The rules are simple:
- One must work from the book and not reveal Tim's techniques (If you don't have the book, you can get one from Tim ... there 's still time as there are ten challenges left in this series!)
- You need to link your creation to Linda's blog
- You need to visit the design team's blogs and leave comments on their interpretations.
Simple, and what you get is inspiration from the design team *and* the other entrants and all sorts of tips and tricks and ideas you can incorporated in your own work if you so wish. Also, You get to practice with all of Tim's products along the way (and we all know that practice makes perfect).
Challenge 24 is from Page 51 of Compendium of Curiosities, Vol. 3, land is a product specific challenge since it requires use of "remnant rubs" from Idea-ology. I have four different sets and pieces of a fifth in my stash but none of them fit what I wanted to do. I'm not exactly a random crafter --- I have to have a plan before I start and I have to have all the bits and bobs I need to express that plan or it simply doesn't work. I struggle if some of the called-or pieces don't work with my idea and my creativity can be easily stymied by this rigidity. So I forced myself into an improvisation ... and didn't follow Tim's example to the letter.
No, I didn't cheat. I just didn't use one whole sheet of remnant rubs but, instead, selected pieces from four different ones: Life Quotes, Botanicals, Elements and Words. And I didn't randomly use them but planned placement out to meet my purpose.
So let's digress a bit and fill in the back story. Back in time, soon after our graduate student days at University of Florida, one of our alma maters (not sure which one) sent out an appeal for information to create a directory for all the graduates of that school to date. The included, with that solicitation, a form that described me and my husband in terms of major, degree attendance dates, graduation date, current location and contact information, and current occupation. Imagine the surprise of two graduates from the school of biology to find out occupations listed as "artist"! (When we sent back the corrected form, we asked: "Why artist of all things?" Turns out it was their default for when they had no information in their files for occupation! ) Anyway, being taken for an artist appealed to our perverted senses of humor and when the next appeals from alumni associations came in the mail, we decided to designate our annual contribution to Bowling Green State University as usual to the book fund for the Biology Department (which we had been doing ever since we were Juniors there) and an equal amount to the Art Department (which neither of us had ever taken courses in, by the way) to use as they saw fit. We have split our donations the same way ever since and for that reason, the Art Department began consider us a patron of sorts!
This past year, the University President and the faculty of the School of Art, the College of Musical Arts (which is celebrating their 50th "birthday" this year), and the departments of Theatre & Film and of Creative Writing got together a committee to promote what they hope will be an annual event called "Bravo! BGSU, a celebration of the arts" to raise scholarship monies for students in those departments. Our history of donation somehow got us nominated for that committee (the only university alumni on it and we weren't from ANY of those colleges or departments!). We are regretfully declining active participation in the program as we have little expertise of or familiarity with these departments but...
"Bravo! BGSU" is what caused me to come up with the topic for this challenge's tag!
Back to the creation of the tag!
I searched those four packets of remnant rubs for phrases, images and the like that represented to me the major divisions of the arts represented by this celebrations: fine art, music (vocal and instrumental), film and theater and creative writing. I then looked for stamps and other items that might also depict these areas of study. One stamp in my stash is a River City Rubber Works stamp called "Paintbrush Scatter" (1965-V) but I wanted the paintbrushes to be more than a black-and-white image and coloring them in over the background I was going to create would have been unsatisfactory. So...
I stamped the image on white cardstock using India Ink Black, cut it out with a craft knife, and painted the brushes with DIstress Markers of various colors (Gathered Twigs, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain, Black Soot, Frayed Burlap, and Brushed Corduroy for the handles; Pumice Stone for the brush hairs, and Fired Brick, Chipped Sapphire and Peacock Feathers for paint stains in the brush hairs) and Marvy Uchida Liquid Gold and Liquid Silver Pens (for the metal bands on selected brushes).