Asian Art Box

Materials:

fusible webbing
cigar box
heat gun
embossing powders
acrylic paints
sponges or plastic wrap
permanent inkpads
dominos
mat board
double-sided tape
glue
gold leafing pens or color permanent pens
stipple brushes
dimensional glaze
ribbons
art objects: coaster, stick, glass pebbles, charms, etc.

1. Lay fusible webbing on top of a piece of 8-1/2" x 11" card stock. Heat webbing using a heat gun, just enough for the webbing to stick to the card.

2. Apply gold or other embossing powder to the webbing and heat with heat gun again. Webbing will start to spread, create holes, and adhere to the card stock (figure A).

3. Cut the card stock to fit the top lid of a cigar box and glue in place.

4. Paint the box with crumpled plastic wrap or sponges dipped into paint. Dab your box on the sides and the top edges. Let it dry and then add gold paint using the same method (figure B).

5. Use double-sided tape to adhere the tiles close together on a piece of mat board.

6. Using a stipple brush, add some color from a permanent inkpad to your tiles. You can heat-set the ink with a heat gun (figure C).

7. Stamp on the tiles with a straight down-and-up motion, using permanent ink (figure D). You can use the heat gun to help dry the ink.

8. When dried, use a gold leafing or any permanent color pen to color around the edge of the tiles (figure E).

9. If you like a shiny look to your tiles, add dimensional glaze. Put a ring of the glaze around the edge of the tile and then fill the area in with the glaze. If you get a bubble, use a pin or the stylus to pop it. Let your tiles dry completely.

10. Glue a decorative stick to the box after placing tiles and other art items on the top of the box (figure F). Add ribbon to the lid to create a pull handle for the box.