THE CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN – NEW Clowning Around Collage Sheet & FREE Circus Collage Sheet

The circus is coming to town, led in by a parade by the clowns.  In my version of a circus, it’s not the people who are in charge but the animals.  Standing on the back wheel of the bike is the ringmaster himself Mr. Elephant.

The inspiration for this fun-filled piece is the Metal Bicycle Frame; it makes such a cool backdrop for clowns' shenanigans.  I could also see this piece being incorporated into other themed projects like Steampunk or a summer/children-themed piece.

Many of the images you see are from my new “Clowning Around” collage sheet.

I also cooked up a FREE Circus collage sheet for you, which is filled with balloons, letters, and a couple of circus signs.  You’ll find the sheet at the bottom of the post.  Feel free to download it and use it for your art.

NEW – CLOWNING AROUND COLLAGE SHEET

This sheet included seven wacky clowns, a stage, and 3 sets of wheel covers.  The wheel covers are sized to fit large and small wooden thread spools.

TUTORIAL

I started by removing the bike from the wooden platform by unscrewing the nuts from the screws.

To make the process fast and easy I sprayed the bike with red spray paint that is made for metal (found at my local hardware store).

Once the paint was dry, I wrapped the frame and back wheel with Gold Harlequin with Diamonds Tape.

Next, I painted the handlebars and seat with Metal Patinas Aged Bronze paint. 

The back of the front wheel of the bike opens up to make it easy to add embellishments.  The wheel is really deep so there is lots of room to add large dimensional items.  

To make the stage that is pulled by the bike, I used the same red spray paint to paint the bottom of an Altoids tin and 4 wooden spools that are glued together.

The stage comes from the Clowning Around collage sheet.  Tip:  Notice how narrow the curtains at the bottom of the stage are which would make it difficult to stand up without support.  I added the clowns to the front of the stage to give that area support and I also like how it looks.

NOTE:  All the images I used are back with decorative paper or cardstock to make them stiffer so that they will stand up when attached to the piece.

The bottom of the Altoids tin is the top of the stage and is covered with paper from the Carnival 6x6 Paper Pad (which is where all of the paper you see comes from). The clowns on the stage are from the Reversible Clowns Collage Sheet.

I glued the wheel covers from the Clowning around collage sheet to the wooden spools and attached the paper stage to the side of the Altoids tin using E6000 glue.

I bent a faux hinge and attached it to the Altoids tin to give me a place to hook the chain (from my stash).

You can see in the picture below how it hooks under the edge of the Altoids tin.

The tassels on the handlebars are made by pulling some of the tassel string through a hole in a brass cone, gluing the string in place, and then gluing the cones to the ends of the handlebars.  

I painted part of the frame and large wheel with the Metal Patinas Ochre paint.

I punched diamond shapes from white cardstock, glued them together and painted them yellow.  After gluing them to the front wheel I added “FUN” from the free Circus collage sheet.

The balloons are also from the Circus collage sheet.  I glued wire in between the balloon image and a piece of decorative paper and then used the wire to attach the balloons to the handlebars.

To make the circus banner, I started with Mini Lacy Banner Flags which I painted yellow.  

Next, I added the "CIRCUS" letters from the free collage sheet.

I twisted 2 pieces of red wire together and threaded it through the pre-punched holes in the flags.  The wire is threaded through the backs of the flags.  The reason I used two strands and twisted them together was to make the wire stiff enough to hold the weight of the flags and the clown hanging on at the end.  Make sure to use enough wire to have extra at both ends; on the one end to wrap it around the bike handles and at the other end to attach the clown.

To keep the flags in place you can add a tiny dab of Glossy Accents to the back at each hole and use a little on the handlebars before wrapping the wire around the bars.   

ALPHA STAMPS SUPPLIES

Altered Metal Frame – Bicycle

Clowning Around Collage Sheet

Reversible Clowns Collage Sheet

Clowns At the Beach Collage sheet

Elephants #1 Collage Sheets

3D Circus Tent Collage Sheet - Flags

Beach Babes Collage Sheet - Balls

Carnival 6x6 Paper Pad

Mini Lacy Banner Flags

Zebra Wire Multi-Color Mini Set

3mm Tape – Gold Harlequin Diamonds

Raw Brass Box Feet - Cones

Blank Altoids Tin

Vintage Brass Faux Hinge

Metal Patinas – Retro Highway – Ochre

Metal Patinas – Ancient Coin – Aged Bronze

FREE CIRCUS COLLAGE SHEET

Feel free to use the images on this sheet for your art.  To download the collage sheet, right-click on the image and select “Save As” from the menu.

All you Steampunk and fantasy fans out there I've got some cool stuff coming your way!  Stay tuned!!!