frog dog studio: Steampunk Trinket Boxes

Hello! Hello! I'm psyched to be here to craft! Let's dive in. You may have seen the sneak peek already, and we are going to start with the boxes.

I have in mind to feature a reoccurring theme called, "Just One More Thing." Every month I'll add something to the kit. Maybe I'll have a cool found object or maybe I'll have a simple object that has a huge impact in my projects.

This month it is turquoise acrylic paint. When I saw metal, rust, metallic sprays, and gears, I was thrilled and knew I needed a turquoise/teal/mint green paint.

Rust and patina greens are literally made for each other. Think of the Statue of Liberty, she is copper on the outside! The turquoise looks great and provides a contrast to the rust so you can see the texture more easily.

TIP: I tested which color I should paint the gear

before applying the rust and it made no difference.

Above: the gears turning rusty.

Here is one with the paint.

TIP: Apply unevenly, build up paint in corners if possible.

I also sprayed the gears with both of the Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays to get some yellow metallic in the rust.

TIP: make your spray spotty or splotchy

by not pushing the spray button down fully.

For the lid of the box, I tried out the black paint from the kit. I had never seen it before and now I love it! It dries quickly like an alcohol ink, but it looks like a glossy paint.

Check out the look when the lids were covered!

TIP: give them a little extra time for the paint to fully set,

and if you scratch it, try covering the scratch with a Sharpie.

The bottom part of the boxes are painted turquoise. I then decorated with patterned paper and a Steampunk babe I had been saving (from "Steampunk Spells"). On the smaller box I used hot air balloons with stacked gears.