This
month I was approached by Sarah from Inkurable Stampers to participate in a Nichos Challenge in
celebration of their new sponsor coming on board, Paper Forest Designs. As part of the challenge, 5 artists were
asked to decorate a Nicho in the theme of ‘Seriously Spooky’, in keeping with
Halloween season.
This
challenge was a few firsts for me. A first time attempt at tin and certainly a
first time Nichos decorator. Prior to this, I’d never before heard the word
Nichos and found some delight in researching them on the web. So
what is a Nicho?, you might be
wondering, as was I. They turned out to be little shrines. Beautiful and
interesting little designs made from either wood or tin, all encompassing a
niche and are commonly displayed in Mexican/South American homes.
The theme ‘spooky’ - not quite my thing, but it did get me thinking. I recall having great ambition on creating a real Halloween scene with blood dripping and cobwebs and a stabbing, but somehow couldn’t find the right ‘accessories’ to fit this tiny piece of wonder and hence opted for a dismal death/grave yard/creepy crawly scene instead.
My favourite part of this little gem was deciding what to put into my niche. I liked the tombstone and initially had my little skeleton hanging from a noose, but two issues arose here, too morbid, although not possible even if I wanted to, as his legs wouldn’t fit into the niche, they didn'tt bend once he was ‘suspended in air’, and so he was relegated to resting beside the grave.Above is the raw Church Nico. To decorate, I first covered my raw tin with Lumiere
‘Pearl White’ acrylics, then using my fingers, added touches of ‘Emerald’
Metallic Rub On’s randomly across the surface to blend in the white. I sprayed
Fixative over the top to seal in the Rub On’s, then added a layer of Goldens
‘Micaceous Iron Oxide’ to give it a rough metallic look.
For my arch, I stamped
Michelle Ward’s ‘Building A Mystery’ architecture stamp from Green Pepper Press
onto tissue paper and adhered to the tin with Liquitex. Bling and silver charms
were glued to my two towers to add a little sparkle to my dreary grey church.
Now my favourite part, the niche, I mounted an image of a tombstone to the
inside and painted my little man white and neatly sat him in the corner.
For my
door, I stamped an image of a gate onto transparency, cut out and adhered to
the inside of the door to add a little mystery, trying to emulate a cemetery
gate late at night. The only thing missing was a little mist and some real
cobwebs … To finish off and add a little brightness to the outside of my
church, I added a few more touches of ‘Silver’ Metallic Rub On’s
