I'm brightening up the month with Verday - by Lottie

Going with this month's Happy Daze theme of 'Brighten up the month', I decided to do it with Verday paints and Patina which you can buy here.

I have Paula Whittaker to thank for the inspiration which I took from a card I received from her which is featured in the frame.  It is Roman inspired.  Unfortunately I couldn't get a frame to fit the   6"x6" card which was a bit wider - but I could fit most of it in this frame.  I loved her vintage colouring and tried to replicate it.

I made my own mould of Roman relics from polymer clay which you can buy here.  I don't think air dry polymer clay will work for this - purely for the durability you need for this project.

As you can see (I hope) this is a fragment showing a Roman ladies head looking coyly down.  (She wasn't dressed so I only did her head and shoulders!)

After baking the moulded fragments, they had a coat of Verday paint (I'll just show you one)

 I painted one coat of Verday paint on the outer fragment

 Then the next day I painted another and whilst wet added the Verday patina coat to the outside.

Then painted the roman head.

I left the heads to dry for a couple of days, then buffed them up, glueing them to the frame once I had finished decorating it.

A plain wooden picture frame was first painted with texture paint.  When dry I painted a layer of pale blues.  The darker blues are Verday paint that has had the patina treatment, and of course the metallic colours not only mirror those of the 'metal fragments' but also the colour of Paula's framed card.

Sorry for the differences in the lighting and colours - it's my photography.  I bought a photo tent to try and get a better picture - the bottom image - but it really didn't work as it bleached out the colours somewhat.  The true colours are those of the other photos.  This looks so much better in 'real life' and daylight.  The metal Verday really shimers and glistens and when I walk into my craft shed it truly shines with the light on it - looking solid like a chunk of precious metal rather than a wooden picture frame.

I hope that I have inspired you to have a go with the magical Verday paints - they are great fun and you can let your imagination run riot and create truly one off original works of art.

When I received Paula's card - I never dreamt for one minute that it would send me off to Roman ruins and give me the imagination to use Verday Paints and Patina like this.

Why not have a 'play' because that's just what I did.  I'm  not clever enough to design or plan anything.  I just had a rummage around and found the wooden frame amongst my 'junk' and just sat and played.  It's really enjoyable - trust me.

Let me know how you get on and I'll come and 'visit' you.