Putting steampunk on the map

So one of my smaller art groups, Altered Without Limits, is hosting a really fun swap right now.  I took some time this past weekend to create the pages and I always love to celebrate with a blog post.  The central image needed to be created with a map as the focal.  The artist is allowed to do what the will to alter the map as long as it also fits into the steampunk theme. Our pages are six inches tall by four inches wide and there are ten of us in the swap.

I chose to use my favorite Tim Holtz die, heart wings.  I knew I had a boatload of maps to use for this project and of course I could not find them when the time came.  And yes, I unearthed the lost maps exactly when I had completed my pages! I ended up scavenging a few outdated ones at work which I used creatively for my heart and wings.  The actual wing area was cut from the index section, while the hearts came from more populated areas.

Of course you can hardly tell what is going on these pages now as there is so much going on. I layered and layered many techniques to each little element along the way.   I do feel in hindsight that the mica was too much, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.  Oh well!

If you look really close above, you may notice the geared up background.  This is foil "waste paper" from an industrial re purposing store,  that I have embossed.  Layers of tissue, matte medium, inky mists, watercolor crayons and graphite add depth and interest and grunge.

I dipped into my stash of resistors and added them to the mix.  I thought it was a nice industrial element to add to my heart.  Another element here are these great Masonite gears I picked up from Retro Cafe Art, a very fun artsy resource.  I embellished them with a bit of paint before using up the rest of my spinners from Tim Holtz.  

On the back I kept it simple and embellished a coin envelope and stashed a tag inside with my information on it.  I always love the element of interaction in my paper arts.  I am completely hooked on the distress stains, I hardly ever bust out my ink pads anymore with these around.  It also just so happens that this week's Compendium of Curiosities challenge is to marble stains, which was done to the actual heart pieces and the technique is outlined in Tim's newest book. Distress stains were actually used throughout the project heavily. Please stop over and see what Linda is up to on her blog, she has partnered this week with Eclectic Paperie for this week's challenge.

 

I really can't wait to see what the rest of the group creates.  I will be sure to share my amazing book once the swap is complete.

Cheers, 

Rhea