Hey everybody, we’re in the home stretch for the Alchemist Compass project.

At the end of Part 3, I just finished ‘altering’ the compass.

I might go back and add a layer of clear coat over the grid paper and jewels as I’ve done on other compass projects.  We’ll see.

I want to keep the case very coordinated to the compass so I’m going to add some of the faux red leather here, as well, and in the process take up some of that blank space of paper – don’t much care for the look of that.

Using one of my Fiskars Paper Edgers I trim a width of the leather paper and before I glue it on, I smudge all the edges with the Coffee ink.

Then it’s back to the rhinestone drawer where I just keep adding stones to the lid until I get a good balanced look.  Also in this shot, you can (just barely) see that red strip I just added to the bottom edge of the lid, too.

From the top I went inside the lid and added rhinestones there, as well.  So now, no matter which way you’re looking at this – the grid work theme is a constant.

Even on the base.

And yep, I did go back and add a clear, thick sealer.  I did that on my first two compasses but I wasn’t sure until I was almost finished with this one if I would do it here, too.  But what the clear coat brings is bonding of the jewels and papers.  Especially this thick clear coat, which in this case was Diamond Glaze, but I’ve used Glossy Accents and a few other brands with pretty much the same results.

I put a fair amount in a small dish and using a wet brush generously brush on the clear coat.  Don’t whip the brush quickly over the raised objects like the jewels or paper edges or you’ll get air bubbles.  Nice, easy, smooth strokes and don’t go back over again and again as this stuff starts drying pretty fast and you’ll leave globs or brush strokes if you try ‘touching up’ once it’s starting to set.

And guess what?  It’s done!

Here’s the shots I took for my shop listing.  If you want to check it out there just click on the link below to go right to my shop Old Raven on Etsy and the listing:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/709000150/altered-art-compass-alchemist-compass?ref=shop_home_active_1

And now – The Alchemist Compass #3

Thank you for following along on this project.  I hope you liked the result.  I find particular pleasure in taking something that’s one step away from being thrown in the trash and finding a new purpose for it.  Upcycling, repurposing, recover, regenerate, reprocess or remodel – they all mean the same thing – will an item be trash or treasure?  I hope this project will challenge you to attempt one upcycle project of your own so you can experience the satisfaction of knowing your art is an ecological achievement.

Best Regards, Kriss