Through the Looking Glasss

There's a new challenge at AVJ today from our fabulous Julia and oh boy I think you are gonna love this one. I certainly did, it sparked lots of ideas of things I wanted to use or incorporate in my project like cracked glass using embossing powders and altering a hand mirror but whilst collecting bits and pieces I found a frame that didn't have the back on it, only the glass was in place and I could see right through it. I love the work of an artist called Kristin Mcfarlane who uses glass to layer images but I couldn't find anywhere an explanation of how she does it but it still set me to thinking how I could use this frame for my project.

Having been playing with Tim's 3 x 4 snippets at the back of his newest paper stashes an idea began to emerge.

Having found the frame that had glass in it but no back to it (one of those keep for a rainy day items lol) I gave it a light coat of gesso leaving some of the wood exposed.

I added a piece from one of Wendy Vecchi's art parts set, gave that a coat of gesso and added walnut stain distress ink to it and the frame.

I then set about making an A34 again using Tim's smaller snippets of papers from various paper stacks, collecting some other ephemera to add to it or to the frame.

Once the A34 had been completed I went out and bought some transparent film to adhere it to the glass. I didn't want to use glue as I thought it would show too much even though it dries clear.

The arrow with the parcel post label was glued with glossy accents onto the outside of the glass.

Using a small text stamp from Tim's shabby french set I  stamped it randomly over the glass using black stazon.

I decided the ephemera I had collected for the frame wasn't working for me so I sorted out some other bits and being rusty they felt right at home. I played with some distress paints and alcohol ink on the wordband and taking Paula Cheney's idea from her Guest post last week, I suspended it across the bottom of the glass.

Lastly I was going to add some remnant rubs but decided they weren't actually needed, instead I added a rusty wire hanger so I can put it on the wall.

I'm really pleased with my interpretation of Julie's brilliant challenge theme title

Do you know the thinking and creating in my head time was probably two weeks but if I were to put another of these together I could do it in less than a day. It just shows that ideas and designing is a long slow process for me, but I hope you like the outcome.

I also hope you will pop over to A Vintage Journey to see all the amazing inspiration from our very talented team and hopefully it will give you the inspiration you need to join in. Don't forget you now have a whole month to get a project made and to take part and there is a £20 voucher for the winner.

Have a wonderful weekend.

hugs Brenda xxx