Neutral Blues II

I'm back with my second post playing the (neutral) blues.  If you missed the first instalment, you can find it here.  Since it's post number two, it seems only right to share two tags, no?  And on each tag a twosome too!

This pair came about in the usual slightly unintentional way.  As I created the background for the first one, I found I was mopping up or printing onto a spare which rapidly became a pair to the first.







These also involve some more Oxide play, so as well as the blues, greys and browns, they have that in common with tag number one.  Same stencil in use, I notice - how repetitive of me!

But then the Neutral Blues I tag was made back in April, and the backgrounds of these were done in New York at least a month later, so I hope you'll forgive the repetition.












And of course all three tags so far use the wonderful Paper Dolls.  Another of those Tim Holtz ingredients that I find myself wondering how we managed without before they existed.

This time, though, I've been able to use my own quotes on the tags.  Since I had one dark tag and one light tag, it seemed the perfect time to break out EAB02 Darkness and Light!










For these two, I started by blending Oxides onto the first tag - Faded Jeans and Iced Spruce, I believe (sorry, I did the backgrounds quite early on in my stay in New York, and then finished them off once I got back home last week).  I think there may have been some Pumice Stone Distress Ink involved too.












I applied Walnut Stain DOX to the stencil, spritzed and printed it, before spritzing again to soften the whole thing.











On the second tag I mopped up some leftover droplets of inkiness, and then did the printing again, this time using Faded Jeans on the stencil.

I'm pretty sure the tag had had a coat of either gesso or white acrylic beforehand - that's why it's so pale underneath.













Sadly, I don't seem to have any photos of the next layer by itself.  I added text stamping - in white acrylic on the darker tag...

















... and in Walnut Stain DOX on the paler tag (the Oxides stamp so beautifully!).
















Time got tighter as work progressed in NYC, so I didn't get much further, and the two backgrounds travelled home with me in that state.
















Once here I finished them off... selecting the Paper Dolls to go on each tag and the words to go with them.















I gave the dolls some of my carefully hoarded rusty mesh to stand on.  These were some of the very last snippets.













I'm prepared to use them now because I managed to get a fresh supply while I was away.  Expect to see more rusty mesh in action from here on in!













I created inky backgrounds to stamp the quotes on.  Whether on dark or light, the stamping is done in Potting Soil Archival and clear-embossed.














This starry one is from Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and source of many words of wisdom.















This quote, which I absolutely adore, is by Persian poet, Hafez (full name Khwāja Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī, but thankfully generally known by his pen-name Hafez).













He lived in the fourteenth century, but his words speak so directly across the centuries.















I used some of the tiny Idea-ology star brads as metal accents...
















... topped with white paint for the darker tag, of course.

















And I mounted the tags on contrasting layers to give just that final touch of matching opposites.









Once again, combining words and pictures has given me great pleasure here... the words connect me to the people in the photographs, and stories start to unwind in my mind.

I felt as though I wanted to offer affirmation and assurance to both pairs of children and, through the quotes, I hope maybe I have done that - somewhere in the space/time continuum.  I certainly like the pair of tags just as tags, and maybe that's enough.

I hope you like them too, and I'll be back pretty soon with another study in blues and browns - a slight hop out of kin, the next one, but with plenty of Oxide action.  I hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll see you soon.

May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back, the way it is with children.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Oops, I forgot I was planning to link up at Tag Tuesday again, where the lovely Chrissie has chosen My Favourite Colour Combination as the theme. 
At Try It On Tuesday they would like us to Let It Shine - so with my tiny stars and the advice to all the children to let their own lights shine like starlight, I hope these will fit in.
And at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge the theme this week is You've Got The Edge.  I've got two of them!  And I'm using those edges to carry on the contrasts of the tags, even down to inking the white frame with brown and sanding the brown frame to reveal some white!