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Industrial Steampunk Altered Guitar - Before and After and the How To

Industrial Steampunk Altered Guitar - Before and After and the How To
Before photo

The finished Product......Yeah!!
Ok, Im very aware that altered art isn't a lot of folks cup of tea OR in fact anything Industrial or Steampunk.  BUT.....its my cuppa tea! lol.  I think its pretty obvious from my blog that I dont make cards.  Ok I do make a lot of flowers but I thought I would show you something else I like to do.  ALTERING....Yippeeee!  And this is the type of thing I do like doing and I make no apologies for it.  Yes, my name is Loops and I'm a steampunk loving, altering obsessed Looper, heehee.

This is a gift that was given to me by Fiona Jennings and her hubby Ray (you will have seen a previous post about her Zibbet Store).  And when Ray brought this home from the car boot sale and Fiona said it was available I nearly jumped through the laptop screen to grab it!  So they kindly gave it to me.

It is my wee brother, Corey's 11th Birthday on the first on November.  Corey is an incredibly smart child and has been playing guitar for a few years now and is amazing at playing it.  I've never seen a child his age play as well.  But then Im slightly biased.....just a bit, heehee.

WHAT I DID

Well I couldn't very well leave it like it was.......that wouldn't be me.

So I wrapped the whole thing in aluminium foil tape.  This tape is much stronger than just wrapping it in tin foil.  BUT, you can use tin foil, it works just as well.  You just need to be a bit more careful or buy the extra thick tin foil.  I had to then use my bone folder, embossing tool and the best tool of all......my thumb.....to emboss it all as I didn't want to lose the fantastic textures of the wires.

Before the "Wrapping"

Many Foil Tape cuts to my hands later!!


One bad thing though is that I got LOADS of foil cuts.  Maybe if I hadn't been so eager.......ok......impatient to get it done I wouldn't have had so many cuts!  But at least I can say my blood, sweat and tears went into altering it......literally, heehee.

After embossing it all so the wires showed, I painted it in different colours.  WHAT??? I here you cry.  Dont panic...........I knew what I was doing (she says with the knowledge of hindsight, lol).

Heres how it looked.  Awful right?  Just wait though....I haven't added the black paint yet.  WHAT AGAIN??  Calm down.......everything will be ok. lol

I painted the whole guitar is different coloured
 acrylic paints including gold and blue metallic acrylics

Close up of the awful multi-coloured paint job, heehee

Yeah.......I know.  What was I thinking!  But there is another step that makes it look even worse before it gets better, lol.

Once the paint is COMPLETELY dry, you need to take black acrylic paint and paint the whole thing black.  AHHHHH!!!!  WHAT ARE YOU DOING PAINTING IT ALL BLACK LOOPS?  Once painted completely black, take a cloth or kitchen roll and start to wipe it off!  Eh??  Yeap, wipe the black paint off carefully so as not to take the colours underneath off.  

You may find as you are doing this that some of the black paint has dried.  Simply spray the black paint with a light spray of water.  OR, you could do what I did, I used a wet one to wipe it off.  This meant I didn't need to use water so I had more control of taking off the black paint and not the coloured paint.

So, the black paint will cling to all the little nooks and crannies and I also left some of the paint in places all over the guitar.  Its entirely up to you how much or little of the black paint you wipe off.  And in some places you may find the coloured paint comes off too and some of the silver foil shows through.  But that was fine by me as I wanted it to look rough and ready.

So once I finished wiping off the black paint, I took some antique gold rub on's (or rub and buff) and put a bit on my finger and went over the guitar strings and the raised wire parts.  This makes the wires pop out and is a fantastic finishing technique.  I was a bit disappointed with the results UNTIL I used the rub on's.  It really lifted the whole guitar.

I then sprayed some matt varnish (kindly provided by yummy hubby) over the entire guitar to seal it to ensure the rub on gold and paint doesn't peel off.  And here is the end result.

The antique gold rub on highlights the wire parts and strings

The back of the guitar....more colour showing on the back

Close up of the side of the guitar

Side view

I LOVE this guitar....can I part with it???  Hmmmm?

Here's a shot of the different colours showing through

The strings highlighted with gold rub on's




So there you go folks.  Not my usual "Flowers" now is it?  Heehee.  But I thought I'd show you something else I like to do.  I ain't no one trip pony, lol.  You may like it, you may not.  But I know Corey will love it.

DONT FORGET, if there is ever anything you would like a tutorial on.....anything at all, please ask.  I love a challenge as I've said a million times before.  I got an email from a fellow DoCrafter the other night asking would I accept a challenge on how to make a small paper fir-cone for her cards.  Did I accept.....Oh I think so.  So I will do my best to help so please do not hesitate to ask for me to do a tutorial and if I can do it, I will.

I hope some of you try this technique.  It looks amazing on boxes.  If you take a box and add bits and pieces like buttons, chain, keys etc and put the foil over it, emboss the bits and pieces through the foil, then paint it as I've described above, it looks incredible.

Here's a link to a great video by a lady called Rachel (RachO113).  She alters a wee box.  Click Here 


Ok, Im outta here.  Thanks again everyone for looking and a big thank you to all my new followers and old followers for your continued support.  I only did my giveaway for my Blog Candy for hitting 10'000 hits last week and I'm fast approaching 20'000 hits already!  Ahhhhh......you lot are gonna empty my craft room, heehee.  Seriously though, thank you everyone.

Toodles Noodles (Sorry if this was a longggggg post, lol).....Loops xx

Would you like to buy me a coffee which helps me maintain this blog so I can make bigger and better content, simply click on the image or copy the link below.  No pressure at all, its just if you want to.  Cheers big ears!
https://ko-fi.com/craftyloops


Comments

  1. Hi Lee
    Wow a fabulous piece of art good luck with the challenges
    Hugs Dianne xx :)

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  2. Wow Lee this is fabulous, so different from the original guitar, love it. Debs xx

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  3. Wowwwww Lee...... as you say, it may not be everyone's cup of tea.... but I can only say WOW! You are very talented.... that is one fab piece of art.... and your little bro will be so pleased with it!! I hope he appreciates all the work you've put in to it...
    Hugs
    Christine x

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  4. Wow Lee
    Each to our own lol, this is a fantastic work of art and Corey will treasure it, I love your tuts, they are always so detailed lol, you must be so happy with your results and how kind of Mr Loopy to lend you his varnish!
    Tilly x

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  5. wow - that seems to be a common theme with your comments lol
    but this is a wow! can I ask a question? how long did this take you from start to finish, roughly?
    Debz
    xx

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  6. and its a wow from me too ... I must say I prefer the lovely flowers you make especially the ones "I now have" lol ... but this is certainly a work of art ... well done ... I am hoping to "alter" some wooden boxes in some way for my dear Mum and sister for christmas ... probably using some sort of crackle paint well that is if I get time ... I have not even started my christmas cards yet lol ... happy crafting honey and love sandy xx

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  7. Wow! this is fab, what a brilliant idea
    Lindsay xx

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  8. Hi Lee,
    Oh wow this is stunning,gorgeous,beautiful,fabulous,can you tell I love it....I need to find a box as I would love to do a box,not sure how it would turn out as I've never done anything like this,so it might just turn out to be a disaster...lol..Thanks for the inspiration....
    Mandy x

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  9. Oh my giddy Aunt lee you are a Rock star!!!!! This project is amazing!!!!! Wow you sure put in a lot of work in this!!!!! Wow Fabulous project and I am sure he will love this!!!!! way to go my friend!!!!!!

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  10. You are so clever Lee. I read this with great enthusiasm. Love how it turned out. Have been seeing lots of blank boxes out there and would love to try one with different papers on and crackle paint but just wouldnt know where to start. Keep up the great tutorials. xx

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  11. Wow, wow, wow!! This is brilliant and I love it!!! What a brilliant idea to use the foil and emboss to show all the detail. Thanks for telling us how it is done and I WILL have a go at a box sometime (probably when it's warm enough to paint outdoors though). I LOVE your paint effects. Beautiful (can you tell I like it :))) Best of luck with the challenges, you definitely deserve to win with this :)

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  12. That is so cool, I love it! You are very clever Lee :) good luck with the challenges xx

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  13. Wow, it looks amazing and must have taken you ages! Thanks for joining our Anything Goes challenge at Dream Valley. Susie x

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  14. wow this is fantastic lee.love it. your brother is so lucky :D

    xx coops xx

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  15. OOoohhh so you're not just a pretty face eh?! lol
    This is stunning Lee and I'm sure Corey is gonna love it! Who would think something so plain could turn out so fab! Good luck with the challenges! xx

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  16. Талантливый человек талантлив во всём !
    Вы умеете делать чудесные цветы (такие красивые, изысканные,нежные ...), так что нет ничего удивительного , что вы сделали такой потрясающий подарок брату -гитару !
    Здорово !!!

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  17. wow that is amazing very clever thank you so much for joining us at dream valley this week
    hugs sara x

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  18. Wow Lee this is amazing, looks fabulous!
    Love Jayne. x x

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  19. Wow! This is fab Lee!!! You are too talented! Good luck for your first challenge x
    Wendy x

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  20. Fabulous guitar!!! I love everything you did to it and all the steps were so clearly displayed. Awesome! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and leaving me such sweet comments! I really appreciate it. Have a great week!

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  21. Here come another WOW! This is totally AWESOME! Anyone who loves music would LOVE this guitar~
    Thanks so much for joining us this week at Come and Get It!

    Julie

    P.S. I had no problems getting to your blog, so even though the picture didn't post, the link works wonderfully!

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  22. PS I hope you are into digi scrapping as I have just drawn you as the winner of the digital software :) xx

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  23. Hi Lee this is stunning you are very talented, your brother is going to love it...

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  24. wow Lee what an amazing piece of work and I hate to say it but well worth the cuts Im afraid lol
    Mina xxx
    p.s. keep an eye out for the postie

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  25. What a real piece of crafting art - Gold Star, (again!) Lee. Jx

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  26. WOW Lee, this is fantatasic, you are so clever..Good luck with the Challenges.
    Wendy xx

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  27. Wow, what a cool project! Hope your poor hands have recovered! Thanks for playing along at Dream Valley.

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  28. Lee! I am speechless. Great project! Well done!

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  29. Such a cool project, thanks for sharing!
    And thanks for the shout out for Pixie, good luck!

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  30. OMG Lee honey this is just amazing!

    Its very steampunk and altered chic and just WOWSERS!! Love it sweetie!
    Thanks so so so much for sharing over at Dream Valley Challenges and for the 1st time! Hope you will be back!
    Hugs Melly xxx

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  31. Wow this is amazing! And fab to see the process you went through to get it looking amzing!!
    Rach xx

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  32. WOW This is Fabulous.. Chris xx

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  33. WOW is all I can say for this! Also thank you so much for leaving a kind comment on my blog :) xxx

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  34. Wow wow wow Lee this is stunning hun, the hard work is well worth it, I love reading your speel too lol, hugs Liz xx

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  35. Wow Lee, you are so so clever!!! :-) Good luck in your first challenges too!!! :-) Elaine-xxx-

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  36. You've done a fantastic job here. Love those colors showing through. I must add you certainly have loads of patience.

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  37. You amaze me, girl. You think of things, and come witht things, that blow my mind - I would never think to do anything so creative. You are awesome!
    Karen

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  38. WOW! Lee, this is so amazing. You are so creative. LOVE IT!

    Donna x

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  39. Wow Lee you are so creative and fearless! I loved this project and you did a great job! My family always laugh when they get a project (especially quilting) because it usually has a little of my blood somewhere on it! hehehe! Good luck on your challenges!
    Crafty Hugs,
    Pendra

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  40. Lee wow wow wow! How absolutely amazing!!!! Sandi xx

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  41. come on girl lets see the card you made....would love a look and I bet your Brother loved it
    Mina xxx

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  42. my goodness! what words could describe this smashing creation!

    you make my basslady-hear jump for joy!

    absolutely stunning!!!!

    thanks so much for playing along with us at Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges!

    hugs and kisses from germany,
    silvi xoxo

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  43. What a brilliant transformation

    Thankyou for joining us at RRC - hope to see you again soon

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  44. Blimey..this is awesome!!
    Altering is something I just don't know how to do so I am in total awe of your amazing creation!

    hugs Elaine xxx

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  45. Great project! Thanks for taking part in Ruby's Rainbow Challenge xx

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  46. wow love how you think outside the box with your creativity Lee, what a fabulous piece and stunning colours
    Hugs Kate xx

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  47. Wow Lee I am speechless. this is absolutely amazing!
    Kerry x

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  48. Holymoly! That's absolutely stunning, Lee!

    I'm shuddering at the thought of all those foil cuts though, yeek!

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  49. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FANTASTIC

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  50. what a cool big sister you are! You did a great job!

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  51. This is definitely a piece of art !! Thanks for sharing it with our Crafting When We Can Challenge :)

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  52. You really are a creative thinker! Thanks for joining us over at Crafting When We can. Janet DT

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  53. OMG. Wow, wonderful, stupendous, amazing, out of this world. Gorgeous. Fantastic .......... I could go on and on. Lee that is wonderful and I love it. I know your brother will definitely appreciate it. What a family heirlloom that will become. Hugs Lisa x

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  54. Hiya Lee, this is really symbolic steam punk, I was reading up on founders Jules Verne and HGWells, this is not an easy design style for me, but you have knocked it out of the park!
    Great Work,
    Hugs
    Tammy Louise

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  55. Wow this is amazing!!! Great job I love it!
    Julie

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  56. amazing - love this tutorial, and others but this one takes the biscuit

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Helloooooo! Anybody out there??!! Hey....there you are! Thanks for leaving a comment and stopping by my Blog. Lee x