Doll Exhibition - Printer's Tray by Alison

Hello all, it's Alison here again from Words and Pictures - and though I'm far away from the UK as you read this, I've a very English Rose to share with you today.  I've used one of the Printers Tray Kits (open without any sections, though there are kits with compartments too) to create a small vignette, and since you can now add an easel support if you choose to, it will stand up beautifully on a shelf too, without having to be propped up.

It seems I was on a bit of a floral kick before I set off on my travels (so glad you liked my extravaganza of a card last time out).  But rather than all those opulent flowers, this piece has a more restrained tea-party-in-the-garden look.  It does have hidden depths though, so watch out.  I blame the Frozen Charlottes - you have to keep your wits about you when there are scary dolls around!

I started by lining my as-yet-unassembled Printers Tray Kit Style 4 with some vintage papers with additional text stamping, and then added DecoArt Crackle Paint through a stencil.

When that had crackled nicely, I glued the whole thing together and added some paint shading to give it more depth.

Then I started putting things in place.  If you look closely at this one, you can see where I discovered I could use the zigzag waste from pressing out the printer's tray as the frame around the photo.

As often happens once a photo is in play, my mind took one of its fanciful turns.  I'm afraid our young lady is on show - Exhibit A - the prize for the highest bidder so that her father can climb the slippery pole of social popularity.

Her stiffened pose echoes the frozen stillness of the broken dolls.  Her childhood will soon be lost and forgotten - she is a doll to be passed from owner to owner.

And yet the roses still bloom and the music still plays...

... though that music is trapped in the glass bubble of having to perform to perfection to impress the various suitors, and the roses are trained (that is to say, cut) to climb their trellises in precise formation.

This young lady will never have the freedom to grow and travel in any direction she chooses, as these vines are threatening to do.

(These are cuttings taken from the Ivy Leaf Corner - one of many Corner Wood Shapes designs - painted with various shades of green over a gesso base.)

Her future is already planned, pruned and perfect in the eyes of her parents.  She is governed and confined.  (Here's a closer look at that "waste" frame around the photo, given a rough touch of paint and gilding wax.)

I'm guessing there will come a time when this English Rose begins to show her thorns.  But for now she is caught in the imposing dark wood frame (simple to create on the MDF surface - some Raw Umber paint and ink-stamped woodgrain).

It may be decorative - these Deco Vine Corners are ornate and fanciful, like her dreams - but it is a frame which contains her as effectively as any prison bars.

Perhaps like those twining tendrils she will wind her way to an escape somehow, some day.

It seems wrong to us now that such a vital young girl should be trapped forever as a trophy, an ornament to her husband, with no real life of her own.

I think that's quite enough of that, don't you?!  Of course if you're creating a vignette it can be whatever you like.  It could be a wonderful display case for your own personal family photos, a great gift for special birthdays or weddings or anniversaries... an altogether more celebratory affair!

As I mentioned you can now get a stand to go with your Printer's Tray.  I've altered this one with paint and stamping to match the wooden look of the outside of my vignette tray, and I glued it at a tight angle to support the narrow upright position of the frame.

So with her splendid display stand, I hope like those flowers she will blossom and bloom, and then use those thorns to forge her own way out of the formal gardens and into the wild meadows beyond.  The fresh greens and gentle blush of the roses seem to say she has youth and energy enough for the struggles ahead.

If you're inspired to create a vignette of your own, then you can click any of the links in the text to go direct to each product, or just head over to Calico Craft Parts and browse through their fabulous range of designs and kits.  Have fun!

Alison x
Words and Pictures