CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT BUT COMPENDIUM OF CURIOSITIES III BROUGHT HIM BACK!

Hello all of you Tim Holtz and Compendium of Curiosities junkies!

The wait is over and it's time for a NEW Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge with your host Linda Ledbetter.  This will be a bi-weekly challenge focusing on more of Tim Holtz and his amazing techniques and products. 

Linda has put together a smashing Curiosity Crew to introduce you to the various techniques from Tim's new Compendium of Curiosities Volume III and share some inspiration and helpful hints with you. I am honored to be a part of this curious team!  If you don't already have your Compendium of Curiosities Volume III, click on the red link above or click HERE to be whisked away to Tim's blog to order your copy now!

Are you ready to get started?  Let's GO!!!

Our first challenge is all about Paint Marbling.  This technique can be found on page 43 of Tim's Compendium of Curiosities III.  While we will not show you the actual technique of the paint marbling (that's what the book is for), each of the Curiosity Crew has created a project for you including the marbling technique.  Be sure to check those out for some added inspiration.  Then join us at the challenge where you can share your art and also win fabulous prizes from our most generous sponsors.  Tim and Mario are also joining in on the fun by sending Linda lots of products to use as prizes for each challenge as well.  So a HUGE thank you to Tim and Mario for their generosity and for allowing us to even have MORE prizes to give away!  This first challenge is being sponsored by the wonderful folks at Inspiration Emporium. And get this ... their prize is a $50.00 gift certificate to Inspiration Emporium!  How's THAT for motivation?!?

I created this fun triptych from Tim Holtz' Arch Frame die cut, some chipboard and some manila tags that I experimented with while doing the Paint Marbling technique.

Here is a list of supplies that I used in creating this triptych:

Distress Paints: Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, Salty Ocean, Barn Door, Picked Raspberry and a touch of Tarnished Brass, Distress Inks: Mustard Seed, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Gathered Twigs, Archival Inks: Jet Black, #8 Manila Tags, Tim Holtz Stamps: Papillon, Classics #11, Classics #17, Glossy Accents, Compendium of Curiosities II, ITissue Tape: Sketchbook, Elements, Ideaology: Small Jump Rings, Detailer Water Brush, Collage Glue Stick,  Tim Holtz Ideaology Design Ruler, Tonic Craft Pick, Miscellaneous Metal findings, wire and chain, Small Square Turquoise Glass Beads, Treasure Gold: Green Amber, Florentine 

I had so much fun experimenting with Tim's Paint Marbling technique.  It is a very free flowing technique where you can manipulate the colors with water and moving the paper as the paints flow and blend.  When they are dry, the colors are set!  Even if you add Distress Inks over them, the colors remain with a beautiful matte but vibrant finish. 

Way fun!!!  

Here are a bunch of #8 Manila tags that I created using the marbling technique. I picked my three favorites and they became the backgrounds for my triptych.

Next I glued the marbled manila tags onto some chipboard and ran them through my Vagabond to get three arched pieces.  I painted the backs and edges of the chipboard with a Salty Ocean Paint Dabber. (You can see where the tag didn't completely cover the chipboard in a couple of places.  No matter....I just covered those with Tissue Tape!)

I stamped the center panel with Jet Black Archival using Tim's beautiful butterfly from his Classics #17 stamp set.  Then I stamped the butterfly image again onto a piece of vellum.  I heat set it and colored the backside using a Detailer Water Brush and some Mustard Seed Distress Ink. Later I added some more shading towards the center of the wings with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink. 

I added wire antenna for the butterfly and then attached the "floating" butterfly directly on top of this stamped on at just the body area using Glossy Accents. 

I added some Sketchbook Tissue Tape at the top and bottom of the arch and distressed it with Mustard Seed and a touch of Peacock Feathers. "Field Notes" is stamped onto a scrap of Gathered Twigs distressed manila cardstock and then added to the arch. 

I had some little metal squares that I thought might make a cool top piece on each arch.  So, I cut out one section of the square and used the daisy center of the square as the top for each arch. They are attached by using Glossy Accents.

This is the completed panel to the left. I added the tissue tape to the outer side and distressed it with Mustard Seed and a touch of Peacock Feathers.  I stamped the butterfly trilogy from Tim's Papillon stamp set onto the center.  Then I added more bits of black Tissue Tape from Tim's Elements collection in various spots.  I love the contrast between the black Tissue Tape and the colorful marbled background. Then I added some Florentine Treasure Gold around the edges to give the arch a subtle metallic sheen.

The right panel is finished off much like the left panel.  I stamped this side using the smaller butterflies from the Papillon set and stamped the sentiment from Tim's Classics #11 between the rows of butterflies.

Now that the panels were complete, it was time to put them together. Each flat side of the arch measured approximately 3 inches.  So, I laid my Tim Holtz Transparent Design Ruler on the edge, measured up 3/4" from the bottom and 3/4" down from the top of the flat side and pierced a hole through the handy little holes of the ruler using my Craft Pick.  The line where the holes are measures 1/4" in.  It's really easy to get your holes to perfectly line up using Tim's ruler.  I repeated this process on each of the panels.

Next I threaded a thin bronze-ish colored wire through the holes and wrapped it through several times.

I twisted the wire in the center, added the turquoise beads (in keeping with the application I'd done on the butterfly's antenna).  I repeated this process on both of the top areas of the panels to join them.  On the bottoms of the panels, I simply wrapped some wire through them and twisted them off in the back of the arches.

Here you can see the finished joining of the panels with the wire through the pierced holes.  I also added some little metallic medallions that I found a long time ago at a flea market along the taped outer edges of the two side arches.

Once the panels were joined, I decided to add a piece of small bronze-ish colored chain to span the triptych.  I did this by cutting two pieces of 2 3/4" chain and attaching them to each of the three metallic daisy toppers with a small Tim Holtz Jump Ring.

So, there it is ... my paint marbled triptych using Tim's Paint Marbling technique from page 43 of his Compendium of Curiosities Volume III.  As you can see, the techniques in Tim's book can be used for all sorts of things, not just making a tag.  Won't you join us at the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge?  

Just create your artistic masterpiece and link it to our challenge.  Share your creativity with a community of others who love Tim's style and learn something along the way as well!  And ... you might be the lucky winner of products especially sent to Linda by Tim and Mario and/or the wonderfully generous folks at Inspiration Emporium!  And ... as an added kick off celebration, Inspiration Emporium is offering a 10% code to all participants of this Compendium of Curiosities challenge!  Coupon code is:  CC3C.  See what I mean about generous folks?  Thanks so much to Inspiration Emporium for their support!  

Happy crafting and have fun with this technique!