Sunday, February 26, 2023

Steampunk Art Journal Pages

 Hope everyone is well and warm today. Happy Sunday!
😀

I finally finished up a mixed media art journal spread I've been working on for a few weeks on and off. I'm slowly working to finish a journal I began in 2009, which was my first journal ever and made from a composition notebook. It started out as one of those daily journals but I didn't keep it up and then it became an almost daily, then monthly, then yearly journal, lol. At any rate, it's about stuff that happened between 2009-2012. At the end of 2012 when I knew I wouldn't finish it, I planned out the remaining spreads using yellow stickies on each page telling me what to journal. This one is about when I got interested in Steampunk style in 2010, and as a play on Grey's Anatomy's McDreamy, I titled it McSteamy Love.
I took photos of my mixed media process. This is what I started with, notebook pages that had been written on as a long-ago exercise in hidden journaling, then two pages cut and glued to these. I then painted the spread with a little gesso and white acrylic paint, which you can see ended up buckling the spread, especially across the center. I probably should have laid vertical strips of masking tape on it before doing anything else, but I forgot about that trick.
I used matte medium to adhere some of the tissue paper that was in my Valentine gift bag from Honey. This did not help the buckling, but hey, I was invested at that point because I wanted to make this for Art Journal Journey's current challenge, which is to use red.

I thought to add some strips of washi tape across the center and a few other places. I used 3 different washi tapes. Since the red was really bright, I randomly sponged on some titan buff acrylic paint.

More titan buff paint across the top, and a few spritzes of Dylusions Ground Coffee ink spray to begin creating a grunge look.

Next, I used a Tim Holtz Gears Layering Stencil and some raw umber acrylic paint on the sides, which only worked in spots, leaving umber smudges in others under the stencil, probably because I didn't spray temporary adhesive on the stencil like I normally do and also because of the very uneven surface. I had a lot of paint on the stencil still so I turned it over and used it as a stamp here and there. Things are really messy at this point, but I felt I'd created enough of a background for my collage. I let this dry while I went and cleaned off my stencil and my fingers and hands and nails!

It actually sat for many days before I got time to continue. I also had to choose my images, size them in PSE and print them, fussy cut them, ink-edge them and play with the arrangement. Here's the left hand page detail. I made the title and journaling in PSE, using elements from a GG junk journal kit I won. I had decided to choose steampunk images I liked, since my journaling says I'm' picky, lol. The octopus is a GG freebie image from my files and the pumpkin is from the junk journal kit. I also cut lots and lots of gears out of a sheet of Basic Grey Obscure paper using the TH Sizzix Gears Thinlits dies, which also includes the corner die. 

The right hand page detail: The mushrooms image is from the junk journal kit. The robot head is another GG freebie image and the man sitting on the moon is from GG's Steam Powered collage sheet.

Close-up of my journaling, in case you wanna read. I used a little black glitter on the title mat's screws and colored the rivets with a red Posca paint marker. All the collaged paper is edged in brown and black inks from my Use It Up ink pad box containing ancient ink pads that just will not die (no longer juicy enough for stamping but still useful for ink blending).

I really liked this octopus image, so I edged him special with a brown Promarker before ink-edging his light bulb head (forget ink-edging his tentacles!). I also added some gold glitter to the filament and colored his collar with the red Posca.

Now, I thought this was cool to put these together, like the robot is looking at his creator - HA! I added a little glitter metallic marker work to both pieces.

I included this close-up to show the background's inky paint-y grunge-y goodness!  

And one last look. It was a lot of work, but I do like how it turned out, even with that paper buckling.
👀
Thanks for visiting (and for hanging there for all the photos and commentary).
Have a great day!
XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
Steampunk is Fantasy, hoping it is allowed
Gears die cuts and I've added gold glitter/metallic accents
Gears

25 comments:

Tracey@Hotchpotchcreations said...

What an amazing work of art this is, I can tell how much time and artistic effort that has been put into this amazing creation. So much to take in with the embossing, stamping and vibrancy of colour all that extra detail from base to completion is mind blowing. I could sit and study this double spread for days. I have to agree that Octopus splendid...
Thanks so much for sharing @ Creative Artiste, it's an artistic delight to my eyes.
Best wishes in our February challenge.
Happy Crafting Tracey (DT)

ahlers5 said...

Wow, these pages are gorgeous! I couldn't even imagine thinking of doing all the techniques you used. I love that "light bulb octopus." I haven't been on my computer lately. My husband is on it any time he is bored which is usually when I want to use it. I bought him his own computer a few years ago, but he likes mine better. Happy birthday, buy the way. Your card is being mailed tomorrow. I would have mailed it yesterday, but we've gotten some snow and I'm always afraid of falling so I don't go out when there is snow or ice outside. Either way it would have been late. I'm a bit stressed about our upcoming trip to Michigan. My daughter is having a caesarean on the 14th of March. We're going out early because we're going to watch her two year old. He has some medical issues she'll have to teach me about them. Anyways, she has a list of projects for her Dad. Her husband is brilliant, but not very handy. I'm going to make all her favorite meals and freeze them so she won't have to cook for a while when she gets home. Oh well, that's my update. I hope you are doing well. On to see what else you've done.

Alyson Mayo said...

Journaling like this is something I have never tried but I certainly appreciate the amount of work and detail that goes into a spread. Love the bold colours!

Rika said...

gorgeoous pages, so many details to look at.

Carol said...

Wow - what a lot of fabulous work. I can't pretend to understand the thrill of mixed media? but I can admire the result. Well done on finishing it. It looks fantastic and I too love the Octopus.
Hugs
Carol xx
CD Sunday Plus DT

Donna Walls said...

Cool 2 page layout Aimes. I love the McSteamy title, I quit watching Grey's Anatomy so many years ago, I think after McDreamy left. I hope you are staying warm. Thanks for sharing with us at the Paper Funday Challenge and we look forward to seeing more of your lovely designs.
Donna xx
Beautiful Blossoms Challenge
Inspiration Station Challenge

Heidi MyLittleStampingBlog said...

Lovely! I like how you can pick and choose from the steampunk. I feel the same.

Michelle N. said...

Wow, this is a lot of work! Glad to see your stunning creation-thanks for joining us at Die Cut Divas!

Creaine said...

So glad you’ve joined our challenge at Mixed Media Lovers! I just love what you’ve made. Hope to see you again next time.
Blogowner: Ine http://creaine-cards.blogspot.nl/

My name is Erika. said...

This spread is amazing. Those images are very cool! I like how you did your background, and how not only does it have red but so do some of those steampunk images. Steampunk was a good route to go. I also like how you mentioned you made sticky notes for what you wanted to do in the rest of the journal. I do that too, but I can't say I've ever had one that's waited that long for me to finish-smile. This is perfect for AJJ- thank you so much for joining in for my challenge. It is very appreciated. And also thanks for joining in at TIOT too. This is perfect for getting messy. I hope your new week is starting off well. We have snow coming in tonight and tomorrow. Oh no. :( hugs-Erika

Arlene said...

It sounds like journaling really means more now than before, which means the pages are more meaningful. My granddaughter loves Cosplay and she rocks it. LOL I love that you've made this your own! So glad you joined us at Die Cut Divas for our "use some gold" February challenge.

Elkes Lebensglück said...

wonderful red journal page, i love this art!!!!
Beautiful week, hug Elke

Anonymous said...

I'm so in love with your layout. You're such a master at journaling. I'd love to see more. Your description shows just how much you put into this piece. The octopus is cool. I love stamping and by the way, Lavinia Stamps is releasing steam punk Stamps. Keep your journals coming my friend! Bethie

Melanie Hungerford said...

Wow, your journal is amazing. I can't imagine the time and work you've put into it! Love your style and all the details. Thanks for sharing with us at the Paper Funday Challenge!

Margarets designer cards said...

Journaling is not something I have done, your two pages show a lot of work, which match up into two fabulous pages
Thank you for joining us
Margaret
CD Sunday DT

Kate said...

Astounding work! So many lovely images and details! Thanks for sharing it with us at 613 The Avenue Create! I do hope we'll see you in the gallery again soon!
Hugs, Kate (Cards a la Kate)!

Deanna Mulder said...

Wow! Your pages are fantastic. I love the red and the pops of color. Such fun elements too. Thanks for playing along with us at Let's Craft and Create. Deanna DT

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I'm hoping to catch up before we change hosts at AJJ. Seems I'm always trying to visit you at the last minute each month.

Like you, I feel a certain style of steampunk. Clocks, gears, and cogs are high on my list, too. I think this is a fabulous entry for Erika's theme at AJJ. Thanks for sharing.

Faith A at Daffodil Cards said...

AM-AZE-ING, WOW! Aimes, what beautiful work, it deserves an award, gorgeous project. As for journaling, I have 2 diaries, same sort of thing?? That I started writing daily happenings, I got to March on the first year, then end of January on the second, I haven't bothered since. Too many other things to do! Love your pages and subject, fabulous colour choices too.
Faith x

Pamela said...

I love Steampunk and these pages are great! I like the brighter colours you've used - Steampunk doesn't have to be dark gloomy colours!
Pamela
CD Sunday Plus DT.

pearshapedcrafting said...

This fabulous spread is well worth the wait. I love that you have lots of red for Erika's AJJ theme. It's also a brilliant example of the right kind of messiness for the Try It On Tuesday challenge so thank you for joining us there too! Hugs, Chrisx

Jocelyn said...

Thank you for showing the step by step process. It was interesting to see where you started and how you finished up with such interesting pages. Well done for persevering. Thank you for sharing with us.
Jocelyn x
CD Sunday Plus DT

Lisa said...

Wowza this journal page is incredible. I love the background, love the images, love the colors. So eye catching.

Chana Malkah said...

Outstanding! Thanks so much for sharing with us at 613 Avenue Create!
Hugz,
Chana

Wendy Ann Batchen said...

Lovely project. Thank you for sharing with us over at The Creative Crafters (creativecrafterschallenge.blogspot.com).
Wendy DT