2019 #4 Tick Tock: Inner Workings with ESA {by Keren Baker}

2019 Topic 4: Tick Tock

Hi everyone, it's Keren Baker with you today, and I'd like to share with you a piece that I created using lots of layering with Seth Apter's stamps.

As I was musing over the topic, I had that song 'My Grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf' buzzing around my head like an ear worm (mixing my metaphors there 😉). I was thinking about some of the old Grandfather Clocks with the inner workings and pendulums showing. I wanted to make a piece with a nod to the frame and the swinging elements.

I began thinking about which stamps to use, and there were two Seth Apter sets that fitted in perfectly:ESA01 and ESA12.

 

I wanted to create depth to the images so added a variety of Distress Oxide colours onto the images (Broken China,Worn Lipstick, Iced Spruce,Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint, Spiced Marmalade and Cracked Pistachio). The lack of bright colours nearly finished me off!!

I wanted to have the cogs touching each other (as if when they turned, something was being moved), so I therapeutically cut them out with my craft knife. The piece felt flat in every way, so I decided to lift each layer with foam tape.

I created a frame to give a nod towards the open door of a Longcase clock. I stamped it with the EM35 mini stamp as it reminded me a little of wood grain. 

I'd stamped it with a couple of Distress Oxide colours and had forgotten about their properties when you add a liquid coating. I added some Ranger Crackle Accents and it ended up with a wonderfully soft and smudged effect that doesn't look a million miles off varnished wood.

I wanted to add something similar to the hanging pendulum and the 'Time After Time' sentiment seemed like the perfect choice. I did trim the drips off the letters as they would be defying gravity otherwise!! Adding some chain added a textural element and helped provide a decent contrast to the softer colours. It needed a harder 'edge'.

I did use rather a lot of foam, but it needed support and the whole piece looked better for having so many differing heights to it. I did think about trying to get the 'gears' to work, then realised I needed more brain than I currently possess, so thought the hint of it would work instead!

I loved doing something entirely new. I had such strong images in my head of the way that Seth and others would have used these stamps, and I found it a challenge to make them my style. I did find that having a strong design idea helped me add elements to fit in with the theme rather than it being an organic affair, which often ends up with me being disappointed. This topic really helped shape the finished piece and I can't wait to use the cogs in a bright and pared back way.

Thanks for joining me tonight,

Keren x

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