Thursday 15 October 2015

Top Hats and Moustaches...and a little Halloween

Servus and welcome to my mid-month reminder project for SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges!

Our theme this month is 

Top Hats and Moustaches


and I think both are essential elements with steampunk as they recall the miraculous era of Victorian gentlemen and engineers....

I love browsing flea market stands for vintage photographs and I think all men looked so distinguished back then - simply because of their impressive moustaches and the suits.


But then it is Halloween season at the moment...so I am afraid I got once more carried away and there's no moustache to find with my project for our steampunk challenge but at least a top hat...phew!


And honestly...a moustache would have covered up the beautiful teeth, right?
So here he is - my boney gentleman with his top hat.

As I had no top hat stamp for the project I had in mind, I made my grinning chap using a Paper Artsy skull stamp and combining it with a scanned, put to correct size and printed out top hat image from this wonderful book...

http://www.amazon.de/Victorian-Goods-Merchandise-Illustrations-Pictorial-ebook/dp/B008TVLTTS/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

...which I found at amazon.com.

But first I created a background in my art journal by collaging on some scraps of designer papers and torn book pages.


Next I scraped on some black acrylic paint with a small palette knife. 


That was followed by scraped on medium grey,...


 ...light grey and titan buff...


..and then I went in with a black and red DecoArt media Mister and created some dripping lines to make it all look more Halloween-ish for Mr. Bonehead-without-moustache.


For more detail I also added some drops and splatters of black and white - directly from the Mister bottle.


My stamped skull and the printed out and fussy cut hat were fixed to the page using DecoArt media Matte Medium. Mr. Bonehead got a monocle (made from a chipboard gear I had coated with red DecoArt Metallic Lustre and fixed to a small chain) and some black and white thread was "thrown" on the page for more interest (or chaos).





So this is my post for today. Maybe a bit too much blood...but hey - Halloween is still on my plate and I enjoy this season so much. Hope you do too - and maybe also join in our challenge at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges!



Booo!...erm...
Hope to see you over there!
Hugs and happy crafting,
Claudia 
xxx


8 comments:

  1. Hi Mr. Skull :-) you are really cool, I love your monocle and you are a star of Halloween time! LG Kerstin xx

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  2. Somehow I just can't seem to be as afraid of a skull in a top hat Claudia. What is wrong with me!!!???? I'm not big on skulls but I rather like your top hat man!!! I just have to think of your background as pretty colors and string instead of blood and guts - all is well then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great inspiration!! j.

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  3. Bloody gorgeous is what I say Claudia! Great minds think alike with the monocle and the chain. Hehe! Love the splatters and splotches and the grown in string! Awesome sauce results! Looks like you had fun! Hugz to you muffin! ~Niki

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  4. Die Hintergrundgestaltung ist klasse gemacht und kommt den schwarzweißen Motiven sehr zugute.
    Der Knüller ist ja das Zahnradmonokel, total cool. Alles wieder excellent gemacht,bravo!
    Liebe Grüße
    Sabine

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  5. What a fun, FUN Halloween art journal page! I personally love the string and your background is perfect! Great idea to use the monocle, and I just may have to steal er, borrow that idea! This is just wonderful to look at! Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Hi Claudia! I loved seeing the steps to make your wonderful background for this piece. The skeleton with the tophat - love it! I can just picture him dancing and dashing around!
    PS - I'm sending a couple of friends this way, I think they would love the challenges since they are totally into steampunk!

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  7. LOVE this spooky page, Claudia!! Completely adore how you created the background with the torn pieces of paper then all of the layers of paint and sprays!! I love how the vintage gents of yore looked, too--I love how everyone, men & women, wore hats back then--How could this skelly skull not look dapper in his top hat!? LOL :) :) Love his gear monocle, too!! XOXO-Shari

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  8. Brilliant & inspiring as always Claudia love the red running down the page. x

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