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Posts Tagged ‘Antiquing’

The gondola

24 Feb

I’ve made quite a few gondolas that were the typical boat style, but I wanted to do something different for this steampunk diarama. I thought that making something that looked like a tube or bubble would be cool, so I started rummaging through my boxes of pieces and parts to find an object that would be suitable to repurpose. What I came up with was two plastic scoops that came out of a powdered drink mix or something, (I collect anything that’s interesting!). Shown here, I’ve already painted the handles and attached a plastic piece with a spiral as a “bowsprit”.

Plastic scoops as gondola

Plastic scoops as gondola

Here’s a close up of the bowsprit and the front of the gondola.

Bowsprit closeup

Bowsprit closeup

I glued the two scoops to a plastic disc for some visual interest, then added a flat plastic piece in between the handles, (not pictured), then I created a rudder fin to go on the stern of the gondola. I used the same technique as I did for the stabilizer fins.

Rudder fin

Rudder fin

The final gondola was then given an antiquing of patina color where appropriate (brass and copper areas), and attached to the airship body. This attachment required a careful snipping of the paper airship skin so the handles of the scoops could be inserted and glued.

Finished gondola

Finished gondola

Here’s a closeup of the attachment.

Closeup of gondola

Closeup of gondola

Next post, I’ll show how I prepared the “box” part of the diarama. That is certainly an example of recycle, reuse and repurpose! Thank you for your continued interest in my work…

How would you have built the gondola?

 

 

 

 
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Posted in Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Adding the stabilizer fins

07 Feb

In building the stabilizer fins for the steampunk diarama airship, I first had to choose a shape. On other ships, I’ve made them rounded, but I like the feeling of a scalloped fin. I’ve also made different scalloped fins before, with some being a solid fin with ribs and others having a support structure, to which was attached actual cloth sailcloth. For this small zeppelin, I decided on the former for its ease at this relatively small scale. This decided shape I then cut out of an index card stock I had lying around. To give them age and interest, I sponged them with a light brown watercolor (not pictured, sorry!)

Index stock fins cut out

Index stock fins cut out

I then had to make the ribs, and to make it simple, yet appealing, I decided to cut these out of a similar stock, but in this case, since they would be painted anyway, I decided to use cereal box cardboard and then paint them to contrast and have interest. Remember, I throw nothing away that may have a raw materials use when reused, repurposed or recycled!

Fin ribs cut from cereal box cardboard

Fin ribs cut from cereal box cardboard

I painted them by spraying a basic green enamel. I did this because a water-based paint would have been repelled by the coating on the cereal box. I then antiqued a patina on with a lighter water-based green acrylic, then applied to the fins.

Finished fins

Finished fins

After finishing the fins, I glued them at top and lower angled positions to the airship body with standard white glue and let them dry. To add another element of interest, I used dimensional paint to “dot” copper rivets on the fin ribs. I forgot to mention that I had done this to the propeller scaffolding as well. (How many of you noticed that?) So here’s the finished attachment…

Attached fins

Attached fins

Next time, I’ll show the process of building the gondola. It’ll be fun too, because it isn’t your run-of-the-mill boat shape!

Stay tuned…in fact, tell all your ‘punk friends to subscribe!

 
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Posted in Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

The airship propeller

31 Jan

Last time I finished putting the propeller support scaffolding on the steampunk airship that is to be part of my diarama. Now I’ll start the propeller itself.

I can’t emphasize enough that you don’t need to buy much in order to create amazing art. Just look around you…I save plastic jar lids, pen barrels, scrap paper and fiberboard, plastic closures, fixtures, hangars, fasteners…everything. I’m a hoarder only in the sense that what I save looks like junk, but it all has artistic value when you realize it can be repurposed, reused, recycled and otherwise transformed into cool things of beauty!

To start the propeller, I found a piece of medical equipment my brother gave me. It’s an inline tube filter (new of course) that’s used in a suction device for surgery, but it looks very “hub-like”. I simple glued flat toothpicks at regular intervals around the perimeter of the “hub” and let them dry.

Propeller hub

Propeller hub

Flip side

Flip side

Once dry, I spray painted the piece an antiqued copper color and then gave it a patina of green “rust”. For the propeller blades, I cut triangles of a white scrap printing paper I had, gently curled one point for pitch and glued the edge to the toothpicks. I used some plastic pieces to stilt the blades while the glue dried.

Blades added

Blades added

Here’s the finished propeller…

Finished propeller

Finished propeller

And now we slide the propeller onto the end of the airship. I used a skinny plastic straw as the shaft and I split it and frayed the end so that by holding it together, I was able to slide the propeller onto it, and once the frayed end was inside the hub, it spread out enough to lightly hold the propeller on without glue. This way, I can manually spin it!

Propeller in place and spinnable!

Propeller in place and spinnable!

Next post, I’ll build the stabilizer fins, so stay tuned… :)

 

 

 

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Airship nose and propeller shaft

24 Jan

I need to put a nose and tail cone on the diarama airship, so I used the same technique I use for my airship kits, which is to sart with a cut circle of card stock (I use old file folders). I then punch a hole in the center with a standard paper punch and with scissors, I cut about a quarter of the circle away. This then gets formed into a funnel shape, then glued with white glue. To make the nose spire, I used a painted wooden golf tee and pushed that through the nose cone, then attached it. The tail cone was made in the same way, but required a different structure beyond that because the tail also holds the scaffolding for the propeller.

Nose and tail cones in place

Nose and tail cones in place

Next, I constructed the scaffolding for the propeller by cutting strips of cereal box cardboard, then gluing them into the appropriate shape. (Can you tell that I never throw away anything that might have an artistic use?!). When dry, they were sprayed with copper paint and antiqued with green acrylic paint, (seen in next photo).

Propeller scaffolding

Propeller scaffolding

A piece of repurposed plastic tube that used to be the guts of a click-type ball point pen serves as the propeller shaft when painted and attached to the tail cone of the airship. The scaffolding is then attached to the shaft and the sides of the airship body. White glue works fine for most pieces.

Scaffolding attached to the airship

Scaffolding attached to the airship

Next time, I’ll show how to build a cool propeller for the zeppelin out of simple repurposed objects. Reusing and recycling can be easy and fun. Try some of these techniques to start a project with your kids. It’s a great way to find common ground with a teenager!

 

 

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

From scrap to steampunk sunglasses

14 Sep

Even though my mainline is steampunk zeppelin airships, one of my latest projects has been to fashion a pair of steampunk sunglasses. Now I know that goggles are a steampunk icon, but I’m a bit of a sunglasses collector, having accumulated about 125 pair over the years. I have new wave and punk rock styles, Buddy Hollys, Venetian blind shades, owls, John Lennons, grannies, hippies and all sorts of themed varieties. What I didn’t have were any that were of a steampunk nature, so I put on my thinking cap and designed a pair. Of course, I had to stay with my mantra of “recycle, re-use and re-purpose”, so I built my sunglasses using materials that would have been junk otherwise. With a little painted patina and antiquing, some suede scraps and a lot of plastic pieces and parts, I was able to fashion a pair of wearable, however somewhat impractical, wild and crazy steampunk fashion sunglasses.

Steampunk sunglasses

Lens detail

Right temple detail

Left temple detail

Lens detail

Most of the pieces are re-purposed plastic pen barrels, odds and ends of metal, brass screws, scraps of suede and toy parts. The lenses are actually welding goggle lenses that have been inserted into vitamin bottle lids.

I’d love to hear your comments! How would you have made these?

 

 

 

 
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Posted in Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Vent tubes

03 Aug

So in case you were wondering how to make a cool and convincing steampunk vent tube that you would see on something mechanical, coal-fired, steam-powered or something lighter-than-air…say like…an AIRSHIP, here’s how I do it. I have a bunch of medical surplus tubing connectors. They use these to connect rubber hoses in ventilators and such. What I do is trim off any sharp edges, which there shouldn’t be too many of if it’s medical supply pieces. Rough it up a bit with a piece of fine sandpaper and then hit it with your favorite metallic brass or copper spray enamel. When it’s dry, add rivets with metallic puffy paint and then patina the piece with some green acrylic paint. What you wind up with is something like this…

Vent tubes

To add these to the Diabolus, I glued pieces of bamboo skewers into them with the sharp ends sticking out. I could then push them into the sides of the airship. Before I did that, I created a flat plate for effect using cardboard with puffy paint rivets as shown.

Flat plates

Once painted and patina antiqued, these become the bases that the vent tubes get pushed into for the final effect shown below.

Vent tube installed

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Turret construction

09 Jul

Today, I’m going to show you how I put together the observation turrets that are on the sides of the Diabolus. Believe it or not, I used repurposed pieces for these as well ;)   Really, you say? I don’t believe it!   Well, it’s true…read on to see more!

I started with the bottom of one of those 50 cent gumball machine toy bubbles as shown below…

Gumball toy bubble

In order to make it look like a paneled turret, I need something that not only looks like metal, specifically brass or copper, but also is thin and flexible. I could use thin sheet craft copper, but remember that I like to reuse materials or repurpose things. What I do is to paint tape, then cut it into strips. You’ll also notice that I added “rivets” and patina before peeling up the strips to apply to the bubble.

Painted tape cut into strips

Next, of course, I add the strips to the bubble in a fashion that is reminiscent of the gun turrets on a WWII bomber, or the bridge of the Millennium Falcon, whichever you prefer!

Finished turret

So this is how the finished turret looks. In order to add it to the side of the Diabolus, I need to build a “background”, and I’ll show you how next post!

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Propeller Assembly

16 Apr

Now we get to see what the propeller assembly looks like all put together. It certainly starts to put things in context. The patina gives the overall aged look to the brass…wait a minute…brass? Remember, this is not metal! It’s reused paper, cardboard and plastic pieces!

Steampunk propeller assembly

Here is the propeller assembly mounted to the housing and then to the body of the steampunk airship itself. Once attached, it’s thrilling to see how it’s taking shape. Pieces look like pieces, but when it all starts to come together……

Propeller assembly attached to airship

And here’s a closer look…

Attached assembly close up

Stay tuned…next time, we’ll take a look at the fin mounts!

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Propeller painting

07 Apr

Now we brass paint the propeller. Usually I would add rivets before painting, but originally, I wasn’t going to put rivets on the prop, so I went ahead and painted it. When I looked at it afterwards, I decided it would look better with rivets, so I added them over the paint then repainted it again.

Painted propeller with rivets added

After the second brass painting, the prop looks like this.

Repainted propeller

The final step is to patina paint the propeller to give it the proper aged look.

Green patina on the propeller

The results are pretty amazing! Now we have a very steampunk looking propeller for our zeppelin. The rest of the exterior pieces will have this same aged brass look. In the next post, I’ll be showing how the propeller assembly looks after it is attached to the airship, so drop back by and visit soon!

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Antiquing the airship fins

25 Mar

Now we move to applying the green patina that will lend an aged, gritty look to the airship sculpture. Steampunk may be about metal and gears, but they’re not always clean, shiny and pretty!

I use a water based acrylic, minty green craft paint to patina with. I know I said that the oil based enamel spray was preferable, but now that the paper is coated and sealed with the enamel, you have more control and no fumes with the acrylic paint. I apply it with a sea sponge and wipe or blot off any excess with a damp cloth or a clean, damp sponge before the acrylic dries. Work fast because the thin, sponged layer of acrylic does dry quickly, and once it does, it’s permanent.

Patina painted airship fin

Closer look at the patina

Airship patina detail

Another thing I do, just for contrast and visual appeal, is to take a damp cloth and very lightly and carefully wipe across the very tops of the rivets. I do this while the green paint is still wet so it wipes off completely, revealing the shiny brass paint beneath. I just think it looks cool to have a bit of shiny brass peaking out of the patina. It gives the piece a bit more of a 3D look!

Next, we’ll look at some of the other pieces on the steampunk airship sculpture and how we construct and paint those…

Stop back soon!

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Airship fin painting

23 Mar

Now that the rivets have been added, you can concentrate on the painting of the metallic color. You can use a copper or brass spray paint, or even a pewter color. I like ones that are of the antiqued variety. I used spray because it’s easier and less saturating than liquid. I also use oil based enamel spray paint instead of a water based liquid paint because even though it’s more toxic, it causes less absorption buckling of paper, papier mache and cardboard, (which can ruin your project).

You can see that before painting, I also added a recycled foam edge to the fins so that it looks like a metal, girder-like structure…again adding to the gritty, steampunk look.

Brass painted airship fin

Brass painted fin detail

Next step in the process is adding the patina that will make the airship look aged and rusty. Shiny brass looks cool, but also doesn’t look very realistic. A bit of green patina makes the airship sculpture look much more believable and battle-scarred. Stay tuned!

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

External elements

12 Mar

Well, I apologize for the delay in posting. Just a lot going on!

This post, I’ll show some of the external elements that will be added to the new airship. Like I said before, this airship is not the Victorian whimsical variety that you’ve seen before, but rather one that is more gritty and “heavy” looking. It will have four large fins that resemble brass/metal girders. Like the rest of the pieces, I constructed these out of scrap cardboard and then I covered them with scrap file folder paper to give them a smooth, paintable surface. Of course, this is also the way I stay close to my heart and use recycled and repurposed materials. While the fins aren’t papier mache like the body of the airship, they are old boxes that were pretty much junk.

In the next post, I will simulate rivets, so watch for it!

Cardboard ribs cut out

Scrap green file folders

Fins covered in file folder cardboard

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Accent ribbing

02 Mar

Last post, I talked about doing a patina on the new airship, including the copper accents on the ridges. I decided to add rivets, then apply a heavier green patina to them and the results are…well, fantastic!

Rivets and patina added

Below is a bit closer look to show the details.

Rivet and patina detail

In keeping with my tradition of using stuff that is just sitting around or was going to be thrown away, these accent stripes are nothing more than cloth coach tape, painted with copper paint, cut into strips and patina painted with green paint. The rivets are just puffy paint, applied in dots. MAGIC!

The next step will be to start adding some external elements. (I know…I said that last time, but an artist DOES change things on the fly if need be!).

What ideas do you have for details? Let me know!

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Green aging the airship

25 Feb

The next step in the building of the new airship was to make it look a bit aged and to add some tint. I did this by airbrushing a dark green color on the “envelope” and the copper edging.

Green patina aging

Patina detail

Next, I’ll start showing the pieces that will make this look like a lean and mean airship! Stay tuned!

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk, Uncategorized

 

New airship design

23 Feb

OK, so I have to admit that I’ve been holding out on you guys a bit. I have several airships in process, but I’ve mainly been showing you one particular design that I’m making progress on. This design is much like the one that is in Off the Beaten Path in Farmington, Michigan…you know, this one…

Up, up and away!

Truth is, there’s another design that I’ve been spending most of my time on, but I haven’t shown you that one. Wait… you may have seen it from afar, but didn’t realize it was special.

The new design has a much more hardcore steampunk look than the previous model, which was more Victorian whimsical, I think. This airship is going to look mean and aged and battlescarred.

The next photo is of the “balloon” portion of the airship when I first painted it.

Gray basecoated airship "envelope"

I then added copper ribbing for effect…

Copper ribbing added

Next time, I’ll show the ship with some patina aging…stay tuned!

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Airship aging

24 Jan

OK…last post, I said that I’d be showing you painting of the airships. This takes the nicely yellowed paper on the ships and further accents it so that it takes on that parchment feel. While this technique wouldn’t be used on all my airships, (some look much more metallic and heavy), it gives these particular models a feel of Victorian whimsy…don’t you think?

Airship one with a drybrush technique

Drybrush detail

Airship two with sponged antique technique

Sponged detail

Now that the airships have this antiquing applied, the next step will be to start adding some of the other external details, such as the fins, nose cones, propeller assemblies, etc.

Stay tuned…it just gets better and better!

 
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Posted in Papier-mâché, Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk