Eileen Hull Gustav Klimt Book Box with Stamperia

 It is time for the tutorial of my Eileen Hull, Gustav Klimt Book Box!!! This project took some time but it was so worth it. Gustav is one of my favorite artists, with The Kiss being one of my all time favorite paintings. He was born in Austria in 1862, & what I love about his art (other then it being crazy unique) is that he used gold leaf on his paintings. He was a Symbolist painter and worked primarily with paintings, murals & sketches. He lived in poverty most of his childhood & most of his family were artists. Klimt first started using gold leaf in 1898. His "Golden Phase" is where most of his critical success came from. He lived a simple life with art & family being his focus.

I hope you enjoyed that mini documentary, I find looking back at artists lives fairly fascinating. Let's get on with the show! Back to die cutting.

The amazing thing about Eileen's die cuts is they are a blank canvas just waiting for your individual inspiration. They can be used over & over which is so satisfying. As soon as I saw the Stamperia line using Klimt's paintings I knew exactly what I wanted to do. A huge bonus is the line comes with molds so I pulled out my resin to create the dimensional cover of the box. 

To start mat board was covered on both sides with the paper from the Stamperia line. You will need to cut 2 tops (rectangular piece), 2 short sides & 2 long sides (they have score lines & tabs). The paper that goes on the inside of the box faces up on the die. You will want to put Super Tape on each of the tabs (on the side that is scored) & the long skinny edge. You will also need 1 spine (you can see it below), the piece that has score lines through it like the spines of Eileen's past books. I only used paper on the inside of the spine, so face up on the die.

Next up the outside of the spine was painted with Salvaged Patina, love this color! I left the corners blank to give the next step a clear field.

 

3D adhesive was painted on the ends of the spine with a bit of a jagged edge. Once that was clear & was tacky Metallic Flakes in Gold were applied with my fingers, pressing in as I went. I had never used Metallic Flakes before, although had been meaning to for years & this was so easy! Then any left overs were brushed back into the jar. Love, love the look!

 

Continuing with the Klimt Gold theme stamps were used & embossed to create this awesome look. 

Then it was time to assemble to box. This came together very simply. After bending the tabs, adhere a short piece to a long piece so you have 4 sides of the box. Standing over the bottom of the box, position the side piece so equal space is showing on all sides. The small edges will adhere to the bottom piece. Push down to create the bottom of your box. It is much easier to do this as it does come together pretty obviously.

Hot Tip: Adhere the box without the paper & add the paper after. That way the seams of the box won't show. Here is the before. One of the things about designing with new dies is we get to experiment with the construction. I cut a piece of paper, deciding on a different one, 4 5/8 x 5 3/4" to adhere to the bottom of the box. 

 

I cut a piece of paper to fit on the inside, you will notice it is a different piece. I changed my mind & liked this one better. It is the Tree of Life painting re-worked.

Which one do you like better?

You may want to watch the release video On Facebook to see all the great inspiration from the team. You will see Eileen showing my box with my commentary on how it went together.  Eileen also puts together a box toward the end of the video. Here is the link.

 

OK now for the fun part! I used Amazing Fast Cast Resin because I am impatient & this stuff is amazing. It cures in 10 minutes! I also used advice I got from Resin Obsession to know how much resin to use. Fill the mold with water then pour in a measuring cup. This gives you how much resin you will need! Freaking brilliant.

 

 

This is the amazing piece of resin I pulled out of the mold. It is an image from the most famous painting The Kiss. The edges were trimmed immediately while the resin was still soft. Resin is a plastic so if you want to paint it with acrylic paint (also a plastic) it is better to add a coat of gesso first. Gesso has tooth & will help the paint stick. 

 

I wanted to add my own stamp to this project so I chose my favorite thing to do, add all the colors. I pulled my vast selection of Art Alchemy paint by Finnabair to paint this wonderful piece. 

 

Here is my in progress piece. It is looking pretty cool at this point, but wait there is more! LOL

 

I carefully painted the segments using a smaller paint brush. Some of the paint is metallic, some of them sparks which has shimmer. Looks pretty cool at this point but the best is yet to come.

 

At this point I was having too much fun & forgot to take a photo. Hitting the high points of this resin piece with Luster wax gave it even more of that metallic look, helping the image pop. I also feel like it honors Klimt who made his paintings with gold. To see another project that does have step out pics for that technique you can go here.

 

A photo of the assembled box. You can see how the spine is adhered to the outside of the cover piece, Super Tape was used. My resin piece was adhered with many pieces of Super Tape. I was not sure if this would work but it has stayed on brilliantly. 

 

Here is the inside of the box with The Kiss on the left side. Do you see how I added my own touch to this project? Very excited to have this beautiful box to keep some special treasures in. Make sure you check out the other tutorials from last month & the new ones showing up in the next few month on Eileen's blog. Thanks so much for joining me on my adventures in art & please leave a comment to let me know what you think!
 

Supplies:

• Eileen Hull Book Box by Sizzix
• Metallic Flakes in Gold
  
• 3-D Adhesive
• Super Tape
• Stamperia Gustav Klimt Line 
• Art Alchemy Paint by Finnabair