Laurart: Cheesecloth

Hello everyone!

It is a new challenge over at Our Creative Corner. I am the Challenge Host this month and my choice of challenge is 'Halloween'....but not just any Halloween creation....

Forget the cute cats and smiling pumpkins....

we want....

For this Halloween share with us some horror inspired

creations that are sure to send shivers down our spines.

Bring out your most grotesque stamps and embellishments....

....or perhaps take on the challenge of finding a way to transform

pretty stamps into something macabre.

Reach for the grungiest colours and textures....

Come over to the dark side of Halloween

Can you scare us?

Yes...I want darker creations....I want the horror of halloween....

What did I make?....To be honest I really didn't have a clue when I first set the challenge.

It wasn't until I was shopping in Czech Republic during the summer holiday that I found the perfect item. A vintage style hand held mirror for a dressing table. It was painted bright pink and was very cheap and 'plastic' looking...because it wasn't a gorgeous item to start off with I didn't feel too bad about covering it with layers and layers of paint!

Here is what I transformed it into...

My idea for this project came from the superstition 'Seven years bad luck when you break a mirror'....This superstition is perhaps one of the most believed (or feared). The origins of this superstition come from the belief, in many cultures, that the mirror reflected your soul - or it had the power to capture your soul...and a broken mirror would damage your soul.

Did you know some of the 'remedies for a broken mirror? - Fascinating!

Spin around three times in a counter-clockwise direction - said to confuse the spirits and reverses the bad luck
Wash the pieces in a south flowing stream
Collect the pieces and bury them in the moonlight
Pound the broken mirror into tiny pieces so that none of them can reflect anything ever again
Leave the broken pieces where they fell for seven hours and then pick it up immediately after the hours are up
Light seven white candles on the first night after breaking the mirror and blow them out at midnight in one breath
Touch a tombstone with a broken piece of the mirror
Burn or blacken the mirror fragments and then bury them a year later
Make the sign of the cross with a five-dollar note

So there was my idea - I wanted the mirror to have a reflection of a soul...and a horror one....

I began with covering the frame with black Gesso and then dabbing it with sand texture paste. When dry I painted it with Decoart Media Paynes Grey mixed with white acrylic paint. This was left to dry then a watered down coat of Paynes Grey was applied. This was followed by several layers of Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Umber and Phthalo blue/green mixed with white as a patina effect.

I just kept reapplying the layers of paint until the frame had the right kind of decayed rust effect....

When all this painting was done the frame was covered with Decoart Ultra Matt Varnish

I then dry brushed the mirror with a very light coat of black gesso to make it look tarnished and when dry I painted it with Decoart Ultra Matt Varnish to seal it.

I cut out a person from the Found Relatives cards and stamped a skull onto ivory mulberry paper. I stuck these images onto the mirror.

I then wrapped the frame in brown cheesecloth

I added the words 'beware of the haunted soul' in chit chat stickers that had been edged with Walnut Stain DI

And there is my haunted mirror....Scary enough?
I might just hang this on my front door on the 31st!!! ;o)

Come over to Our Creative Corner and see what everyone else has made

...Do you dare....?!

Join in the challenge this month and you could be the randomly selected winner of the $20 prize voucher that is being donated by our Sponsor this month

Nicecrane Designs