Lilith Rising

Well the time has come and gone to enter the Alpha Stamps Halloween Giveaway and guess what, even with my studio being a far cry from what it use to be I managed to make something. 

Meet

Lilith Rising

The idea for this piece came about in a round about manner.  The image of the woman with bat wings was the right size for a domino book and I'd spent the morning cruising a number of retro images.  So when the two art forms crashed together in my mind I envisioned a sort of pin up calender, innocent on the outside, devilish on the inside.

I used 2 regular sized dominoes and coated them with Tim Holtz alcohol inks (mushroom, latte and slate).  Then I stamped the innocent looking bats (this particular stamp is no longer available but there is a wonderful Bat stamp available HERE).  The first one I stamped didn't go on very well so I had to fill it in with a sharpie but it works. 

The wings are my very last set from Paula's Kit club, it only bothers me slightly that they aren't bat wings since I ended up going with a more fallen angel thing.  But if I had THESE I would have used them.

To the left is a close up of the back of the domino book.  Again I used the Tim Holtz alcohol inks and stamped the Belladonna Drops bottle image from the Poison Rubber Stamp Set using archival ink. 

The charm is another last from a Paula's Kit Club but Alpha Stamps has the most fabulous Halloween charms.  Go HERE to see them all.

To add some more texture to the domino I affixed some black DMC floss and 2 different shades of whisper fiber, to me it looks like a ragged spider web.   

I love the way the book looks all tied up (used a black silk ribbon) from the top.  I think the wings triple it's overall size and make it as impressive (or daunting) as coming face to face with a fallen angel would be.

You can get a better picture of the details on the outside of the book with this picture.  I used black rhinestones all around the outside rim of the dominoes, they are not as shimmery/reflective as I normally use but there was something about how the light just seems to get sucked into them that worked so well on this. 

And here she is, Lilith in all her glory.  I have to admit I was nervous about using a nude image in a challenge piece, I considered draping her with a black silk ribbon and adding rhinestones to her tata's, but everyone that I spoke to said they thought it was fine and that I shouldn't compromise my vision for a 'what if I offend people' thought. 

The accordion folded paper is a natural/handmade sheet of paper.  I stamped the Laverck's Instant Relief stamp (also in the Poison Rubber Stamp Set) in black and then dusted the paper with black and pink (very very lightly, more flesh toned than anything) inks.  On the opposite side I used a spider web decorative paper.

 

I had a bit of trouble wrapping my mind around how to really make the skeletons pop but after a bit the light bulb came on.  I stamped the image onto transparency film and then painted the opposite side with white acrylic paint.  They really do stand out in real life, and are very detailed, it's a great stamp.

The finishing touch on the inside (and it actually came before putting Lilith and the skeletons on) was some black Dresden.  Alpha stamps has a wonderful collection of black Dresden and it can all be found HERE.

Well, keep your fingers crossed for me and go vote!  Voting opens at midnight the 22nd on the Alpha Stamp Blog