Design-abilities: Mixed Media Medallion IV

Welcome to the Spellbinders Design-abilities Blog Hop. The Blog Team at Spellbinders has decided to hold this online event on the 16th of every other month. This is our way of doing something fresh, fun, and creative to bring our team together. The Hop is not officially sponsored by Spellbinders, just something that we were all inspired to do. We all have different creative strengths and the posts you will see may focus on mixed media, die cutting, paper arts, DIY projects, jewelry, or home decor. There is no theme -- we all get to do whatever we choose.

Today's post is presenting the fourth in a series I am creating using the new releases from Spellbinders. Among my favorite are the items from their collection A Gilded Life. Created in conjunction with Debbie Murray and Shea Fragoso, the line consists of bezels, pendants, dies, texture plates, and relics. Filled with European flair, these items seem at first glance to be ready-made for jewelry projects and home decor. For me though, they scream mixed media.

I am preparing for an exhibition in NYC in April and have decided to create what I am calling Mixed Media Medallions to use as components of my artwork. But as you will see, if you attach a chain to these pieces they would actually make some pretty cool jewelry -- which would be a first for me.

I wanted to create a very detailed and dimensional look for this medallion and started with the antique gold Crowned Angel pendant. I removed the loop at the top with snips as I would not be attaching a chain to the medallion.

I am in love with the design of the Iron Cross bezel and decided to use a large one in bronze as a base for the Crowned Angel.

Wanting to add a cool touch of whimsey, I used the new Bird Stand die to cut and emboss a piece of hand painted paper - to which I added some dye ink to better match the paper with the bezels. I thought having these tree branches and bird shooting from the angel's head would add a humorous touch.

I started building the base to this piece by cutting a piece of gold foil using die #5 from the Standard Circles Large die set.

Feeling the need for a bit of steampunk edge, I cut some decorative paper using one of the dies from  the Sprightly Sprockets set.

Wanted this medallion to be quite detailed and dimensional led me to cut one more piece of gold foil using a die from the Snowflake Pendant set. Perhaps the fact that it was snowy and freezing in NYC when I made this contributed to my choice.

Had to add an element of grit and I chose two pieces of found metal hardware to fit the bill.

Now that I had all the elements prepared, I started to stack and glue all the components to create this...

I look forward to showing you in a few months how I will use this in a mixed media artwork for the exhibition.

Supply List

Spellbinders Paper Art Supplies:

MMM-001 Spellbinders^TM Artisan X-plorer 

GL2-004 Spellbinders^TM A Gilded Life Crowned Angel Pendant Antique Gold 

GLLB-005 Spellbinders^TM A Gilded Life Iron Cross Bezel Bronze - Large 

IN-016 Spellbinders^TM Shapeabilities® Die D-Lites^TM Bird Stand 

S4-114 Spellbinders^TM Nestabilities® Standard Circles Large

S5-048 Spellbinders^TM Shapeabilities® Sprightly Sprockets

S5-185 Spellbinders^TM Shapeabilities® 2013 Snowflake Pendant 

F-012 Spellbinders^TM Premium Craft Foils Precious Metals

Preferred Promotional Partners: Tsukineko® Memento Dew Drop Dye Ink Peanut Brittle, Imagine Crafts® Inkblushers Sponge

Other: found objects, hand painted paper, decorative paper, adhesive, tinner snips

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Head on over to the blogs of the other Blog Team members. Not every person will participate in every Blog Hop but you can check out their blogs anyhow. You are sure to find inspiration along the way!

Becca Feeken

Darsie Bruno

Debbie Olson

Heidi Blankenship

Linda Duke

Michelle Woerner

Seth Apter (you are here)

Sherry Cheever