Steampunked Window

Hello Everybody!

Katy here, and I am so excited to show you my project.  This is one of those massive creative projects that as soon as I got the idea--I just sort of took off.  I took pictures as I went so hopefully all of the steps are here! ;)

I wanted to show you the Steampunk Window before and after and the wood pieces I used first.  Then I will show you how my creative muse took over.


So here is a picture of the original window box.  It measures 20 inches tall.  Now this picture was taken for my Instagram deal.  And can you believe it is the only picture I have of it in its original state?  Shame on me!  LOL!  I also apologize for the quality of it.  And never mind the birdhouses.  That's for another day! ;)

So using my much better camera-here are a couple of pictures of this window box in it's gessoed state.  You can see the size of this in context with the dining room chair.  So this isn't a little window.  When I first saw it at the thrift store I fell in love with it.  It was in the "kids room" and had a few toys in it.  

What I failed to do in these 3 pictures is to take a picture of the country bow in the center of the box.  It's engraved in the wood.  There is a better picture coming of the bow though.  :)

So my first inclination was to put Unique Laser Design Daisies on the front of the window.  I was going to paint the window yellow and all would be bright and happy....and then something changed.  I cannot explain it but here are the Unique Laser Design embellishments I used instead:

Brick Wall Stencil:

Just for clarity-I didn't use the stencil itself.  When you get this (and actually all stencils) you get the inside pieces, too.  So the inside pieces look like this-and there are more words also.  I used one that said Hope (not pictured here but comes with the stencil).

Pirate Flags: 

(I used one of those really cute skulls!)

Gears A (12 Piece Set):

Gears D (12 Piece Set):

So here is the finished Steampunk Window:

So from here I am going to show you had I did the different parts of this Steampunk Window.  I am also going to show closeups.  This piece has a lot of texture going on.  It's hard (for me anyways!) to capture it all in one photo.  So get your soda and enjoy! :)

One of the toughest things for me to do is figure out is the route to take my piece on.  There are so many fabulous ULD embellies--how to choose?  Sometimes the piece just speaks and then others (like this one) are a bit more quiet.

So I painted it a light brown.  Once that was done a dark brown.  My happy daisy place had been replaced with wanting to do a Steampunk piece.  My gears were turning. (hehe!)

You can see the etchings of a bow.  This was a cute country window.  When I was planning this window I had thought about putting a paper collage on the front of the window.  I got out my papers-but something didn't feel right.  Then I saw my Tim Holtz January Tag hanging.  And it hit me!  I will do an opening in the box part exposing gears.  

One of the first things I did was cut pieces of clear acrylic to fit the open squares at the top.  I bought 12X12 sheets at the Scrapbook Expo from Clear Scraps.  This is thicker acrylic than I have bought at the craft store.  I applied alcohol inks to them.  The acrylic comes with a protective sheet on both sides but once those come off it is clear.

I used a foil sheet from Ranger for the gears in the middle.  I used a Tim Holtz embossing plate and Rust alcohol ink on the embossed foil.  (I did remove the back and stuck the foil sheet to a piece of cardstock before embossing.)  I loved the clean and brand new feeling this had.

This is funny-so all I had left of the foil sheet was a scrap with a hole in it.  So I adhered it to a scrap piece of white cardstock and embossed it with a different Tim Holtz embossing folder.  Then I used Rust, Pitch Black, and Gold alcohol inks to make it look oily and old.  I applied this same technique to each side of the window box.  Since I ran out of the foil tape, I took aluminum foil and glued it to a piece of cardstock.  Then I embossed it and applied alcohol ink.  

Using aluminum foil again, I used this embossed folder (Cuttlebug).  I put black cardstock on the back of it because this is where the metal curls open to expose the "heart of the machine."

Here is a work in progress picture.  I glued the gears and then the metal "plates" with glossy gel medium.  This is a multi purpose material.  You can use it to thin paint (so the paint becomes translucent), and it works as an adhesive.

Here is the front finished.  The "opened metal" will go in those spaces that aren't covered by the "metal plating."

Here is the back side of the curled metal.  I cut the strips at angles and bent them back.  Once I glued on the open "metal" pieces, I made sure they were dried before bending them and shaping them.

Here is the front.  I had originally put Rust and Pitch Black alcohol ink on there, but it needed a color--cranberry! I glued this on using the glossy gel medium, also.

To give the gear section depth, I added these ULD gears.  The gears on the left have been "gold leafed" but with copper.  And the gear on the right has been heat embossed with copper embossing powder.  You can see how bright the ones on the left are.  They almost look gold.  But for the gold gears I used Inka Gold.

Here is a closeup of the gears.  For the big gear on the bottom I cut some of the gear off (using Tim Holtz scissors).  

Here is a closeup of the whole opening.

I stamped a hot air balloon by Graphic 45 on the window.  I used close pins to help keep the acrylic in place while the glue dried.  This was a bit of a challenge.  So I laid the piece down flat for the rest of the windows.

I had used a white backing in the photo above, but here is the window without anything (which is how it is now).

Here are some bottles that I had die cutted recently made for a project that didn't work out for that project.  I had them already inked with alcohol ink ready to go.  I just had to make labels and the cork tops.  The skull and crossbones from the pirate flag adorn the purple bottle.  The Hope brick is on the red bottle.  Also, you can see the black "gunk" on the sides and in various parts of this window.  This is made using fiber paste and black paint.  The fiber paste can create peaks, and it's thick.

Here is the finished window box...

Here it is with cards in it.  :)

Here is a side view.  

I hope that you liked this Steampunked Window Box.  You can shopping here.  And remember we are looking for a couple of guest designers!  Find out more here!