The Red Death

Hi everyone, and welcome to my blog.  Today's post is all about my entry for this month's quest at the Quoth the Raven, Nevermore blog, which is a celebration of all things Poe and doesn't do cute (well, neither do I).  The challenge is to choose three elements from a list, and I have chosen - lace, flowers and Edgar Allen Poe.

I've taken my inspiration from Poe's short story, "The Masque of the Red Death", which is set in against the background of a mysterious plague.  To avoid the Red Death, Prince Prospero, together with a thousand of his nobles, shut himself up in one of his abbeys.  After being isolated for some months, the prince gives a masked ball, decorating each of seven rooms in a different colour. In one room, which is decorated in black and red, is a large clock;  every time it strikes the hour, the guests stop their revels, disturbed by the sound.   At midnight, a hooded figure with a terrifying mask, that of a victim of the Red Death, is suddenly noticed by everyone...(dramatic music, flash of lightning, clap of thunder!)

 Confession time.  I wanted to use the tag background for another challenge, but didn't get it finished in time, so I put it to one side and hoped it would come in handy.  It's a fun technique, this one - but you do get covered in glitter.  I covered the tag with some double-sided adhesive sheet, then covered that with a piece of lace and sprinkled on the black glitter.  After I shook off the excess, I removed the lace, then sprinkled on the red glitter.

When I tried the effect of the clock face (from Prima) against the background it needed something to help it stand out against the bling.  I'd been playing with gel medium, mixing it with black gesso and then spreading it over stamps.  Once dry, it can be peeled off and the resulting image can be added to your project.  I'd tried it on the Angel Wings stamp (from Sheena Douglass).  Now, either the stamp was a bit too detailed or I didn't put enough gel medium on but it was very delicate and fiddly to remove, so I'm not sure if I'll try the technique again, but once I'd rubbed some gilding wax onto the finished wings they did look rather good in a "Dark Angel" kind of way and the clock face looked good against them.

I printed out a picture of Poe, sized to fit an oval pendant blank I had handy.  I covered it in Crackle Accents as I wanted an "aged and distressed" look.  While it was setting, I made three roses using my favourite method and sprayed them with some mica spray.  I had a piece of card that I'd covered with Viva Ferro paint, and I die-cut it with the Fleur-de-Lys On the Edge die in my Vagabond.

After that it was just a question of putting it all together.  I used a couple of foam dots on the back of the pendant as the bail is quite deep, and Pinflair Glue gel for the roses.  Cosmic Shimmer glue worked for everything else, even the clock face, which is made of  metal.

And there it is.  I hope the Master will be pleased with my humble offering;  and that you liked it, as well.  Thank you for visiting - see you soon!