Shine Bright and Create: Captain Vagabond

Saturday, 11 February 2023

Steampunk Box

I have finally finished another project from last year and I can now put my Steampunk themed box to some use.

The wooden box itself came from The Works, they have a great selection of boxes to craft with and often have various sizes on offer, which is a good time to buy them. They are pretty decent quality for a lightweight box too.

I love LOVE steampunk! There is so much inspiration from Stamperia for their Captain Vagabond collections, sometimes you don't know where to start yourself but I absolutely love this image on one of their rice papers that I have used to cover my box. I haven't gone over top with the decoration because I loved the rice paper too much.

I made the cogs last year after watching a great craft live from Leonie Pujol. She is an amazing inspirational artist. So, I cut up my cardboard soup packaging ready to die cut my cogs and mixed a little sand into my gesso for an uneven gritty texture.

I didn't have any rust paint so I found a set of mini acrylic paints in a box that my son had left (I think they were from The Works) just perfect for mixing small amounts of paint and when dry I added the copper wax which finished them off nicely. I was really happy with how they turned out.

I used some of the plastic embellishments from the Captain Vagabond collection to decorate the box but used the rice papers all around and edged the box in white gold wax.

After I had varnished the box, I noticed 2 large drips at the back which had dried hard which I really liked, so I added a little white gold wax to highlight them even more. If I had tried to create these, you can bet it would have gone wrong.

I kept the inside quite simple by painting it in a neutral colour with just that striking rice paper design down the centre.

The glossy accent on Sir Vagabonds' glasses worked very well and I used crackle gel on the clock lens on his hat. I feel the need to do another box now! I love mixed media and really don't do enough of it.

If you're crafting, what's on your craft table today? Have a great day whatever you have planned for yourself

Happy crafting