Thursday 5 February 2009

The start of my challenge piece for Objet D'Art

Jennie over on Objet D'Art has created the most amazing altered book from her stash from her The Artistic Stamper Shop and Site

Now I do try and join in a few Challenge Sites - this being one of them - but the task has utterly defeated and deflated me!

I bought a child's chipboard book - as Jennie did.

As I don't have 'all the gear' papers and whatnot I have to improvise - which has taken me not only hours and hours, but days and days, and it still looks rubbish compared to Jennies.

It has got a long way to go before it is finished - so I am not comparing like with like. So when it is finished which will be weeks rather than days, it will look much better. I want to get it done my May, for my son's birthday.

So here is what I did. I peeled off all the glossy pages from the book to get back to a surface that I could use.

Gesso'd all the pagers - of which there are many more than are shown here.





I covered both sides of each with paper - then got inking and stamping -taking inspiration from cards that Paula makes


Each page - apart from the long drying time inbetween - has taken literally hours to do. Gradually building up layers of colour, onto which I stamped text, then used sequin waste and swiped over more colour.



Stamped Japanese storks - because my grandson is dual nationality - English and Japanese, and this book will be filled with photos of him and my son. I also used a Tim Holtz mask. The blue above is the true colour of the book pages - goodness know how they all photographed differently - must be the photographer.

I made some 'glimmer' mist with mica powder and spritzed it on - which does actually look nice in daylight.

I have only managed to do four pages so far - that is 8 sides - so quite a lot work wise. These are just the 'background' of the pages.






Does anyone have problems with embossing and gluing Grunge Board - I don't seem to have the knack. The embossing comes off - and I find them really hard to stick on - and stay stuck (excuse the grammer).

So, apologies Jennie - this will take me a very long time to finish - but at least I tried LOL

So bring on the next challenge please! But not such a hard one LOL

7 comments:

Flippinpest said...

You have done brilliantly..better than the altered box than I am doing (which is languishing on the floor). I especially love the storks page and i can imagine how great it looks with the glimmer mist background. Please post more pics as it progresses :-)

Anonymous said...

Blimey I can see the time youve put into this piece - it looks good...its another one of those pieces I'd like to see in the flesh,so to speak, so you can see the true beauty of it.

June said...

This is fabulous and you are right they do take time especially when they are worked on to such a great amount.
Hugs June x

Anonymous said...

Lottie - it's time I came round and gave you a good smack I think! Don't be so harsh on yourself. Yes, this is taking days/weeks but YES it is going to be a treasure from what I see already. Beautiful pages and what a lovely idea.

Don't compare like with like because yours is truly original and beautiful - I can see you've put a lot of love into it.

xxxxxxxxx

Unknown said...

Thanks for your kind words - I just got a bit deflated cos Jennie produced that magnificent book in a day - and it takes me a day to complete just two sides of this book cover.

Silly me, its only 'playing' and not a competition LOL

Feeling the after effects of falling on black ice a few days ago - LOL

Jennie -The Artistic Stamper said...

Lottie, this looks fab, and I love it. I glue the grungeboard on with glossy Accents.. best glue in the world although often I have unblock the nozzle with a pin! This week's challenge is much easier, and please don't get frustrated as it often takes me weeks to make something, and I have more unfinished projects than you can believe! one in particular is a tapestry started in 1989, and only has about 20 stitches to go!!!!!!
Big hugs
Jennie x

Shairon said...

I love this book and don't worry how long it takes to finish (well don't worry until the end of April!). I can see this will become a treasured family heirloom and rightly so! x