Mixed Media Plaque and Sola Rose Tutorial

Mixed Media Plaque

Hi friends sharing a Mixed Media Plaque I made by recycling a cake base and experimenting  with Stencils and lots of mixed media supplies.

Stencil Techniques

I used texture paste on The Crafters Workshop Mini Tuscan Wall Stencil and sprinkled it with Ranger's Gold embossing powder and when the texture paste was dry heat embossed it to create the beautiful brick wall

Mixed Media Plaque

Stencilled some vine leaves [from the same stencil]with texture paste and sprinkled Stampendous green embossing powder leaving some on the un-stencilled areas. Heat embossed the powder while the texture paste was still wet to create the  grungy diffuse look of background greenery

Mixed Media Plaque

The little nest was made using air drying clay and a silicon mold. Cut up some vegetable packaging netting and painted it brown with acrylic paint and added some real feathers to make a backdrop for the nest!

Clay Nest

Created textural elements on the background using crackle paint, glass beads gel, micro beads and a sprinkling of distress glitter

Mixed Media Textures

The glass beads gel is one of my favorite mixed media supplies and  here are more posts which feature it : Texture Media Experiments, Altered Bottle,Altered Heart, Mixed Media Mini Book

Mixed Media Supplies

The little owl was layered on a circular pendant  filled with glass beads gel and microbeads.

Mixed Media Supplies

Both the pendant and the owl were given a rubbing of Inka Gold to match with the golden hues of the rest of the plaque.

Altered Metal Charms

The green leaves you see sprinkled along this plaque were made freehand using Thai Clay [also featured here : Clay Bird House, Plumeria Bonsai Tree and Altered Box].

The wood grain texture was created using the Carabelle Studio Effet Bois stencil, texture paste and gold embossing powder. Used Inka Gold on the charms and on the edges of my plaque

Stencil Effect

Here is a closeup of a mushroom in my woodland with tiny beads and vines and a sprinkling of subtle shimmer[ got with Distress Glitter]

Mixed media textures

          I think our creations often reflect what we love...I love to be inspired by nature and music and in this project I added a faux chipboard musical note created by layering Spellbinders musical note diecuts and heat embossing with the same gold embossing powder I used to create the woodgrain and bricks!

Sola Wood Roses

On the lower corner of my project is a medley of media...there are handmade clay leaves, stamped and heat embossed leaves [ from Heartfelt creations Delightful Daisy sets], store bought fabric flowers and handmade Sola wood roses
          I first shared flowers made using sola wood in this post on Foam Roses and leaves made from Sola wood in this Window Card
There was a lot of interest in the medium and though I promised a Tutorial a long time ago only now I have finally got around to sharing a Tutorial on making gorgeous Sola Wood Roses

Sola Rose Tutorial 

         Sola wood is made from compressed tapioca peel and its available as rolls. I am not sure if this is available all over the world but I did see listings to handmade sola flowers on Etsy and Wedding Shopping sites and some were exorbitantly priced!

[For Indian crafters I have shared links about where to buy sola wood at the end of the post]

Sola Rose Tutorial 

Sola wood rolls are very delicate and if you handle it roughly your rolls can tear! In cutting out petals to make your sola wood flower follow the natural curvature  of the sola wood sheet as you can see in the picture above

Sola Rose Tutorial 

You can make quite a few flowers from a single roll of Sola Wood and to make a single rose I cut out  1 + 2 + 3 + 5= 11 petals in the order of petal layers.

Sola Rose Tutorial 

The first picture above shows the shape of the innermost bud. Gently curve this petal and hot glue it at the base to form a tight bud

Sola Rose Tutorial 

On the 2nd layer use 2 petals to snugly wrap around the inner bud- overlap the petals as shown above for a natural look.

Sola Rose Tutorial 

I added 3 petals in the next layer again overlapping the edges of the petals as shown.

Sola Rose Tutorial

Sola wood is very thin and delicate so you have to be very gentle while handling the petals and also while hot gluing so as not to burn yourself.The trick is to use just a dot of glue at the base of the petals while gluing.

Sola Rose Tutorial 

You can vary the number of petals in each layer depending on the look you want and the size of your petals.

In the flower below I used 1 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 5 petals to make a large and full Sola Wood Rose

Sola Rose Tutorial 

Another tip while working with Sola wood is to keep the flower petals under a lid like I have done here or in a covered box as they are so lightweight they will fly all around especially if you are working with the fan on or with a breeze blowing!

Sola Rose Tutorial 

I hope you liked my  delicate Sola Wood Roses !

Sola Rose Tutorial

Here is a pinnable image for my friends and blog readers who are pinterest fans

Sola wood rolls : Raja Market or Itsy Bitsy . See here Craft Supply Stores India

All other supplies from Crafters Corner

Stencils :The Crafters Workshop Mini Tuscan Wall Stencil, Carabelle Studio Effet Bois 

Media : Ranger Texture Paste,Ranger Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter,Distress Crackle Paint Clear Rock Candy,Liquitex Glass Beads Texture Gel,Inka Gold

Plaid Craft Molds

Dies : Spellbinders Sing It Loud 1,Heartfelt creations Delightful Daisy Stamp and Die