molds I had to decide what I would use to cast my pieces. I wanted them to be clear, but I wanted to use the Acrylic Ink and I wasn't certain they would work with resin. I decided to experiment and try casting with PVA glue.

I filled each mold with the glue, and then added a drop of the Liquitex Ink. I varied the number of drops. In some I used both the red and the blue. With some of the pieces I mixed the ink thoroughly into the glue, and in others I just let the ink mix on its own. It was fun to watch because the ink spread out in circles. I'm going to have to try this with a product that dries white, because I like the look. PVA Glue dries clear so the finished pieces look different. (Note: The glue takes forever --days!-- to cure enough so you can pull it out of the mold).

Was my experiment successful? I think so. I wouldn't recommend PVA glue for projects where great detail is needed, or if you really want fidelity between your original item and the casting. What I got is as much abstract as anything, and that was perfect for a Tardis interior.

I decided to go mostly with the more solid colored pieces. The ones, like these two below with lots of clear areas, are beautiful in the light, but don't show well against a dark surface. They've given me ideas for playing with the rest of my Liquitex Ink, though.

Before going any further, I took the album apart for ease in painting and colored all four pieces with the Liquitex Ink. I used the convenient dropper top to lay down streaks of color, and then used a baby-wipe to spread it around.

For the front of my T.A.R.D.I.S., I painted it a solid blue (Yes. I chose the same color as The Doctor's ship, but mine has some bells and whistles that his does not!).

The blue Liquitex ink varies in color considerably when applied lightly. The heavier application is a dark navy, almost black, while a very thin application leans toward an aqua.

I mixed some more of the blue ink with some clear crackle paint and spread it along the top, sides and bottom, leaving the area around the windows untouched.

I painted the sides of the board and the windows red. I didn't try to get the inside of the windows solid. I just poked the baby-wipe through each hole, making the red darker on one side. This gave the windows a touch of shading and a little bit of a glow.

I had a scrap piece of vellum paper that came from a mono-print I had done. I cut it to size and glued it behind the windows.

If you hold it where the light shines through, it gives the effect of stained glass. And see the faint red glow around the edge of each window?

For my first interior I decided on a wall to honor the villains and companions of The Doctor. My background was a mix of the red and blue inks. By the way, the blue Liquitex ink is more subtle and opaque. The red is brilliant and more transparent. It shows up well on this board.

I cut off a section of the pleated cardstock that came with the kit, cut it in half length-wise, and painted the pleats with the inks. Using a silver metallic pen I wrote the name of a villain on each pleat.

I played around with the pleats and various castings until I knew which pieces I wanted to use and where they should go. I glued them all down using more PVA glue. Using a gold metallic pen, I wrote down the name of almost all of the Doctor's companions on the wall itself, and added a little doodling.

For my second interior, I decided to celebrate my travels. Unlike the Doctor, I've only been to Europe and Ecuador (but I have a T.A.R.D.I.S. now, so who knows what will happen next!). The tissue that came with the kit only has the names of French cities (I think), but I felt that was good enough. I started with a blue background.

I used a mix of gel medium and gesso to decoupage strips of the tissue onto the board, and glued on several castings made from the crystal molds (they look like berries, lol). I used a metallic violet pen to add some lines.

Then I squeezed some of the red Liquitex ink onto a q-tip, so I would have better control of the application, and added a very light layer of red in some areas. In other areas, I repeated this with the blue.

What would any space ship be without an alien? I got so involved with creating mine, I forgot to take pictures, but the process was the same as the other rooms. Paint the board (a mix of red and blue ink) and then lay down some of the glue castings I'd made until I had my alien. Then I used metallic pens to create some detail and add patterns in the background. I finished up using a q-tip to add a light layer of more blue ink.