Time travel with Spellbinders

Welcome to my very first blogpost as a Spellbinders International Blog Ambassador!

(german translation is here).

When I stumbled into the world of Spellbinders this spring, I couldn’t imagine I’d become a member of this vital community. But it all happened so fast and here I am.

I have been a crafter since I made my first Barbie dresses at the age of 5. This ‚habit‘ of mine is something I share with millions of other creative people. Nowadays we all meet online, share, inspire and virtual work with each other like a huge family. As I am a crafter of several orientations, I always try to bring my hobbies together. Using die cuts for sewing or decorations is only a question of ‚when‘, not ‚how‘. I recently made a quick tutorial for Mother’s Day with die cut foam, please check it out here: stucco technique. More craft ideas made with Spellbinders can be found HERE. And many more to come!

What I can ’stucco‘ can be steampunked, too. That brings me to my actual job as an international blog ambassador: To show the world a design idea influenced by my country’s history and mind. Many countries share a past of industrial revolution during the 19th century. Germany has participated and bloomed during that period of time. The area I am living in used water power for ages. Beautiful relics of craftsmenship and technical knowledge have been left and preserved by our ancestors.

In my neighbourhood I found a museum where the spirit of the early days of steam is still alive. In a former distillery you can visit one of the very last steam engines working. Please take a closer look at the Wilhelm Fabry museum. Nowadays the engine is running with electrical power for environmental reasons, but 130 years ago there has been this amazing engine working with the mighty power of steam, feeding all machines in the building with its motion.

Based on that local history I want to show you where modern craft tools and history can meet. I upcycled a dress form for your inspiration. The first picture was taken in front of the steam engine in the museum. The second comes right from my backyard!

Because I like to make things for practical use, I transformed the dress form into a jewellery stand! You can put your favourite necklaces on there: rings and things, earrings and brooches.

What you need is… well, a dress form. I bought a cheap one and covered it with some newspaper decoupage and a copper finish.

Then I have been very busy to cut tons of sprockets with my beloved Spellbinders ‚Sprightly Sprockets‘ die and lots of brown foam (using foam that matches your desired colour will make it easier to paint it afterwards).

For the time travel effect I added a clock from Ikea, its insides and some plastic pipes.

Then glue the foam to your form and let dry. Paint with whatever you like and what works with foam. I used acrylic paint in copper, silver permanent stamp ink (Coloris) and some golden rub-on. For an additional „sprocket“ effect I have cut a few parts from a soda can. Plus some labels with the same soda can metal. I used ‚Ribbon Tags Trio Two‘.

The dress form can be used in several ways. For rings and my watch I added some hooks. Additional chains can hold brooches and earrings.

I think this is not a project you will do every day. But I have more smaller ones on my WIP (work in progress) list and will show them soon.

I hope you enjoyed and got some inspiration. During the time travel back to the (fantasy-)steampunk era my photographing son had some fun with his mother and the steam engine. (Dear people from the museum: I am only pretending to push the valve!)