Inner Workings of a City

Alpha Stamps is hosting a marvelous SteamPunk themed ATC swap and of course I had to play along. When I first heard the term "steampunk" I had no idea what they were talking about so after a little research and a lot of thinking this is what I came up with.

A lot of the samples in the Alpha Stamps Gallery had images of men and women suited up to look a bit futuristic. Since I always have to "buck the system" I challenged myself to not use that type of image and instead went with the fabulous city stamp by Alpha Stamps.

The other thing that really screamed SteamPunk to me is metal. For my background I used a sheet of copper that I hammered and then burned to get this look. To keep the impressions the back indents have been filled in with wax. If you do attempt this process first burn your copper then hammer it. If you do this in reverse your wax will melt when you go to burn the metal, plus I burned both sides a bit to get the desired look. Also hold your metal with pliers or something that will keep your fingers from getting hot.

Since the surface is all bumpy I couldn't stamp directly onto the ATC so i stamped the city on transparency and attached it with diamond glaze. Make sure you put your glue on the side you did not stamp on.

The sun stamp is in the same set as the city. I black embossed it onto grunge board cutting out the middle to attach a collage image of clock parts. I then filled it in with crackle glaze dropping in a few clock bits and pieces to add some more depth. Once that was dry I affixed a spring to the back.

The sprockets are a Tim Holtz product. Now that I had all my parts ready I spaced out the various sprockets and the sun. Using an awl I punched holes through the metal and attached the sprockets winding a metallic DMC threat through them so they all look connected. They also all move (not the sun).

My final embellishment is the one that I had the most fun with and am most proud of. You can purchase miniature watch bits and pieces from Alpha Stamps, they come in a nice little tin that once you use the parts out of you have another art bit. I poured them all out and constructed my very own creating. Including a lock and key on most of them. I was thinking "key to the city" when I created these. Each ATC's final embellishment is different.

These were a ton of fun to make. I got to hammer, burn, twist and smell some really strong glues! Thinking this is a very therapeutic form of art.

Hope you enjoy.

The next Swap that the Alpha Stamp Yahoo group is doing is jumbo Mad Hatter Tea Tags. Come join us!

Also take a minute to check out my digital collage give way HERE.