Dragonbook

Another Steampunk project to show you, made for Just Steampunk magazine vol 5.

A lot of pics to show you , this project needs a lot of drying time in between aal layers of paint and varnish,  prepping the book will take some time too.

It's best to start with the inside of the book and add all decoration on the outside last

 Making this book took several days, just so you know this is not a quick and easy project to make.

It's a lot of fun to use all the different techniques (thanks Rick for giving some aging tips, you're the best),  you will need some patience :-)

I will try to explain what I did

Supply List

Digital dragon image by Rick St. Dennis MFA

Deco Art products used:
Dazzling Metalics Venetian Gold
American Acrylics, colours: Mocha, Sable Brown, Sand, Lamp black, Traditional Burnt Umber
Americana Gesso, Decoupage, Weathered Wood Crackle Medium, Dura Clear Matte Varnish, Glazing Medium
Elegant finish Metallics  in Renaissance Brown. Metallic Lustres in Iced Espresso, Silver Spark, Copper Kettle, Black Shimmer.

An old book (I used a new one, the one in the pic above, but any book will do) Ruler, Craft knife, Achival Jet Black stamp ink. Gear stamps, I used rubberstamps by Kicostamps (Steampunk plate 1 and 41), embossing pen, Alphabet stamps, Walnut Stain Distress ink, Kitchen towel, old tooth brush, black cardstock and thin card board (cereal box will do fine)

Foam tape, Metal foil tape (hardware store), Ranger Crackle accents, Sizzix Dies; Hardware Findings, Gadget Gears, Elegant Flourishes.
Cuttlebug embosing folder Textile texture, Sizzix Alterations embossing folders Diamond Plate and Riveted Metal

How to:

The dragon (a Rick St. Dennis MFA Digital stamp)

Print the dragon image on sturdy paper, colour (make a laser print colour copy cause you will need the head on the front of the book, and this way you don't have to color it twice)  and cut it out add foam tape to the back and attache it in the shadowbox, (I used distress ink to give the dragon the same aged look as the book after colouring it)

The outside of the book.

First gesso it till you can't see what was on the cover of the book, you need a white background to start with. Let dry.

First layer paint is the gold, when dry add weathered wood crackle medium. Use  Mocha, Sable Brown, Sand acrlic paint and a kitchen towel (make a puff dabb in all three colours and dabb it on the cover to create a marble look) as the top layer for the crackles. Let dry and add 2 layers of Matte Varnish, when dry , make a glaze using traditional burnt umber and Glazing medium, add the glaze on the book using a brush and dabb it off using kitchen towel (make a puff again) next layer is the glaze but use the kitchen towel puffs to add it this time. Keep doing this till you like result. Let dry.
Next add some lamp black to the glaze and use a tooth brush to splatter some of the glaze on the book, carful use a fine spatter. Let dry. Add 2 layers of matte varnish (let dry in between layers) to protect the paint.

Die cut all the gears and other parts using the card board, emboss them and paint them black, then use metallic lustres to give them a metal look. Take the piece of black cardstock cut to size to be able to make a frame and emboss, use the metallic lustres to age.
The colour copy dragon, cut out the head in a way it will fit in the frame you made. add glossy accents crackle to the dragon image, let dry, age with distress ink. Use foam tape to adde the frame to the dragon image and make it a bit more sturdy by adding it to a piece of cardboard, use foam tape to attache to the book cover. Add the embellisments (gears, flowers, hinges) Decorate the hinges on the spine with some pearls or rhinestones.

The inside of the book

there should be some pages on the side oposite to the shadow box that will be cut out of the pages of the book. decide howmany you want on that side, glue the pages where you will be cutting the hole in on the 3 sides of the paper using Decoupage, make sure the pages stay together when drying use clamps for that.

do the same with the pages on the otherside of the book

When glue is dry and pages stick together start cutting out a hole to to create the shadow box, use a ruler and craftknife.
when done glue the pages on the inside of the hole same way as you did on the outside

 use metal tape on the pages to create a metal look, use ruler and embossing pen to make the riveted metal look, when done add lampblack acrylic using a sponge, not to much, go for a mottled look by dabbing the sponge on the metal tape. Let dry.

Stamp the quote using Archival Jet black and paint them over using lamp black acrylic paint, when dry stamp the border using the gear stamps.

Age the sides of the book using lamp black and Metallic Glaze in Renaissance Brown

this was the dragon before it was cut out and distressed


I will enter this book in the following challenge

http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.nl/2014/03/challenge-metal-or-faux-metal.html

http://digisketchchallenge.blogspot.nl/2014/03/fantasy.html

http://www.theartisticstampercreativeteam.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/march-challenge-letters-words-and.html

http://lejdesignschallengeblog.blogspot.ca/2014/03/lej-designs-challenge-for-march.html

http://alohafridaychallenges.blogspot.ca/2014/03/aloha-friday-challenge-19-things-with.html

http://eclecticpaperie.blogspot.ca/2014/03/eplay-challenge-alter-book.html

http://leftofcenterchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-27-favourite-books-with.html

http://www.vintagejourney.com/2014/03/challenge-1-anything-tim-and-dt-call.html

http://rheddscreativespirit.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/march-challenge.html

http://leftofcenterchallenges.blogspot.nl/p/loc-1st-anniversary-challenge-starting.html