Wednesday 7 July 2010

Crafty Individuals Wooden Tray





I got this wooden tray with little compartments when I bought a set of felt alphabets in my favourite art and craft shop in France the other week. The challenge was that there were so many compartments in it that if I filled each one with a detailed image it would look very busy. This is particularly taxing for me as a 'more is more' girl but I am trying hard at the moment! Now that I have finished the project it looks really simple but I struggled with it and tried the pieces lots of different ways before I stuck them down.

I painted the box with pale yellow paint and then cut some squares from two pieces of the masterboards I made recently, one more predominantly pink, and one more yellows and blues. I had intended that the empty compartments would be the plain yellow paint ones, with the stampbord tiles sitting centrally on the masterboard backgrounds. I really liked the backgrounds, though, as I have this thing about inky sheets that look dribbly, if you know what I mean, so I didn't want to cover them up. I also preferred the assymetry of having the tiles positioned differently in each section. I wanted to have a few tiles that were abstract rather than focal images so that there wasn't too much detail fighting together.

I coloured the stampbord with Distress Inks and then pressed them into the sections of the Crafty Individuals' stamps that I wanted. Having stuck everything down, I then added copper hardware at the opposing corners.

I don't know about you but I find composition the hardest thing with my stamped work. I know when I am not happy with how it looks, and I know when I am happy, but don't always know what I need to do to get from A to B. So it was like a chess game last night, repositioning all the pieces and then going away and coming back to it later. And now it looks such a simple piece of work .......!

8 comments:

  1. I think it's lovely but I do know what you meen about a piece that has taken lots of work that looks very simple. ;0)

    Love Dawn xx

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  2. I love all the little compartments and the way you decided on the composition of it. Your composition is truly perfect in positioning, choosing the colours and complementing it with the copper hardware. It is absolutely lovely.

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  3. You did a perfect layout on this wooden tray! The pale yellow color is a wonderful choice with your images. Fantastic piece!

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  4. This is really great Lucy. I think everybody gos through the inspiration metamorphosis from time to time, makes for a better piece of art.

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  5. looks good visually to me....love the colours

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  6. Absolutely love this box, the colours & composition are lovely! xx

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