Dreamer of Dreams - Tim Holtz Ideaology

 Dreamer of Dreams is a project I made for the Ideaology Booth at Creativation 2018 last year.  I just never got around to posting about it.

I really love this project because it was inspired by the life of Walt Disney. When I got my box of Ideaology product last year, as I opened it slowly, looking at all the new items, bits and pieces stuck out and a story began to develop in my head. So this post isn't going to be a tutorial as much as it is about how I develop a story that permeates my art pieces.

Two pieces that kick started my story were the Drawing Pins Trinket Tin and the Numeric numbers 28. Once those two items sparked a story in my mind, I went about going through the new 2018 product and my older Ideaology stash and pulling items that fit within my story representing Walt Disney's Life.

 1. The hand and bird  are from the Milagros Adornments. They represent Walt's favorite song, "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins. It was written by two of Disney's most famous song writers, Robert and Richard Sherman. They had offices in the same building, and on the same floor at the studio as Walt's office. On Friday afternoons  Walt would summon them to his office where he had a piano and would ask Richard to play "Feed the Birds" for him.

 2. The Numeric numbers 28. This is significant because 1928 is the year Walt Disney dreamed up Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  They turned 90 last year. "I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse." - Walt Disney

3. The Railroad tickets from the Ephemera packs because Walt Disney loved railroads.
4. Admit One ticket ephemera representing the admission tickets to Walt's movies and his them park, Disneyland.
5. The Found Relatives photo card of the boy and dog because it reminded me of pictures I've seen of Walt as a boy and because he loved animals.

Photo Credit: Ohmydisney.com

6. The Quote Chip - Dreamer of Dreams because dreaming is a huge Disney theme.

 7. The Quote Token that says "your past does not determine who you are. your past prepares you for who you are to become." This quote so represents Walt's life. He has so many failures, trials, and difficulties, but he persevered and accomplished his dreams in the end.

8. The Drawing Pins Trinket Tin was perfect because I knew Walt and other animators would have used drawing pins to hold their paper in place when drawing their animations.

 9.  The Design Tape with the Red Cross on it represents Walt's time driving an ambulance for the American Ambulance Corps, a division of the Red Cross, in Europe as a 16+ year old  in WWI.

Photo Credit: Chicagoredcrossstories.wordpress.com

10. Photo Booth photo with a boy and a dog was keeping with the boyish dream/animal lover theme.

11. The postcard in the background represents Walt's time in Europe since it was from France and I'm sure he wrote home during his time there.

12. The milk cap represents Walt's boyhood home in Marcelline, Missouri.

 13. The stamp with Abraham Lincoln on it was chosen because Lincoln was Walt's favorite president. As a boy, for school projects he would dress up as Lincoln with a school friend. He even made his first animatronic to be Abraham Lincoln in a show called Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln for the 1964 World's Fair. A modern version of this same show can be seen at Disneyland's Opera House.

Inside the tin I added several pieces from Ephemera Expedition and Layers Collector.
14. Photo Booth - these photos reminded me of a young Walt and Lillian Disney. Walt was known for his thin pencil mustache and his signature fedora.

Photo Credit: thefedoralounge.com

15. I also added a school report card several movie tickets, a piece of Film Strip Ribbon.

16. Once piece included from the Collector Layers is a bookkeeping page that is in the red. I included that because finances and bankruptcies were something Walt Disney and his brother Roy Disney had to endure and recover from many times during their lives.

The Trinket Tin is sitting on a large Vignette Box and Large Vignette Panel that have been nailed to the bottom of an Etcetera Tag with the nails from the Vignette Hardware.
17. The birds on the top of the Vignette Panel go along with the Feed the Birds theme.
18. The panel and box are held together by Film Strip Ribbon that has been altered with the tiniest of the paper dolls. I wanted it to look like actual films representing all of the Disney films that have been a large part of the base that held the Disney Corporation together from the beginning.

To put the paper dolls on the film, I attached them to white paper, then secured packing tape over them. I really burnished it onto the paper dolls so there were no air bubbles.
Then I soaked them in warm water and rinsed them under the tap as I worked the paper off the back of the image leaving a transparent paper doll.
I attached these to the back of a film ribbon with Glossy Accents.
19. I added Gears to go with the steam engine/railroad theme.
20. The Pen Nibs to go with the animator theme.

I attached the film ribbon around the Vignette Box with some Ideaology Buckles, because with Disney it is all in the details.

That is how I design. I have to have a story in my head to make it work. So although I don't always tell the significance of everything in my designs, there is usually a reason for the things I pick to be in a piece of art. It might be a very detailed piece like this, or it might be a simple card, but I always have a back story....which is also a Disney thing.  They have a backstory for everything that most of the guest never notice, but it's there if you look.

So thank you so much for taking the time and looking at the details with me today. It was really fun to get to share them with you.
Tami

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