Take one battered Vintage suitcase
There is a fabulous couple on Facebook who sell all kinds on vintage items. Bulgarian, Russian, chech and many other Eastern European (now) items. These are genuine communist era antique and almost antique. I Adore his cases and love to turn them into pieces of art. Painting, textureising, adding rice papers and mouldings
I just love This old case, it's smallish and I had no idea what I was going to do when I started her. The only thing I knew was that I would add a paper and possibly some trim.
I just love the way they have their own personality
I started by choosing the paper then I just didn't know what colour to use, Frenchic have some lovely colours and a huge choice of Greys all with different undertones. I blended and stippled until I was happy.
If you are going to decoupage a piece make the first layer a light colour as this will show through your paper. I also add crackle before the paper. When this shows through the paper it ages the piece nicely
I mixed up some copper frensheen in finishing coat for the handle and gold for the attachments and covered the piece with a dark wax to age it again
So I painted the whole case with a base colour. Once completely dry I added the Frenchic® easy crackle, I paint it on in the opposite direction to how I put the paint on. After letting this completely dry naturally I carefully add the next layer of paint in a lighter shade. Do not drag or work the paint as it will not crackle and leave a mess, but if parts do drag I add more crackle and more paint also don't forget a little fine sandpaper can smooth out without taking out. If there is a gap between paint strokes wait for it to dry then fill in with a small brush, this is better than going over and dragging the paint off. I then added the rice paper by placing where I wanted it and smoothing it on, using Frenchic® Finishing coat, the wonderful magic potion. Unlike most people I dont put a layer under, there is no need with finishing coat but I do put two or three coats on. I then added the moulds, stipple and blended the paint blending over the rice paper decoupage and moulds, different colours, adding more texture and crackle as I go. The piece will dictate to you as you go along, at least it does me and many others I know of. I always have an idea but it never ends up looking like it..
After the painty bit I have used the frensheen with finishing coat to paint the metal clasps in Gold. This is a beautiful metalic effect and a fantastic way to keep the aged effect. Finally I coated it with dark wax.
Firstly I applied clear wax so I had control over where it would sit. If you use clear wax first you can easily remove the dark, if you don't like it.
I love the way it sits in the crevices making it look old. I buffed it to take off the excess, it feels lovely and smooth with out being too shiney.
I do like to give a coat of finishing coat before waxing, just to give extra protection but I admit to not being able to remember if I did this here.
I absolutely love her, she is feminine as well as a bit masculine. The colours have come together nicely, it fits the decopage
I so enjoyed doing this, it's smallish, bit like me, and just right for a night away, yep she's usable.
I hope you like her, please comment, like and share this post for me please. X
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