Just keep swimming... just keep swimming

Coming along nicely… Not nearly done yet. But coming along.

I layered several colors of green on the box before hitting it with copper and verdigris. I then put sea salt on the wet paint to dry. It gave it a beach look to the outside I think. The salt brushes right off when you are done. I love the one stroke brushes for this type of paint job, the blotter brush is perfect for this technique.

I used an off white for the “pages” then layered aging varnish on them as well. The writing was done on my laser printer, then lifted with clear packing tape and put on. I sanded it to remove the shine and sealed with faux glazed. There is a bit of glitter embellishment under the writing and velvet ribbon finished the edges.



For my little mermaid (couldn’t resist) I layered more “seaweed” onto her using tissue and water, and then sealed with glue, glaze, walnut ink, paint and whatever else happened to be in arms length from me. Experimentation is half the fun. I hit it with my embossing gun a few times to make it pliable enough to move the arms. Careful doing that by the way, the skelie’s burn pretty easily. They will melt, burn and make an awful smell if you take your eyes off them long enough to answer a kid whining about laundry. Don’t ask how I know, just trust me. :) It is a tough smell to get out of your craft room.



As for her lovely and realistic hair. That was my darling husbands contribution to this project. It is borrowed from my hair brush, cut into short little strands and rubbed the wrong way to give her some hair. I debated fake hair but it was all too thick or the wrong colors (what I had on hand at least) I am now looking for good fake hair as well.