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Posts Tagged ‘patina’

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

 

Steampunk Airship Diarama

10 Jan

I have done many airships and those of you familiar with my workmay have seen them at World Steam Expo, which is sadly, no more  :-( .  This project is one that I wanted to approach a little differently. I still wanted to do an airship, but one that was the same style as those in my Airship Kits, but a little larger, more detailed and in a whimsical format that could have a place on a tabletop or a wall. What better way to accomplish that than in a diarama. You remember these from school, but you probably built yours in a cardboard box or an old shoebox. This airship diarama is built in an old dresser drawer that I put a base on and painted just for the occasion!

I started by scaling up my Airship Kit pattern and creating the cone ends of the airship body.

Airship body end pieces

These ends were then put together to form the body or envelope of the airship.

Assembled airship body

With the body assembled, the trim and detailing can begin. I began by using a watercolor wash to add some depth and interest to the surface of the airship body, then trailing on some veining that makes the surface look a little marbly, but fun.

To cover the cone joints, I used strips of cloth tape that I had painted with metallic copper acrylic paint, then applied them carefully and burnished them down.

Then, over the center seam, I used a strip of the same index stock I used to construct the original cones…a great way to reuse, re-purpose and recycle, since this is really old manilla file folder! This strip was then also painted with metallic copper acrylic paint and glued around the center if the body. “Rivets” were added using paint dots and the copper was given a patina with green paint. It’s cool what amazing art you can come up with if you just give it a little thought!

Details added

Next post, I’ll add more details and start building some other structures for the zeppelin.

What projects have you started for the New Year?

 

 
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Posted in 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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Turret installation

23 Jul

Installing the observation turrets into the sides of the Diabolus first requires cutting a hole in the mâché. Due to the curving shape of the airship’s sides, the hole could not be just a simple circle, but rather a complicated ellipse. I had to hold the turret alongside the airship and lightly and carefully trace its contour into the side, allowing the pencil to follow not only the edge of the turret, but also the contour of the Diabolus. Once the hole was traced and cut, the turret slid in fairly easily and was glued into place.

Observation turret in place

With the turret in place, I bordered around it with brass trim and riveting for a strong finished look.

Turret from below

And with the “brass” trim applied, adding some patina with acrylic paint to the side of the airship gives it a weathered and aged look. Below is another view of the Diabolus showing both turrets and their position relative to the rest of the airship.

Both turrets in an inferior view

Stay tuned for the next installment!

Do you have any cool stuff you like to do with recycled or re-purposed materials?

 
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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

 

Continuing the Diabolus

04 Jul

Today I’m back to showing the progress of the Diabolus. You’ve all seen the finished product, as I displayed it at the World Steam Expo back at the end of May. I want to finish the progression so you see how it was constructed.

I left off at showing you the fin support construction. I’ll now show you the fin hub which ties all the fins together aft of the propeller. This hub starts with a couple of simple repurposed plastic pieces; in this case, a couple peanut butter jar lids.

Peanut butter jar lids

Followed by a spray paint can lid and a laundry detergent cap…

Lids and caps

Then put together…

Lids and caps assembled

And then painted bronze and patina painted…

Painted fin hub

Finally, put in place and trimmed with stabilizers.

Fin hub with stabilizers

So, once again, finished piece looking nothing like the original repurposed pieces! Next I’ll show how I constructed the observation turrets.

Would you be interested in seeing examples of how to choose items to repurpose?

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

 

Fin supports

17 May

Now as I continue work on this papier mache airship, I need to add spacers for the back of the fins to attach them to the propeller hub and join them behind the propeller. Because of the multiple angles, I need to cut pieces and glue them to match the contours of the fins and the propeller hub. I would have preferred to use something light weight, but I felt I needed something with a lot of strength in all vectors, so I elected to use scrap repurposed wood.

Cut wooden fin support pieces

Once put together, the wooden pieces take on the shape and angles needed to support the fins.

Glued together wooden fin support

Now I add recycled fiberboard to the ends and add paint rivets…which looks like this…

Fiberboard on the ends, with painted rivets

Next, we paint the pieces with the brass paint.

Painted supports in place holding the fins

This thing just keeps getting better and better! What detailing would you add to make this zeppelin more realistic?

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

 

Adding the fin struts

09 May

OK, so I took a brief hiatus from posting the progress of the steampunk airship I’m working on to post a couple other items of interest. Now I’m back on the schedule and today’s installment is putting the fin struts on the airship body. These are the structures that will support the fins and provide some profile interest to the piece. The struts are made of repurposed materials, as you knew they would be…in this case, scotch tape cores and vitamin bottle lids! I had to cut the cores to match the contour of the zeppelin body ridges, paint them, then push a drilled out and painted vitamin bottle lid into the top of them.

Repurposed pieces for fin strut

Repurposed plastic...stuff you'd usually toss!

By themselves, the pieces of reused plastic don’t look like much, but add some brass color paint and put a green patina on them and they start to look like…well, something. Then add them to the construction of the airship and they start to make a bit more sense.

Lid pressed into core

When these pieces are added to the body of the airship, you can see how they will lift the fin away from the body of the airship and give it a dynamic look.

Fin strut attached to airship body

Three of these struts attached as shown will hold each of the airship fins.

Three fin struts attached in a row

Next we start attaching the fins! Don’t touch that dial!

 
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Posted in Recycled and Re-purposed, Sculpture, Steampunk

 

Interview

20 Apr

Today, I’d like to interrupt my airship update to repost an interview that was done on me by Audelia Flint, who is the author of the Steampunk Blog: Trial by Steam. I’ve included the whole interview, but you can also view it in it’s entirety by clicking the headline link below.

An Interview with Stephan J. Smith

Stephan J. Smith is the artist behind Artsmith Craftworks, creates hand made airship models to decorate Steampunk homes and other beautiful works from paper and papier-mâché. I got the opportunity to pull him away from he preparations for the World Steam Expo to tell me a bit about his art.

How did you learn to craft your art?
I’ve been an artist at heart since I was a little kid, but I started formally as a graphic designer – went to Ferris State University in Michigan. Even though that was mainly related to advertising and marketing, I always loved the fine art field as well and have always been fascinated by paper.

How did you decide to craft model airships?
I was commissioned by an interior designer friend of mine, (Betsy Rackliffe), to construct one for a Steampunk bookstore, (Off the Beaten Path), she was designing the interior for. There was such a terrific response and interest that it was suggested that I do others and offer them for sale.

Tell me a bit about Artsmith Craftworks.
Artsmith Craftworks is the name I chose that both reflected my name and the “craft” of art that I do. As I mentioned, I love paper, so anything that involves paper interests me. I like cut paper sculpture, papier mache, hand-cast paper from recycled pulp, and many other paper media. I DO also have a great affinity for mosaic. Ceramic, glass, stone and even paper mosaic…such a beautiful art form! So I guess that’s what Artsmith Craftworks is about.

Tell me more about the importance you place on recycled and repurposed materials.
Well, my own personal “mission” is to create art using something that would have gotten thrown away otherwise. Like I said before, I like making hand-cast sheets of paper using old scrap that I have pulped, thereby making something beautiful and useful out of it again. Papier mache allows me to use scrap paper to built things with “junk” paper. I often do cut paper sculptures using scrap paper company swatch books. I use bottle lids, random plastic pieces, cut foam, wooden dowels, paper and plastic tubes, etc., and I cut them, paint them and they become something else. Most of the mosaics I do use broken tile or glass that was garbage bound and I do scrap paper mosaics as well. It just feels good to do something cool with discarded materials that would have gone into a landfill otherwise.

Any upcoming projects you’d like to tell people about?
I plan to be at the World Steam Expo in Dearborn, Michigan on Memorial Day weekend. I’ll have a couple new large airships as well as some Do-It-Yourself little airship kits. In fact, the plan is that I’ll be running a couple panels showing people how to construct the little airships with the kits I put together. True to form, these kits are made with recycled/repurposed materials! I’ve also been contacted by an independent filmaker who wants me to build an airship for a Steampunk film he’s currently working on. The airship will be shot against green screen with background dropped in during post production…very exciting stuff!

What is your favorite and least favorite medium/material with which to work? Why?
Of course, paper is my favorite and I like tile & stone in mosaic too. I think paper represents something renewable, very earthy and natural and is a very flexible and forgiving medium to work with. I don’t think I have a least favorite. I’ve worked with a lot of different materials, some not my favorites, but none that I dislike really.

What does Steampunk mean to you?
To me, Steampunk represents an exciting age when the possibilities of new materials, energies and knowledge were being discovered and utilized. To us, it represents an age of whimsical innocence, seemingly free of the hustle and bustle of modern life, but brimming with its own gadgets and wonder.

Where can people purchase your art?
Currently, my blog has a page with pieces for sale, but they are sparse at this point as I prepare for World Steam. I plan to have an Etsy store in the not-too-distant future.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Only that I appreciate the warm welcome and reception that I’ve gotten from the Steampunk community. Everyone has been very complimentary and excited when they’ve seen my pieces. And, Audelia, I’d like to invite you and anyone you’re connected with to visit my blog and have a look around and feel free to comment. I’d also like to thank you for the opportunity to be interviewed on your blog!

To learn more about Artsmith Craftworks and stay up to date on all of Stephan’s latest activities, please be sure to drop by his website and like him on Facebook!
 
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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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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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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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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