Tuesday 3 July 2012

Don't Fear. . . . . . . . .

The challenge at Dragons Dream Tag It On this time is 'Don't Fear '. The following 'ingredients' are to be included in the 'recipe':
A scary image; a crowd of purple and some texture.

A very interesting proposition this one! I decided to think about things that used to scare me when I was younger in order to find some inspiration. Most of these I now 'don't fear' simply because with age comes tolerance, acceptance and the fear of being ridiculed if you let people know what scares you! My family will understand why I haven't used anything to do with spiders - I'm STILL scared stiff of them even though I know I shouldn't be!

So what used to scare me? Usually images, anything with a dark, mysterious appearance, clowns, church yards, crows, bats and Nuns! Nothing to do with real Nuns I assure you. I once saw an old 1947 day time film called 'The Black Narcissus'. I don't really remember the story very well but it involved some Nuns and what happened to them when they went off to live somewhere. My lasting memory is of a clip showing the eyes of one of the 'nuns'as she manically rang a bell (an actress I now realise!) and I couldn't watch any more of the film. It took years for me to accept that it was only a film and that not all Nuns were scary - how strange are the fears of childhood?


 I chose to work with an image of Whitby Abbey (which is amazing - if you haven't been, go!); a bird, some barbed wire, a female image which could be a nun and a winged creature similar to a bat. No clown? Mmm, I'm still not very keen on them I'm afraid!

Here's the tag I came up:

The finished tag. I do think it's scary so perhaps it's 'do' fear not 'don't ' fear?!

The background was made using a mix of dylusion sprays, distress inks and script stamping. The abbey was stamped with versafine as was the barbed wire and the 'bat'. The trees were double stamped in two toning shades in order to achieve depth and atmosphere. The edges of the tag were inked with black soot distress ink. The 'bat' is made up from two different stamp images which involved some masking to develop them into one image. Some black stick on gems give the illusion of a headdress and adds texture.

The bird was stamped onto acetate, cut out and applied. This gives sheen and makes the image stand out and lends a sinister air - I hope! The splatter stamp image adds to the sinister quality of the scene. At the lower edge of the tag some die cut lace was applied. The die cut was embossed with enamel then stamped whilst still molten to add more texture and give it a rather distressed, Gothic feel. Some more black gem stones complete the look.

A die cut flourish received the same treatment as the lace at the bottom before being applied. The word 'fear' was added - perhaps I should have added a question mark? Purple wired ribbon completes the look - it looks rather blue in the photo but it is certainly a gorgeous shade of purple!

The eyes were coloured with a white pen and the pupils were made with a small dot of acrylic paint. The eyes really are odd in the original image! I find this element the most unsettling I think - what do you think?



20 comments:

  1. Boy this is beautiful and unsettling at the same time. Favourite bits? The double printing of the trees, the eyes on the nun, the raven, the abbey and the swirl. The rest is pretty special too!!!
    You are so talented. Hugs and admiration, Buttons x

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  2. A really lovely and slightly dark and Gothic tag here Julia. Love the stamping and ink colours and great embellishing.
    I'm with you on the spiders as I'm rather scared of them too!
    Fliss xx

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  3. Love the colours and the gorgeous lace but YES rather scary - LOL

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  4. wow the is scaringly beautiful, I love this tag, it's stunning. thanks for sharing at TIO

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  5. TOTALLY freaked out by the eyes Julia - thats still my fear even as a grown up! Love everything else though. Even your ribbon is batlike. Ko xxx

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  6. Wow, that tag rocks, love all the details, especially the eyes. Thanks for dreaming with us at TIO this fortnight.

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  7. Wow this is amazing, all those details! The eyes certainly are spooky, and I love the text in the background. You've even managed to make Whitby Abbey into a scary old place (or was it Dracula that did that lol). My favourite part is how you have enameled the lace and the die cut - just perfect. Thank you so much for sharing with us at TIO X

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  8. I am very wary of clowns too!!! This tag is simply gorgeous!!!!

    It was lovely to meet you at the Craft Barn on Saturday, I hope you had a lovely day xxx

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  9. Spiders aiks....but I don't fear this tag Julia, it's gorgeous, love the way you did the text on it. The colors are great!

    How's Frankie today?

    greetings, Alie :-)

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  10. Super tag with fabulous stamping and those eyes are scary! xx

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  11. Enjoy your precious time together Julia...
    If you will mail me your address and 3 choises of my cards or tags...I can see if there is any left, that I can send to you :-)

    Greetings, Alie :-)

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  12. WOW!! Fabulous tag, Fantastic inky background.. Love the images & details...Brillant how you made the eyes stand out.. love it! May x

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  13. I think it's scary and I think spiders are scary. Having said that I love the colour, the barbed wire, crow and the bottom border.

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  14. And of course your execution of the whole tag. Well done!

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  15. love your creations, thank you for visiting my blog and leaving me your thoughts, appreciate them. i too am your new follower… keep creating wonderful things!!

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  16. Just needs the theme to the twilight zone playing! Just fab.

    Cassidy

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  17. WOW, what a awesome tag! Love the colors, all the details and those eyes... fantastic.

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  18. What a neat tag, Julia! I adore purple, and this gave the perfect duskiness to the scary night sky here. I also think the white eyeballs are a great scary touch.

    I too was afraid of clowns...still am, in fact! They creep me out. :)

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  19. Amazing tag, thanks for playing along with us at TIO.

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  20. Beautiful Julia. Have been taking a peek and wish that talent had worked its way into my blood too!XX

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Juliax