Masquerade pages for Caryl

I have been a veritable whirling dervish today as you can see but I have been working on these pages for a while. It's another month in our TipTopJournals project where we make a spread every month for another artist who in turn makes a spread for our album. We only send the spread which saves us all a lot in postage as sending albums has proved to be a very expensive pastime.

This month I was my turn to make art for Caryl Hoobler who had chosen Masquerade as the theme for her album (why did I not think of this?? It's such a great idea!). Her one proviso was that the background had to be in Black and White. So I got out my (rather extensive, I admit it) collection of Black + White fabrics , choose the one I wanted to use, and cut 2 8x8 pieces from it. These I layered up with wadding (batting in US) and machine stitched on the lines to hold it all together. The pieces looked rather stark and I wanted to tone them down somewhat, so as an experiment I covered both in watered down gesso. Worked wonderfully well and did exactly what I needed from it. I also added quite a bit of Art Sparkle.

On the first page I added masks cut out from my (yes you guessed it, also large) collection of mask fabrics. I ironed Bond-a-Web (Wonder-Under in US) onto the back and then cut out various masks, removed the paper backing and ironed the masks onto the Black + White background. I then also stitched them down, using gold metallic thread. I added a transparency made by stamping an Alphstamps stamp (from their Costume section) onto a transparent sheet with Staz-On). This was also stitched on. I beaded around the eyes in every mask and also added star shaped sequins, held down with a gold size 11 seed bead. I added a paper quotation which reads: Innocence itself sometimes hath need of a mask. The whole piece was then stitched onto a paper background with gold satin stitch.

On the facing page I added a piece of a gold looking vintage trim (from a Belgium convent via Ebay) which I stitched down with gold thread, and I also added another mask, as described above. I added a vintage image which I had discovered in one of my treasured finds from a second-hand book shop. This one was in support of King Albert (of Belgium) during the First World War to raise money to help his civilian population. Published way before 1923 and so in the public domain (which means you can use the text and/or images without having to worry about copyright). I had printed this out onto canvas (my latest find thanks to Abby Lazar!). I surrounded this masked picture with a gold trim. It really sparkles but does not show so much on the scan. I added the words, also printed on canvas. Again I beaded the eyes of the mask and added some star sequins to this page as well.

They are going to Caryl on Monday and I will be a bit sad to see them go. But she really likes them so I know they will be going to such a good home! And of course Caryl is working on my Romance and Roses pages. Can't wait to see them!