A workshop at Emlems

 I forgot to take photos on the day, but here are my finished pieces.

Up-cycled Skeleton Plaque

This is the front of a kitchen drawer that was being thrown out.

Painted it with black gesso then used grunge paste through a couple of stencils.

Once dried, I painted over it in black gesso.

I made a mould from a skeleton that I was given by a friend. Then I cast it in fast cast resin.

Got a few more bits and bobs out and started to build a composition.

Dry brushed the background with silver to bring out the texture from the stencils.

I used various purples and blues to paint the background pieces.

Close up of the top of the composition.

The skeleton clothing is coloured with pewter treasure gold and the bones of the skelly are coloured with old white matte wax by Finn.

I painted the cross gold as I wanted it to stand out.

Another close up of the various elements.

And finally, the finished piece.

I usually paint all the different embellishments / elements before I stick them down, but this time I glued them down, painted everything black and then added colour.

Gothic Style Shaker Plaque

After watching a 'free' youtube video class by the lovely Anna aka Finnabair, I made this.

A shaker plaque made from recycled wood and a plastic dome.

                            

Close up of the shaker part of the plaque.

The bat looked a bit plain so I added a rub on.

Close up of the bottom left corner.

Close up of the top right corner.

Close up of bottom right ish corner.

And the image of what is in the shaker is revealed.

Close up of the dome shaped shaker.

And finally a close up of the top left corner.

Small Fabric Steampunk / Gothic Book

After I'd printed some images onto fabric and cut them up, I started to lay fabric and trims around them to start to build up a page.

I did the same for all of them and added a few emblishments.

Nothing is stuck down yet as I was still playing around with placement etc.

Ribbons, lace and ric-rak.

Once everything was glued down on the pages I played around with the placement of them and paired them up.

Then the pinkish set of pages.

And the next two pages, these are five and six.

And the last two pages.

I put the pages together in the same way I'd made the other two books sandwiching lace inbetween the layers. I laid out the pieces for the front and back covers. At this point, nothing is stuck down.

This is the front cover stitched and glued down with all embellishments attached.

And the back cover which I've left pretty plain as it needs to be flat when laid down.

And this is the spine which has been re-inforced with cardboard to give it extra strength.

And finally a view from the top with the book closed.

And this is the bottom.

This was a thank you gift for Sheilagh who very generously posted me a huge stash of fabric. I made her this because she showed an interest in the first one I'd made, but I couldn't give that one away.

This one is a little smaller and measures approx 6.5" x 9". I just hope she likes this one as much as the first one.