Saturday, April 5, 2014

Steampunk Santos Cage Doll Shrine Kits and More‏



Happy Saturday everyone! We have some awesome new goodies in the shop including Steampunk Santos Cage Doll Shrine Kits, Mini Books, new Tim Holtz, and more! Of course the Steampunk Santos Kit is my favorite! Since our original Santos Doll Shrine Kits were released last December, the customer and Design Team samples have been phenomenal! I've been so inspired by them, and because I've been on a Steampunk kick lately, some new gals were created. I hope you love them as much as I do!



As soon as I was finished designing the Steamy new gals, I started mine! She was such a blast and I completed her all in one sitting. Granted, a 5 hour sitting, but still. It's amazing how quickly time passes when you're creating! I'll share a few tips and tricks I discovered below.



For the base and body of my doll, I used Silver Viva Crackle paint. On the bottle, it says to use a base coat first, however I discovered it adheres perfectly to the Masonite. I've heard if you paint it first, it can flake off. It was perfect directly on the raw Masonite which is easy and works for me! Now the drying time was quite long, and I wanted to press on, so I tried drying with a heat gun and it WORKED! With certain things, speeding up the drying can affect the results, but for the Viva crackle, it worked just fine. To darken my cracks, I grabbed my Iron VerDay Paint. I brushed it on, and then removed the excess with a damp paper towel. I was in the mood to experiment, so I spritzed on my Patina Spray, which gave me some wonderful rusting! The large gear is Turquoise Inka Gold with Alcohol Inks, and the smaller gear is Hematite Inka Gold with Alcohol Inks. The Alcohol Inks gave a nice metal look. Inka Gold also works wonderfully on our Masonite. For a thick opaque look, I recommend building up a few thin layers, letting each dry between (dries very quickly). I apply mine with my finger.


This Santos Doll Kit is very easy to assemble. The easiest way is to glue your "bars" into the lower base first. This way you don't have to try to balance the pieces.


Then attach your top base. The tabs will be covered by a lovely gear!


Is that resin in the frame? It sure looks like it? It's actually Clear UTEE. I love that you can get the look of resin in minutes with this stuff! After attaching the image and frame to my doll, I sprinkled in some clear UTEE and then melted with my heat gun. Easy!


I've always thought that our bullet casings look like tiny vases, so that is exactly how I used them for my piece. And to hold the roses inside, centered, I sprinkled in some UTEE. Holding onto the roses, I blasted the bullet with my heat gun. Be sure to let it cool before you handle it. The metal gets very hot. The bullet fit perfectly inside the hole of the lower base gear! I love when things work out like that.


I loved the way our Clock Keys worked with this kit. After covering the key with some Hematite Inka Gold and Alcohol Ink, I glued it to the bottom of the base. I used the doll body notch as my guide.


 I loved the way my Steampunk Santos doll came out. I can't wait to make more! And I can wait to see what you create as well.



Steampunk Santos Doll Inspiration!

I thought it would be fun to have a look back at some of the amazing Steampunk Santos Dolls our customers have created with our original Santos Doll Kits. The samples below most definitely influenced the recent gals. I love how each one is so different, and absolutely fabulous. A huge thank you to all who have shared. You really keep my gears turning :).









I just love this Exquisite Cross by Diana Darden! I especially love the way she mixed her Inka Gold. The small Cross Kits would be great with the Santos Doll Kits! Thank you Diana. Beautiful work!



Design Team Member Gerri Herbst created this beautiful tag using our Large Rose Stencil. Using red acrylic paint, she stenciled the roses onto paper, and then cut and curled them! I just love that. You could make some great DOTD roses using this technique. She also added a Tiny Heart Trinket with a Mini Doll Head Paper Cut peeking out. Lovely Gerri!



I'm loving our new Mini Books. They are the perfect size to create an Inchie album! Sometimes I'm at a loss for displaying my Inchies, and this is a great solution. Or just use the book as a mini journal. For those of you afraid to try journaling, now you can try it on a smaller scale. lol! 

I had a blast creating with several of our new goodies, and I hope that you do too! xoxo

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