May's Guest Designer - Annie Gilmour

Hello! It's time for May's Guest Designer. This time we are very excited to have one of our past Design Team members here - we are sure you know her amazing style and creativity very well, and just like we you still can't get enough of her beautiful works. She describes her style as a variation between vintage and grunge. She says: "more recently I have been recycling and altering various items. I have attended numerous workshops over the years and have shared my knowledge and skills with friends, family and colleagues at work, enabling them to create stunning keepsakes." Let's welcome Annie Gilmour!

Hi Everyone! 

It’s Annie here and I am thrilled to be Guest Designer at Artist Trading Post this month where Ice Resin, Iced Enamels and Iced Enamels German Glass Glitter are the products being promoted. These products are very new to me, but will no longer be a stranger as I really had a wonderful time creating with them and can see lots of possibilities in my mixed media projects. 

The projects below follow techniques that can be found on ATP blog and Ice Resin Blog, with a few added pieces of ephemera ( also by Susan Lenart Kazmer )
I have lots of photographs/details  to share so grab a cuppa and lets go :-) 

The first projects were made using Iced Enamels Medium and Iced Enamels Relique Glitz Silver.  Below is the step by step with some added details: 

TIP: One thing I would recommend is having everything to hand when you are using Ice Resin as this enables you to make the most of the time you have before it starts to heat/thicken. This is also dependent on the temperature of the room where you are working 

First of all I lightly sanded all the metal items I had planned to use, then I applied the Iced Enamels Medium to the bezels/spoons/key and metal embellishments. 

Just as in heat embossing you sprinkle the Iced Enamels on top and then gently shake the excess, which can be returned to the tub for future use.

Next you take your heat gun and heat the metal from the side to  slowly warm it up. I also noticed that it was best not to hold the heat gun too close as I achieved a nicer hammered effect.

I love the way you can alter metal embellishments and remember there are several colours of Iced Enamels on the ATP Online Store. 

You can see the amazing enamelling below:

I then decided that I wanted to embellish some of my pieces and I used Modge Podge to do this, waiting until it was totally dry before adding my Ice Resin. Ice Resin should be applied to the enamelling to protect it from  wear/scratches etc.

I found the Iced Resin really simple to make as its equal parts of the resin and hardener. After stirring you can leave it to sit for a few minutes to allow some of the air bubbles to disappear, although a pin and your heat gun can be used too.
Once I applied the Ice Resin I placed my projects in another room, covering them with some plastic packaging that my tomatoes were in and were pierced with my punch. This prevented any dust from landing on them while the Ice Resin cured.

Taking the Iced Enamels German Glass Glitter I applied Susanne Lenart Kazmers Faux Druzzy technique. ( There is a video demo on the ATP Online Store and on You Tube that you can view.)
First of all I mixed Ice Resin and placed a little in the bottom of the bezels then I added the Iced Enamels German Glass Glitter.

To remove excess glitter from around the large bezel I used a small soft paint brush as you cant shake it off due to the Ice Resin inside. Pieces were all left to cure and were covered over with same clear packaging used above. 

Below you can see the finished pieces and some close ups.

Faux Druzzy below left and some enamelling in which I also flicked a few pieces of the German Glass Glitter on the right. The words are from Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Chit Chat Stickers.

Faux Druzzy below

Another Faux Druzzy piece

Thank You to Jamie and Kasia for having me here as May’s Guest Designer. I had such fun and if you fancy playing along you will find the Iced Enamel Medium, Enamels, German Glass Glitter and Bezels on the Artist Trading Post Online Store.

Products Annie used:

Ice Resin - Iced Enamels Medium	Ice Resin - Iced Enamels Relique Powder - Glitz Silver	Ranger Heat It Tool	Mod Podge - Gloss	Ice Resin 1oz Syringe
Square Cabochon base mount x 2 - Copper	Round Cabochon base mount x 2 - Gold

Isn't it amazing? Annie's creativity knows no bounds. Now take a look at Annie's other stunning works - visit her blog and leave her some love :)

Kasia