- Sep 21, 2017

The World

Hi everyone, as you might know I ‘m participating in the International Tournament of Art & Craft (ITAC ‘17) and this is my entry for the Grand Final, the very last challenge in this series. This week the challenge is focusing around: “The World“, which is a suitable conclusion after doing all the continents.

All the details for this challenge you can find here: https://www.aallandcreate.com/grand-final.

You’re asked to use certain elements in your project (if you would like to know which ones, than follow the link).

I decided that this was the perfect project for the ATC (Artist Trading Card) format. I never made an ATC before so this was a lot of fun to figure out: you only have a tiny space to work on!

When I started today’s project all the ATC’s were connected, like the continents once were (Pangea), later on the continents separated, like my ATC’s! Each ATC is different yet all the elements of the challenge are used on each ATC, they are all equal, beautiful in their own way, like each continent and every person!

For my choice of colours I wanted to stay in the green, blue and brown range because these are the colours that you see when you look at planet earth from space.

I took pictures of the different steps so that you can see the project grow with me:

Step 1:

So, let’s get started! I measured and cut a space 12,8 x 17,8 cm in size on some Cornwall Watercolour paper, bright white, Grain Fin, 450 gr. and draw in the lines for the individual ATC’s.

Step 2:

Next I stamped one of the images (featuring a map of the world) from the Viva Decor stamp set called “Travel“ twice onto the watercolour paper using Archival Ink in the colour “Coffee“. I made sure that I didn’t used the whole image because I wanted enough room to stamp the words that I wanted to ad.

Step 3:

The reason why I choose to create a series of 4 ATC’s is that one of the challenge elements was 4 given words: Love, Peace, Unity and Harmony. These are the words that I stamped onto the ATC’s with Archival Ink in the colour “Jet Black“ using a alphabet stamp set that I bought on Etsy once. Because of the watercolour paper not all the characters transferred well, so I went over some of the lines using a Faber Castell PITT Artist Pen (size S).

Step 4:

Next I added some colour to the ATC’s: for this I used Infusions in the colours “The Sage“, “Royal Blue“ and “Golden Sands“. I worked in layers and dried in between.

Step 5:

Here I created the single ATC’s by cutting over the pencil lines (I decided on doing this before adding the modeling paste so that I didn’t have to cut through the paste). I used a The Crafter’s Workshop stencil called “Coffee Splotch“ (TCW458s) (featuring a circle) with some The Crafter’s Workshop “(white) Modeling Paste “ (TCW9005) and a palette knife to create a continuous circle over all four ATC’s, this way I expressed the unity that all the people on all the continents have, even when they are separated.

From this moment on I worked on the separate ATC’s to see what each one of them needed, expressing the diversity of each continent and every person on earth, taking care to use all the elements that I added on each ATC.

I also used the same modeling paste and stencil to create some interesting visual points and texture on the ATC’s.

Next I stamped one of the circle stamps from the Viva Deco stamp set called “Grunge Backgrounds” on each ATC using Archival Ink in the colour “Leaf Green“.

Step 6:

I stamped on more circle elements using the same Viva Decor “Grunge Backgrounds“ stamp set and the same black Archival ink. I also punched a hole in each ATC using a perforator.

Step 7:

First I applied some Metallic Gilding wax in the colour

“Onyxite“ (brown) on all the raised parts created with the modeling paste, except the circle shape that connects all the ATC’s in this series. I also added some sewing to each ATC by punching holes with a poky tool and threading some metallic blue thread with a needle to symbolize interconnectedness (also working neatly on the back and putting a dot of glue on the final knot on the back to make it stay).

Step 8:

In this step I edged each ATC with Distress Ink in the colour “Blueprint Sketch“ to give them a more defined edge and I also splattered on some FineTec Pearl Color in “Sterling Silver“ (which looks white on dark backgrounds).

Step 9:

For my finishing touch I choose some matching green ribbon, taking it through the hole I created earlier on on each ATC and binding the ribbon together with brown twine, again to symbolize the unity of all people on earth!

Some detail pictures: