Pages

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

A Tim Holtz Fan in King Arthur's Court: A Medieval Take on Vintage

In January, I spent a great deal of time working with Ranger Inkssentials Foil Tape Sheet-covered grungeboard for my Looking Ahead with Tim ... Holtz January 2014 Tag project.  I had some scraps that had been embossed with Tim's embossing folders and wondered what they would look like if I painted and distressed them.  That was the beginning of this fanciful and fun project.


After playing around with foil-taped grungeboard, I decided to try embossing foil-taped Distress Core'dinations Cardstock.  This held up much better to the Distress Paint treatment and all of the sanding and scratching other distressing techniques I threw at it.  I absolutely loved the vintage metal effect.

My next question was which embossing folder I wanted to use.  I tried several, but when I tried the one with the Lion from Tim's Sizzix London Icons and Union Jack Set, I knew this was the one!  And then ... I found the new challenge blog, A Vintage Journey  that is devoted to vintage projects that are strongly influenced by the works of Tim Holtz.  (Sooooooo excited about this new blog.)  With the first challenge being Anything Tim, this project took wing and a medieval book was born.

So, I used some Tim products to distress the heck out of this embossed piece. I used Barn Door Distress Paint to coat all of the metal.  I sanded off some of the paint and added some scratches.  Then I used a Black Soot Distress Marker  and black Sharpie to add outlines and smudges of black as if the metal had tarnished.


Here are a couple of photos in different light to see how the painted metal looks with all the embellishments. For those of you familiar with Tim Holtz products, you might recognize some of the embellishments.  First, edged the entire embossed Lion with Ranger metal foil tape that has been embossed with Tim's Dot Matrix Texture Fades folder.  I painted it with Black Soot Distress Paint and sanded it.  To dull the bright sanded metal look, I went back over it with a Black Soot Distress Marker and wiped off most of it.  It almost looks like small nail heads around the border.


I looked at some charms, but went back to my embossing folders for additional embellishments. I went to an usual one ... one of Tim's Halloween folders.  Again, I used the metal foil covered cardstock and a spooky fence Texture Fade.  I cut it into pieces and created "crowns" on the corners.

Then I grabbed Tim's Patchwork Texture Fade and grabbed two copies of the flourish panet made a great surround for the clasp closure.  Oh and that closure too is from Tim Holtz.  It's a grungeboard hinge that I embossed with silver embossing powder and sanded.  I used some Black Soot Distress Ink to bring out that tarnished look.  A tiny brad completed the working closure.

The cover is made out of some textured paper that I bought at Michaels.  I ran it through the "stripes" textures fade from Tim's Americana pack for the closure and binding and the Damask Texture Fade for the middle part of the cover.



I used some of Tim's Linen Ribbon to detail the spine!  Black alcohol ink was used to dye the ribbon.  I cut slits in paper binding and inserted the ends.  The ends were taped on the interior of the binding.


And here is the back of the cover:


 So what's on the inside?  Good question!  The answer: A lot of Tim Holtz stamping and Distress Markers and Distress Ink.  I even included some photocopies of actual medieval manuscript snippets (thoroughly grunged) as well.  The pages were taped with fabric tape (colored with black alcohol ink) along the spine side.  It created a great edge for my Mom to hand sew the pages together.

I'm running out of energy to type all of this, so I will let pictures tell the rest of my medieval time traveling story.



 I loved creating this project.  I hope you find time to create a project you love as well!

-- Mary Elizabeth

15 comments:

barbarayaya62 said...

MAry!!! I'm happy to see you!!!!! What a wonderful project! It's' absolutely original and beautiful!!!! I love every little detail in this stunning piece! !I hope it's all right for you!!!! Hugs!
BArbarayaya

Claudia N. said...

OMG, this is so brilliant, Mary Elizabeth!

I am a huge fan of King Arthur's tales and medieval book paintings! Your book looks as if it has seen centuries go by! Wow! And the colours are just perfect!

You obviously have put all your love and a lot of thought into this stunning make! LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Hugs, my ingenious friend!

Claudia x

Paper Profusion said...

Totally stunning Mary Elizabeth. A Brilliant make! Nicola x

Zuzu's Blog said...

really beautiful. i love how you have added the touches of colour too. its so classy. medieval looking. really lovely work. Z x

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

This could be used on a royal gothic movie set!!!! I LOVE it!!!! You've nailed the feel perfectly! So clever and so enchanting! Well done!!!

Jools Robertson said...

Beautiful metallic effects on the cover and the pages with the illuminations are stunning

Jools x

Nancy said...

This is incredible! I just love all the finishes with the texture fades! Your pages are beautiful, I love, love, love the whole thing :)

Candy C said...

Mary Elizabeth...Your description of this being a vintage medieval book is perfect! I so love every page. The colors, the designs, the colors you've used on the stamping...it's all just gorgeous! I love the cover! It's so tactile! I just want to reach out and TOUCH IT! A really beautiful job! Thanks for sharing your art with us at A Vintage Journey. <3 Candy

Words and Pictures said...

Oh my word, Mary Elizabeth - I'm completely and utterly blown away by your Medieval creation. Stunning stamping and the look of antiquity is beautifully accomplished. Glorious work! Thank you for joining us on A Vintage Journey.
Alison x

Brenda Brown said...

A truly amazing project Mary Elizabeth, every detail holds my attention and I just want to keep going back and look at it all over again. Got to bookmark this one. Thanks for travelling on A Vintage Journey and sharing your gorgeous book with us.
hugs {brenda} x0x

Terry said...

This is an amazing little book! I love your Medieval take on vintage Tim style! The stamped images and colors are just gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing with us at A Vintage Journey!

LauraVi said...

Love it! I imagine a castle a knight a labyrinth a lady... Beautiful original project!

Annie said...

This is amazing. Adore the gorgeous covers and the beautiful pages. Lots of techniques and Tim products...love it! TFS

Annie x

Candy C said...

Hi again Mary Elizabeth. I just wanted to take a second on this beautiful Sunday morning to thank you so much for stopping by my blog. Your comment was so incredibly sweet and made my whole day! THANK YOU for the smiles! :) <3 Candy

toni said...

Fabulous book inside and out ! X