With a blank canvas in front of me, I decided to let me creativity soar by creating a mixed media piece for which I had not meticulously planned the final outcome.

In fact, the focal point is something I spontaneously grabbed from one of my studio tables, where it had served as a paperweight for several years.

The impetus for this steampunk project were some chipboard gears made by Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts. Here’s how I brought the whole thing together.

Tutorial How to Make the ‘Steampunking to a Star’ Canvas

Begin by prepping both the Gears Shape Set and a blank canvas with a coat of gesso.

After the canvas dries. apply modeling paste with assorted stencils of your choosing. When the paste dries, dry brush your surface with yellow, grass green and sky blue acrylic paint, making sure you use a heat tool to dry the paint between each color.

Next use a white paint pen to highlight some raised surfaces and Distress pens to emphasize some of the valleys. Then adhere torn pieces of an old sewing pattern to portions of the canvas. Repeat with printed tissue.

Emboss all the gears with seafoam white embossing powder. Then emboss portions of them with copper, bronze, blue and green embossing powders.

If any of the metal bits of hardware (in my case it was the the spring) you plan to use are not rusty enough, you can make them extra rusty with bronze embossing powder.

Adhere your chipboard gears, metal star, metal hardware and dew drops to the canvas with a strong adhesive.

After the glue dries, you steampunk canvas is ready for display. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Enjoy your weekend! –

Great Stuff

Gears Shape Set

Canvas

Large metal star

Stencils

Embossing powders in bronze, copper, seafoam white, blue and green

Old sewing pattern

Tim Holtz tissue paper

Metal spring and bits of rusty hardware

Distress pens

Matte medium

Modeling Paste

Gesso

Acrylic paint

Dew Drops

Beacon Fabri-Tac