Shine a Light - Tag

Hello everyone,

I mentioned the other day that sometimes I have an idea rattling round in my head that doesn't actual turn out too well, or at least as I imagine it will, when I get round to making it.  Well, this tag is a case in point.

I had the bright idea (pardon the pun) when I was changing a halogen light in the kitchen, to use the spent light bulb to create the filament in a light bulb on a tag.... Hmmmm! The all things mixed media guru, Tim Holtz, says we should embrace imperfection so here goes; my Shine a Light tag.

I don't have any process photographs to share but I can walk you through how I pulled the tag together.  

As ever I used 300 gsm watercolour paper cut to the size of a Ranger #8 tag. After spritzing with water I sprinkled Colourcraft Brusho (lemon & yellow) sparingly onto the tag to create the background,  adding more Brusho and water as necessary to activate the pigment and build up the intensity I wanted towards the centre.  Once dried with a heat tool, I shaded in from the edges towards the centre with Distress Ink (Black Soot) using an ink blending tool. Finally I heat embossed the edges a couple of times with WOW embossing powder (Black)

I drew the shape of the light bulb by hand. First, very lightly in pencil and then using a VersaMark pen to lay down embossing ink. I heat embossed the outline with WOW embossing powder (silver).  

With Distress Ink (Squeezed Lemonade) I created drippage around the light bulb and down towards the centre bottom of the tag.  

My spent halogen light bulb was glued in place using Glossy Accents and then started the long, long process of building up layer upon layer of Glossy Accents and letting each layer thoroughly air dry to create the glass of my light bulb.  I wanted as many, bubble-free  layers as possible,  so that it would mimic the curvature of a real glass light bulb. To add a little definition to the shape, I used a charcoal pencil and stubbie to add some shading around the bulb.

Finally my label was computer generated onto a scrap of watercolour paper, edged in Distress Ink (Black Soot) and backed onto black card. So too was the main tag. I also added a black reinforcing washer to the top, a tiny date tag which was secured to black ribbon (from my stash) with a silver coloured jump ring.

I am pleased with my tag BUT the idea was sooooo much better in my mind's eye!  (Smile)

Have a lovely day everyone and thanks so much for taking time to read my blog post.

Happy crafting,

Carol. xx