Creative Chemistry 102

 Hello peeps.

So, after my ankle surgery (which I timed to coincide with Tim Holtz next Creative Chemistry class!!) I have finally managed to do a little crafting (not easy with keeping my ankle above hip height I can tell you....my craft room is now a hotchpotch of stools and cushions which I balance my leg on for about 15 mins at a time before I need to move around a bit....its testing my patience I can tell you!!)-but it is worth it as the course have been fabulous so far.

Now, the course started with Distress paints of which I owe none!  Tim says that its all about understanding the principles with these courses, so I decided to try different acrylic paints on his effects and see if they work.  I tried Anita's, Windsor and Newton and Rowney but the one that worked the best was Eco Green paints.  Now, they are not the same as distress paints so I had to pre mix them down with water, however, now I have learnt the techniques I have the knowledge to try and experiment and hopefully at some point I may get some distress paints.

 This card was made with the tag (I have another which I have printed out the instructions on and added to my Creative Chemistry 101 tags) demonstrating rusted metal. 

 I used the Eco Green paints again mixing the brown top layer in with Bronze Distress Stain and I really like the effect.  I added a metal cog I cut from a metal food tube and coloured with alcohol inks and a cog I made with my ever trusty hot glue gun (I SO love making mould and using hot glue to full them!!) and a rusty washer that I rusted myself with vinegar and cheap cola!!)

The marbled effect didn't really work with any of the acrylics I had (they still produced a nice effect I wouldn't have experimented with unless I was doing this course) but the tag above was the best with the Eco Green paints once again.

Finally I made a metal tag.  Now, once again I didn't have the metal, the embossing folder or the paint.  However, armed with the knowledge from Tim's instruction I decided to have a go using some metal tape from the tool box ( I think its what you bind round pipes?), black gesso and a different embossing folder.  I thought this would make a perfect background for my cyber man topper I made a couple of weeks ago from some resin!

So there you go.  Proof that you don't need to have all the products, but once you have the knowledge you can take it to the next level and start experimenting.  I know I will certainly be playing more with the oxidized metal technique on my first tag as this has lots of potential.

Right, time for my next lot of pain killers and another ice pack around ,my ankle!!  Happy crafting

Kyla