Keys please

I decided to create at least one post about keys this week, but I thought I would start with some many of you have seen before.

Many of you enjoyed when I added a bit of bling to keys last year.

Others liked that I turned a few into hooks

then stamped words on them.

Several years ago, when I was working on my "Hands" altered book, I added real Hillman keys to a spread that already had keys in the image.

Some may remember when I created a collographic plate from corrugated cardboard, six coats of mod podge, and several keys I arranged in what I hoped was a pleasing manner.  Yes, this is an old picture taken with my old useless camera.

I first printed on fabric, then printed on black paper.  Even though I don't show them, the fabric pieces turned out printed far better than the paper.

This year's keys will probably seem anticlimactic after what I've created in the past.

I grabbed a few keys and some nail polish I will never use (because I don't paint my nails)

and painted five keys.  I waited for the nail polish to dry, then painted the other side, too.  Note that some of the nail polish is thicker than others.

For the next two, I got out a product I had never used before:

Crayola Confetti Glue. I have no idea where I picked this up, but it has obviously been used in the past.

One pass with this glue didn't do much,

but two passes helped the technique stand out.

For my final two keys, I had some encaustic that I'd been playing with, but put away once April rolled around.  I just heated it and dipped the keys in it.

This is Day 13 and I recycled 10 old keys that had no value.  The one on the left was given to me because the person who was cutting it made a mistake.  Since the key was going in the trash anyway, I was lucky to receive it.  You might ask your local key cutter if you could have some miscuts.  Chances are, you will get a full bag of miscut keys like I did!

These will be used for embellishments on book pages, mixed media art, and/or assemblages.  However, if you are looking for a practical use, you could always use one of these ideas to distinguish your keys from those belonging to another identical key recipient.

Thanks for visiting today.  I'm so happy you are sticking with me on this 22 day journey.  It makes it so much fun, yet challenging to come up with something I've not tried before.