WOYWW #461: Fake gem stones

I'm pulling my act together and preparing this post a day ahead of WOYWW.  I expected to have some more free time, but I was asked to work more hours, which pretty much ruined my Easter weekend - boohoo. To be honest, I would have needed my time more than the money, but because I'm still on probation I felt obliged to accept. Well, at least I'll have fun spending the extra money, right? In fact, I already have, LOL!

I still managed to fit in some crafty time on Sunday and create a terrible mess as shown in this desk shot:

I can't remember what inspired me initially, but I decided to make some gem stones with cabochons and metal charms. I started out with one of the teabags that were on my desk from last week. I painted it gold, stuck a word on it and a clear glass cabochon on top. The glass magnifies the print, so even a small word cut from tiny book text shows up quite well. This is just a prototype - I'm planning to make some more. I'm sure I can use them in various projects later on.

Then I remembered that I had some of those fancy Pebeo Moon and Prisme paints lying around. I bought them more than a year ago and never used. They're really fun to play with - I don't know why I haven't tried them earlier! First, I used some in a metal pendant I found in my stash and never knew I had - I dripped two colours together (Turquoise and Emerald Green) and swirled them around a little with the back of a paintbrush. This is what I ended up with:

Next, I tried dripping some paint on the back of a large oval cabochon - I used Apricot and Carmine, if I remember correctly. I'm pretty impressed with the results, but it was difficult to take a good photo to show it to its best advantage:

I've also experimented with the Pebeo paints on top of metal charms. There's a difference between the effects the Moon and Prisme paints create. The Moon variety is the swirly one and the Prisme creates the dotted/mottled effect. I haven't tried mixing the two yet, but I think you can do that too. Here are a couple of photos of my further attempts: 

While I was looking for tutorials about the use of these paints, I bumped into a video about making fake gems with a piece of kitchen foil and alcohol inks. Since I had all the ingredients available, I had to try this technique immediately! It works really well and it's so easy! You have to crumple a piece of kitchen foil and then smooth it out. Drip some alcohol inks on the surface and allow them to blend, adding some clear alcohol to facilitate the process. Once it is dry, stick some clear glass cabochons on top and cut around them: voila, you've got your gems! I only had two cabochons left to try this - I must buy some more! Aren't they pretty and they look even better in real life!

So that was my little play over the weekend. It felt really good to be back in my creative space. Next, I will try making my own cabochons from resin. 

I'll leave you with this funny photo I took of Oreo staring down the neighbour's moggy, who we  affectionately refer to as 'Fat Cat'. He's also known as 'Perimeter Cat' as he likes to walk around the perimeter of our plot, though Oreo doesn't always take kindly to his territory being invaded and we have had to break up a couple of fights. This particular encounter ended peacefully when I took Oreo in and Fat Cat wobbled away. 

Happy WOYWW! Thanks for visiting today - I'll be around as soon as I can!