Creatively Curious Steampunk Blog Hop

Hello Friends!! I am so excited to share my creation for the Creatively Curious Steampunk Blog Hop!! Just to let you know there are loads of prizes (for commenting) and lots of interestingly inspiring steamy stops along the way. You will be amazed at the variety of Steam inspired projects created by some amazing artists. I hope you grab a cup of your favorite beverage, kick back and enjoy. (warning...this is a long post)

When Cathy invited me to participate in the hop I knew I wanted to create something different, something out of the ordinary when you think about Steampunk.  I wanted to make something that you you just don't see everyday. A spark of an idea grew and grew into a 45+ hour project of Steamy love....

This is what I created.... 

Whew!  My thought was to make a steampunk carousel. I thought it would be fun to use various forms of  Steam inspired transportation instead of the usual animals/horses. I did however include a pair of octopus...a pink and green one.  The double seat swing and stationary seat were original to the kit, I just steampunked them up a bit.

This was the original carousel kit I used. It had over 800 die-cut chipboard pieces which you had to glue, assemble and glue some more. I altered it quite a bit from the original using paint, embossing powders, LOADS of chipboard pieces from Creative Embellishments and a bit of imagination. I will share some "in the process" photos tomorrow so you can see a few of the steps this carousel went through to get to this point.

Originally I was going to keep track because the kit said it took 30-35 hours to assemble but lost count somewhere around 32 hours.  At that point I started painting the various modes of transportation and got lost in the process...I was painting a layer after layer, letting things dry and rotating them around that time just seemed to slip away. I estimate that it took between 45 - 50 hours in total. The painting and embossing all of the extra parts and gears is what took the longest.

I wanted to make the canopy look like it was made of metal and had rusted from years of use. Each panel was painted with a base coat of black acrylic paint, a layer of Golden's Iron Oxide paint and then embossed with a combo of VersaMark embossing ink and Seth Apter/Emerald Creek's Chunky Rust Baked Texture Embossing Powder.  LOVE THIS STUFF!!!  It really looks like rust and has such an amazing texture that you just have to touch it to believe it. After I was satisfied with the look of each panel I added various chipboard gears and steampunk clocks by Creative Embellishments which had been painted beforehand with metallic paints.

The upper canopy was originally red, blue and the creamy vintage white you see here. I painted the red and blue stripes black to give it the feel I was going for.

I finished it off with this darling steampunk inspired weather vain from Creative Embellishments. It was the perfect finishing touch don't you think?

And it's lighted!!!

I hope you've enjoyed checking out my steampunk carousel!! Have fun viewing the rest of the amazing steampunk creations.  Don't forget to check out the prize details below.

Supplies:

The Enchanted Carousel Kit

Creative Embellishments - Octopus set, Hot Air Balloon Set 2, Gear Set 2 Medium, Steampunk Timepieces, Loose parts, Gear Set 2 Large, Gear Cluster Set 2, Steampunk Artist Trading Coins, Airship 2, Airship 3, Airship Weathervane, Gear 1 1/2", Tiny Lights 1 FT, Gears 1", Mini Gears 3/4", Steampunk Car 4, Steampunk Car 3

Golden Fluid Acrylics - Iridescent Copper, Iridescent Bronze, Micaceous Iron Oxide

DecoArt - Americana Lamp Black, White;  Dazzling Metallics - Shimmering Silver, Splendid Gold, Glorious Gold; Extreme Sheen - Bronze

Rinea - Silver/Silver Starstruck; Copper/Copper Starstruck Foiled Papers

Emerald Creek - Seth Apter Baked Texture - Chunky Rust

Artfully Musing - Steampunk Elements, Steampunk Explorer Books & Magazines

Beacon Adhesives - 3 in 1 Glue

The Steamy List of Hoppers...

1. It's Oddly Appealing 
2. Ink Stained Roni - You Are Here :)
3. Electric Pandemonim
4. Crafts From The Fairy Den 
5. Chaitali Dekhtawala 
6. Nellys Artistic Creations 
7. Jane Austin 
8. Priya Mishra
9. Archana Sehgal 
10. Bhavani Balaji - 
11. Cassandra - Scrap Savvy Creations
12. Monica Longard - MonDo Creations 
13. Shraddha 
14. Amy Love's Designs 
15. Kanika Jain
16. Empire of the Cat 
17. Shwetha's Art 
18. Sonika Agarwal 
19. In Search of my Creative Side 
20. The Journey is the Start  
21. Crea-Red
22. A Vintage Girl
23. Orquide'art 
24. Juli Loves Paper 
25. Kim Slade-Fuller 
26. Leslie Lineberry
27. Linda Simpson
28. Jessica Larios
29. Riddhi Jani
30. Lynne Joncas
31. Zoe Bateman
32. Pooja Sharma
33. Nicole Palos

On to the prizes.....

We have 16 prize sponsors for our Steampunk Hop - we're proud to say these are small businesses run by artists. Let's show them some love! 

1) A Vintage Girl - $20 prize package

2) Angel Dream Crafts - $20 gift certificate (shipping not included)

3) Linda Israel Art - $50 gift certificate (shipping not included)

4) A Matter of Crafts - $20 gift certificate (shipping not included)

5) Expressions Craft - $25 gift certificate (shipping not included)

6) Nellys Artistic Creations - original artwork (see link for examples of her work)

7) Gecko Galz - $25 in digital products

8) Creative Embellishments - $50 (shipping not included) 

9) Emerald Creek - $25 gift certificate 

10) Electric Pandemonium - choose a $45 original artwork piece (shipping not included) 

11) Thompson's Craft Supplies - £20 (approx $25)  (shipping not included) 

12) It's Oddly Appealing - original artwork (see link for examples of her work) 

13) The Funkie Junkie Boutique - $25 gift certificate 

14) Hobbilicious - £15 (approx $19) (UK shipping free) 

15) ITD - prize package worth £25

16) Stamperia - a pizza box prize pack

To have a chance of winning one of the 16 coveted prizes, leave a comment on this post, along with your email address or social media contact (IG, FB, etc) and what country you're from, from now through Monday, 22 June. Sixteen winners will be picked randomly from all comments left from all of the artist's participating! The winners will be contacted via email/social media so it's important you leave your address/social media contact! Good luck and enjoy the hop!

And before you leave I thought you might like to know that there is a new Steampunk themed challenge on the way...

Coming in September!!