My "Things"

This is my book for the "Things" round robin. I decided to do an Asian Travel theme for this book. I've wanted to do Asian for a while but hadn't gotten around to it. This gives me a jump start on the book.

Here is my intro page. Yes, I know I spelled Asia wrong... I picked up the wrong stamp... Anyway, I'll fix it when my book comes home. I added molding paste all around the edges of the pages and the map and then painted with blue acrylics. This page has the mailing route and my info.

Here is my sign-in page. I sewed fabric onto scrapbook paper to make the pockets for the tags and the big pocket on the left for my theme description.

Here you can see my sign-in tag and the theme pocket.

I only had time to do one spread before I had to send the book out. I decided to do one based on some Hindu images I have so that the other players would remember that Asia is not only Japan and China, but it is also India and Indonesia and much more. I tipped in a pouch that came with some incense to the center of this spread. I put a tag/book mark in the pouch.


The other sided of the pouch. I had this great postcard of a Hindu temple that a friend sent me from India years ago. I scanned the postcard and then printed it out on tissue paper. I inked or painted the book red and then put the tissue image down. I added silver rub on all around the edges and around the main image. I'm looking forward to getting my book back so I can play in it more.

More "Things"

Here are the spreads I did in Cheryl's book. She had a sort of a vintage floral theme going on with her spreads so I tried to keep my stuff in the same vein.

This spread came together really well. The back ground is napkin and the yellow fuzzy stuff at the bottom is dryer sheet. I add copper Twinkling H2Os around the figure and then some copper rub-on around the rest of the page. I love the texture and depth that napkin gives a page. It is my favorite technique right now.

One of the "things" that Cheryl sent was a small foam stamp. I used it on this page with my fresco technique. I sent that stamp on with the book. It will be interesting to see how other people use it in their own way. The flowers on this spread are silk hydrangea parts. I add more gold Twinkling H2Os on the petals and around the page. The flowers were a lot of fun but I feel like this spread needs something else...

The other things Cheryl sent me were some blue tickets, like you buy for raffles, and this piece of shipping tape with "the Deuce" written on it. These things were really bright and didn't go with my vintage theme at all so I collaged them with a bunch of different ephemera pages and scrapbook paper. Then I washed the whole thing with blue and white acrylic paint. I had this nice little heart going on in the center but I over worked it a bit and lost the heart. I think this spread needs something also but I'm not sure what...

Things Round Robin

Here are some spreads that I've done for an online round robin. The title of the RR is Things because every time we send a book on to the next person, we also send at least three "things" with it that the person must use in their spreads. The point is to challenge ourselves by working with materials that are different that our normal.

My Mom is also playing in this RR (actually, she is the one who invited me to join) and this is the spread I did in her book.


She choose a board book and no theme. Cheryl sent me the book and with it she sent: the hand painted paper with silver stars, the cheese cloth, painted fiber and the molded faces. I created the flowers with cut tissue paper and coffee filters that I dyed with food coloring. I got that idea from a couple of Lisa Vollrath Monthly Muse articles. The Monthly Muse is a great little digital publication that Lisa puts out with lots of articles and some great clipart.

Coptic book

I took a very nice class this weekend and learned how to do Coptic binding. Here is a photo of the book we made. It is about 4" square. My top and bottom row of stitching are not perfect because I was missing a "loop" when I added the next signature. But, the middle rows look like beautiful little chain stitches. We figured out at the end what I was missing and I can't wait to make my next book. I already have book board, cover fabric and an awl. All I need is the waxed linen and some needles with a big enough eye.


My black cover on black background is not perfect, I know. But, I was just too lazy to go find another background. Maybe next time. :)The instructor who taught this class is also doing a "before the book" class where we will learn the terminology and make a paper manger. I will definitely be taking that class also. 

First one out of the way

I've taught my first two classes now and they went wonderfully. Everyone did beautiful work and they all seemed to have a great time. It's so nice to finally see this all come together. Now all I have to worry about is creating projects for my next classes. :)

Here are a couple of pictures from the second class which was "Fresco" backgrounds. I didn't have my camera with me for the first class. Sorry Mom.

Here is everyone hard at work.

And, some student work.

First Class

I'm teaching my first class this weekend! I never thought I wanted to teach but ever since this opportunity came along, I can't wait to give it a try. My first class is an advanced ATC based on my Tuesday's Child cards. Here are the samples I made for the class.

The owner of the shop where I'll be teaching gave me some oversized playing cards to use as the base. So the samples are about 4"x6"

And, here is the class display at the shop! I had to take pictures of my first ad. Yes, I know I'm a bit of a geek. :)

Envelope Book

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would throw something up. Here are some pictures of a little book I made out of envelopes last night. I made this for a sample for a class on image transfers I'll be teaching in a few weeks. We'll make a simplified version of this for the students to store their transfer samples in. It was tons of fun; I'm ready to make another one. :)

The closed book.

Here it is unfolded. I used 6 envelopes to make the book.

The outside of the book. The folds at the top tab of each envelope were the weakest area. I ended up adding little chunks of the paper that I lined the envelopes with to the edges of each crease. This helped strengthen them up a lot.





Some close ups of the outside. When we do this in class, we'll skip all the stamping and just color the envelopes. That way, we will have more time to play with transfer techniques. Then, after the students practice, they can add transfers to the envelope book if they want.

So the whole book will look more like the inside here. I haven't decided about the lining of the envelopes yet. It really helps make the envelopes studier but it takes a lot of time.

ATCs

Here are a few of the ATCs that I created this weekend. I'm still working on a couple of them but I wanted to go ahead and post these.

This is the fresco background with some stamped images and ink shading. I transferred the word.

This is an image transfer onto fabric that I colored with liquid watercolors. The fuzzy stuff is painted dryer sheet. It adds a great dimension that the scan just can't pick up.

Another image transfer onto Lumiere painted muslin.

And an image transfer onto the fresco background. It transferred well even with all the texture of fresco.

Fresco Backgrounds

I spent the weekend developing ATCs and techniques for these classes I'm going to teach. I'm calling this my fresco background and I think this is my all time favorite technique using gesso. It is so fun and easy to create stunning backgrounds.

These are some of the fresco backgrounds that I created using white gesso and Golden acrylics. I just love the Golden products! They add wonderful depth to these pieces. The scan here is flatter than the actual pieces. I think I'll photograph them next time instead of scanning.

Here are some ATC backgrounds that were created using the same fresco technique. This time, I used clear gesso instead of white. With the clear, you can paint and add papers and other bits under the gesso. It really changes the feel and adds another layer to the image.

Here is my mom's version that she created with my instruction. I can't take any credit here though. She is the artist that put me on my path so it is all her fault! Also, she added the violet here that I was afraid to add to my own piece. AACK, me afraid of violet! I think hell might be freezing over as we speak. ...It will never happen again, I promise.

Mom's backgound again, after we cut it up into ATC sized pieces. These are so much fun, I can't wait to do more.

News

After I completed the Grace ATCs (shown below,) I showed them to the owner of a local rubber stamp store. She loved them and now she has asked me to teach some classes on advanced ATC techniques. I am so excited about this!

It's a little strange to me that I have absolutely no desire to teach any kind of quilting classes but I can't stop thinking about these ATC classes. I've always felt a lot more advanced in my quilting skills than any other art media. However, I have yet to find MY quilting style, that technique or concept that just makes me want to explore every aspect of it. I still feel like I'm constantly jumping from one style to another and not really mastering any of them. I'm not sure where I'm going with all this so I think I'll shelve it for a while. I have so much on my plate right now, maybe I'm developing A.D.D. - thanks Mom ;)

Grace

I recently participated in an online ATC swap with the artisttradingcard yahoo group. The theme for the swap was "Tuesday's Child is Full of Grace." Well, when i read this, i instantly thought of my Grandmother who was named Grace. I got a bunch of old photos of my grandmother and created a set of cards based on her.


This is one of the cards and i posted the rest over on my yahoo photo site. 

Bluebird Babies

My parents also have several Bluebird houses. We found babies in this one! We think there are three in the nest (the fluff toward the front of the nest is number three?) but it was hard to tell. I had to hold the camera over my head to take this shot. 

Tree Frog

This is a beautiful little tree frog that I photographed at my parents house with my wonderful... fabulous... exceptional Canon Digital Camera. Can you tell that i love my camera? :) Oh, and i'm bloging this from my mom's painful dial-up connection. uggh - should i time how long it takes to upload the picture? I think it might be too depressing. Sorry Mom :) 

Winged Things

I've finally started my first AB round robin. The host choose mini board books for us to alter. She bought the books, gessoed all the pages of all the books, labeled who was to alter which page and mailed them all out to us. Wow, that is a lot of work! And to top it all off, she sent us all little packs of wonderful paper scraps. Thanks so much Maggie!

My group's books have little windows on all the pages. I decided i didn't want to use the window on the cover so i covered it with cardstock. Also, i was having a hard time figuring out how to use the windows and then i realized that i could but shipping tags in windows. Well, the spreads just flew together after that.

I'm focusing my spreads on the theme - 'The Power of Wings.' Here are some pics of my book so far. Here you can see the front cover and the tags sticking out the top of the book.

This is the tag that goes in the first window pocket. I think i might put a little message to the other alterers in my group on the back of this tag.

The first spread is about independence.

The tag for this spread reads - "Now she knows she can take care of herself."

This is the last spread in the book. The ones in the middle will be completed by the other members in my group.

Finally, this is the tag for the last spread. It reads - "I am my own fairy godmother."

Works in Progress

I've been doing a lot more Altered Art than quilting recently. I seem to have a bit of a quilt block. I think it is because I have so many ideas for altered art that I have to get them out before I can get back to the fabric. Here is some of what I'm working on now.

This is a "book" my mom made from some of those free AOL cd holders. She glued three of them together, gessoed it and crackled the front.

This is the first page in the book. I printed the image and words on tissue paper ironed to freezer paper and then glued them on with gel medium.

Here is a shot of the pull out that goes in the first pocket. This spread's not finished yet, I just don't know what else I want to do here yet.

Here is the cover. So far, I've only painted what my mom did. I have some vintage images of children on big moons that I need to print out and add to this book.

Finally, this is a practice spread in a board book. I signed up to do a board book round robin and should be getting my book from the hostess soon. The theme is "winged things" so I'm going with the idea of the Power of Wings. i.e. independence, individuality, confidence, etc...

The background on this one is really fun. Its a crackle technique with elmers glue and paint. I saw this technique when I was browsing through the new Claudine Hellmuth book. I did something like this back when I work-studied at the UT Senic Shop and it is a great effect. I hope to get that book soon. It looks great.

Business Name

So for a while now I've been trying to get some sort of quilting business started. Which, right now, would just be me randomly trying to sell some of my stuff and still working a "regular" day job. (The reason I'm posting so much right now is because I'm still at work plotting out a bunch of drawings. Some of them take forever to regen and spool.) Anyway, I'm having the hardest time coming up with a good name for my business. I don't want my name in it and I don't want 'quilt' in it. I want something that's fun but not too cutesy. Something simple and interesting. So far, my mom came up with Running With Scissors which I like a lot but I'm not sure about it. I also like something with Jessibel in it. Jessibel is my gaming name (yes, I'm a geek too) and I think it could be interesting. I just don't know. Maybe I'm making this harder than it needs to be but, I want something that I'm going to still like in 5 years.

Journal Quilts

This whole challenge thing and working with my altered books is really inspiring me to get back to my quilting. My Bee is discussing doing some Journal Quilts as a group project and I'm very excited about this. Unfortunately, I just missed the deadline for signing up for the actual challenge. I would have liked to have participated in that. I'll just have to look for next year's challenge.

But, in the meantime, I already know what I want to do with the Bee project. I'm inspired right now to play with surface design and alternative construction techniques. I want to experiment with incorporating paint, wire, foil, beads, and windows into my quilts. I can't wait to get started and I hope we have a good group of members who want to participate. The more of us working on the project, the more we can encourage and push each other to try something new.

New Beginings

Well, it been a while since my last post so i'm going to try this again.

I haven't been doing much quilting recently. I think I'm a little burnt out from the mad rush at the end of last year. I worked my butt off getting ready for my first ever Arts and Crafts Show and then I only sold one little thing. Oh well. I'm sure it will take a while to find the right shows and develope some good products.

In the meantime, I've finally started my first Altered Book. I've been playing around with the medium for a while and made a bunch of Artist trading Cards but never worked in a book. But, the January Challenge over at the AlteredBooks group really inspired me and I did this...

Go here for pics of more spreads in this book and some of my ATCs.