Mirror, diary and some tips

I thought, that I've done with Xmas pieces, but my son-in-law asked for a diary... I've made one and want to talk about some tips which you might find useful.



The first point is ageing. Everyone knows that I like vintage items so the matter of achieving ageing effect is very important to me. Usually I use bitumen and other patinations but sometimes they add blur to the image and overall effect could be too strong. Here I decided to age background of the item before I glue the picture. In this case the image stays very sharp but overall effect is vintage.

Another point is the inside of the covers. I get crackling using shellac/gomma arabic pair and I like to wash off the layer of gomma arabic with water. It means to be very cautious to avoid water getting inside. With this diary I've lost concentration for a moment and ended up with water stains inside the cover. To rectify it I use the napkin again. The best is to use a second layer. Here I use the same napkin.



And here is a different napkin completely to underline the opulent feel of this diary.



And this is a mirror. Nothing special, but I like this napkin! Here again I shaded the frame corners before gluing the napking.

Wall Mirror

I am not very keen on these mirrors, I think them useless as a proper functional mirror. May be try them as a decorative object? I am sure you've seen a lot of items decorated in this style, with 3D ornaments, I am always the last one to try! And then I come across this master-class and having the mirror already primed and painted I decided to give it a go! 3D details turned out far from perfect and I highlighted it by adding craquelure and patina. Now it looks like it was made of ivory long-long ago!