Frankenstein's Laboratory 3 - The Generator

  

Alright, we've come to the last part of Frankenstein's Laboratory made with Tim Holtz Idea-ology, and that is the light-up generator.  This isn't tough but there are multiple steps and some that I didn't photograph, so I will just tell you what I did in that section.

For the light up part of this I used two of the largest bottles from the Corked Vials package, and both the orange and purple Halloween Tiny Light. This was me testing it out to see if it would work.

The generator needed a cabinet to sit on so I took a small Vignette Box and covered it with a piece of Departed paper. Then I covered it with Vintage Collage Medium, and distressed it with Walnut Stain and Rusty Hinge Distress Crayons.

The generator needed some metal washers to attach the Vials and wires and things so I grabbed some of Sprocket Gears and Mini Gears. for the top of the Vignette Box, I used the gear at the top. I show the back and front so you can see what I did to them. The bottom gears I stacked and adhered together with Collage Medium. Then I covered them with some Transparent Grit Paste, Brushed Pewter (or another metallic paint) and then distressed with Black and Walnut Stain Distress Crayon or paint.

I think I slathered everything in Transluscent Grit Paste! LOL! Add some to these Hex Fasteners. Then Distress with Paint and Crayons to make them look old and rusty.

The cabinet needed a gauge, so these two pieces and the indicator are part of the Tim Holtz Sizzix Voltage Bigx die. I cut them both out of chipboard. The gauge is a stamp made to fit this die from The Professor CMS373 stamp set.

Then I painted the large piece with Brushed Pewter, sanded it and rubbed Distress Crayon in Rusty Hinge and Walnut Stain to make it look old and rusty.

On the top of the Vignette Box I aded four Hitch Fasteners and the two gears I mentioned earlier. As with everything else, I put Translucent Grit Paste on the Hitch Fasteners and then distressed with Rusty Hinge and Walnut Stain.

On the Voltage Bigx die is also this needle and the hex bolt looking pieces. I cout for of the hex bolt things, painted, grit pasted and Distress Crayoned. The needle I cut one but I cut three of the circle that goes under it. I adhered them together and then painted Barn Door red and added a little rusty gold with Walnut Stain Distress Crayon.

I covered the inside of Vignette Divided Box with paper from Departed. I painted the back corners so they don't show through, and I pre-drilled some holes for were the Halloween Tiny Lights will go through.

I have a stash of Woodgrain Cardstock and 3D Lumber pieces that are already colored and ready to use, so I pulled a small piece out and cut it into 1/2" strips and made a faux wood floor.

Once the back and sides of the section were covered with Departed paper, I used some Halloween Ephemera and Halloween Layers to make a few things that would adorn the back of the bottom section. One was this Fragile sign. I really didn't want the Do No Drop part so I crinkled it and inked it and sanded it to make it seem like it was just a warning sign on a wall.

Under the Knife Switch I took this chipboard Layer and cut bits off and sanded it as well and then colored it with some Distress Stain.

I added more color with some Walnut Stain.

One other bit that I did before I attached everything on the generator is that I wanted to frost the bottles so they glowed more and so you didn't see the wires and lights so clearly. I brushed some Distress Collage Medium on the large Corked Vials to give them some tooth. Then I brushed then with Distress Rock Candy Crackle Paint. Once it was dry I brushed some Distress Walnut Stain Distress Crayon over it so that it would go down into the cracks and highlight them.

To assemble, thread the Halloween lights through the holes from the back of the Divided Box, leaving the battery packs on the back of the box.

One last thing I did to the vials was to wrap the end of the bottles with a bunch of wire. Then I painted the wire and the end of the bottle with some Tarnished Brass Distress Paint and then aged it with Walnut Stain Distress Crayon. Thread the lights through the top of the Vignette Box and then push them all into the bottles. One color in each bottle.

Here you can see that I have threaded all of the lights into the bottles and glued the plastic end of the lights into the holes in the top of the Vignette Box. I left this to dry before I did the next step.

Once the bottom of the lights were secured in place, I adhered the bottles by putting Collage Medium around the rim of the bottles and then setting them evenly into the center of the gears. I left this to dry over night.

Here you can see how they fit nicely right into the middle of these gears.

Once it is dry, this is what it will look like.

Now we want to add some crazy wiring to make it look like the generator is connected to things. I used this large floral wire that I got from the Dollar Tree. It is soft and really easy to bend. I know it's purple, but I painted it, grit pasted it, and Distress Crayoned it so that it looked like crusty old wiring.

For the top of the bottles I coiled the wiring around a paint brush handle. Then I did all the painting and distressing mentioned above.

Adhere the stacked gears I showed you at the very beginning of this post and then insert the wire coil into the hole in the center of each of the top gears.

Now you can see that it looks like the bottles are connected by wiring.

I used some pliers to bend two more pieces of the large floral wire into shapes like this for the sides of the generator. 

I drilled holes in both sides of the Vignette box here so that the wire could go through it. You can also see more gears with grit paste on them, those will find their home in the corner opposite the generator cabinet.

Here are the gears in place in the bottom right corner. I also used some tiny gears on the bottom on both sides of the box to attach the wire into so it looks like it is coming out of the side and down into the ground (or vice versa.)

From this vantage point you can see the wire going into the side of the box.

Here you can see the wires on both sides of the box. And note the Fragile sign in the background. 

I often decorate the backs of my projects just for myself. This one has some items from the Halloween Baseboards and Layers. I wanted to put some charts and things that I thought Dr Frankenstein would use for reference. I also have the little paper holders for the light battery packs.

Here it is all in place and lit up! I can almost hear Dr Frankenstein yelling "It's a liiiiiiiiiive!" 

And that is it my friends. I hope it's enough detail to inspire you to try building some of your own laboratory elements.

In case you missed them, here are the links to 

Frankenstein's Laboratory Part 1 - Knife Switch

Frankenstein's Laboratory Part 2 - Books and Seal

Thank you for stopping by!

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

 

Frankenstein's Laboratory 2 - Book and Seal Tutorial

I'm looking forward to getting started on the second tutorial today, making the mini books, candle, and the seals on the flasks. Everything I used was from Tim Holtz Idea-ology except for the Distress products which are from Tim Holtz Ranger Ink, as well as an old book and a hot glue gun.

Let's begin with the mini books. The Anatomy book was made with one of the Halloween Layers as the cover. I used the Palmistry card, and I scored a 1/4" spine in the center of the card.

Then I trimmed the Anatomie card from the Halloween Ephemera pack. I inked it and adhered it to what would be the front of the book.

You can see I also inked the inside of the layer. No one will ever see this but I did it as a detail for myself.

Then I did the next step to cut up pages of this old book and glue them into the cover to make it look like old pages.

I inked these as well so that the edges you show will look old and crumpled.

I did this book twice. The second one did not have the eye cover because it is hidden behind the big book as you will see later. It is just filling a little space. For these books I used a fortune telling card from the Ephemera pack and another fortune telling game, the eye piece, and two of the Latin strips all from the Ephemera and Snippets packs.  Cut the large fortune telling card in half and distress it by spraying it with some Distress Spray Stain.  Then again score it to make a 1/4" binding.  Trim the eye to fit on the smaller Fortune Telling Game piece and then attach both to the front of one book.

Measure the books and cut pieces of the old book pages to fit folded into the mini book. Make enough pages to fill the spine so it looks like a book. You can stain or age the book pages at any time. Either before or after you adhere them to the spine.

To adhere them into the spine, just put a nice layer of Distress Collage Medium along the spine and press the folds of the pages into it and hold it until it dries a little and sets.

Here is what the large book looks like. I really love how it turned out.

It really looks like a little book.

And the eye book.

Love the aged edges of these pages.

There is a candle in one of the boxes. It is a larger candle than the ones I made in the past to fit on the tiny skulls, so I cut the paper a little wider, and instead of the Crafter's Thread, I used a piece of the black twine from the Halloween Trims. You can find the original tutorial here.

Put Collage Medium on the paper and then rolled the twine up in the middle of it. Again this candle is a bit larger, so I added a second piece to this candle.

I put the paper candle in this urn that I made last year. You can see a tutorial on how to make this thimble urn here. I had to trim it a little with my Tonic scissors so that it would fit in the box in the Divided Vignette Box. Then I used my glue gun to make drippy wax on the candle and down onto the urn. When it was cool and set, I painted it with Antique Linen Distress Paint and then when that was dry I brushed on watered down Pumice Stone Distress paint and wiped it off so that it settled into the crevices to make it look dusty.

Here it all is in place. You can see I added one of the sticker photos from the Sticker Book and he is in a Deco Frame.

Here you can see the other tiny book I made that is just filling that little corner, and tucked a skull in between two of the books. This allows us to see the great imagery on the Anatomie book.

The eye book is tilted kind of making it look like it was tossed onto the shelf.

Here you can see the tops of the book pages. So good! I love it!

Here is the candle in place. You can see the hot glue drips that were squeezed onto the nonstick mat make it look like the candle dripped onto the shelf once it is put into place.

One last quick detail. I wanted something to hold the mummy cloth in place on the necks of the Flasks, so I decided to make some "wax" seals. I didn't have any wax, so I used hot glue. I also didn't have a seal so I used the tiny spider in the metal Halloween Adornments pack. It is very tiny, so I tied some Craft Thread through the loop.

I squeezed some hot glue onto the nonstick mat and while it was hot I pressed the tiny spider into it. I tried this several times before I got one that I liked. Then when the hot glue is completely cool, you can peel the spider out of it and you have a spider image left.

I painted them black and then when dry, I used my finger the spread a little Tarnished Brass Distress Paint over the raised areas.  I hated the way the tiny one looked after I did this, so I used my heat gun and heated the small seal and then pressed it flat with the bottom of the flask. LOL. It worked! I also did the same thing lightly to the large one, just enough to flatten it, but not enough so that I pressed the spider image out.

To finish this box, I added a Mini Pulley Wheel and hung a skull from it with a Swivel Clasp.

I felt the front of the flasks with the measurements looked too modern for this project, so I used the back of them. I brushed them with Vintage Distress Collage Medium and used some labels from the Apothecary Vials.

You can see the labels here and inside the vials I have Glossy Accents with some Alcohol Ink coloring them. You can also see here how I squished the small seal flat and and how cool the spider looks in the other one.

That's enough detail for today. The next tutorial will be the last and but it is a doosey! It's how to make the light-up generator.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for the support. I hope you for this interesting and beneficial. If you have any questions, please, use the link at the right to contact me and I will do my best to answer.

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 4

 

Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 4 Reveal!! Were you wowed by the awesome makes? I know I am always blow away by how so many different makers get the same dies and end up with such different and amazing projects. It's always so inspirational for me.

I will have posts/tutorials on the four projects I made. Some will be simple and a few a little more indepth. I will start right away on the Ghost Town and Nightmare inspired projects since it is already October 1! 

Just a heads up that posts are coming for my Sizzix makes as well as the Ideaology and Stampers projects I still need to post. Thanks so much for your patience as I balance meeting creative sample deadlines and blogging and my day job and my family. 

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Frankenstein's Laboratory 1 - Knife Switch

Dr. Frankenstein's Laboratory was such a fun project to dream up for the Tim Holtz Halloween Idea-ology Reveal Samples! It really all started with the orange and purple Tiny Lights for Halloween. I wanted to use them in a unique way, so as I mulled about ways to use them, visions of Frankenstein's Laboratory kept flashing through my mind, so I did some research on Pinterest and then devised a plan.

I'm going to post tutorials on some of the bits and pieces of this project to keep the posts from being overwhelming. Also, I feel like posting bits individually, will help you to be able to imagine them in different projects in case this whole thing isn't something you would make. So let's get started with the Knife Switch, which was the item my husband suggested I put in this project. So kudos to him for suggesting it and challenging me to try and figure out how to make one with Idea-ology products.

The first thing you need to make is the switch. In a strange twist, I actually used two of the knives from the Adornment Silverware to make the Knife Switch. To make the shape, I used two pairs of needlenosed pliers to make the bends in the knives and then I glued them together along the handles with Distress Collage Medium.

There are two options for drilling some holes in the ends of the knife switch. You can use a Dremmel,

or you can use this blast from the past! I don't even remember the name of this but it was based on an old jewelry tool that makes holes in something by turning the handle. It makes two different hole sizes.

Once you have your holes drilled, notice that I wrapped the handle with black Trim Tape. Then go through your Idea-ology stash and the Halloween Baseboards package and locate the two rectangle pieces in there - Pyro-Galicacid and the Palmistry. You also need the smallest of the Vignette Panels, two hitch fasteners and two Index Clips.

Now you need to have something that will hold the tongs of the knife switch and allow them to move up and down or "on" and "off." To do this I used two Index Clips and attached them to the Palmistry Baseboard right in the middle on the sides. You need to use some needle nose pliers to bend the back of the clips at a 90 degree angle as shown above.

Attach the Knife Switch by putting the threaded part of the Hitch Fastener facing out on each side, then put the knife tongs onto the threaded piece on the outside part of the Index Clip and secure it withe the hitch part of the Hitch Fastener.

Here you can see that the tongs are on the outsides of the Index Clips and the hitch parts are secured. Add the Pyro Baseboard in the middle of the piece for added interest.

To put this piece in place, I painted the sides of the smallest Vignette Panel black, and then I adhered the Knife Switch to it with Collage Medium and left it dry enough that it stayed secure for the next step, which is to secure it into place in the bottom portion of a Vignette Divided Box.

I covered the inside of the box with some paper from the Departed paper pad before I did the next step. Using my Dremmel, I drilled holes in all the corners of the Knife Switch piece, then I glued it in place in the Divided Box with Distress Collage Medium.

When the Collage Medium had time to set, I put four of the Vignette Hardware Nails into the holes and pounded them in to the back "wall" of the divided box. I felt this would really hold it into place securely while the switch was turned "on" and "off."

Next time we will talk about all the cool little books in the upper part of the box.

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!