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DreamBox by
Jackie McColl
(with cool milagro charms wired on) |
DreamBox by
Lori Peterson
(tin is painted with alcohol inks and inside holds little miniatures) |
DreamBox by
Kathy Cameron
(tin is painted with layers of acrylic paints) |
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DreamBox by
Jen Hammond
(tin is covered with pink handmade paper and the silver design at the
top is drawn with a metallic paint pen) |
DreamBox
wind chime by Jackie McColl
(3 Mini DreamBoxes are wired together with little bells on the bottom) |
Mini DreamBox
by Helga Strauss (super easy...just has an image from the
Imagine collage sheet
held in place with a Glue Dot) |
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Description |
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I fell in love with these incredible tin
frames (aka nichos) in Mexico. We’re so pleased to introduce them to you
as our very own ARTchix DreamBoxes. Each one is entirely made by hand, so
they’re all slightly different and imperfect (which I love!)
Here in ARTchix-land, we recently had a
fun art play date with these fabulous items. We had so much fun! I would
highly recommend them as a fun art project with your friends.
You can pour so much of your creativity
into these little frames. Fill them with your hopes and dreams and
brighten up any room. I have a small collection of them hanging in my art
studio (they look so beautiful!).
They also make incredible gifts! You can
make some for loved ones and fill them with your good wishes and love for
them. My Mom is a jewelry artist and she's already planning on making me a
special pair of earrings that she will display in a pretty DreamBox. Cool,
huh? The possibilities are endless!
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ARTchix Studio Supplies |
General Supplies and Tools |
Imagine collage sheet |
Paints: metal paints, acrylic paints, alcohol inks, paint pens, etc. |
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Mini DreamBoxes |
Embellishments |
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Heart DreamBox |
Awl, hammer & wire (if you want to add charms and milagros) |
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Classic DreamBox |
Adhesives: glue stick, PVA glue, gel medium, E6000 or any glue of
your choice |
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Floral House DreamBox |
Scissors |
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Milagros: Hearts,
Legs,
Arms,
Roses,
Birds |
Sandpaper (optional) |
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Paper Flowers |
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Instructions - General |
Cleaning
It’s a good idea to clean the tin by rubbing it down with a cotton ball
and rubbing alcohol or vinegar before applying any paint.
To clean the glass of our mini DreamBoxes, a pipe cleaner works great.
To clean the glass of our other DreamBoxes, any type of glass cleaner
should be fine.
How to Begin
One way is to figure out your focal point (usually an image or
collage that will go inside the glass). Then, you can paint and
embellish the frame in the same theme.
Another way is to paint and alter the outside in any way that you like.
And then find an image or images to add to the inside. Both ways are
great fun!
Ideas for the Inside
You can use a single image or make a cool collage. Try adding squares of
cardboard or foam dots to make your collage more 3-D. You can also add
little miniature goodies (like in Lori’s DreamBox above).
Note: to get the right size of your images, measure the tin opening, not
the back of the box. You will see that the box is a bit bigger than its
opening, so you may want to beautify the inside with extra paint,
decorative papers and/or fabric.
Painting and Altering the Tin
Try painting approx. 3 coats with regular or metal acrylic paint. Paint
each coat in a different direction to reduce streaks. Metallic paints,
patinas and faux finishes look great! If you have some powdered pigments
like Pearl Ex, you can mix them with equal parts acrylic medium to make
a really neat metallic paint/ glaze. You can also draw cool patterns
with paint pens (like in Jen’s piece above). Try these other cool ways
to alter the tin: alcohol inks, embossing inks and powders, crackle
glaze, gold leaf, glitter, shoe polish, sandpaper and more. I especially
love to paint the tin and when it's dry, rub it with sandpaper to give
it an aged look.
Ideas for Embellishing the Tin
It’s easy to poke holes into the tin with a hammer and awl. The awl will
slide through easy peasy like butter. Once you’ve made your hole/s, you
can hang charms and milagros from wire, ribbon or string (like in
Jackie’s DreamBox above). Think about hanging something like a key from
the door closure (looks neat). Glue Dots, E6000 glue and Super Glue are
great for attaching bulky items. If you have any clear squished marbles/
page pebbles...these look awesome adhered to the tin with images behind
them.
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| Notes |
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Please feel free to print these instructions for your
reference.
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Back to Free Classes |
Free Class: Altered DreamBoxes by Helga Strauss 
