International Strange Music Day-A Peek-a-Boo Project.

This is Jon David Lowe for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts, I enjoy looking up unusual holiday to see if I can include them in my blog posts. Today, August 24, 2022, is as my title says  International Strange Music Day, a day that encourages people to listen to all types of music they don't usually listen to. It is a also a day to discover strange and bizarre kinds of music. "Madam Butterfly" by Malcolm McLaren is one type of music many may not know. It is the inspiration for this artwork. 

1.  Gather Supplies.

2.  Put Together GSLC ATC Shrine Box and Secure with Weldbond.

3.  Roll Out a Thin Sheet of Polymer Clay and Press into Plastic Wooden Texture Plate.

4.  Cut Panels of Clay and Adhere to GSLC ATC  Shrine Box with Liquid Clay.

5.  Brush Empty Areas with Liquid Clay and Sprinkle with brown Embossing Powders.

6.  Cure in Polymer Clay Oven.

7.  Build a Butterfly Body Totem In Middle of Cured Box Using Small beads for Eyes and Small Nails for Antennas.

8.  Paint GSLC Vine Corners with Shades of Green Acrylic Paints.

9.  Paint GSLC Royal Flourishes with Gold Design Cream.

10.                Attach GSLC Vine Corners and GSLC Royal Flourishes with Liquid Clay and Cure Again in Polymer Clay Oven.

11.                Use Glossy Accents to Attach Transparent Butterfly Wings to Butterfly Body.

12.                Add Patina to Art Piece using Dry Brush Technique and Acrylic Paints.

13.                Paint GSLC Gothic Cross Miniatures with Gold Design Cream.

14.                Attach GSLC Gothic Cross Miniatures with Golden Heavy Matte Gel Medium

 

Some Final Thoughts.

I enjoy a variety of music, Putumayo is a great starting place to discover different types of World Music. I have enjoyed their A Native American Odyssey,, Gypsy Caravan,  India Compilation, Louisiana Music Sampler, and Zydeco.

 I Have Favorite Female Vocalists, Tori Amos, Annie Lennox, Miley Cyrus, Tones and I, Natalie Merchant, Sinead O'Conner and Tracy Chapman.

 My Favorite music group is Over The Rhine, whom I have quoted many times here on my blog posts. I Like U2, REM, the Chieftains, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Moby, Gregorian, Rammstein,  and Grant Lee Buffalo.

 There are so many different styles of music for me to still discover. Tell me a few of your favorites.

Supplies:  GSLC ATC Shrine Box, GSLC Royal Flourishes, GSLC Vine Corners, GSLC Gothic Cross Miniatures, Weldbond, Polymer Clay, Plastic Wooden Texture Plate, Liquid Clay, Embossing Powders in Brown, Polymer Clay Oven, Small Golden Beads, Small Golden Nails, Shades of Green Acrylic Paint, Gold Design Cream Paint, Glossy Accents, Transparent Butterfly Wings, Golden Heavy Matte Gel Medium

I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this project. Share it on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group Page on Facebook. I would love to see what new creations you are working on!

Giraffe's Gilly (aka circus wagon)

Hi everyone, Ann here today, sharing an inspired vintage circus wagon with you.
I was recently fortunate enough to see The Greatest Showman at the theatre. Wow, I was completely in awe of the incredible sets and costumes, and most amazing music. I found myself wondering how I could alter one of my Gypsy Soul Laser Cut boxes into a vintage circus wagon; as a multitude of fabulous visions from the film were playing through my head, I could not wait to get started.

I began with the ATC Shrine Box. This box arrives flat and contains five pieces. It is easiest to figure out how the pieces fit together before adhering paper or any adhesive. This box will form the cart portion of the wagon. The cart will sit on four 1" Wheels. 

Using a quick grab tacky glue, I assemble the box and set it aside. While it is drying, I consider papers for the exterior and interior of the piece that will be rich in color and convey the circus theme I have in mind. I select a red and white striped paper for the interior.  I cut an eight inch long strip of paper that equals the interior height of the box. I measure the interior of the box from left to right for depth and width and mark those measurements on the strip of paper. It is always best to measure twice and cut once, so I double check that I have the correct measurements and then cut the strip the appropriate length. I score the strip at 7/8" from each end to wrap the interior.

I envision a wagon that transports circus animals from city to city. This type of wagon requires a caged opening.  The front/caged side of the wagon will have a decorative opening for the cage to attach to. I first cut a piece of red Distress cardstock that covers the entire opening. Using a Tim Holtz Sizzix labels die, I center it where I would like the opening to be and run it through the die cutting machine. A modified Tim Holtz Gothic Gate die cut will create the cage. This cage piece is covered with embossing ink and coated with Emerald Creek charred gold embossing powder and heat set.

All of the remaining exterior sides of the box are painted with Distress Paint in fired brick and candied apple. Once the red coat has completely dried, I apply  Distress Paint in walnut stain and black soot with a stiff dry brush to create  a time worn patina.  This process is also used to paint the wheel housings. The interior ceiling of the wagon is painted with a coat of antique linen and the floor is painted with a mixture of antique linen and walnut stain. The floor will be covered later with a thin layer of straw pieces.

After the paint has completely dried, I adhere the paper to the interior. I add a metallic remnant rub in each upper corner. I resize a piece of Tim Holtz "traveler" ephemera, and add details with a gold gelly roll pen. This is inked around the edges and adhered to the back wall. Once the interior is complete, the caged panel frame is applied to the open face of the box. Ideology stars are added in each upper corner and a fussy cut CIRCUS banner is attached to the topmost center. 
When attaching the wheels to the wagon, I want the wheels to be situated apart from the housing. To do this I place a very small wooden bead between the wheel and the housing with hot glue. A brass nail serves as an axle to align and hold all the pieces together and another wooden bead is located on the inside of the housing. After assembling all four wheels and housings, I attach them to each side of the wagon.

The back side of the wagon is covered with circus posters. I searched for images of vintage circus signs and resized them to be a compatible scale for the wagon. Once they were printed, I cut them out, distressed the edges with ink, crumpled them, and rolled the corners to make them look authentic. I arranged the pieces to create a desirable layout and adhered them to the box.  I also added a pennant banner punched from Tim Holtz paper and strung on jute string.

 My wagon would not be complete without an occupant. I found wonderfully vintage circus giraffe and elephant images that I fussy cut. The giraffe stands inside his gilly, eager to arrive at the next destination.

Thanks so much for visiting the blog today,
I hope you experience something that inspires you to create.
~Ann

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts used:
ATC Shrine Box
Wheels 1 inch Fancy

Steampunk Box

Gina here with a quick and easy project for steampunk lovers.  

 To create this little box I began with the ATC Shrine Box.  I glued the box together and gave it a coat of acrylic paint in metallic gold as a base color. 

 Using several colors of distress stain I created a rusty texture on the outside of my box.

 I used the same technique to create some rusty pieces I selected from the Steampunk Shape Set.

 I cut a piece of paper from the Bo Bunny Penny emporium Collection for the background of my box.

I added some beads and trinkets from my stash along with a little steampunk girl I found online, printed and fussy cut.  I rearranged the pieces until I liked the layout and glued everything down using Quick Grip glue.

GSL Cuts Products
ATC Shrine Box
Steampunk Shape Set

Dirty Girl Shrine

Hello crafty friends!  I found a few cool Vargas pin-up girl playing cards recently and couldn't wait to use them.  Luckily the ATC Shrine Box w/Feet is the perfect size for playing cards.  Who knew?!

I started with standard assembly, which for me means making sure I have all the parts going in the right direction before gluing in place.  I learned the hard way.... *ahem*

I suggest you glue  top and bottom first so you can slide walls on.  As you can see in the photos, I put the right side wall on first without thinking ahead about that bottom notch.  It didn't end up being a  hardship, but I did have one of my "Huh... ok" moments.  They are more frequent that I should admit.

Once dry, I slathered the whole box with black gesso.

Gesso dries pretty quickly so I tapped my fingers a few times, or did something equally speedy.  I then measured the exterior and interior paper panels and cut out with a paper cutter.

I needed to tweak this side panel a bit.  There's a joke about measuring twice, cutting once.  Bah, whatever.

Here I have everything cut out.  I inked the edges with black just to get rid of the too-bright white core.

Mod podge it all together!

I've jumped ahead a bit in the photos.  After the mod podge dried I added a layer of lace, then a layer of rhinestones on the inside edges.  Diamonds are a girls best friend, right?

I used black dotted Dresden trim for the front edges and around the frame.  Glossy accents is a good adhesive since it has a small nozzle, but any glue will do.  

After all the trim was placed and the reverse side lettering was attached, I covered it all with a layer of matte varnish to seal and give a nice finish. I used E-6000 to attach the word blocks.

Thanks for stopping at the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog today.  I hope we can inspire you on your next projects!

Cheers,
Susan

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Used
ATC Shrine Box w/Feet #BD12F

Other Supplies Used
Prima Romance Novel 6x6 paper pad
Dresden trim
Vintage tattered lace
Rhinestone trim
Vintage playing card
Vintage word blocks
Mod Podge
Glossy Accents
E-6000