“Totem of Possibilities”
by Leigh Snaith-Brunton – The Sharpie Domino Queen
Design Team Leader

Now that you've read the information on the challenge for this Oct issue of Leigh's Altered World of Game Pieces, here's how I came up with my project: because I thought up the theme for the issue my first thought WAS the theme. I was having visions of what everyone could possibly think of. I decided to assemble a spontaneous sculpture in the form of a totem pole using various dominoes depicting random subject matter as a reflection of all those possibilities!
I’m going to be moving into my new home soon so my studio is a disaster zone right now. I decided to assemble my sculpture from an assortment of completed and test dominoes I had in my studio already with some added embellishments.

I started the project with a recycled standard sized domino for the base. This domino was simply coloured with silver and gold metallic paint pens (DecoColor) and sealed with a coat of Krylon Gloss Sealer. The next domino was a test piece for the polished stone technique using Ranger’s Alcohol inks *see below for details. Before adhering the polished stone domino to the base I added some metallic gold marble-like veins with a fine point DecoColor paint pen.

On top of that domino I added a finished standard-size domino creation: Stamp the image (http://www.cardsnstamps.com) in coal black Ancient Page dye ink (ClearSnap) and heat set. Colour with Sharpie markers and add detail with a fine point metallic gold paint pen. Edge and colour the sides of the domino with a broad point metallic gold paint pen. Seal the entire piece with a coat of Judikins Diamond glaze for a glass-like finish.

On top of that domino I added a finished Chekit game tile. Stamp the cat image (Paula Best) in coal black Ancient Page dye ink and heat set. Then stamp the word ‘Cat’ over the image twice (www.qwikart.com) and heat set. Colour with Sharpie markers and this time continue the image onto the sides of the Chekit. Edge the tile with a broad point metallic gold paint pen. Seal the entire piece with a coat of Judikins Diamond glaze for a glass-like finish. Before adhering the Chekit to the domino add a purple flower jewel.

The totem pole is then topped off with a Triomino game tile. Stamp the image (www.heartsintouch.com) in coal black Ancient Page dye ink and heat set. Over stamp the image with a patterned design in burgundy Ancient Page dye ink and heat set. Then stamp the same pattern (www.heartsintouch.com) in burgundy on the sides of the Triomino and heat set. Colour portions of the image with a burgundy Alcohol Pigment Pen (Ranger). Edge the Triomino with a broad point metallic gold paint pen and seal with a coat of Judikins Diamond glaze. Before adhering the Triomino to the Chekit add the embellishments. To the bottom right corner I adhered a red flower jewel then created the dimensional word ‘DAY’ on a Dymo label maker, trimmed and adhered it to the bottom left hand corner. Next I formed a twirl from a piece of scrap copper wire, added some gold beads (glued in place) and adhered the twirl to the back of the Triomino.

Then I added an unfinished mini travel domino to the base of the sculpture. The travel domino has a portion of an image stamped on the blank portion of the ‘front’ (Stampendous) with a crystal jewel adhered over the single ‘pip’. I then finished off the sculpture with a tiny domino bead, another crystal jewel and a scroll of paper, which says ‘SPONTANEOUS’. I made the scroll from a pink piece of scrap paper aged with Walnut Distress Ink (Ranger). I hand wrote the word with a black Sharpie marker and then re-wrote over the word with a fine point metallic gold paint pen. All game tiles and embellishments were adhered with Aleene’s Fast Grab glue.

*Polished Stone Technique using Alcohol Inks:
Apply a few droplets of a couple of colours to a felt applicator and pounce the colours onto a shiny domino. The Alcohol Inks react once on the domino surface and create a marbleized look. Very cool and easy technique to play with, so give it a try!

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