Monday 20 September 2010

"Your Grunge!" Challenge

Over on the Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge blog today the new theme is "Your Grunge!". I've had grunge paper kicking around for quite some time but never really gotten around to using it much, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

Part of the inspiration for this piece was the title sequence of the recent series of Big Brother here in the UK. I really enjoyed the sinister circus/mad house feel used in the titles and set decoration of the show. Those who haven't seen it or are overseas can get a sense of what I mean here.

The circus letters, bunting, awning and curtain with a hole in it were all designed on the PC and cut on the Cricut using the SCAL program. The awning was cut from grunge paper, painted with acrylic paint and then overstamped with some Tim Holtz paint splatters. It was also sanded and inked to distress it further, before being glued in place inside a 2" deep frame from Ikea.

I used my TH design ruler (those grid markings are just so darned useful!) to mark the stripes on the curtain and then coloured it using promarkers. I distressed it with a walnut stain distress ink pad applied with an ink blending tool and then overstamped some paint splatters too. "For the eye" and "See All" were stamped separately and fixed to the curtain.

I wanted the eye to be quite a distance behind the hole in the curtain so I constructed a box from white card, and stamped the eye in the middle of the bottom surface before assembling it and sticking it to the back of the curtain. By sticking the base of the box to the rear of the frame it also allowed the curtain to stand 1/2 way between the front and back of the frame, adding more dimensionality to the composition.

I wanted the eye to look like a black and white photograph, though it's just a stamp. so I coloured it with various shades of grey promarker and then used the shape cut out from the hole in the curtain as a mask to apply a shadow around the eye. The circus letters were coloured with promarker and then stuck into place. At the very back is a piece of Graphic 45 striped paper and infront of that a partially coloured section of a TH clowns stamp.

I deliberately left some parts of this piece partially coloured or un-coloured as I wanted to stress the artifice of the whole piece and in a way make myself part of it all. The pointy hat is a section cut from a large notepaper stampe. coloured with promarkers then distressed with walnut stain. All of the elements were layered with 3d foam tape and the memo pins stuck into place.

I hope you like it :) As ever, click any of the pics to see a larger view!

Why not pop over to the challenge blog and see the amazing entries by the rest of the design team? Even better, join in the fun! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $25 gift voucher again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try?


17 comments :

misteejay said...

Your project is amazing. Even though I'm not a lover of clowns I love the depth you have achieved with this and the overall circus 'feel'.

Toni :o)

Sarah said...

I like this a LOT

By coincidence I am half way through a vintage circus CJ layout at the mo – and may well add some similar awning, it would finish it off nicely! Thank you for the inspiration :)

Katharine Steff said...

You are the Tim Holtz stamp King!!

Great project! xxx

Netty said...

What an inspiring piece of crafting, I love the way its all thought out. Obviously one of those rulers is a must have. Oh dear my wish list is getting longer by the day. Annette

Nancy Wethington said...

An awning! You seriously rocked this challenge.

Lori said...

Love this Dan! Great work with that awning, really looks spectacular!

Linda Coughlin, the funkie junkie said...

What a fab piece of work, Dan. I really wish I could see it IRL to study each and every element of it. So many details that all work together to form such a wonderful artwork. Thank you for all the details. It really helps us "see" what is hard to see in the photo.

email: Steph@SimonSaysStamp.com said...

I love the colors! The awning is really impressive, especially!

Thanks so much for entering the Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge (and for being a DT member!)!

Sarah :)

Jester said...

Great circus layout, Dan. Fabulous!

Bearcrazyman said...

Your work always rocks and this is no different. Great Job!

Lynne Forsythe said...

The EYES have it!!! Fabulous project...and all the detail just AMAZING!

Toni said...

Dan how genious is this to use it for the awning.... outstanding piece of art... Love your sense of humor... thanks for the inspiration :)

Terry said...

Loving your grunge circus! Love all the eyes!

email: Steph@SimonSaysStamp.com said...

Very cool memento box, Dan!! I love the layering and punches of bright color.

You’ve got GRUNGE down to a fine art! ;)

*mwah*
Steph
Simon Says Stamp!

Unknown said...

This is a beautiful Grunge project Dan ... I really love that awning ... so very clever!

Lynne Forsythe said...

DAN....I loved reading all the details regarding your piece....Simply STUNNING!!

Anonymous said...

Fabulous piece!

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