A Board Book Duck Brooch Tutorial

I mentioned in a previous post about my day trip to Wells that I had bought a few things for future craft projects and that I would share the details with later. This is the first of one of those posts...

I picked up a child's board book for a bargain price of 40 pence called "I Went Walking". It's written by Sue Machin and has lovely illustrations by Julie Vivas. 
What caught my eye was the duck on the front. My mum loves ducks, so much so my parent's house is named "Teach na Lacha" which is Irish for "House of Ducks" and is full of duck items- they're on cushions and curtains and she has lots of ornaments (no actual ducks though as they don't have the room and "it would be too messy").

I really liked the duck illustration and thought I could make something for my mum with it. Happily the duck features on most pages and I decided to make a brooch with one of them.
It turned out to be quite simple project and really any board book could be used if you want to give it a go.

You will need:

• A board book (obviously)
• Sharp craft knife/scapel
• An extra reinforcing layer e.g. piece of leather or thick cardboard even another layer of board from the book
• Colourless stamp pad (I used VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Clear embossing powder (I used Cosmic Shimmer Embossing Powder Ultra Thick)
• Heat tool
• Silver marker pen (I used Rust-Oleum American Accents Metallic Leafing Pen which I love by the way) 
• Brooch finding
• Glue (I used E-6000)

1. First cut out the image with the craft knife. I found this can take a while as you need to go over the cuts a few times to go right through but be patient, you'll get there.
   
2. "Glaze" the image using the embossing powder- press the image face down onto the colourless stamping pad, cover with embossing powder, tip off excess and heat until all the powder has transformed. (Even though I was using extra thick embossing powder I decided to give it two coats by repeating the same process, this resulted in a wavy surface. I didn't mind that but wouldn't do it next time).
   
   
   
3. Place image face up on reinforcement layer and draw around the edge as closely as possible then cut out with craft knife.
   
4. Glue to the back of the glazed image, spreading the glue as close to the edge as possible without lots seeping out, and leave to fully dry.
5. Glue a brooch finding to the back and again leave to cure.
   
6. Draw around the edge of the brooch slightly going over the edge on the front and back to give a silver rim effect.
   
7. You're all done, wear with pride!
   
   Happily my mum loved it and that makes me a happy bunny. I'll certainly be looking out for other board books to convert when in charity shops.

I'd love to know your opinion or if you give it a go. Thanks for reading.

Until next time, craft in earnest! Craftin' Ernest x