Someday, the altered art you make today will be
old, faded, falling apart, and someone else will salvage the bits and use them
in new altered art.It's the best that any piece of art can hope for

~ anon~


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Saturday 20 March 2010

Altered bit for the Altered Element

During a week of whatever could go wrong did go wrong, one ray of sunshine was the arrival of my first Design Team monthly project pack from The Altered Element. We have two projects to complete each month, so that's going to keep me busy! One project uses a creative pack provided by T.A.E (haven't done that one yet, still in the thinking stage - transparent Paverpol... it's going to be fun!) and the other monthly project is an 'Upcycle' Challenge... right up my street! Lynne is busily scouring the Charity Shops and such like finding us treasures to recycle.... look what she found for me..!!!!


So without much ado I set about altering it, I sanded away the rather gruesome dark varnish, but soon realised that I wasn't going to get into all the holes, so decided to just go with them. I the sprayed the whole thing rather generously with Cosmic Shimmers. I didn't want to just fill the holes with 'stuff' so I hit upon the idea of removing some of the criss-cross bits and turning the whole thing into a clock, luckily Mr Nicks had a nifty tool to do this, otherwise it would have been a slower job with a hacksaw,

The clock-face is embossed metal which is fixed onto a piece of mount board, and the clock workings stay in place by sticking a small magnetic strip onto the back of the clock workings and a thin sheet of metal in the hole. I cut the magnetic strip from one of those magnet advertising wotsits companies send you in the vain hope of you sticking it on your fridge - some hope!, they go right into my craft room, but hows that for recycling? I then stuck a small clock-face onto the second hand, so that goes round and round

To add a bit of contrast to the depth of the holes, I made a few small metal embossed squares which cover the holes and a few smaller ones that sit right inside the holes. The metal started off pink, but have also had a spray of various cosmic shimmers.

I recently got some enamelling powders from TAE and had my first play with them today as you can see on the small copper disc's. You can pop then in the oven to melt the powder but I decided to try using my meltpot......
now it would have sensible to check the pot before switching it on and allowing it to heat up..... but I'm not that bright and when I took the lid off realised there was still some UTEE in it from a previous project, well you can't waste it can you? so i poured some onto a Karantha Moulding Mat and onto a Fiskars embossing board, hey presto I got some lovely little bits that I was able to use on my project... the 'nuggets' at the top and the face over the clock. All the bits have been dusted with various mica powders



The rest of the holes have been filled with bits and pieces, some clay leaves and clay pieces which I made from using moulds and my all time favourite Studio by Sculpey and some bits and pieces from my junk drawer 
Finally on top I altered a Trionimo game piece, with a rather apt piece of text from a  book page I removed for a previous altered book.... and two heads?  Well two heads are better than one!
So that's my finished piece, I had a fab time doing it in a snatched half hour here and there in the last few hectic days. Now off to think hard about Paverpol!
Keep an eye on my fellow DT'ers to see what beauties they produce over the following months!

20 comments:

  1. This is great! I love making art out of stuff : )

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  2. This is amazing!!! Still awaiting my DT pack - I am sure Royal Mail treats Scotland as being on another Continent the time it takes parcels to arrive!!! So looking forward to seeing what you do with the other items you received. Lynne M x

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  3. This is lovely! So many little details, and everything hangs together so well. I have stacks of thimble cases that used to belong to my mother, so much fun to play with.
    My DT pack arrived safely in the week - and the item for upcycling is perfectly me! I love everything in my creative pack too - such delicious goodies. I have my projects in hand..........

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  4. O! M! G! Nicky, this is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


    Wow, I love the box as it is but after the transformation...WOW! Totally inspiring and I am just sat here looking at all the amazingly fab elements you have on it....so clever!

    And... congrats on your DT place with the Altered Element...don't think I said that already, if I did, congrats again anyways LOL

    Cannot wait to see what you come up with next

    Hugs Hels x

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  5. this is fabulous...what an awesome piece...so much to look at...xxx

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  6. Clever, CLEVER girl! I always knew you would go far lol

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  7. This is just WILD! totally random Nicks. Every home should have one. Debs H

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  8. Fabulous Nicks, love every part of it!

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  9. I love this, so original! You have set the bar very high now, Nicks! I love what I have been sent and Lynne has obviously thought carefully about what we would work well with. I've only just got my pack on Friday (only because I was out so it had to be re-delivered) so I am still at the playing around stage!

    I have got a thimble rack but would never have thought of taking the sections out - this is amazing!

    Lucy x

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  10. Oh, I love your charity shop item much more than mine! The fabric and trimmings in my pack have got me thinking... and I am still waiting for the plasterer, carpenter and plumber to depart my home before I can make a start, especially as I have no power in my craft room until they are done...

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  11. Fabulous Nicks! I am getting withdrawal symptoms from making messy - nearly at the card stock target thank goodness!
    Can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with......they're all bound to be awesome!

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  12. WOW this ia absolutely awesome Nicks!!! X

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  13. WOW Nicks this is absolutely amazing !!!!! so so so so fab can wait to see your next DT project xxx

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  14. A few random pencils stuck here and there would have worked a treat!

    Love the amazing colours and all the little details, you should be teaching those kids at the school this kind of stuff!

    Brenda

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  15. Wonderful Nicks, love it, great colours and textures.

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  16. That's gorgeous, I love the idea of giving something a new lease of life. I've got an idea for my first project, it's just so hard choosing just one!

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  17. This is amazing, I have a couple of thimble shelves, so I really must have a go at this. although I havent got a melting pot to make some embelishments, oh dear looks like I need one of those now!

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  18. This is a fantastic piece and I hope it's on a wall in yr house some where it's stunning!

    Love Dawn xx

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