The Wood Beyond the World

     Am I allowed the name of a book as a title of a blog post? Well, this one seems appropriate because it was written by William Morris and the subject of this post is a wall hanging I made in the style of or inspired by William Morris.

    The lovely Buttons over at Frilly and Funkie set the challenge and WOW!!! I was amazed by it...I am afraid I had not heard of William Morris before but I loved the examples I saw and the DT creations were amazing as always. I had to do this challenge...First, because I didn't know about this theme I had to do a bit of research on Google, I spent a long time gazing at the wonderful designs and I was ready to start....

    This is going to be quite a picture heavy post as I did a step by step photo record of it and I think that is the best way to see how it was done rather than wade through my ramblings...I will narrate it a bit of course! Make a cuppa! ;o)

     So off we go.....First of all I decided to make a tag (no surprise there!) and I needed to make a background. I found this monochrome patterned paper in my paper stash and, inspired by Button's stamp and paint technique that she used on her DT card, I decided to paint this with Distress inks.

I stuck the paper onto a card tag and covered it with two coats of Gesso (sorry forgot to pick the camera up - but I think you will get the idea! - It was paler than before and had a better surface to paint on)

I chose these Distress Inks

I began to paint but I really didn't like the edges not being distinct...so although it isn't very true to William Morris style (though I did find some dark edged leaf images) I chose to outline the leaves and flowers with black fine liner pen

All the outlines finished...

The finished painted background....I enhanced the shading that was already in the monochrome print by adding darker layers of ink. I thought, at this point, the image was a little too vivid and I wanted a more vintage look for this background....

So I added some Pumice Stone DI all over the tag. I was a bit worried at first that perhaps I had ruined it...You know that thought of "Oh No! what have I done?!" and of course removing the Pumice Stone DI would be impossible....after a while it did start to appeal to me and now I really like the muted antique finish of the background

The challenge requirements stated an animal should be included. I don't have many animals in my craft collection...(I don't think I could have got away with a bright pink die cut teddy bear!)
I hunted through my stamps and found the Tim Holtz stamp of a bird on a branch. I stamped it onto white card after wiping the ink very lightly onto the stamp. I didn't want a bright ink image, just a hint of an image so I could paint it with distress inks.

I covered it in a thick layer of gesso to make the image even paler

Then I began to cut around the image with a craft knife

I painted the bird with Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Scattered Straw, Fired Brick and Pine Needles DI's. Yes, I used a bit of artistic license here in the birds colouring! The branch was covered in Walnut Stain DI but I found the ink faded too much so I used French Roast Fresco paint instead

I wanted the bird to 'stand out' somehow and I considered various options before deciding to use a thick covering of Crackle Glaze. When it was dry I dabbed Walnut Stain ink over the crackles before wiping away to leave the cracks highlighted.

I put the bird onto the tag background...(No photo - I was sitting there trying to figure out what to do!).........hmmm.........This won't work....The bird (as sweet as it is) didn't look very good perched onto a tag....

I had some die cut card frames...Perhaps I can use that. I knew I didn't want to use the card though and I suddenly caught sight of the balsa wood collection perched on the top shelf.

I got a piece and drew around the die cut and began to cut out the frame.

The tag was no longer a tag....I was making a frame

I didn't want the frame to be this natural colour. I knew a dark wood colour was best because I wanted this creation to look like an antique. Although I do have wood stains I was reluctant to use them (because of the lace decoration to be mentioned in a moment...) I needed the colour of the frame to be a Distress ink colour so that it matches the decoration- I chose Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain blended together over the frame.

I cut the tag down to the right size and glued the two parts of the frame together.

I cut some lace die cuts to the size needed and dabbed them with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain DI's 

I stuck them to the edges of the frame - I wanted them to blend into the frame and instead of looking like lace they hopefully look like a wood effect decoration

Now my favourite flowers and leaves time! I dabbed some Peeled Paint DI over some die cut leaves

and a spur of the moment decision - I stamped some script over them very lightly in black archival ink. I blended some Vintage Photo around the edges of the leaves

The leaves were coated in crackle glaze and when they were dry they were dabbed with Forest Moss DI. The flowers were covered in Antique Linen DS and edged with Vintage Photo DI before attaching some of my favourite copper brads to the centres

 Rusty wire looped at the top of the frame was needed so I could hang this frame up. A skewer was used to make the holes in the wood.

I decided to loop the ends together and add some swirls to the ends to hang down from the top of the frame

I wanted the bird to perch on the frame and it needed some support so it didn't dip into the background. I used pieces of balsa wood because it was the exact depth of the frame.

I painted the balsa wood support with the same French Roast Fresco paint, because (I am so fussy about details like this) I wouldn't want any chance of seeing the pale wood...(I know! I am too fussy for my own good at times) The white you can see here is wet glue!

And here is the finished William Morris inspired frame....

I really enjoyed making this and I will hang it up in my art cupboard to remind me of a very happy crafting day. One very good thing to have come from reading about this challenge (and all the subsequent research I had to do because I was unfamiliar with the style of the challenge) is that a crafting obstacle has been removed! I have been wanting to make myself a footstool for ages and I had the tapestry material ready but I couldn't begin because I had no idea what design to have...Now I have finally found the style I want!...now to get sewing ;o)

 Thanks for visiting and if you are still here after that mammoth post thank you for persevering! Hope to see you soon!

I would like to enter this for the following challenges -

Frilly and Funkie - William Morris Style
Country view challenges - Pick and Mix
Stamping Sensations  - The Great Outdoors
Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Swirls
Inspiration Journal  - Add a little P.O.P