All The World's a Stage - Reversed Canvas by Julie Ann

Hello, Julie Ann here of Magpieheaven . I could hardly contain my excitement when ZuZu of Calico Craft Parts Design Team asked me to guest design with a couple of projects for March while the talented Alison Bomber is travelling and working in distant lands! So many of Calico's beautifully crafted shapes fired my imagination it was difficult making a choice. Finally I grabbed a 5" x 5", chunky box canvas, and Calico Craft Parts took centre stage in one of my favourite Shakespeare plays, The Tempest which happens to include sea discoveries and a distant magical isle!

By simply turning around the box canvas so that we're faced with what looks like a little niche, we have the basis for a miniature theatre. If you're doing this, don't forget that the reverse side of the canvas has not been primed, so you will have to give it a generous couple of coats of Gesso.

These chunky canvases have plenty of space for decorating around the edges so I had fun collaging with tissue text, stamping and using diluted blue acrylic spray.

Some lace from my stash added a nicely theatrical touch when I fixed it to the canvas with Heavy Gel Medium...

Torn, coloured tissue fixed to the back of the canvas with Matte Medium and then painted over with acrylic glazes in blues and greens provided a hint of countries waiting to be discovered.

Once I had added some dimension with plaster wrap, cut into strips, moistened with warm water; fixed to the frame of my project and left to dry and harden over night, it was time for the drama to begin with Calico Craft Parts. For my focal image, I chose

The Galleon Boat MDF wood shape, style 5

The small size fitted perfectly inside the niche and you might be able to see that I brought it forward just a tad by sticking it to a small block of MDF, which I cut out myself. I started to play with positioning different Calico craft parts around my frame: 2 Greyboard Hearts and 2 MDF butterflies from the Style 4 sheet. There's a crown - Mini MDF Wood Crowns, Style 3 to symbolise Prospero's earthly status as Duke of Milan, usurped from him by his conspiring brother Antonio in league with the King of Naples, Alonso. There's also a little gold crackle making an appearance at the edges.

Now for the enchantment that colour and gilding wax can work with Calico Craft Parts! When I painted the MDF block and added some map tissue it blended into the background, and the 'Brave Vessel' is now highlighted by a blend of opaque acrylics with translucent shading and brown stamping to symbolise the script of the play. Part of a curly vine flourish, Style 1 is echoed in the billows around the frame. Can you see a tiny wren from the Sheet, Mini Garden Birds has perched on the curtain to watch the storm-tossed ship?

A wisp of cheesecloth fixed to the background with Matte Medium creates the impression of cloudy skies.

With the addition of Crackle and hand-painted features, the Greyboard hearts become the masks of Tragedy and Comedy and you might notice that I snapped off a couple of leaves from the vine flourish to crown them. I embellished the crown at the centre with gold embossing and tiny pearl accents. You might notice the butterflies now have lace stamping on their wings and tiny antennae made from flower centres.

More tissue fixed to the sides of the niche suggests the kind of exotic birds the travellers might have encountered...

 I like the way that the box canvas seems to invite us to explore it from every angle.

Thank You so much for visiting my miniature theatre and I hope you enjoyed the show! Thanks to Calico Craft Parts for their generosity in giving me this opportunity to play. This is just the opening scene of The Tempest. I wonder what adventures await the mariners when they find themselves on Propero's magic isle? You might like to create a miniature theatrical scene yourself! There are so many inspiring and imaginative shapes at Calico Craft Parts here there's a whole world of theatrical possibilities to explore!