Let's crank it up!

The Three Muses challenge this week is the rustle of spring.  I've been sick and away on leave and also incredibly busy at work so was looking forward to this.  However my muse had other ideas, I'm sorry for anyone here expecting to find a landscape or even flowers.

The closest tenuous thread I can tie, is to the spring on the top right hand side, is that enough? :)

Spring driven iPhone 

I started out with a cheap case, I made the gears from plastic, the strap from grunge paper and the spring from 20 gauge brass wire coiled around some thick wire.

Several base coats in various shades of gold and bronze to try and get it close to brass and then I heated it a little to make slight blistering.  All of the bits and pieces were glued on and then I started the painting using Burnt Umber as a base and then dry brushing with Iridescent Bronze by Golden.  The circular piece on the top is meant to represent a compass and is made from a large brad with a matching sized dome.  I had a compass stamp almost the exact size so stamped it on 300gsm paper coloured with Antique Linen distress ink.

It looks incredibly heavy but I can honestly say it's all made of plastic except the brass wire spring and the base of the brad!  I am so very pleased I made this, I love it and may even attack my iPad next!!!

Thanks for looking and I'm sorry my muse took liberties with the brief this week.

Steady as he goes

My partner is 'different'.  He likes things that are eclectic and unusual, he also drives like a Nana!  There's nothing better for him than to drive on the motorway at 60 mph, preferably behind a large truck.  For this reason I sometimes call him Captain Slow.
When I decided to create him a sort of a guy style smash book, the cover of the book was born.
The cover is matt board covered in printer paper I treated with water and colour wash spray.  The words "Cpt Slow" are made from chip board letters, embossed with copper powder and stamped with a rubber stampt while still hot.
The other bits on the cover are made from watch parts, copper tape (used to keep snails out of plant pots!) jointing tape (used to fix gaps or holes in plaster board) and muslin sprayed a raisin colour.