Mixed media box

I attended a workshop at The Purple Magnolia this weekend, and we made either square or heart-shaped mixed-media covered boxes.

Of course, I wanted the heart one. Marie painted them all with the first coat of black gesso so they were prepared for us to start all the fun work. (Thank you Marie, that was so kind of you as we could dive right in instead of waiting for the paint to dry.)

We each had a little box of treasures to use, which included a little pot of black gesso. I also love mini things, and so that was also such a lovely little treasure. There is quite a bit in the pots, but they are super sweet and make me ridiculously happy.

I decided not to stencil, but to use some swirls I have had forever in my stash. I then fiddled with a piece of hessian and some of the little bits and bobs (including the rose) until I was happy with the placement. I then glued them down and waited until they were dry.

Once the items were in place, I put another layer of black gesso onto each item to make sure that no bits were left uncoloured. If you leave a spot uncovered, the colour can show through and the effect is not as good.

Next, I used a dabbing brush to lay down a base layer of gold wax on the body of the box but in a very thin layer so that some of the black still showed through, but it looked like the bottom belongs to the top.

I ended up in the end with an almost monochrome silver layer to highlight the details on top which you can see here:

I decided I didn’t really like the flatness of one colour like that and wanted some other colours to show so I added dome purple, some peacock green, and a little pink:

The details seem to pop up more and each element has more prominence this way, I feel.

I love working with these waxes. I discovered that if you use a brush you can get a beautiful and light layer that is almost smooth and even, but if you want to highlight and bring out elements individually, it is easier to use your finger to dab exactly where you want. My finger gave a much brighter layer and I also found that if you get some wax where you don’t want it, you can use a wet wipe to remove some colour before it dries. These waxes dry permanent and have a beautiful gloss.

These waxes are gorgeous, and I used two kinds. I highly recommend both.

I used Finnabair & Prima Marketing Inc Art Alchemy Metallic Wax in Indian Pink, Peacock, and Electric Violet; as well as Little Birdie Metallic Wax in Silver Glitz and Antique Gold.

We all had such fun creating our boxes, and this is my new favourite thing. I am always hesitant with new things, but I loved the result and will be sure to make many more.

Thanks for popping in, and have a lovely week.