Pink Madness No. 5

 

I am heading out of the mountains later this morning.  Can’t believe another year has gone by!  I hope 2022 is a better year health wise.  I never thought we would be living with Covid this long….gosh it is almost two years.  

Here is a photo of the cabin taken yesterday.  We have four feet of snow and more on the way….

Happy New Year! :-)

Pink Madness No. 4

 I originally plan for a Japanese image focal point because of the cherry blossoms.  Sometimes collages evolve quite differently than expected.

Pink Madness No. 3

The pink added to each of the collages in this series is transparent colored highlighting tape.   I heard about it online and found someone selling it on Etsy.  So I tried it and love it and then found it online on Amazon.  I have many colors now but pink was the first highlighting tape I tried for this series.

Pink Madness No. 2

 

It is more difficult to see the pink in this piece.  What looks like pink on the left is actually not in this collage but in the end paper which is showing through from the previous blog entry.  In other words, the book was laying flat on the scanner and picked up the end paper during the scan.  The actual pink is hard to see because it is transparent and overlays the background paper just to the right of the date 1887.  One can see it more clearly in person.

Pink Madness No.1

 I made yet another book using a glued accordion format.  Each collage in the book is 2.5 x 3.5 inches….just the size of artist trading cards.  I made six cards, glued them in the book and then made six more collages on the back side.  There is a theme in this book, pink.  Each of the collages has at least a bit of pink.

Mini Book Madness 12

This piece on the left is the last of this series.  On the right is the end paper for the book.  Yesterday I scanned 22 new pieces.  So my job for today is to get those uploaded to my blog for future posts.  Today is Boxing Day.  If you celebrate this holiday,  I hope you have a grand day.  We are having mushroom bourguignon.

Video of this series.....

Mini Book Madness 11

 

If you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas to you. If you celebrate in another way I wish you the very best in this holiday season.

My cabin landlord, Ned, took this photo of the cabin.  A friend, Elsa, transformed it.  So I have decided this is my holiday card for 2021.  

Mini Book Madness 10

 

It is so peaceful early in the morning.  Most people are still asleep and all I can hear is the furnace running and an occasional car passing with a whoosh because it is raining.  The rain has been pelting against the window.  Snow is predicted for tonight.  It would be nice to have a white Christmas.   They are rare here. Dinner is planned.  We are having a pork tenderloin cooked in apples with butternut squash.  There will be mashed potatoes, gravy, and probably carrots.  Yum!  Happy Christmas Eve. :-)

Mini Book Madness 09

 

Easy, simple, effective.  That is what comes to mind on this three element collage.

Mini Book Madness 08

 

Combining the word transfer method with a piece of a vintage bank draft and a vintage photo works so well as a composition.  I am going to have to find some more vintage photos.  I think I have some in a box somewhere.  

Mini Book Madness 07

 There are so many techniques that I like in this piece.  First the use of different types of line from different papers.  The squiggly line, the line from penmanship papers, and the line from sewing patterns.  All work well.  The three different pieces of text…..two from transfers and one from a children’s reader plus the the single letter “z” add interest to the composition.  The vintage photo also adds to the overall piece.  I like that he is leaning which provides movement.

Mini Book Madness 06

 

Yesterday I made some more word transfers on the gelli plate and I used a light color and then a darker color for the transfer.  I did not like how it turned out.  No words.  So then I added white and it pulled everything off the plate including the words.  Go figure.  So I need to continue experimenting and getting the “formula” just right. 

Mini Book Madness 05

 

I tend to be a rule breaker.  Asking for forgiveness afterward has always seemed to work.  I especially like to break the rules while creating.  Trying new things and trying different ways of using something is fun.  How about you?

Mini Book Madness 04

 

This is just a three element collage but somehow it seems more than that.  I think it is because of the left hand side of the of the composition.  That portion with the letters, the blue, and the burgundy is layered.

Mini Book Madness 03

 I had so much fun creating this series that I started another.  Last night I whipped off three new collages for this next book.  I am at the cabin in the mountains for the weekend and all I want to do is create here. There are no distractions and there is so much snow that I just want to be inside and warm and work on art.  The fire is going in the wood burning stove.  I can hear the propane heater.  I brought enough food.  I am set.

Mini Book Madness 02

 

All of the vintage photos came from my friend Meredith.  I happened to be visiting her at ArtWorks where she works on the day that she brought in a family vintage photo album.  She gave me first pick of the photos.  I was in heaven.  Thanks Meredith!

Mini Book Madness

 

Some time ago Seth Apter taught a workshop online, Facebook, in which he shared his process for creating mini books.  I did not take it then but my friends and dear art buddies, Terry and Brian took it.  While we were in Manzanita, Oregon in October, Brian and Terry were talking about the workshop. Earlier this month I searched for the workshop and one can still take it.  So I did.  It only costs $20.00 and is called Mini Book Madness.  

Recently Terry and Brian also sent me a link to a gentleman in the UK who has taken on gelli plating by storm.  He is trying out all sorts of techniques.  I have been watching Yeates Makes on YouTube for a few weeks and love his style of explaining and sharing what he does with the gelli plate.  One of the techniques is to make transfers of words from magazines.  So I have been practicing that skill and love it.  You will see on the left side the end paper that includes these types of transfers and in the collage on the right you will also note the red and white transfer using this technique.  It is a really fun process.

About once a month I have breakfast with my art friend, Elsa Bouman.  She always has good ideas and during our last exchange of show and tell she gave me some papers.  One of which I used that very day for the book cover of this mini book.  Thanks Elsa!

Handmade Boxes for Caterpillar Stitched Books with Amulets

 

For the past four weeks I have been working on six boxes to house mini caterpillar stitched books.  Each box has a porcupine quill from which hang several amulets.  I am quite proud of how this project turned out.  It certainly was an enjoyable experience to design and create each box.  I have had the porcupine quills for a long time.  I was not sure how I would use them and voila here is what happened.

Vintage Envelope Project - 07

 

This is the last of the vintage envelope series.  Now I have to mail them off to their new owners and wait for the ones that I will receive.  Next will be the binding process using the Japanese stab binding.  I have to think of a book cover design but will wait until I see all of the six envelopes that I will be keeping.  The artists have to January 2 to mail off their work.

Vintage Envelope Project - 06

 

The male statues came from an art friend in Europe.  I wasn’t sure how I would use them.  Here they are.  The cat just is not sure about humans.  It’s look seems perplexed by human behavior.  

Vintage Envelope Project - 05

 

I guess they three humans are crying now because of the bee or the bird.  Maybe the nursemaid is crying because she is frustrated over the babies crying.  I have had this vintage photo for a long time and never used it until this envelope.

Vintage Envelope Project - 04

 There is a lot going on here.  Now that I look at this piece again I am wondering if I might need something going off the page on the right side.  Is it too crowded heading to the center…almost as if it is pushing toward the center from both sides?  This piece will be bound so I am not going to worry about the left side but I will let the right side sit while I ponder it.

Vintage Envelope Collage Project - 03

03

 This composition really works for me.  I especially like the color matching of the trees and the woman’s clothing.  The sheep has a look of what in the world is going on with this woman.  Unbelievable!

Vintage Envelope Collage Project - 02

02

 You have seen a similar composition using Dali as the subject.  I just wanted to try it out on a vintage envelope.  I asked the others collaging on the vintage envelopes to leave a space on the left for the Japanese stab binding.  Part of the bunny will be covered.  In collage one has to be prepared to cover up ephemera because it happens all the time.

Vintage Envelope Collage Project 01

01

 The fall project for the NW Collage Society has been to create collages on vintage envelopes.  Each member who chose to participate creates five or six collages sharing one with others in their group. If a member wishes they can bind their received collaged envelopes using the Japanese stab binding.  I created a video teaching the process which will be sent to participants in early January.

Tiny Tome 09

 

I could not get the tome to lie open without the help of some heavy scissors.  I love adding text to a spread.  Taking a page out of a children’s reader and using parts of sentences to create something new to say was a fun challenge…elementary but still a challenge.

Tiny Tome 08

 You saw a preview of the stitching portion of this spread yesterday as the left stitched side wraps around to the previous spread.  When I look at a photo of one of the spreads in these tiny tomes I am always surprised that when open the spread is really only the size of a credit card.

Tiny Tome 07

 Much of the background on this spread I created using iColorama.  The result was printed on tissue paper.  On the right you can see stitching from a piece that I wrapped around from the next spread to this one. 

Tiny Tome 06

 

This one is very simple.  I am not adding anything more to the left side nor the right.  The bird, the hand, and the stenciled lettering seem enough to me.  Each of the little circles on the left are actually tiny mirrors.

Tiny Tome 05

 

Prior to Covid every October I went to something in Seattle called Zero Landfill.  All sorts of interesting things could be found and it was all free just for the taking.  I found a box of shear fabric samples.  You can see one little portion of a shear piece with opaque white lines above.  So that is what you are looking at on this spread.

Tiny Tome 04

 

I particularly like how the composition came together, cloth stitching, images, frayed edges.  Even the shadows seem to be interesting in this photo of this spread.

Tiny Tome 03

 I took a meat cleaver to the piece of paper on the left to give it some texture.  I love the simplicity of this spread….a little bit of paper; some fabric; and a touch of paint.

Tiny Tome 02

 

Yesterday I was working on my six tiny tomes and I created a piece to add but I could not find a good spot for the new creation in any of the six.  So I made two more tomes and now have eight.  Yes, I found a space for what I did. :-)

Tiny Tome 01

 

As I finish some of the spreads in the tiny tomes I am photographing them to share here.  In the six tomes I think that nine spreads are complete as of today.  This one shows the shabby chicness of the tiny journals.  I love the irregularity of each of the pages in the book.  There is a pocket in this one with a string attached to the pullout.  I will share the little surprise when I do the video of this little tome.  The actual size of the tiny tome is the size of a credit card when the spread is open.

Tiny Tomes

I have been taking an online workshop with Beatriz Helton which I highly recommend.    I am in the process of making six tiny tomes.  The photos below show the work in process.  I did a little video so that you can get the idea of what the tomes will look like when complete.  That will be in a long time as one may never finish but they will be more complete as the weeks go on.  There has to be a time when one says that is it.  No more.  I am not there yet.

I am making a box to house the tiny tomes.  This particular box won't be big enough for the completed six tomes but it gives the idea of how they will be kept together once I make the correct size box.

I might align the box vertically.  What do you think?  I alternated the tomes in this image versus the image below where they are stacked more like one would find them on a shelf.

Here is the video showing the insides of a tome. 

 

December 2021 APC no. 2

 I made two different APCs for December so that I was ready when the mailing list comes out soon.  I like the one I posted yesterday the most.  So this is the only version of this December APC.

December 2021 APC

 This is one of the December 2021 APCs.  I am trying to get them done today.  Happy Thanksgiving to all of you will visit this blog. :-)

Recent Postcards

 

I have been so busy with the tiny tomes, six volumes, I have not done much else.  However, while at the cabin this past weekend I did two postcards. Basically the only difference is the backgrounds which I have had for quite awhile.

SNOW!

 

I am home from the cabin for Thanksgiving but this is what happened the night after I left.  SNOW!  I wish I was there to see it myself although I did see snow once already about two weeks ago.  I am going back on Saturday so I hope the road is plowed.  I have been assured it will have been.  I hope there is still snow, too.  Thanks to my cabin landlord, Ned,  for sending me the photos.

A September Caterpillar Stitched Book

 

    

I am so pleased that I found these vintage Japanese calendars.  I like the look of having the numerals, a vintage image, and the stitching together.