CC3C - Challenge 10 - Steampunk Cat Assemblage Clock

Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge 10

I have been participating in the Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge on the Studio L3 blog by Linda Ledbetter and the fabulous Curiosity Crew!!! Their work is always spectacular and they have inspired me so much during the challenges! For Challenge 10 we are using the Tim Holtz Assemblage Clock technique found on page 33 of Compendium of Curiosities 3 by Tim Holtz. Challenge 10 is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique, with additional prizes donated by Mario Rossi and Tim Holtz!

Mr. Steampunk Cat
I've had a blank assemblage clock for a few months but didn't dare to do anything with it. I had Assemblage Clock Block! The Curiosity Crew inspired me to give it a try. I love Mr. Steampunk Cat by Stampendous!!!

Alcohol Ink
I'm not so great at using alcohol inks, but I wanted to attempt covering the entire clock with various colors of alcohol ink using a technique I learned in the Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 102 course! The technique allows you to cover metal a little more opaquely. After the alcohol ink was applied, I wasn't happy as I could still see the silver underneath, so I coated the entire alcohol ink covered clock with matte medium and let it dry. Then I applied another layer of alcohol ink over that just the same as the first layer and that did the trick. No more silver.

Crackle
I also wanted lots of crackle. I am very picky about the crackle process. I have been crackling, (not cackling), since 1973 so I have lived through the many phases of crackle products. There are so many choices, but for this project I went with my favorite crackle which is the old two-step crackle (which has been discontinued - boo-hoo) as I know how to control this crackle. I have tamed the wild crackle! I put on two coats of step 1, letting the coats dry between. Then when that's all dry, I apply step 2. I like to apply step 2 thinner in some spots and thicker in others as it makes for an interesting surface. So this was a truly vintage finish as the crackle products are vintage, are a little thick and cloudy, and not even made any more!

So I love the crackle. After the crackle is very dry and you can see the cracks, I coated the clock in black soot distress paint, then wiped it off. I did this in sections. I like the distress paint for this because it goes on thin like ink, gets into the cracks, it doesn't dry as fast and it's easy to wipe off with a damp paper towel.

The inside stuff
I made some polymer clay gears with various colors of metallic clay to use inside. I water-colored on Mr. Cat, coated him with matte medium so he wouldn't tear when I cut him out, and glued him to card stock. I used 3 bingo pieces stacked on each other to make the Cat pop forward.

Rusty toys
I used a rusted plastic airplane I created during another experiment with Modern Masters iron paint and rust solution.

There are many ways to make things look rusty I am finding, but for the plane I used Modern Masters iron paint and rust solution. It takes some experimenting but I enjoyed playing with it! Here's a tutorial from Modern Masters in how to rust a wall. All I did was paint a few coats of the iron paint onto the plastic toys until they were covered. After the paint was totally dry, I dipped a small sponge bush into the solution and saturated the paint. It takes a few hours for the rust to show up. If it's not rusty enough, you can use some more rust solution. It takes some practice. It was fun though and I have a whole collection of rusty stuff. This is real rust, not "faux rust" as the paint has iron particles in it.

I put some black feathers in the bottom of the clock to make Mr. Cat happy, and glued the gears around. I glued the airplane flying outward with a glue gun.

Jewelry Embellishments
I carefully put the clock all back together (darn feathers wouldn't cooperate) and added some jewelry embellishments! I thought Mr. Kitty might enjoy batting at some dangling embellishments!

 

The Assemblage Clock is not scary

This was a fun project and I have to admit the Assemblage Clock was not as hard as it looked and it was pretty fun to create my little Steampunk Feline scene. If I had more time I would attempt to create some tiny steampunk rats, but this is it for now!