Charms and Microscope sliders!

Here’s my entry for Created by Hand this week - “Charms”: I’ve never worked on a microscope slider before, but Cheryl sent me some to play around with in March. I started this one, but it really wasn’t turning out well at all and I lost the will to finish it. However, when I downloaded that sampler from Digital Collage Sheets, there were some slider-sized images on it so I had a reason to go back and complete the project. I’ve left the outside pretty much as it was, apart from the addition of a bottle cap with another image from the same sheet and some little charms.

I used a colourwash of blue ink with some perfect pearls for the background, stamped the little running man (Cherry Pie Artstamps) randomly on it, added a gold skeleton leaf and metallic rubons round the edges. I made a jump ring with blue craft wire and attached a small silver fish and sequin bead and added a length of silvertone beaded chain, cut from a necklace - car boot buy!

The inside was painted with cream emulsion from a sampler tube and stamped with my own zentangle stamp using black soot distress ink. Stazon probably would’ve sat better on the surface, but the distress ink went a bit cloudy - not an unpleasant effect! Then I added the image of the lovely girl, glazed her and fixed pink and mauve pearly seed beads to the top and bottom with glossy accents.

The New Zealand postmark is from the envelope that my Paper Pesto prize arrived in - I still have the stamps!! I like the plainness of the black ink as a contrast to the vividly coloured image and just added a little gold pen edging.  I’m pleased with the outcome of this slider, but what does one do with these things?

If my friend Jo sees this, she will probably recognise the fish and bead, as she sent it to me as a bag charm, which I unfortunately managed to break. However, I have recycled it lovingly, mate!