Patina Look Notebook Cover

Hello, Antony here! Well I've been busy once more. This post is all

about using Viva Decor's Inka Gold/Pinflair Buff-it craft polishes to give a

patina style finish to your projects! The polishes will work on any porous
surfaces such as paper, cardboard or even wood, so they can easily be
used for your home decor projects as well as your papercrafting ones.
I've also done a video on how to create the patina effect look, so if you
want to view that skip to the bottom of the page where
you will see the video I posted to Youtube.

For this project I've used Viva Decor Inka-Gold in various colours, but
you could also be using Pinflair Buff-it craft or Tonic Studios Nuvo
Embellishment Mousse. Dies from Crafters companion, Sheena

Creative Expressions, Ranger Glossy Accents and a clear water based
sealer and an A5 size wire bound notebook with hardback front
and back covers.

Step 1 I started by buying an A5 wire bound hardback notebook. The reason

I chose a wire bound notebook was because it would be easy to remove both

covers for decorating. Also look for a cover that doesn't have a shiny finish
because you'll find that the decorating pastes won't stick to it.

Step 2 Using loads of different dies, I used them to cut myself the shapes
using 1mm cardboard. Most standard die will cut 1mm cardboard, but you
may need to tease the cut shapes out of the more detailed dies.

Step 3 Carefully pull apart the wire from the notebook so that the front
and back covers as well as the paper can be removed.
Put the back cover and paper to one side.

Step 4 I had no real plan on laying the die cuts out, but simply played

round until I was happy with how things looked, then I stuck them

down using Pinflair Glue-it Bookbinding Glue. If any of the die cuts
covered any of the holes for the wire binding, I made sure to re-cut
them within the die cuts.

Step 5 For the key and padlock I cut them out about 5 times each

using the 1mm cardboard and glued them together to add some real
dimension to my project.

Step 6 Using Rangers Glossy Accents, I added rivet style elements to the

project and let them dry before painting.

Step 7 I painted over the entire surface of the notebook using Viva Decor
Inka-Gold (copper) As the paste is water based, simply take some out of
the tub and put it onto a non-stick craft sheets or a small palette. Add some
water to the paste and then start painting. Ensure you get into all the
detailed areas. The paint is very forgiving, so you don't need to be 
good painter. I found a soft wide brush is best to use.

Step 8 Once I had painted all of the front cover, I let it dry for about

15 minutes. Don't try and force dry it, as it may warp the hardback cover.

Step 9 I applied a gold colour Inka-Gold to a sponge brush and lightly

brushed it over the surface of the die cuts. The higher areas of the design
 just picked up the colour. Don't over do it with the gold... lightly does it!

Step 10 Another colour of Inka-Gold this time... turquoise. Again I just a

sponge brush, but this time I added a splash of water to it after I

had loaded it with the paste. I pounced the brush on lightly to selected

areas of the design. This sort of gives the effect of verdigris.

Step 11 I continued to pounce with sponge brushes over some
of the areas that I had already painted with all the colours, until no
one real colour stood out the most. I finally went over with copper
colour Inka-Gold using a wet sponge to give a sort of oxide look to the
finish. I then let the everything dry for about half an hour and then using
a soft kitchen cloth I polished over the surface to the paint a shiny finish.
Finally I then sealed the surface with a water based sealer.
I applied two coats, letting it dry in between.

Step 12 I used the same paint techniques for the back cover and then

sealed that with a water based sealer.

Step 13 Once both the front and back covers were dry it was time to add

the paper back in and redo the wire binding.... job done!

Hope you enjoyed this post. Please take a look at the video. In it I use

Pinflair Buff-it craft polish to achieve the same patina effect. You can
start with your base colour using either copper or gold, it just depends
on the sort of look you are after.
The main thing is, just experiment and have fun!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

 
Antony