Wednesday, May 1, 2013

The Golden Owl

Early in 2010 two teenage brothers, Doug and Barry Beeglecomb, discovered a locked chest hidden behind the boiler in their basement. Keeping their discovery a secret, they snuck it up to their shared room and placed it deep within the recesses of their closet, under piles of dirty clothes. Curious as they were, they waited one whole week until they were finally alone in their home one night. Using a mallet to break open the already loose lock, they were amazed to find a pile of yellowed papers and file folders, underneath which laid a velvet-wrapped object. With eyes wide open, this was the night that they discovered the Golden Owl.

The Year: 1891
The Place: Hibou, Delaware
The Secret: The Order of the Golden Owl


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This piece began with a handmade, background page created with pan pastels and acrylic paint on watercolor paper. I was going for the look of vintage, marbleized paper.


I then die cut and embossed six windows into the paper.


I shaded around the embossed edges with a pencil and hand-smudged each line.


I picked up a set of name plates at a flea market many years ago and attached one to the base of the paper using adhesive and brads.


I added a finishing touch to the edges by adding some dye ink and cutting curves into each corner to mimic the curves of both the cut-out windows and the name plate.


I dug into my very large stash of vintage tintypes and selected a group of guys. Looks like mustaches and beards were all the range in the 1890s.


I adhered a tintype behind each window and backed the whole piece with book board cut to size.


Finally, I inserted a caption into the name plate that was printed out on my computer.






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Supply List

Spellbinders Paper Art Supplies:

GC-001 SpellbindersTM Grand Calibur® Machine
MD1-013 - SpellbindersTM Media Mixage® Rectangles Two Dies

Preferred Promotional Partners: Imagine Crafts Inkblushers sponge

Other: vintage, tintypes, book board, watercolor paper, pan pastels, acrylic paint, dye ink, marker, pencil, vintage name plate, brads, adhesive, paint brush, scissors, guillotine paper cutter

19 comments:

amy of studio four corners said...

you really had me going with that opening story line...I want to know more! great project - love the group of fellas...

Lisa Graham said...

This is an awesome book to go with this story. My question is how do two young boys wait a WHOLE WEEK to open a treasure chest?

Jamie said...

This is really awesome Seth!!!

elle said...

Making creative art is so much fun!!!

Karenliz Henderson said...

Love your piece of art; gorgeous. Great story it really pulled me in!

Maureen said...

How wonderfully inventive!

Jo Murray said...

You got me hooked...clever you.

Caterina Giglio said...

clever man you are.... lovely into story.. made me think of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys... LOL

trish quilty said...

loved your story concept and the creating of same. I too have many cabinet cards. They perhaps need some rethinking.
Great idea Seth!

Anonymous said...

seth---you are too much---i can't wait to see what more comes out of your incredible mind !!! you always keep me going with your art and poetry, now we need a novel to come along with hand-painted images---this is not too much to ask of you ? have fun in the N.W.--i still feel slighted that you haven't come to the San Jose area or San Francisco--we feel deprived--everybody from our area, please beg him to come !!?!! sam aka sheila sabatino

bellefrogworks said...

You have such a creative mind - what a great story opener. Love the actual page. Those photos are just perfect. You really did achieve a marbled aged look on that paper. Great job

Bill said...

The story line (and your art) is too awesome for words! That's what creating art is all about.

Erin in Morro Bay said...

Love the back story! After years of performing opera, creating back stories for all my characters, it has been second nature for me to do that for my art work. Fun to know that you do it also!
Erin

Lynn Cohen said...

Great story teller you. Had you dated back to an earlier time I was ready to believe you were one of the two boys!
Fun seeing the progression of the art work as it was brought to life!

Anonymous said...

What an awesome and fun project! I love it!

~*~Patty S said...

Brilliant story telling with what you've created Seth...thanks very much for sharing your how to...
Happy Spring!
oxo

Sandy said...

What a great hook to reel me into your artwork, fabulous, the words and the art!

Mariel said...

Loved reading about all of your projects, but this was my favorite. The excitement of discovery; waiting a WHOLE week to open 'er up! What a mysterious find. Very satisfying indeed.

Gaby Bee said...

Great project, Seth. Love the old photographs!