Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge - Some metal...

Greetings on this fair and sunny Monday morning! It's great to start the week with a little inspiration and a new challenge. So, here is my first piece for the Design Team over at Simon Says Stamp & Show, where the challenge theme is "Some metal".

 I wanted to blend antiquity with history and created this triptych to celebrate the pioneering spirit of Women. Research led me to the book Le Vrai Livre Des Femmes (1863) by Eugenie Niboyet, a French authoress who campaigned for the education, freedom and rights of women. I have called my piece Les Trois Visages (The Three Faces). I was drawn to the faces of three anonymous but alluring ladies and have recreated the original book-cover and a ledger page from around that time. I love to work with an underlying theme and it was really interesting to work with metal, paper, images, stamps, ink, findings - well, everything. I would love to see your interpretation of "Some metal"...so join in with the challenge, the chance to win the coveted Top Three Award and a $50 shopping voucher! Sounds tempting to me.

Here are more details about the piece...or just browse through the photographs if you like...

 The blocks were just cardboard packaging collaged with dictionary pages using Claudine Hellmuth medium followed by a swoosh of gesso. Then I stamped to add more detail (Papillion, Urban Chic) by Tim Holtz, adding more age with Distress Inks. I really wanted to use some old bottle tops to encase the images and cut mica circles to resemble glass fronts. I spent ages looking for those faces - you must feel they each have a story to tell. They were also my inspiration for the title and metal lettering.

Here is close-up of the letters. I laid Chip Block Alphabet letters by Tim Holtz under metal from Ten Seconds Studio. I used a paper stump to emboss the letters, then coloured the metal with different Alcohol Inks and then sanded it lightly to bring out the letter surfaces. Just loving those colours and metal! I also adding a little patterning on the far left with a fragment from an embossing folder.

 Here is a close up of the French ledger. It details the names of European citizens that were immigrating to Quebec. No mean feat back then...ties in just perfectly with the theme. I added some gold thread, metal tags and a scrap of stamped mica using a Memo pin. I used scanned images from my own collection of images and ephemera so I can preserve the original. I print them out on ordinary paper, age them and then seal them with matte medium for strength and clarity.

I created a row of roses from old brown dress-pattern paper using the Tattered Florals die. I wanted them to look more like rose buds so I crumpled the paper then cut two flowers, rolled one around the other and added a small scrap for the centre. They are edged in Inka Gold as are the edges of the other flowers and block pieces.

Here, two hand-rolled ribbon flowers layered with ribbon and lace scraps. They take just a few minutes to make and means you can put a bit of yourself into the piece.

Yes, more flowers that are on the book cover. Just simple hand rolled sweeties that are real fun when they unfurl. I used the old dress-pattern paper and some french book pages for the lighter ones to give a bit of contract. The leaves are just mini metal tags that have been bent and coloured - again with Alcohol Ink ...a fabulous product. There is so much you can do with them so do give them a try...

See what I mean - these were shiny silver to begin with - just look at those rich tones now. These are genuine vintage pen-nibs which I found just recently in a junk-shop. I live in a market town just full of antique, junk, vintage and charity shops. I am forever rummaging around in boxes or scouring the bottom shelves...but just look what you might come across. I was all done with the project but knew I was missing something. These were just what I needed to finish it off.

So there we go. Another labour of love, but worth every minute. I do hope you will be inspired to create something yourself. Let your imagination and hands loose!

Pop over to Simon Says Stamp & Show to see the other pieces from the wonderful Design Team.

Look forward to seeing you there...

Sarah .