Goddesses of the Silver Screen

Hello all!  So happy to have you stop by today...

Well, it seems we really are all about the women here at Words and Pictures at the moment.  After yesterday's Anonymous Women (please take a look if you missed it - I'm very proud of it!), I'm back with some incredibly well-known ones today... 

And it's all because of the new challenge at Fun With ATCs, which is Classic Films.  You'll find all the challenge details by clicking the link, as well as lots more inspiration from my fabulous team-mates, and then it's over to you.  How will you interpret the Classic Films theme on your 2.5 x 3.5 inch ATC?

Here's where it took me... 

... photograph heaven - my goddesses of the silver screen.  And I kept it simple - because I really don't think they need my help to look incredible...

Oh, by the way, since the new challenge over at Our Creative Corner requires that you include a photograph - consider this a bonus bit of inspiration for that too (even though my actual DT piece is not due until the 15th).

From the moment I saw the theme, I think it was always going to be the women, and then it was simply (!) a case of whittling it down to just nine faces.  

I stuck to "Golden Age" stars, or further back in time, in order to fit the "Classic" theme, and also because the b&w photography thrills me - so much more flattering.







I'll freely admit that it's a very personal list of favourites; I'd love to know how your lists would have panned out...

Apart from the whittling, the hardest part about making this was working out the sizes I needed the pictures to be in order to fit on the ATC.   








I needed to find pictures that were all in approximately the correct ratio, as I didn't want to end up distorting the faces by elongating or widening the photos to fit.

And that was all after I'd done my conversion from the centimetres in which my computer very helpfully measures everything to the inches I needed for the ATC!








Enough with the maths already...

Once the photos were safely printed out, I spent some time arranging and re-arranging them to get a satisfactory look to the angles of the heads and the variations in lighting quality of the various pictures.









Then for the silver element: I unscrewed the lid of my embossing ink dabber and dipped a paint brush into it so that I could apply the embossing ink with reasonable accuracy along the gridlines. Then I added Frantage Aged Silver embossing enamel and heated carefully.








Despite all my care and attention, you can see some places where the embossing ink caused the printer ink to "separate" and turn a bit purple.  

Not only that, but for all my careful brushing, some of the fine black powder from the Frantage managed to escape, and added some rather eighteenth century beauty spots to some of my goddesses.  Ah, well... "embrace imperfection" as someone somewhere once said!







I thought about getting you to name the stars as a sort of quiz, but then decided it was a) too complicated to organise and b) probably too easy.  

But I've refrained from mentioning any names so far, in case you want to test yourselves... Be warned: the answers are now coming up below!








Thanks so much for visiting today.  I hope I haven't caused mortal insult by leaving out your personal favourites.  Let me know...

I'm betting there are going to be some Audrey Hepburn regrets out there - but, in my experience, people fall into either one or the other Hepburn fan-camp, and I'm a firm K rather than A.  You can always restore the balance by offering A up on an ATC and coming to play along in our Classic Films challenge this fortnight!  See you soon.




Screen Goddesses:
Top row, left to right:
Ava Gardner - shamefully, I'm not sure I've even seen a film with her in - she makes it on those exotic looks alone, the most fatale of femmes
Katherine Hepburn - where do I even start?!  For as long as I can remember, one of my absolute idols, on and off screen.  If I had to whittle to only one - she'd win, hands down 
Lilian Gish - seeing, with live orchestra, her performance in The Wind as a woman slowly going mad, alone in a windswept cabin (having murdered, and buried outside, the man who attempted to rape her), remains one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life

Middle row, left to right:
Marlene Dietrich - another love that goes so far back, I can't locate its source: those cheekbones, that accent, the ever-so-slightly-off-key-but-brilliantly-dramatic singing... and maybe partly because she reminds me of my grandmother
Judy Garland - the voice with the sound of a broken heart; an extraordinary strength combined with such vulnerability (and - at the risk of further offence - any film rather than Wizard of Oz please)
Clara Bow - as much for the roles as herself; she defined a whole new no-holds-barred, independent female character type, leading to the fabulous roles for women in the thirties and forties

Bottom row, left to right:
Lauren Bacall - when sexy was about more than raunch - sheer class. I saw her in a London street about 15 years ago... utterly sleek and elegant in a navy silk trouser suit, and she could still stop traffic with her sheer charisma
Mary Pickford - not just for her acting, but as one of the most powerful women in film history - right up there with any of the men at the birth of the Hollywood studio system
Elizabeth Taylor - it's not about the acting - though I do love her in Father of the Bride - but that extraordinary face, and the whole on/off love affair tendency (with which I have some empathy)


My regrets to: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Gloria Swanson, Hedy Lamarr, Lena Horne, Greta Garbo, Deborah Kerr, Kathryn Grayson... do you know what? - we could be here a while.  

I foresee a few more ATCs - and I haven't even started on the men yet!

If you obey all of the rules, you miss all of the fun.

I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man. I've just done what I damn well wanted to, and I've made enough money to support myself, and ain't afraid of being alone.

I never lose sight of the fact that just being is fun.

You can’t change the music of your soul.

All quotes by Katherine Hepburn

As it's Tuesday, I'm also over at Artistic Outpost today, in case you're interested - with something a little out of the ordinary for me colour-wise...

Happy Crafting all!