Carey Burns

So this piece is 'done' but I'm just not in love with the nails on the top. I think they should be rusty and taller. Might be rooting through the nail jar this weekend... Wrath started with the vintage Japanese bisque doll. I thought the little fella was holding two machetes in front of him (honest mistake!) so he became my Wrath. After researching the figure, he's holding an airplane, which is funny, because I had selected the war planes to be in my background. Maybe my subconscious mind knew it was really a plane? Speaking of planes, I found these plastic toys at an antique shop and snatched them up. I knew they'd look great with a coat of rust and some paint. The antique cheese box was painted red and had some great staining so I cleaned it up and cleaned the planes too. Once the planes were nice and rusty, I glued them to the back of the box. They're odd sizes so it was a bit of a dance to get them to fit. When I added the doll, ...

It has been a long hiatus, but I'm back to blogging. Right now I have about six projects in process along with a very messy craft room! This piece came about in large part due to my hubby. He brought home a religious icon and said, "I thought you could use this." It sat for a while until I was looking through some metal items in my junk bin. Add caption The antique wooden box came from an auction and still has an old, hard-to-read tag on it. The ornate metal corners were from a beautiful photo album a friend had given me a few years back. I dry brushed some white, thalo green and burnt umber over the high spots of the metal to give the old brass even more character. Just an old box with small dolls in it... Old tag still in place! I love these corners so much I dry brushed the iron paint over the icon, but it hasn't rusted as well as I'd hoped. Will add another round of rusting agent tonight. Slightly rusted. Slightly unnerving? ...

Now that my wreath is complete and my Halloween cards are done, I can get back to those pesky Seven Deadly Sins! I rooted through my bin of odds and ends and found a rusty old drawer. It will be perfect for a little backdrop for the sin of Lust. The bisque doll to represent Lust has a sassy bow in her hair and I'm going to add a wash of red paint to it and maybe paint her mouth. I'm thinking either a pale blue was of paint on her body or just painting a black stripe over her eyes. She'll have a very shabby fabric toga of some sort eventually as well. I pondered a background and remembered an old, musty art book that I found at a book sale years ago. I flipped through the pages and found a page with "Bacchus and Ariadne" by Titian. I loved the weathered look of the paper and darkness of the image so I eyeballed the page and tore it. I dry-fitted it into the drawer with the bisque doll and it is fantastic! Next up is aging the torn edges and deciding i...

Since I completed my Creepy Charlottes, I'm moving back to some assemblage pieces with one bisque doll representing one of the Seven Deadly Sins. I've been picking up these bisque dolls for a while because when rusted, they become mighty creepy! These dolls have been rusted with Modern Options Sophisticated Finishes and I added a wash of white paint to them. Next up, I'll be figuring out a wash of color for each and putting the dolls in vintage wooden boxes or on some sort of stand. I hope you'll stick around to watch the progress unfold! Lust Pride Sloth Wrath Envy Gluttony Greed

This summer is flying by and on this WIP Wednesday, I'm trying to catch up. I've made a little progress on "His and Hers" since last time and have added another art supply to my every-growing collection: clear gesso. The Kroma Crackle dried and I love how it looks. It really bleached out the wood! The Sophisticated Finishes rusted up the new metal embellishments too. There were a couple spots where the iron paint didn't stick, but rather than reapply, I figured I was going to dry brush over it anyway, so I left it alone. Love that texture! To make sure I didn't lose any of the lovely crackle due to peeling, I bought some Liquitex Clear Gesso to seal the crackle. Next step is to add one more layer of the clear gesso and then add crackle topped with gesso to the other sides. I grabbed my regular gesso and dry brushed it over the rusted embellishments Highlights ready for a wash of paint Once everything was dry, I assembled the start of ano...

So last week I was on a "vacation" where I was house and dog sitting for friends. I didn't want to fall behind on the blog and didn't want to just watch television the whole time so I took writing materials and a bag full of craft goodies to keep me busy. Today's WIP Wednesday is a product of a week of tinkering and trying new things. It still needs a little something, like a pop of dismal red or pink and I'm not sure if it is a stand-alone piece or if I might attach it to something else. It all started months ago with a metal tart pan shaped like a heart. I bought a few of these, not really sure what to do with them. Next I bought an antique iron rest that had some lovely rust on it. After going through the photos from the old album a friend gave me, I knew these two were perfect for this project. I traced the heart around their photo and cut away.    I wasn't sure what colors I was going for with this piece so I started off wit...