Off to the Wilds of NJ

I am getting ready to leave for NJ tomorrow to attend Ranger U. I am so excited to have been accepted into such a competitive program! I'm going to take lots of pictures and lots of notes. Hopefully, I'll come back with more ideas than I know what to do with.
In the meantime Here are two photographs of some design team work I did for Retro Cafe Art Gallery.

The Mysterious Applegate Family

I know I've been quiet for a while, but I found myself in dire need of a posting break. I had a lot of deadlines in August and I think I got a little burnt out. I just wanted to sit and read, play in my studio without any pressure and take it easy. I love my blog, but the point at which it becomes a burden it's out lived it's usefulness.

But I'm back with some art. I made this little book as part of my design team work for Retro Cafe Art Gallery. I used several slide mailers (which are used to mail microscope slides) and glued them together to tell the story of the Mysterious Applegate Family. Here is the cover tied shut:
Here is the cover without the ribbon blocking it. I used photoshop to create the title cover.

Here are the photos of the inside. You're going to have to excuse my very chipped-up nails. Like most artists--I can't keep a manicure to save my life!


These last two pages use images from Retro's collage sheet titled "The Applegate Family" hence the name of the book.

And here is a picture of the back.

Necklace

I've been playing around with casting plaster the last week or so. I wanted a large face to put on an assemblage I'm working on and thought plaster would be ideal. But in the meantime, I made a mold out of a doll hand and cast it to use on this necklace:
Once the plaster was dry (thanks in part to the magic of the microwave!) I painted it with a couple of acrylic washes, added the next and then glued it to the washer. The spikes coming out of the back are actually straight pins that I colorized using alcohol inks. The metal case for the necklace is made out of metal repair tape on top of heavy cardstock. I inked it with alcohol inks and then embossed it using some distress powder. It doesn't show very well in the photo because of the glare, but you can see a little bit of the embossing in the corner. I cut the pages and made the book, ran the ribbon (hand dyed using a combination of walnut ink and perfect pearls heat-set with an iron) through a hole that I pierced at the top and put the whole thing together.
Viola--a lovely grungy necklace. :)

Alcohol Inks Card

It was my anniversary last weekend and I made this card using alcohol inks for my dh.
The process is really quite simple: using a non-stick craft sheet drop several colors of inks and a little bit of blending solution then push a piece of shinny card-stock onto it and lift off. Repeat until the page is covered. When I was done, I embossed the stamp (which is from Paperbag Studios) and then I dropped some blending solution on the card. That's what caused the white-ish spots. I also dropped a good amount of blending solution inside the heart to lighten it up. The swirl is chipboard that I inked with metallic green ink, heat set, stamped with stazon, heat set again, and then embossed several times with UTEE.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with more work.

Boo!

I had so much fun working on my altered bird houses for the swap that I decided to do another one. I was in the mood for Halloween so I made a "haunted" bird house. For the roof I used tyvek, which I painted with black and copper paint, and then heated it with a heat-gun. Once it was cool, I cut it into strips and glued it to the roof. I finished it off with some copper tape on the top. It was a massive pain to glue it down--and I wondered what I was thinking while I was doing it--but in the end I think it turned out great.

Here is a close-up shot of the baby fairy-witch that is sitting on the side of the house. You can see the green metal stars that I hung using some black fibers.

News! News!

I have been a busy little bee this last week. And I have some great news!
First-up: the newest volume of Page By Page is due out on the fifteenth, featuring an article and art work by yours truly. Kira's Zine, is always a treat and I am thrilled to be a small part of it.

Second: I had a piece accepted by Altered Arts Magazine. It should be in one of the winter editions--probably around the first of the year. I'm also writing an article to go along with it.

And lastly: I had a third piece accepted by Somerset Studios for their forthcome "Art Journal" publication. It's due out in January of '09. There isn't much info about the new magazine on their site--so I'm not even sure if it's quarterly or simply a "special edition." I will keep you posted.

In the meantime, here is a picture of my house atcs that I made for last month's swap at IAA. I've had this photo sitting on my desktop for forever and just kept forgetting to post it. I actually punched holes in my atcs and made them into a book--that turned out so cute! I just need to make a cover for it.

Now, you need to hop on over to Kira's site and pre-order her zine. I'm serious. Go now!



Are you going yet???
:)

Bird House No. 2

Here are my photos of my second altered bird house. This one I painted using ranger's distress crackle paints. Once the paint was dry and all crackled-up, I inked it with some dark brown stazon ink. The roof tiles are made of punched paper that I edged with brown ink. The green tiles were stamped before they were punched.
Each of the children have wings that were made from a stamp that I embossed with gold.



These were a lot of fun to do--I've got one more that I think I'm going to do, not for the swap, but just for me!

Altered Bird House

Here are some photos of the first of the altered bird houses I did for the swap at the IAA. I used acrylic paint and paper, along with permanent ink. I stamped the swirls using acrylic paint and clear stamps. It was a little tricky because of the shape of the house, so I actually had to stamp with them without a block.
The roof tiles are paper that I punched out using a 1 inch punch and inked the edges of.
The butterflies are all made out of shrink-plastic. I used white shrink-plastic, stamped with Stazon black ink, and then after it was shrunk, I inked over the surface using chalk ink and embossed. The black comes right through and the color gives it a little added dimension.

Tomorrow I will try to get my photos of my other ones up.

Photos of India

I know I've been really quiet this week. But I had a nasty stomach bug that just wouldn't quit. I'm finally feeling better and getting back to my work, and I'm hoping that I'll have some new stuff to put up tomorrow.
In the mean-time, I have these 2 lovely images of India. My mother traveled there two years ago and took a ton of photos. She wanted to print some out and frame them, but she wanted them to have a more fine-art quality. I used photoshop to alter them and I have to say, I'm happy with the result. I did 5 in all, but these 2 are my favorites.

I used the magnetic lasso to highlight the woman, then inverse selected and converted the color profile to black and white. I also turned up the contrast a bit to give it a bit more punch.

I used the same process as above on this one, except instead of sharpening the photo, I used a blur on the area surrounding the elephants to give them more focus.

I hope everyone had a pleasant weekend!

How To Blend Colored Pencils With Baby Oil

Here is a little How-To video I made.
Enjoy!

Late to the Dance

I am massively late to the dance on this one--the band has packed up and the floor is littered with confetti. But I feel the need boogie-oogie all by my lonesome for a moment.
I'm talking about the challenge for the GPP street team for June. It was a rubbing technique, which I won't go into details here since Ms. Ward did such a bang-up job explaining it herself, so you can just follow the link.
While I was trying out the technique something wonderful happened. I was having trouble finding the right paper weight. Too thick, I got no image, too thin, it would tear with water. I was sitting at my very messy table pondering weather or not to throw in my crayons when my eyes lit-upon a piece of tyvek that I'd left out for another project.
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Tyvek is some super-duper-space-age-material that isn't quite plastic, isn't quite paper. It's manufactured by Dupont and wonderfully enough, is the stuff that they use to make the priority mail packages at the USPS. You know the ones that they give away for free....
Anyway, this stuff is water-proof, tear proof, and does fun stuff when heated. Best of all, it is thin, so it's perfect for doing a rubbing. Here is what I did with it. I Should mention that I heated the edges to cause it crumple and bubble a bit; which is why it isn't flat.


And here is how I incorporated it into a piece in my art journal:

I have to say, I'm just in love with this technique. I'm going to hit the post office tomorrow and then off to a cemetery to get some rubbing's....

Generosity

I've been thinking a lot about generosity lately. I am so fortunate to be surrounded by generous people. The piece pictured here is a prime example of that: the stencil was a gift from my friend Kris as was the label "hope chest", the photo came from a member of IAA, and the beads came as a gift during a mail art swap.
I made this as a gift for a friend of mine who is in the middle of working on her doctoral dissertation on Polish feminist bloggers. I find this topic incredibly fascinating since I myself am two out of three. She has been incredibly generous with me in not only discussing her work, but mine as well. Debating artist philosophy, meaning and process with me over email. I count myself blessed to have such a wonderful and giving friends. Artists and non-artists alike.

altered tin

I made this little tin the other day and just hadn't gotten around to taking a picture of it. I wanted something that I could throw in my purse to keep Advil/antihistamines in. I bought an altoids tin--it's for the "minis." I liked it because it slides open, and takes a little bit of pressure, so i figured it would be less likely to come open in my purse and dump out. I tried sanding it first...but the shape just wasn't conducive, so I spray painted it silver instead. Once it was dry, I alcohol inked it. I drilled a hole in the end for the charm (made from shrink plastic and pearl-ex), and glued a photo of one of my ATCs that I like. I punched out stars and colored them it with some gel pens and used some rub-ons for the swirls. Once it was dry, I spray-sealed it and viola--all done.

How to drill a hole in a fragment

I am absolutely in love with all the wonderful Plexiglases crafting products that are out there. And a good many of them don't come with holes drilled in them. So I thought I'd post a little how-to for drilling. It's not as scary as you might think.
Here's what you'll need: a drill with a small drill bit--I'm using 1/16th bit that is made to cut through metal. Safety goggles, a drilling block (this needs to be big enough to be sturdy and level so that it doesn't wobble. I use an old wood cigar box.) Wall putty/sticky tack (this is the stuff that you use to stick stuff to the walls without leaving a mark.) And whatever it is you're going to be drilling. (I'm using a prong frame from retro cafe art gallery, but the process is the same for fragments.)
Here is a photo of my stuff (drill not included.)

Take a small piece of the sticky tack and place it in the middle of the object and then stick it to the surface, this will hold the piece in place and keep it from moving around while you drill. Since I'm drilling through both a prong frame and Plexiglases, I put a second piece of putty between the the Plexiglases and the metal so that I can drill through both simultaneously. Here's a photo of it all ready to go:
I like to pre-mark my holes so that they are even, using a light colored sharpie. They need to be far enough in so that the drill bit won't break through the outer edge. Then, with a steady hand, drill through. Go slowly and try to put even pressure on the top of the drill.


Here is a picture of the charm with the holes drilled through:


Now you're ready to turn this into something! Here's what I made with mine:

ATC Box

I just finished up this ATC box as part of my work for Retro Cafe Art Gallery. It comes in pieces that you assemble--which makes the decorating process a lot easier. I used chalk inks in purple and brown and then heat set them for the background. I over stamped with some Stazon for the swirls. The trees and leaves are all hand cut out. And the bird is shrink plastic. Each side has a tree and a bird, but I've only posted 2 sides. (sorry my pictures are so bad. I am so NOT a photographer!)

I've been hard at work on some other projects, so I'll try to be good about posting this week. I hope everyone had a happy 4th.

Shrine

I finished up this little shrine from Retro Cafe Art Gallery yesterday. I used some distress inks on the music paper, and then orange and blue chalk inks (heat-set) and over-stamped with Stazon. The bird is from Retros Birds II collage sheet. I am very happy with how this turned out. All I need is a nail to hang it on my studio wall.

Don't scan tired

I scanned in this photo of a birthday card that I made using an image from Retro Cafe Art Gallery, (I believe the collage sheet is Birds II) but being that I was really tired and trying to do about 5 things at once, I didn't watch what I was doing and cut off part of the photo in the scan. And of course the card is all neatly sealed in it's envelope and taped to the front of the present it's accompanying, so I cant re-scan it. Sigh.
Oh well.
You'll just have to imagine what it looks like with a brown border all the way around.
I am just in love with this little bird. He is just too cute. And that text about the Lark behind him? Total serendipity. I just picked up a scrap to stick behind and there it was. I love it when things like that happen.
I will see you all on Monday when I return--have a great weekend!

New Necklaces

My family is having a reunion this weekend. We don't normally go, but it's the 30th anniversary and so we're going. There's always an auction and I've made 2 necklaces to put in the auction. This first one is a new design that Coffee Break Designs is working on for a heart shrine (It might go through some changes still...) I inked it using chalk and metallic inks and stamped with stazon. Glued in the collage and sealed it using UTEE.

This lovely charm and the image in it both come from Retro Cafe Art Gallery. I drilled two holes in it and turned it into a necklace. I wove the bird's nest out of wire.

Some New Work

The last couple of days I've been working on some new jewelry pieces. I wanted to make a necklace for my friend Sarah who is spending th summer doing research in NY. I made this for her:

The bottom charm is actually a shrink-plastic charm made out of a ticket stamp. I glued the word onto it once it was cool and then embossed clear embossing powder on top to seal it in.

Here is a picture of the package all wrapped up and ready to go to her:
This next piece I did as part of my design team work for Retro Cafe Art Gallery. The girl is from her "Lucy" set and the mini-shrine is something she carries in her altered art supplies. I filled it with UTEE and heated it to seal in the tiny-heart. I then inked it with alcohol inks in purple and silver.
For both of the necklaces, the acrylic squares are fragments by Tim Holtz. I drilled holes in them to turn them into charms.

Believe Book Part 2

Here are the rest of my pictures, continued on from yesterday.
This spread is one of my favorites in the book--I glued gold beads down for the "l" and punched out some flowers. I turned the larger ones into mosaics using double sided tape and some embossing powder:
This page is pretty straight forward--the hearts are cut out from a vintage text-book and then inked using some distress ink:

The dragonfly and the butterfly are made out of fun-foam, that I heated and stamped into and then painted.

The fairies on this page are transparencies, although it's difficult to tell from this picture.

This is the back page of the book and I made this mosaic using a square punch. I used embellishments from throughout the book as a way to tie it all together.