DISTRESS WATERCOLORING PART II ~ COMPENDIUM OF CURIOSITIES III CHALLENGE

Hello all and welcome for another Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge technique.  The lovely Linda Ledbetter is hosting these challenges at her Studio L3 blog. Check out her blog for the challenge details and come join us on our journey as we learn about Tim Holtz products and techniques based on his Compendium of Curiosities III book. 

Most of the Curiosity Crew were able to get together in Anaheim, California for this year's CHA.  We had THE MOST amazing time ever!  We saw some fabulous new products and samples from all over the show.  I will be sharing more of those with you on a future post so you that hopefully you can get just as excited as we are about what lies ahead for 2015 in the way of new products and ideas yet to be conceived!

 THE CURIOSITY CREW

Left to right:  Annette Green, Susan Mostek, Yvonne Blair, Me, Marjie Kemper, Linda Ledbetter, Cheryl Grigsby  Missing from the crew this time:  Anita Houston and Hels Sheridan

Turn to page 40 in your Compendium of Curiosities III books and check out Distress Watercoloring, Part 2.  We did Distress Watercoloring, Part 1 on the fifth challenge back in late June.  While I cannot give away the technique, I can share with you the products I used in creating this very fun layered tag.

I have no clue what happened to the earliest pictures of the process in creating this tag.  I took them, I promise!  But my camera evidently didn't like me during the early stages of my layering the tag and decided NOT to capture the images.  So ... I will describe the process and then pick up with the photographs as we proceed.

• I began with a piece of watercolor paper that I cut into the size of a large # 10 Manila tag.
• I stamped the winged girl (from Tim's Winged Things I stamp set) onto the tag using Jet Black Archival Ink. I then stamped her again onto a piece of scrap paper and cut her out, to create a mask. Using re-positionable tape, I covered the stamped girl on the tag with the mask image of her. 
• I stamped the BINGO card (from Tim's Game of Life stamp set) in place on the tag as if the girl was sitting on it. I also stamped a duplicate image of the BINGO card onto a piece of scrap paper and cut it out, to create a mask.
• I colored the winged girl and the BINGO card using various Distress Inks and Tim's Fine Detail Waterbrush. The colors used are:  Scattered Straw and Tattered Rose for the skin and cheeks, Broken China for the dress and hat, Wild Honey for the wings, Antique Linen for the collar, socks and text boxes, and lighter tones on the BINGO card, Gathered Twigs for the hair and darker tones and shadowing on the BINGO card.
• I covered the winged girl and the BINGO card with their masks and proceeded to add Distress Inks to the white watercolor tag.
• Using Tim's Ink Blending Tools, I first applied Mustard Seed followed by Broken China Distress Inks.  I further blended those colors around my masked images by using a little water on a brush to feather out the yellow and soften the edges where it transitioned into the Broken China, creating a beautiful soft green color.
• I used Tim's Latticework stencil in conjunction with Peacock Feathers to randomly add that lacy pattern to my background. 
• I added more layering with Tim's Bubble stencil and Rusty Hinge Distress Stain. 

Here you can see all of the previous steps above completed on the tag.

For more interest and layers on my background, I chose a random numbers stamp from Tim's Ultimate Grunge stamp set.  I used Jet Black Archival ink and partially inked the stamp but I did not use an acrylic block when stamping. This gives a more random look and the black ink will compliment the already stamped images of the winged girl and BINGO card once the masks are removed.

Here the masks are removed and you can see the random stamped black numbers on the layered tag.

Now to add the shadowing effect using Tim's Distress Watercolor, Part 2 technique.

All done!  See the difference this technique makes?  It gives even more depth and warmth to the stamped images!  Love it!  I also added Black Soot Distress Ink to the outside edges of the tag to better define the edges of the tag and pull in yet even more black.

One more step in completing the Distress Watercolor, Part 2 technique.  I put the mask back in place and added the subtle and lightly sprayed blotches of Black Soot.  Again, check out the Compendium of Curiosities III book to see how that was done.  But, compare the two pictures above ... you can see the difference that this technique makes; adding even more layers of color and depth to the tag. 

Now that the inking was pretty much done, it was time to add all of my embellishments.

I stamped this sentiment from Tim's Game of Life stamp set onto a piece of tea dyed muslin fabric and frayed the edges, taught in our last challenge.  I then attached the muslin to a piece of scrap cardstock using Scor Tape.  This would later be attached to the bottom of the tag using Scor Tape.

This is a fun technique I learned from a super nice guy and a very talented mixed media artist, Seth Apter.  The numbers rubons are from Tim's Numbers Remnant Rubs.  Instead of just rubbing them onto the tag, I first scratched off some of the black numbers using my Tim Holtz Craft Knife.  THEN I rubbed them in place on the tag ...

 The result is a very cool, random distressed look.  What a neat and simple way to alter the appearance of any rubon and give them a different look!

I machine stitched around the tag using black thread and then continued to randomly add some more of Tim's Rubons.  The stars are from his Elements Rubons and "LOVE" is from his Botanical Rubons set. 

I then added a piece of black seam binding to the bottom of my tag and layered the frayed muslin piece on top of it.  Finally I added a shabby black bow with a Tim Holtz Heart Charm attached to the center using a Jump Ring.

 Now it's YOUR turn to color a tag using Tim's watercolor technique and then apply Distress Watercoloring, Part 2 to your work.  Then enter your art in our challenge where you have TWO opportunities to win some very nice prizes.

Thank you to our wonderful friend and supporter, Linda Coughlin of The Funkie Junkie Boutique for sponsoring every other challenge here at The Compendium of Curiosities III!  Her online store carries a vast assortment of unusual and hard to find products as well as the ones we all know and love.  This winner for this prize is chosen by the Curiosity Crew.

And of course, Tim and Mario have graciously "kicked in" a huge amount of goodies to be given away at each challenge to a randomly selected winner.  So, get your creative thinking caps on and have some fun with this one!  

I can't wait to see your entries!