The Compendium of Curiosities Challenge - Week Eight

 Inking Grunge

Week 8 already....this week we're back to basics, and it's all about inking grunge.  For details and to hear about the great prize this week, click on the link above to be taken to Linda's blog.

So, what I was thinking was, since this is a technique I've used a gazillion times, probably every time I reach for distress inks (which would be just about every day), I really ought to do something a little different to make it a real challenge.

So, this is what I came up with:

It's a 6x6" piece of black bookboard covered with some paper from Tim's Retro Grunge stack.  When I look at it, for some reason I keep thinking, if this were a page in a child's reader, it would be called "fun with steampunk."  Hey, I don't know where these thoughts come from.

Anyway.....the inking of the grunge in this piece is all on the gears which I cut from grungeboard with Tim's Gadget Gears die.  I think I used aged mahogany, vintage photo, and rusty hinge.  If you look closely, you might see the splatter stamp and another kind of ink blot stamp, the name of which escapes me.

I thought the fellow with the birdcage hat was appropriately steampunky, and he's from the Pen and Pencil set.

Behind the gears are some hot air balloons, from a stamp of unknown origin.  I bought it years ago on ebay and even the seller didn't know who made it.

In the lower left hand corner, the stamp says "art saves."  Can you guess why I wanted that one?  LOL.  I have to thank my friend Nancy for turning me onto that.  It's from a set of clear stamps, each done by a different artist (yep, the one I chose is Tim's!), and each saying "art saves."  Which, it certainly does.