A poor vintage baby doll endured a lot of mixed media torture in this assemblage project. But really, this project was all about making rust–both real real and faux rust.
I began by rusting many pieces of hardware and other metal. I did so by following a vinegar, salt and hydrogen peroxide recipe that is available on many online sites.
I first decided to use a wonderful metal brush thingy-ma-bob.
However, as you can see from the finished photo, I ended up using another piece of rusted metal. The reason for this change was from a hard-earned lesson. To keep the rust from coming off, I gave it a coat of matte medium. Unfortunately, this changed the piece to a dark brown.
Although I could sand the piece and rust it again, since I was on a deadline I decided to use a different piece for the base. This also allowed me to use a metal piece that could actually stand without toppling over.
The next part of the project is a little morbid. I had to saw Poor Little Baby with a Dremel and then give her a brisk sanding. Luckily, she was very brave and didn’t cry once. If you do this, don’t use a heat gun or your baby will suddenly develop a deformed head.
Next I painted applied Distress Grit-Paste to both Poor Little Baby and the Steampunk Wings and let dry.
Once they were both dry, I painted the wings with Iridescent gold paint and the wings with layers of Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, Espress Brown, Granite Gray and Raw Sienna to create a fauz rust that matched my rusty metal.
I then glued Poor Little Baby to the metal base, using both Lock-Tite Adhesive and hot glue. To make the skirt, I glued together 1.25″ strips of paper from an old book and scored lines every .25 inches to create pleats.
Last, I glued on some gold trim and bestowed Poor Little Baby with angel wings.
There’s a lot of unpleasant news happening around the globe this week. I hope you can find a little respite on this Saturday in creativity. All my best, -Betsy
Great Stuff
- Gypsy Soul wings from Steampunk Set
- Vintage baby doll
- Vintage hardware
- Vintage book pages
- Gold ribbon
- Vinegar
- Hydrogen Peroxide
- Salt
- Acrylic paint
- Dremel
- Scoring board
- Beacon Zip Dry adhesive
- Lock-Tite adhesive
