Explore the Tin Man's Heart with Perfect Paints!
- walterz74
- Apr 16
- 4 min read
Hi, friends! It's design team member Walter back on the blog with you. Today I'm taking you on a journey to the much beloved land of Oz. The Wizard of Oz has been a favorite film of mine since I was young. I remember how excited my sisters and I would get when my parents would tell us it was going to be on television, especially since it was only aired once a year back then. My mom would pop up some Jiffy Pop popcorn on the stovetop and we'd sit and watch it together. I'd close my eyes when the flying monkeys appeared because they scared the heck out of me!
But it's not only those memories that make me love Oz so much. I also read quite a few books in the series and it's the life lessons they taught that resonate with me the most know: to love home, family, and where you come from; to pursue knowledge; to love with all of your heart; and to live with courage. Today's project was inspired by the Tin Man and loving with all of your heart. I was originally going to create an industrial themed greeting card for my project. However, I looked at the embossed industrial panel and it reminded me of the Tin Man's body. So, I started creating and let my imagination take over. I hope that you like the mixed media canvas that I created. It's full of textures and symbols of Oz: a mechanical heart, cogs, metallic florals, and a very aged portion of the yellow brick road.
Here are the Perfect Paints products that I used to create it:
5x7 Canvas Board (MDF wrapped in canvas)
Distress Inks: Rusty Hinge, Antique Linen, Scorched Timber
Sizzix & Tim Holtz Foundry 3D Embossing Folder
Stuff by Belle Mosaic Spiral Stencil
Finnabair & Prima Marketing Mechanicals Metal Embellishments
Finnabair & Prima Marketing Melange Art Pebbles
Ranger & Dina Wakely Media Collage Words
Scrapaholics Cogs Chipboard
Sizzix Stacking Heart Dies
A2 sized piece of mirrored card stock
Piece of torn scrap paper
Here's how I made it:
The first thing that I did was dry emboss with the mirrored cardstock with the Foundry 3D embossing folder. When dry embossing paper in an embossing folder, be sure to always spritz the backside of your cardstock with water. This helps to loosen the fibers and prevent the paper from cracking. I applied a coat of Tarnished Silver Shimmering Matte Acrylic to the panel and, once dry, added some spots of Vintage Mercury Shimmering Matte Acrylic. When it was dry, I rubbed the panel with a paper towel to add irregularities. I then used a heart die and cut it out of the embossed panel.
I started the canvas by applying two coats of Seaglass Shimmering Matte Acrylic to the canvas. I then took some Peacock Blue Shimmering Matte Acrylic and added some dark spots randomly around the canvas with a paint brush. Once dry, I went over the canvas with a light coat of Vintage Patina Shimmering Matte Acrylic mixed with Perfect Glaze Medium in order to add a light patina finish.
I then took a torn piece of scrap paper, ran some Scorched Timber Distress Ink around the edges, and glued it down to the bottom right corner of the canvas. I applied a light coat of the Vintage Patina and Perfect Glaze Medium over it and let it dry,
It was now time to stencil! I had this vision of the yellow brick road in the background of the design. The stencil I used reminded me of the beginning of the road in Munchkin Land. I laid it onto the canvas and used a palette knife to apply Organic Sugar Polishing Plaster. I sped up the drying process with a hair dryer. Once dry, I used a blending brush to add Antique Linen Distress Ink over the bricks to add aged look to them. I then used the brush to blend some Scorched Timber around the edges of the canvas.
I could now paint my cogs. Aged Copper Shimmering Matte Acrylic was the perfect choice to paint them as a base color. I then added in some Cantaloupe Shimmering Matte Acrylic and Peacock Shimmering Matte Acrylic spots to add rust and tarnish to them. Once dry, I used craft glue to adhere them down to the canvas.
Once is place, I added some rust spots on the heart with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink, put some double-sided foam tape strips onto the back of it and adhered it onto the canvas.
For the sentiment, I cut out the collage word strip and glued it onto a piece of brown shipping paper where I had rubbed some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink off of my blending brush. I added some Scorched Timber Distress Ink over it, cut out the strip, and glued it down to the canvas.
The last step was adhering down the remaining ephemera and adding some color to them. I had chosen a small cluster of COGS that I glued on the heart and three metal flowers that I gued down to the canvas. I added touches of Cantaloupe and Peacock Shimmering Matte Acrylics to flowers and glued Melange Art Pebbles to the center of them. The piece was now complete.
I am so happy with how this piece turned out! I think it's a really fun tribute to my favorite character from the Land of Oz. I'm thinking it might be fun to create a series of these mixed media canvases inspired by other characters. What do you think about that? Would a series based on Oz interest you? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks so much for spending some time here with me today. I'll see you again soon. Until then . . . be well!
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