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Purrtastic releases so far!

Friday, March 29, 2013

Smeared Ink Design Team Throwdown - Faux Finishes!

Hello Everyone!
This is a belated post coz for some reason my blog would not post, just kept getting an error message to fix a page problem...urrgh!  Anyway, thank goodness it's back to it's normal buggy self and I'm not tooooo late with the news!

Ancient Stone 'faux finish' Dominoes

So without further delay...here's the scoop!
Smeared and Smudged forum is now hosting Design Team Throwdowns where Design Teams from around the globe get to compete against each other in a friendly and fierce bi-weekly competition!  The first Throwdown was won by Haunted Design House and as the winners the team then got to pick the theme of the next Throwdown.  They chose Faux Finishes and this time round I'm battling it out with 2 of my fellow Smeared Ink design team mates!  You can see their Faux Finish creations here!

The Design Teams have entered their Faux Finish creations and the voting started yesterday so you've only got today to dash over, check out the absolutely amazing art and cast your votes!  Of course, we'd LOVE it if you choose us to win, but we encourage you to vote for the projects (team) that you think are the best!

This is what I came up for the Faux Finish challenge, an Ancient Stone technique for dominoes!

NOW PLEASE GO AND VOTE :0)  You have until midnight tonight EST to get them in!  You do have to be a Smeared and Smudged forum member
to participate and vote, but it's free and very worth signing up.

Now for my Ancient Stone 'faux finish' Dominoes!
 This is a faux finish technique that I invented back in 2003 on my DominoART Yahoo Group while I was experimenting with ways to create a faux Scrimshaw technique for dominoes.  It's probably fair to say it's a semi-faux technique coz it does involve clay ;0)  It looks like it could be a hard one but it actually isn't and the worst part is waiting for it to dry so you might want to make a lot in one sitting for semi-instant gratification!
 

Raven collage rubber stamp from the Quoth the Raven set by Smeared Ink
cream 15/16 inch x 1.75 inch Spinner domino
super-sized 1.5 x 2.5 inch white domino
white DAS Air Dry Clay
Ancient Page dye ink:  Coal Black, Chocolate and Sienna
Dremel or a Drill
Heat gun
brown suede cord
white craft glue
paper towel
toothpick
Krylon matte spray sealer or Artist's Workable Fixative
sunlight and patience ;0)

This is a great technique if you've got any messed up dominoes hanging around.  If you want to make a pendant with one of the smaller dominoes then use a Dremel or a drill to drill a hole large enough to thread a piece of suede cord through.  Stain the sides of the domino by pressing it directly onto the Sienna Ancient Page ink pad, then randomly onto the Chocolate and smear and blend the inks with paper towel.  Keep messing with it until you like the effect and then heat set the inks. 


Smear white glue around the surface of the domino and squish some small chunks of white DAS air dry clay on top while it's still wet.  Be as rough and random with the clay application as you want and leave some of the cracks and rough spots.  Be generous coz you'll lose quite a bit during the stamping process where you'll have no less than about a 1/8 inch thickness on the smaller domino and about 1/4 inch on the super-sized.  For the larger domino above I inked up the rubber stamp with a Ancient Page Sienna with a bit of Chocolate mixed in.  For the pendant domino below I added a touch of Coal Black to the mix too.  Press the domino down firmly onto the rubber stamp and really apply a lot of pressure.  The clay will bulge out to the sides beyond the edge of the domino.  Carefully remove the domino from the stamp and gently press the clay surface on the domino to make sure it didn't lift or pull away and scrape away the excess.  Leave the edges very raw looking and let parts of the surface break away so it looks like it has crumbled or worn away over time.  On the larger domino above I added more dimension to the impression with a toothpick and don't forget to poke a hole through the clay if you're making a pendant!  Leave the dominoes to dry for a day or put them out in the sun for a few hours.  Apply more Sienna, Chocolate and Coal Black ink to the sides of the domino and to the raw clay edges, blend and rub away with paper towel until you're happy with the result.  Protect the surface of the dominoes with a coat of either Krylon Artist's Workable Fixative or matte sealer spray.  Thread the suede cord through the pendant and knot for the ancient stone pendant and adhere a magnet to the back of the larger domino and you're done :0)  Cool hey!


Thanks for visiting and if you try out this technique leave me a link to your project in my comments, I'd love to stop by and check them out!!

Have a fabulous Easter weekend and Happy Stamping!
 THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN
I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * Lost Coast Designs * Smeared Ink *  About Art Accents

6 comments:

  1. Wonderful effect Leigh. Thanks for the the fabulous tutorial xxxx

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  2. Wow Leigh...these are awesome. Thank you so much for sharing the technique. I have been going crazy trying to figure out how to achieve this totally cool look.

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  3. Love these pendants they are so very beautiful

    Thanks for the tut

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  4. Love your faux. I just wanted you to know that I finally made 2 dominoes!! My first time ever. I posted on FB but going to add some jump rings and put on a necklace and blog about them, I thought about you the whole time making them LOL!
    Peace,
    Kristy

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  5. Oh, Leigh!!! The dominoes are soo cool. You have inspired me to try this with the clay!! I have never really worked with clay before, but now I want to try it on a domino!! Love, love, love them!! Is it difficult to drill through a domino?

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  6. Fantatsic dominos. Love the stone look. Must give this a go

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Thank you for visiting and leaving us some love, your comments are always most appreciated!
Happy Stamping!
Leigh S-B