2019 #14 Inchies & Twinchies: King Tut with LPC {by Lucy Edmondson}

2019 Topic 14: Inchies & Twinchies

Lucy's sarcocophagus makes great use of twinchies and inchies. Another fan of Stampbord, she has used their 'scratchability' to fabulous effect. Teamed with gold it is sumptuous enough for any Egyptian king's remains!

Hi everyone, it's Lucy from Lucy's True Colours here with you today, and I'd like to share with you an Egyptian 'sarcophagus'; actually a tomb-shaped papier mache box, featuring Tutankhamun, using Lynne Perrella stamps.

As soon as I saw the Inchies and Twinchies theme I knew I wanted to use Stampbord one inch and two inch pieces. It's always been a favourite medium of mine, although I realise it isn't particularly fashionable right now. I love the way it takes ink so crisply, and I love being able to scrape back to the clay to get some white detail. I was also delighted to use the recent Lynne Perrella Egyptian images. I've been fascinated by the history of Ancient Egypt since I was at school, and it's exciting to think how much we have learned from the mummified body of Tutankhamun and the riches of his casket.

I started off by covering the papier mache tomb with Fresco Finish Acrylic Paint in Gold. I used Cut'n'dry foam for a smooth metallic finish.

I needed three two inch pieces and four one inch pieces of Stampbord for my design, so having planned how it would fit together, I turned the pieces over and fixed them together temporarily with red line tape, so that when I stamped the design it would be seamless. I then turned it over and painted all the pieces with the Gold as above, and stamped with Versafine Onyx Black and clear embossed. I used Tutankhamun and the scarab beetle from LPC038, and the sun face from LPC040.

 

For some simple decoration around the base of the box, I stamped and embossed a selection of imagery; the two beetles from LPC038, and the sun face and the fish from LPC040.

I adhered the pieces with gel matte medium.

I then used a selection of Fresco Finish paints on my image. I used Southern Skies, Tango, Autumn Fire, Zesty Zing, Bougainvillea, and Tangerine Twist. To finish off, I used a Stampbord scratchtool to etch back into the clay for some white highlights. You could just use the tip of a craft knife.

 

This final close up photo shows the etched back highlights in a bit more detail.

This was quite a fiddly project to do, I must admit. It was a joy to work with Stampbord and with the Lynne Perrella stamps but I made a rod for my own back in choosing a difficult shaped substrate (bearing in mind I was working with one inch and two inch squares). The most difficult decision though, (and I tried both approaches) was whether to paint the whole background in gold, or stamp and decorate the image and then paint around it. The former gave me a smoother coverage, but the latter would have meant I had a white background for my image which would have made the bright colours 'pop' more. I think on balance it was the right trade off, as I felt once I did the scratching back it started to lift the project considerably. I felt the depth of the gold background was important for the King Tut imagery and I didn't want to jeopardize that. I do hope you will enjoy working with these gorgeous, and highly detailed and unusual stamps.

Lucy.

Blog: Lucy's True Colours
Facebook: Lucy Edmondson
Twitter: @CraftyLuce