Industrial Flower Power

Hello all, and welcome to Words and Pictures where it's time for the new fortnightly challenge theme at Fun With ATCs... and this time it's Flowers.

I know that will be music to the ears of many of you, so I hope you'll be able to find time to play along... it's only 2.5 x 3.5 inches of creation, after all!  There's lots of inspiration from my amazing teammates right here, and let me share mine with you now.

I'm playing on that Sixties' phrase "flower power", but there's no hippy dippy stuff round here - it's full on industrial power, and industrial grunge florals!  Because of the patina on the petals, they change a lot according to the light, so I've given you several variations of location!




I started with some heavy duty greyboard and cut it with the Tim Holtz ATC die - is there nothing these dies won't cut?!

I covered it with metal foil tape, and pounced alcohol inks in all sorts of rusty colours all over it.

Then I ran it through the Diamond Plate embossing folder.  Slightly sticky moment part way through the BigShot as I wondered whether, even with one flap fewer than suggested in my sandwich, I might have given it too much to do; but slow and steady won the race.

A coat of black acrylic paint came next, which I then rubbed back to reveal some of the colour beneath.  And finally some touches of DecoArt Quinacridone Gold translucent paint - fabulous rusty glow to this one.  I'm pretty happy with the "urban decay" look.










I considered using a cola can for the flowers, as I've done before, but then I thought I'd like to enter the Stampotique Faux Metal challenge, so I played with black cardstock instead.  

I started by giving it a hefty spritzing with Pewter Perfect Pearls mist, which already gives a pretty cool metallic look on the black card.









Then I used the Tattered Flower Garland decorative strip die on it, and ran the resulting flowers through the Riveted Metal embossing folder.

I added some small cogs and gears (some Idea-ology, some 7 Gypsies) and fastened them with the Mini Fasteners - so cool with the tiny screw heads.







I rubbed on black paint and Quinacridone Gold with my fingertips until I had a distressed look that pleased me.  And the mini fasteners got a touch of the QG too.  

It wasn't until I was looking at the photos on the computer that I realised that in some of the pictures  the petals are so reflective that they're picking up the bright green of the ivy around them - an extra bit of decay that I'm not responsible for!  

The words are Idea-ology Alpha Parts to which I added a very light dusting of Ranger Antiquities Rust embossing powder.  

If you heat the Alpha Parts enough, they start to melt and twist a little bit, which I think works brilliantly for the sense of decay that I was after.





I can't wait to see what you come with for the Flowers challenge at Fun With ATCs... you have a whole fortnight to play from today - so do come and join in.

As usual on a Tuesday, I'm also over at Artistic Outpost today, so I'll hope maybe to see you there, or somewhere out there in Craftyblogland - thanks so much for stopping by!

He is happiest who hath power to gather wisdom from a flower.
Mary Howitt

I'd like to enter this in the Faux Metal challenge the Stampotique Designers Challenge.  Although the background is foil tape and the gears are metal, the flowers themselves are faux!
And at the Country View Crafts' Challenge they want to see Die Cuts - I've got the ATC die and the Tattered Flower Garden decorative strip die both in action here.