Make a wish in purple

This is a coming together of many different experiments, all in lovely lovely purple (and gold).

People often say that you don’t get good at anything by just watching other people do it and, obviously, you do have to stop and actually try it yourself at some point. But I have absorbed so many tips and techniques from watching arty YouTube videos that when I come to make something, not only can I avoid some simple mistakes, I can also draw on all those influences to assemble something that is my design.

And that’s what I did with this panel.

The base layer is made from two torn gelli plate prints that weren’t very exciting on their own but were the right colour palette. Some stamping over the top and then a combination of paint drips and dry-brush painting created an interesting ground to build upon.

The “lace” at the bottom was made after watching Heather Tracy explain how she casts latex lace. I couldn’t get the exact product she uses, so I’m trying a couple of different things that are easily available in the UK. This one turned out a little bit fragile, but, by the time it’s glued onto the base and covered with paint and wax, it really doesn’t matter.

The lace at the top is actual black lace from one of the Craft Box subscription boxes, with the addition of more paint and wax.

The “straws” are made from rolled-up printer paper and painted. Once they were glued in place, I arranged the die-cut swirls — which were rescued from my box of random die-cuts and painted — around them. I also found some gilded leaf sprigs that were left over from making a shiny card way back in 2016 and layered them on too.

I’d made the small panel as an experiment a week before. I peeled some cardboard to expose the corrugated centre and covered it with foil tape. Triangular offcuts of the foil stuck randomly over it gave an extra bit of texture. I coloured it with alcohol ink and outlined the offcuts with a silver Sharpie.

I coloured the filigrees with wax. I didn’t have any gems the right size to fit on the stamens of the large flower so I added drops of purple acrylic paint, poured micro beads over them and left it to dry.

I glued the panel on top of the straws, supporting it with a couple of layers of fun foam, and arranged the filigrees and the quote chip (antiqued with wax) over the top.

The tiny paper roses tucked into the corners add a nice contrast to all the metal pieces and some micro beads in the corrugations and along the straws give an extra layer of texture.

I finished it off with a little more wax rubbed along the edges and across the background.

Supplies:

• Prep & Stick:
  Finnabair – 3D matte gel
  Finnabair – soft matte gel
  Ranger multi-medium matte
• Stamps:
  Tim Holtz – illustrated garden
• Dies:
  Sizzix Sizzlits – poinsettia swirls
• Colour:
  Ranger archival ink – jet black
  Pebeo acrylics – iridescent violet blue, oriental violet
  Finnabair metallique paint – romance pink, dark velvet
  Finnabair metallique wax – old silver, white gold
  Finnabair antique brilliance wax – amethyst magic
  Ranger alcohol inks – raspberry, purple twilight
  Sharpie – silver metallic
• Paper & Fabric:
  black lace
  gelli plate prints
  Ranger foil tape sheets
  plain printer paper
• Embellishments:
  filigree corner, flower and leaves
  Craft Box micro beads – iridescent true purple
  Tim Holtz – quote chips