Through the Looking Glass

Hello all!  Don't be deceived by the title - it's not an Alice project, it's the new challenge theme over at A Vintage Journey.

Our host is the lovely Julia, and she's taking us Through the Looking Glass, with an invitation to make a project using glass (acetate) or mirrors (metal sheet).  You'll find all the details of the challenge, plus some fabulous inspiration pieces from my amazing team-mates, over at A Vintage Journey, so do check it out.

But for now, here's my offering.  I toyed for a while with ideas of mirrors, but ended up with bottles - and it only occurs to me now that they might have been inspired by the Alice connections of the theme title.

Perhaps I should have added some little labels saying "Drink Me"!  I did play with adding various labels, but I liked the purity of the glass vials without interruption, so they all got discarded in the end.









As you can see, I used the Tim Holtz Apothecary Bottles die.  I cut some discarded packaging acetate and started experimenting with various crackle and gloss mediums to create a dimensional glass look.











There are layers of DecoArt Crackle Glaze, Rock Candy Crackle Paint and DecoArt Triple Gloss Glaze involved in the final look.

I love the bubbles of imperfection...











... as well as the fact that some of the crackle layers peeled off in places...

... it all adds to that vintage glass look, I think.  They're now pleasurably hefty - a good 2-3mm thick, with a good dimensional curve to the edges, and they catch the light beautifully!








The background tag was a mop-up piece, sitting around on the craft table.  I've no real idea any more of exactly what colours went into it, though I do know that there was some Picket Fence Distress Spray reverse stencil printing at one point. 

That's what gives you the lovely cloudiness in places.  I just thought the watery look of it would be a great background for my glass bottles - tricking the eye into putting liquid inside the bottles too.










I did add some flourish stamping using Glacier White pigment ink.  Again, it's fairly subliminal, but it adds a nice swirling movement to the tag.










I used Inktense pencils to provide some shading under the bottles, so that they could stand more firmly.

We wouldn't want the glass to break, after all.











The words are stamped in Versamark and embossed in Seafoam White, and I also added a little touch of the powder around the edges of the tag.












And the ribbons at the top are dyed with Tumbled Glass (of course!) and knotted around themselves to stay in place.

I hope you'll check out all the inspiration, and then join us Through The Looking Glass at A Vintage Journey.

Remember you now have a whole month to play, so there's plenty of time.




As always, you could be in with a chance at the prize voucher, generously sponsored by Country View Crafts, and you might be selected as one of our three Pinworthy projects.  Hope to see you en route!!

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
Anton Chekhov

Among the many thousands of things I have never been able to understand, one in particular stands out.  That is the question of who is the first person who stood by a pile of sand and said, "You know, I bet if we took some of this and mixed it with a little potash and heated it, we could make a material which would be solid and yet transparent.  We could call it glass."  Call me obtuse, but you could stand me on a beach until the end of time and it would never occur to me to try to make it into windows.
Bill Bryson
And yes, I know I've used that one before, but do I love it!



It's been a busy start to the month as always...

If you missed my Flora and Fauna for the new Artistic Stamper challenge, or the Krafty Butterflies for Use Kraft Card at Country View Challenges, do check them out.

Have a lovely Easter weekend everybody, however you celebrate.