Grandville Gathering with Clairefontaine & Viva Las Vegastamps!

Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard aka J. J. Grandville, was a French caricaturist in the 1800s, who drew people with fantastical animal heads.  He was noted for his biting satire.  I love his work.  It has an Alice in Wonderland feel (Carroll also included much political satire in his Alice series, that is largely lost on us these days).

I was delighted when I saw that Viva Las Vegastamps! had included four Grandville images among their latest stamps!  Immediately, I knew I wanted to do a sort of Wind in the Willows picture, with a Gathering of Grandville figures.

Supplies:
Clairefontaine Carnet de Voyage Travel Album

Viva Las Vegastamps! 
Grandville Horseman 4 x 2 1/4-Item 18893 Plate 1432
Grandville Chicken 2 x 3 3/4-Item 18894 Plate 1432
Grandville Hawk 2 1/4 x 3 3/4-Item 18895 Plate 1432
Grandville Bug 1 3/4 x 4 1/2-Item 18896 Plate 1432
Cracked Background 3 3/4 x 4 1/4- Item 16208 Plate 1287
Leaf Background 1 1/2 x 1 1/2-Item 4366 Plate 539
Multi-Leaf Branch 1 x 1 3/4-Item 14088 Plate 916
Leaf Trio 2 3/4 x 2 1/4-Item 287 Plate 376

Lyra Rembrandt Colored Pencils-Pale Geranium Lake, Lemon Cadmium, Apple Green, Light Blue

Tim Holtz Distress Markers-Shabby Shutters, Scattered Straw, Forest Moss, Frayed Burlap, Weathered Wood, Wild Honey, Stormy Sky, Milled Lavender, Tumblied Glass, Bundled Sage, Brushed Corduroy, Dried Marigold, Barn Door, Pumice Stone, Black Soot

Stamp Pads: Ranger Archival Black, Versamark Watermark

Embossing Powders: Ranger Snow White, Recollections Gold Tinsel, Stampendous Aged Silver & Aged Copper.

Tools: Scissors, Foam Tape, Exacto Knife, Black Sharpie pen, Reference photos

Process

I tore out a page from the back off my Clairefontaine journal and stamped the Grandville images.  I colored them with the colored pencils, cut them out with the exacto knife and put them in an envelope for later.

I had a pretty specific look in mind, but needed some reference, so I used two photos from my brother's North Carolina farm as a rough guide.

I drew and colored in my picture with the distress markers, using a water brush to lighten the colors toward the back.  I left a white border on both sides and the top, but colored all the way to the edge on the bottom and right-hand corner side, to give the picture more of a 3D feel.

After tapping the Versamark Watermark pad along the right bottom corner, roughly in the shape of the rocks, I sprinkled copper embossing powder and heated it until it was flowing.  I let it cool and repeated using silver embossing powder this time.  I repeated 5 times alternating the colors, and varying the amount of heat, to get bubbles and even slight scorching in some areas.

I repeated the embossing process on the left bottom corner. After the heated powder was dry I used a black Sharpie to add shadows.

Next I tapped the Versamark ink onto my Cracked background stamp and stamped along the edges of the water and up over the embossed rocks.  I sprinkled Snow White Embossing powder, tapped off the excess and heated.  I repeated this with the multi-leaf branch in a couple of spots to get the effect of wider frothing.

Again I used a black Sharpie to add shadows.

For the leaves in the upper corners, I used the Leaf Trio and Leaf Background and the gold embossing powder, adding shadows with the Sharpie.

Then I pulled out my stamped images and stuck foam tape to the back and attached my Grandville characters.  I hope they're hardy fellows because they're awfully close to the water!

You can find Clairefontaine.products at their website.and check up on all things journal related at the Rhodia Drive blog and on their facebook page.