Book binder cover A6 - Steampunk by Kim

 When you have a book full of secret stuff, it needs to be secure!

This steampunk style cover is tough enough to keep prying eyes off your personal pages. It has lots of heavy iron work - and a time lock!

I collected the required parts, left over from another Tando Creative set, Industrial Elements - 1 large cog, 3 small cogs, door plate with keyhole (trim the round top off), 6 small hexagon bolt heads, 4 rivets, 2 empty frames from waste greyboard, and 2 large hexagon nuts and washers for the back cover.

I arranged the pieces on the cover, and when I was happy I cut the large cog to fit to the edge. I cut a small cog so that it looks like there are two appearing from the locking mechanism.

I searched through my collection of old watch parts (like everyone has in a kitchen drawer!) and found one just the right size.

First, I glued the rivets in the corner of the front cover. Next I stacked the two empty frames and the door plate, and glued them together, adding the six small hexagon bolt heads.

I used strong solvent glue to attached the watch works to a piece of waste greyboard - but didn't glue it to the door plate yet.

Next everything, including the cogs gets a coat of DecoArt Americana Zinc (grey). Once dry all the outward facing surfaces get a wash of DecoArt Media Paynes Grey - keep the brush strokes in a vertical, up and down, direction to help with the weathered illusion. Then we reach for DecoArt Media Quinacridone Gold and add washy patches, some thicker than others. Last, I added DecoArt Media Green Gold to add streaky stains from strategic places - like the bolts, and maybe where edges might have been damaged.

When I was happy with the painted look I glued the watch works to the inside of the door plate, with the works exposed.

Once all was dry I glued everything together as previously arranged.

The back cover had two large bolts holding the hinges in place, these have the same paint treatment as the front. Two hinge plates (more greyboard offcuts) are glued on the outside of the hessian strip to complete the set. The bookbinding spine is glued inside.

I used a little DecoArt Metallic Lustre, Champagne Ice, to highlight the cogs and bolt heads.

Steampunk never goes out of fashion! Thanks for visiting.

Products:

Tando Creative Bookbinding covers (This one is A6)

Leftovers from Tando Creative Industrial Elements

DecoArt Colours; Americana, Media, Metallic Lustre

Hessian strip.

Faux Printers Block Clock - by Kim

 I took my time (!) with this one as it needs thinking through. First I had to think through the colours scheme. There are three layers to consider. I started by choosing the top layer and worked the colours from that. I worked from a 12x12 Basicgrey scrapbooking paper, 'Infatuation' from their Fusion range.

Read Tando's instructions - they are included in the pack and will help. Don't try to rush this project.

First I marked the back of each of the greyboard sheets with the pieces to be removed later (each sheet is different) according to the instructions.

As the top sheet will have the patterned paper glued on, I removed the marked sections then laid the sheet, face down, on the glued paper. When dry I trimmed the paper and removed the outer ring.

The middle sheet was painted, I used Moss Green from the patterned paper as my lead, with a little white, grey, and black for interest. The marked sections

remained in place until the paint was dry.

On the MDF back sheet I painted black only the areas that would be visible, but you could paint the whole surface black if you wanted to. I glued the layers together making sure that all the sections lined up. I painted the exposed edge of the clock with black to keep it neat.

Next the numbers. There are a lot. Tando's instructions suggest they are left in the sheet to paint them. This is good advice. As I wanted to paint the sides of some of the numbers I had to remove them - but it was a fiddle. The big 12, 3, 6, 9 are grey with white sides.

The numbers on the patterned paper are grey, those on the green middle sheet are white, and those on the black areas are gold. I stuck them on with reference to the instructions.

Mount the clock works, the hands, and a battery (battery not in the kit) - and ... tick tock.

Products:

Tando Printer Block Clock

DecoArt Colours, various

Patterned paper of your choice