Memorial Mausoleum - Idea-ology

 

 The 2022 Halloween idea-ology release from Tim Holtz is fabulous! So many great products that can be used year round so be sure to stock up! Some of those are the beautiful layers and ephemera that are gorgeous neutrals and florals. Two of those pieces, and a friend's vacation photos inspired this piece.

This is a process video tutorial that shows how I made this piece and the inspiration and thought that went into it.

These Mausoleum Gables were made by covering the pointy top of the Vignette Shrine with chipboard and then building up the outside edges with thin strips of chipboard so that it mimics moulding.

The pointed top was inspired by a monument I saw in a picture my friend Kim took while visiting an old cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.

The center of the gable is decorated with the Halloween Remnant Rubs from this year. They are based on historic cemetery art and symbolism. For example, the urn represents the remains of the physical life, the laurel branches represent victory over death, and the weeping willow represents grief or mourning.

I picked this paper doll, who I named Hannah, because she looks like a young version of my three times great grandmother, Hannah who is buried in the Sierra Madre, California pioneer cemetery.

 The winged skull is one of the earliest Puritan tombstone symbols. The skull, or death's head represented the brevity of life and surety of death, and the wings represent the sure hope of resurrection.

The roof is covered with a piece of backdrops paper with some Distress Crypt Grit Paste, Peeled Paint Distress Crayon, and some moss from the hobby store.

Both sides are very similar, only different in the way the vines are going across the brick.

 I made the sconce by bending a spoon and hot gluing a drippy candle onto it as well as attaching a spider adornment on the handle area. I covered the metal pieces with Black Soot Distress Paint and let it dry a little before buffing off some of it here and there. Then added Crypt Paste and when it was dry I added some Rusty Hinge Distress Crayon so it looked a little rusty.

 

 I make these urns every year in my graveyard pieces, It's kind of one of my signature Halloween things I do. Remove the cool twig handles from the Broomsticks. Wet the end of the broom and crinkle it up, scrunch it, and make the bristles stick out like a dead bush, I trim the bristles with my scissors so they arent all the same length and they are shorter or longer all over just like in nature,

 The back side of the piece has this year's version of a mausoleum with two crypt spaces, Both have versions of the Puritan death's head symbolizing the brevity of life and the surety of death as a consequence of sin. The wings were a reminder to the living to be sure they were ready to face eternity.

In the top gable area there is again an urn to represent the remains of the physical body without the soul, and the flowers often adorned the graves of women.

The top head is reminiscent of the early style of death's heads in the 1600's and the one with more of a face are from the 1700's. While we are here, can we just take a moment to take in the beauty of that crypt paste?

I hope you found some of these tidbits about cemetery symbolism to be interesting. As I have said, I don't find it morbid or dark, but like the Puritans, I find it part of the reality of life and something that affects the way I live mine.

 I am always thankful that you take the time to stop by my blog and support me and my art. So thank you!

Have a crafty day,

Tami

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