butterfly specimen...

happy Friday, friends!

today I wanted to focus on

 translucent embossing paste & 

distress crayons,

 to create a specimen, 

that looks like it's under shattered glass...

here's my example...

working on a small piece of 

my white magic mat board, 

I painted on a thin layer of

matte distress collage medium, using 

the distress collage brushes...

I usually don't paint to the edges, because the areas that have no collage medium accept the color differently & organically create a cool distressed background layer...

after the distress collage medium was dry, 

 I lightly swiped the potting soil archival pad randomly over the les roses background stamp & added just a bit of stamping to the background, mainly to the edges...

next...

I used jet black to stamp

 my new butterfly & dried it...

to color the butterfly, I used red geranium, orange blossom & sunflower archival inks...

I did the large area with the mini blending tool, then swiped the archival pads onto the craft sheet & used the detailer water brush to paint in the smaller areas...

then dried it...

the next step was to spread a layer of

 my translucent embossing paste

 over the whole thing...

while the paste was wet, I lightly misted 

my new all cracked up background stamp with water, then stamped into the wet paste...

the paste looks white, right from the jar, but as it air dries, it creates a 100% clear surface...

***clean the stamp before the paste dries***

I used a toothbrush...

very quick to remove when the paste is wet...

and set it aside to dry...

when the translucent paste was dry, I scribbled the peeled paint and vintage photo distress crayons over the whole surface...

at this point

it looks terrible...

keep going...

just wipe off the surface gently with a moist paper towel...

the crayons tint the surface and remain in the cracks, to create a shattered glass effect...

now the butterfly is under the glass &

 looks like a specimen...

I added some tiny black pins in the corners...

I've had them for 100 years...

not sure where I got them...

but I thought they fit the theme well...

I added the tarnished brass paint to 

finish off the edges of all 4 pieces...

I mounted the butterfly piece onto a larger piece of black magic mat board, then

I mounted this piece onto a 4 x 4 canvas that was inked with fern green...

I added some remnant rubs...

yes...they stick very well to 

the embossing paste...

a hinge clip...

and the "specimen label" from this set...

and I used the hex fasteners to attach it...

here's close up of the surface...

I think it's pretty cool & it shows another way to use 

the background stamp...

this time for texture, with no color!

I frequently get asked about drying time 

for the paste...

there are several factors that are involved...

the thickness of the layer that's added & the humidity...

this paste needs to air dry...

if you blast it with the heat tool, 

it gets cloudy & never changes to clear...

to speed up the drying, I put it next to the air conditioner vent & that cool air did help...

you could use a fan too...

this piece, done in Illinois in HUMID August, 

took about 2 hours to dry...

give it a try...

make a specimen!

it's really very fun...

I hope your weekend is fabulous & 

YOU

can

make art!

wendy