"The Elegance of Natural Beauty" Vintage Domino WallART - Blockheads Design Team Project Part 1

Hello Stampers!

I've been stamping up a storm in my studio and now I'm eager to share with you my first project as an official Designer for Blockheads Paper Arts!  

Stacey D sent me her gorgeous "Flowers Full Sheet 1 FL1001" to work with.  These images are original and exclusive to Blockheads and are definitely a must have for your stamp collections!  The unmounted sheet is available untrimmed or cut on cling cushion! 

I was really taken with the fragile beauty of these Flower images and wanted to design something that would capture the elegance of nature.  I was inspired by the shape of the flower panels at the bottom of the sheet to use vintage Doublecross dominoes coz of their long thin size.  I wanted to focus on bringing out the beauty of the actual wood of the game pieces which in turn enhanced the elegance of each stamped flower image.  The Wall-ART I designed reflects the simple elegance I was going for in the long linear feel of the piece which is then softened by the glow of the gold and the gentle curves of the 'S' hanger and connectors.

I hope you'll enjoy reading my tutorial and keep an eye out for Part 2 of 

"The Elegance of Natural Beauty"!

"The Elegance of Natural Beauty" 

Vintage Domino Wall-ART

Tutorial Part 1

Supplies 

Blockheads "Flowers FL1001" rubber stamps

4 Doublecross Dominoes

FYI:  Doublecross dominoes have been out of production for years now so you will be very lucky if you can get your hands on some!

Ancient Page dye ink pads:  Chocolate and Sienna

Archival Jet Black ink pad

Krylon sprays Workable Fixative and Sealer

Paper towel

Drill or Dremel and a 1/16 bit

Drill vice

8 Brass eyehooks

Gold wire

Brass jump ring

Swirl Christmas ornament hook

Jewelry pliers and wire cutters

Heat/embossing gun

E6000 glue

I used 4 Doublecross dominoes for this project and drilled holes in both ends with a Dremel and a 1/16 bit.  Whenever you're working with power tools always remember 'Safety First' and wear protective glasses and a mask.  Drilling into the dominoes made the wood burn and caused it to give off some smoke so a fumes mask would be a good idea if things like that bother you.  Always put your dominoes into a vice when drilling coz it's not a good idea to try and hold them!  You won't be a very happy artist if you drill into a finger or two!  

Before you start drilling its best to mark the placement of the 

holes to ensure they're all centered!

Now the real fun can begin ;0)  The next step is to stain the dominoes by applying Ancient Page Sienna dye ink directly to the game pieces.  This process can get quite messy so you might want to protect your manicures and wear some gloves!

There is no right or wrong way to do this.  I just pounced the ink on randomly and then did the same with Ancient Page Chocolate dye ink.  I t

hen rubbed the inks into the dominoes with a piece of paper towel.  The inks really brought out the grain and imperfections in the dominoes.  Which is exactly what I was going for.

For a richer colour I added a bit more of the Sienna and blended it gently.  This process is purely subjective and I just played with it until I was happy with the way it looked.

I then stained the sides of the dominoes with the Chocolate dye ink and also edged each one by dabbing the dominoes directly onto the ink pad.  Once I was finished with the staining I heat set the inks with a heat/embossing gun.

I used Jet Black Archival ink to then stamp each domino with a different Flower panel rubber stamp and heat set them again.  I just love the 'old world' quality of these, so divine!  I only used the first 4 of the above dominoes for the Wall ART, the Tulips domino will be featuring in Part 2!  So check back soon to see what I've created with it ;0)  

Next I sprayed the dominoes with Krylon Artists Workable Fixative to make sure the inks didn't bleed when I sprayed them with Krylon matte sealer.  It is best to spray multiple very light coats of both sprays.  The inks will bleed if you apply it  too heavily!

Glue the eyehooks into each domino with E6000 glue and put them aside to dry.

In the meantime I made the 'S' shaped connectors with gold wire and used them to attach each domino together.

TIP:  Note the way each eyehook faces, coz you need to remember to glue them in the direction you need each one to be.  The bottom eye hook was the only one I needed to face forward so that I could attach the cloisonne sunflower charm with a jump ring.  

I finished off my Wall ART with a large brass 'S' shaped Christmas ornament hook.  Here's a closer look at each domino.

I always like to play around with different variations before deciding on the final look of a piece I'm designing.  Here's a peek at what the Wall ART would look like with round jump rings as the connectors instead of the 'S' ones.

Thank you for stopping by to check out my first Blockheads Design Team project!  I'd love to hear what you think of it and feel free to ask me any questions ;-)

If you want to see more great projects featuring Blockheads Paper Arts rubber stamps then check out what my fellow Design Team members, 

Karen and Diana, 

are up to!

Happy Stamping!

Leigh S-B

The Sharpie Domino Queen