Triptych Frame

Since putting this on Facebook I've had a few people messaging me asking how it was done so thought the easiest way was to blog it.  

No step by step photo's I'm afraid but it was fairly simple so this should give you some idea.

The triptych frame was supplied by Candy Box Crafts and what Roy Pakeman (the genius behind Candy Box Crafts) did with his frame was nothing short of AMAZING!!!!  

First stage was to decide on colours.

This is where it started to fall apart.

Determined to move away from my favourite and much used colour schemes I opted for black, red and ivory.

Base coat of black acrylic paint was applied and let to dry. 

Next came the crackle ... I LOVE LOVE LOVE crackle!  Use it whenever I can but this was a new product to me ... Cosmic Shimmer Clear Crackle.

You paint it on in the opposite direction to how you will apply your topcoat and then you let it dry completely.

Once dry you paint with your second colour choice using long strokes trying not to stop and start again.  

No chance!

Stopped and started many times but felt in the end it didn't really matter ... the crackle starts to appear almost immediately. The thicker the top coat of paint the larger the crackles ... so you can see I got a right old mixture by my very uneven topcoat.

I found that once you thought it was dry you could make it crackle further by using a heatgun.

This is where my colour scheme fell apart ... I applied RED gilding wax around the edges of my frame and the apertures but, to me, I see only pink.

Everyone assures me it is red but, nope, can only see pink.

I hate pink.

At this point I knew I would not finish my project during Pauline's Inky Workshop (that's Pauline Butcher by the way!!) as I had half an idea how I might tweak it to make it more acceptable.

One of the workshop techniques was to stamp and emboss onto acetate and colour in your design on the reverse using Promarkers and then to make the colour more intense you paint with white - also on the back.

Don't do colouring.

Hate colouring.

But was keen to learn the technique so went with the flow.

Still hate colouring and the only thing I love to do with acetate is to emboss it - but that's for another time!

My umbrella man is a Tim Holtz die and I embossed his umbrella and then squished just the brolly with Versamark and clear embossed it so it looks wet.

At least that was the plan!

Kinda worked.

Backgrounds were just the Tim Holtz brick wall stencil dabbed with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink using just a felt pad ... couldn't be bothered with the wooden handle thingy.

The red LOVE and LIVE and the Dancing in the Rain wording was Barn Door Distress Ink which I clear embossed.

Splodges were Black Soot Distress Ink applied in the same way as the brick wall - two different stencils but I can no longer recall the brand I'm afraid.

Last two photo's are upside down for some reason ... but you will get the idea.

To tweak the should-be-red-but-looks-pink-to-me edges I used one of my favourite techniques ... now THIS does make me tingle!

Painted on 3D Gloss Gel (but you can use any medium - I just happened to have that pot closest to me at the time) using a paintbrush.

You don't need much at all.

Heap your embossing powder (gold in this instance) onto a sheet of paper and, doing one edge at a time, paint with medium and then dip into the powder.

Tap off HARD as much as you can and then heat it ... almost overheat it so the gel starts to bubble and go crazy.

I love doing this ... er, did I say?

If you want a smoother finish then paint on the medium and dab in the powder and then let it dry before embossing.

I much prefer the lumpy, bumpy texture though so embossed it whilst the medium was still wet.

Cosmic shimmer glue was used to hold both the backgrounds in place as well as sticking the fronts and backs of the frame together ... held with pegs for a while just to be sure.

Oh yes, for a more distressed look (the frame, silly, not me!!!) as the topcoat of paint was drying I rubbed some off with my fingertips.  Thought I had overcooked it until Pauline wandered past and said it looked great.

If it is good enough for Pauline then it is good enough for me!!!

Panels are held together with crinkle ribbon that was splodged and splooshed through some Black Soot & Hickory Smoke Distress Ink that was dabbed on my craft mat and then spritzed with water.  

Squeezed out hard in kitchen paper and voila!

Hope this answers the questions you were asking but if not then give me a shout and I will explain further.

Happy Crafting!