Mixed Media ATC's by Mark

Hi, Mark here and I'm So thrilled to be the guest designer this month.

Now with Valentines tomorrow I can't quite share my second guest make with you as I can not let the better half see what it is till tomorrow so please check back towards the end of the month to see what I made for her. Today though I have one of My biggest loves, ATC's.

I have used these ATC's

Shaped ATC Wood Blank With Open Scroll Frame

Shaped ATC Wood Blank With Scroll Cut Out

Plain ATC Wood Blank With Engrave Fleur De Lis Frame

Plain ATC Wood Blank With Fancy Cut Out Frame

Plain ATC Wood Blank With Art Deco Frame

As soon as I saw the variety of different ATC's in the store I got very excited and decided the first 3 would be variations on a theme, my vintage rouges gallery as it were.

I would of had a few more step by step pics but  my phone corrupted everything and lots of pics were lost :-( but ill do my best to give a quick run down on what was done to each ATC.

Using Decoart Media fluids the frame was painted and aged using some colour washes.

The back plate was also painted and aged with some washes of Transparent Yellow Oxide and Quinacridone Gold, these colours are a go to for me when working with distressing and grunging things up. 

Once the images have been stamped some Decoart one step crackle was added, I Crackle glazed the pieces separately as I wanted to get larger cracks on the frame and a more delicate crackle on the picture. This is achieved by varying the thickness of the One step crackle.

                                                                           

Instead of adding washes to the frame to give a distressed and aged look I did some heavy dry brushing with lighter and darker shades of paint for the top ATC and a contrasting colour for the bottom ATC.

I also turned the frame of the bottom ATC round and used the back side as I just wanted to have the fleur de lis detail and not the delicate scroll work that is also etched on the front.

All three of these ATC's had Decoart antiquing cream applied to the cracks to bring out the details.

For my last ATC I decided to go for a cleaner finish but keep with the picture frame theme.

After a slightly watered down base coat of white acrylic paint (I didn't want to lose any of the etched details that have been laser cut into the frame)

The lighter green was painted all over and then with a finer detail brush the outer details were painted with a darker green. Some black antiquing cream was added and wiped away, this re emphasized the etched detail and also left more depth to the green.

My final ATC is a clean and simple Artdeco style ATC.the frame has been painted in silver and aged with some Decoart Black Antiquing cream. The antiquing cream has pretty much been completely removed to leave a light staining on ver the silver and it has been left behind in the etched details.

Thank You for taking the time to stop by and again a great big Thank You to Calico Craft and their amazing DT. It's such an honour to be working with such talented Artist and such lovely mdf pieces that work perfectly with the Decoart Media Line xx

Hopefully I will see you latter in the month where I will share with you my Valentines make for my special little lady.