Alison Bomber Project #3 Dolls Houses ....

"Hello everyone. Alison here again, with my third and final project for October... and this one’s a little bit craaazy.  It also has two alternate endings. Those of a nervous disposition may want to avoid the final stage! This one was prompted by several triggers: firstly the weird and wonderful Ink & the Dog Dolls stamps themselves".

ID Dolls 1

 ID Dolls 2

 ID Dolls 3 

ID Dolls 4 

Secondly, a fabulously long and skinny bit of wood (the sloping walkway from a rocking wooden cat toy which was broken and being thrown out in the massive house-clearing that’s going on) ...

And, finally the inevitable journey that my head takes from Dolls to dollshouses because of my mother’s lifelong hobby (obsession?) collecting them, which has led to her having her own small dollshouse museum in the Czech Republic, Small Worlds. You can read all about it here http://czechdollshouses.blogspot.co.uk if you would like.

The wooden piece came first. It measures about 14 x 2 inches, so immediately sets the brain going: “What can I possibly do with that?!”. As usual, my first step was a coat of Snowflake Fresco Paint. I debated using the side within the frame, but decided that would make any stamping I wanted to to doubly difficult!

I added some torn tissue tape along the bottom, with another wash of Snowflake over the top of it.

By this time, my thinking was that this would form the ground under a wide, low sky, so I grabbed some sunny blues.

I applied them with the edge of a piece of card, using zigzag movements.

I built from the darker colours on the top ridge, and working downward getting progressively paler, as well as making fewer strokes down towards the horizon.

Love the painty texture where it’s thickest at the top, and the sense of movement. 

Time for the grass - regulars at Words and Pictures will know I love my grasses! A different trio of paints for this...

... but the same method of application...

... and making sure to add some colour along the bottom edge, as I had done along the top.

While that dried off fully, I started playing with my Dolls.

I already had them stamped out for when I was trying my original (unfulfilled-as-yet) idea... so I had some to mess about with, but once I’d worked out the plan, I restamped using my double-colour technique, as with yesterday’s stamping.

It’s a bit subtler here - using Sepia and Coffee - but I still like the effect. I started with Sepia on the stamp, then added an edging of Coffee.

Clearly the Dolls weren’t going to fit on the weirdly shaped bit of wood as they were.  Things were about to get ugly for the Dolls: time to get the scissors out...

And I started building little houses...

And factories...

The tissue tape had pretty much disappeared under all that grass, so I decided the houses needed some more stamping to “stand on”. I used the script stamp from Dolls 2, and you’ll see as the photos go on that it kept getting more layers - in Olive, then Potting Shed, and then Plum!

It’s really hard to get a photo of the whole piece, it’s so long and thin, but let me try and show you the whole street of houses in one go:

Since it used to be the walkway for a rocking cat, you might call it Cat Walk, I suppose (sorry).  It’s certainly a “Strange Reality” - all these bizarre buildings lined up amongst the giant grasses...

Well, they’re miniature houses, I suppose. 

In any case, the words from Ink & the Dog’s Eclectic plate 2 seemed appropriate...

ID Eclectic 2

But things are about to get even stranger...  It all felt just a bit too clean and neat, so I decided it was time for a bit of doodling - and here’s where you might want to call it a day.  If you thought the decapitations were bad enough, you might not want to see what I did next! 

Easiest to go house by house, I think.

So the building housing Queen Victoria...

... ended up with Victoria herself getting a bit of a Mohican, as well as a very unkempt beard.

The factory (I don’t know why I think of her as ‘the factory’, I just do)...

... got a little bit of a makeover.

Our solitary gentleman...

... is looking a little less manly.

The wild thing...

... is looking a little wilder.

And Dolly here (in her second appearance this week, after the journal pages the day before yesterday)...

... has clearly spent too long in the sun.  Cute freckles though, I think.

And you’ll have spotted the scary QuestionMark Birds now hovering over the whole place.

So, that’s where my head took me this month...  I’m under stress with moving house, okay?! 

I hope you have fun playing, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you make of this week’s creations!  Thank you so much for your time and your lovely feedback, and I’ll see you again in November.

Leandra Says: Hahaha very funny. Great that you went with your crazy side! I love both versions, but the quirky weirdo zone is definitely a perfect fit with those stamps!

Gillian Says: Bravo Alison ... love this "outside the box" project. This is a real statement piece with those gorgeous blue/brown tones and those quirky ID images. Love the depth in the background layers. Thank you for another brill week.