Steampunk Art Journal Cover

Hi everyone! I'm super excited to be sharing my first project as part of the Random Arts Design Team for 2020. This project started out as a layout, then a mini canvas before finally coming a journal cover. I love decorating my journal covers, it not only makes them a work of art on their own, but also more personal too.

Here is my finished journal cover. I went steampunk for this cover, I love all things mechanical especially products from Mitform Castings. Random Arts is a Mitform Castings stockist and has a great variety of products perfect for any steampunk project. I've included a basic tutorial on how I created this cover. All products used are listed below and available from Random Arts unless otherwise specified eg personal stash.

To start I've taken a stencil and lightly added some texture paste randomly across the cover. Next I've added the cogs chipboard and blueprint title and adhered the to the cover.

Cover this layer with a coat of black gesso.

 Add the next layer of embellishments. This includes resins, Mitform Castings pieces and any other embellishments that you would like to add. Coat this layer with black gesso.

Once you are happy with your embellishments and everything is covered in black gesso, randomly dry brush three or four acrylic paint colours of your choice. You can overlap colours to give them a soft blend. For my cover I have used Dylusions paint, it gave a nice chalky affect when finished. 

Once I was happy with the colours I lightly brushed some Finnabair Wax over all embellishments but leaving the rest of the cover plain. This will make your embellishments pop as well as adding some extra dimension and shine.

If you would like to see more close up photos, please visit my blog.

Products Used:
Dusty Attic - Cog Cluster
Dusty Attic - Blueprint Imagine
Resin cogs from Random Arts
Mitform Castings Gears
Mitform Castings Frames (Art & Create)
Metal Cogs & Gears
Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Gears and Mini Gear
Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Adornment Stars
Finnabair Wax - Opal Magic Vintage Silk
Dylusions Paint - Rose Quartz
Dylusions Paint - Periwinkle Blue
Dylusions Paint - Crushed Grape
Other random metal embellishments/brads from stash
Finnabair Dots and Stripes stencil
texture paste

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and until next time, happy crafting xx