Rework and tea

Remember last week when all I had was the use of my scanner for tea time? And remember the mess I made of this piece? Most of you who thought of ways to change it, suggested gesso. However, I was hesitant to do that, because I love the gossamer look given off by the tea bag.


This week, as I join Kimmie and friends for Tea Tuesday, my external drive is functioning and I am once again able to download photos. I decided I really wanted to keep the tea cup because I loved how the tea bag blended so well on top of the watercolors. So I printed out a much smaller tea pot from the one I had last week, and used it as a stencil on another tea bag. This time I drew the tea pot before I glued the tea bag to the background, thus assuring I would not kill another ink pen like I did last week. Now I'm not really all that happy with this piece, especially the composition, but I will set it in my basement studio for a few days, contemplating what to do next (I tried adding a spoon, but it didn't fit the configuration or the composition).


Until the spirit moves me, I will enjoy a bag of Yves Rocher


Abricot du Verger, which according to Babel Fish means "Apricot of the Orchard." Don't you just love that label tied to what appears to be a crocheted string?

Why I thought you would be able to read this, full well knowing how my camera doesn't take close up photos for any reason, is beyond me. However, I do think the entire place looks dusty, but I assure you, that is just the sunlight steaming in on my dining room table. Have a great Tea Tuesday everyone, as this day starts out sunny in my world.

Honored to be a co-host this week and great news

Have you been to Inspiration Avenue lately? If so, you have probably seen this sign at the top of their left sidebar. Shelly (Shelinwa) of Pics by Shel chose me to co-host a challenge and I was thrilled. Because I had a plumbing leak that was streaming faster than video, I had to wait until my friend Scott came by to help at least try to slow the leak this weekend. Without a major overhaul and a rather expensive and time consuming demolition and remodel, the leak will continue, but at least now it is manageable, something it was not for nearly two weeks. Of course, all that might be TMI, so lets skip ahead to all the good and wonderful news I have to share.

First, because I am co-hosting with Shel, I get to choose this week's Inspiration Avenue challenge and create the post, as well as supply the inspiration photos. Since Shel won't put it on the IA blog until later this morning, I will let you consider what the challenge might be this week.

Now for some more really great news. I once again have my external drives showing on my computer. Please don't ask, because even my computer (and plumbing) guru friend Scott has no idea why they came back when he started playing around on my computer. But because he got my external drives to show up again, I can now let everyone know how excited I am about offering my free altered book course. I've been wanting to do this since before my computer started giving me fits in December, but I was unable to make any plans until I was sure I had a way to access my blog, as well as my scanner and camera.


Every two weeks, I will upload a new lesson or technique for altered books (ABs). This is for people new to altered books, and those who want to refresh their basic AB skills. I offered this course a couple of years ago in a private class, which was also totally free, but restricted, since only 99 people could join, along with me, which made 100. I had to turn people away. I will now be offering this new course on this blog. No need for a special password or anything other than a normal visit. We will start the class next Monday on the 6th of February. I hope you will play along and show what you have made, too. Again, these are basic techniques and I will use the same syllabus as when I taught the class before.

To get you started, you can begin thinking about a theme for your altered book. Mine is going to be rocking horses, a book I have wanted to make for some time. Thanks and I'll see you next week when we get started.


I'm also linking with Creative Every Day (CED), since it is Monday. On Wednesday, the CED theme for February will change from NEW to NIGHT. I hope you consider joining this NEW altered book challenge before NIGHT falls next Monday.

Silent Sunday: My grandfather would have been 100 today

(source)

A collage quilt: "from nowhere to noticeable"

While I was without a computer, my reading turned to sewing magazines, like Cloth, Paper, Scissors, Quilting Arts, and Sew Somerset. It's no wonder fabric took over my art interests once I was able to photograph and scan my projects again. Unfortunately, I am having trouble with my computer because it doesn't recognize any of my external or auxiliary drives. Luckily, I already had these photos (except for the scans) stored on my hard drive, so am able to share these today.


I apologize for these photos being so large. If you click on an image, they will fit better on the screen.

I read an article on how to make collage quilts in the August/September 2011 edition of Quilting Arts magazine (Edition 52) that piqued my interest. Of course, I had practically none of the materials needed to make this art quilt. So here you find me in my basement studio searching for materials I can use for this project. Just like so often happens, I improvised, using what I had on hand.

Materials I began with (from left):
dictionary pages and bits of sheet music
hand dyed fabric (green)
commercial fabric (brown)
off white felt, cut to size of finished art quilt
Pellon (Wonder Under)
black fabric of unknown type
more fabric, all hand dyed
green fabric left over from latest batch of monoprints



I cut the Wonder Under to size using some kitchen shears I have in my basement studio. (Note to self: find some scissors that actually cut fabric and take them to the basement). Sometimes you must cut, rather than tear!


I laid all the fabric and paper bits I planned to use over the Wonder Under, propped the black fabric under my scissors, since it wanted to curl, made a few adjustments, then started to iron the fabric and book pages in place.


What a disaster!!! What in the world happened? I have NO idea, but the black fabric of unknown type had melted to the bottom of my iron and was now also all over the green fabric on the top right. I grabbed some of the green football fabric I found so offensive in my quiltlet from a couple of weeks ago, and quickly ironed it to the base, not even aware I was still spreading spewing that black goo all over the collage. At least I decided this football fabric was the perfect addition to this now primarily green and brown quilt.

After a few adjustments due to the size of the new fabric, I continued ironing everything in place. When the fabric and collage materials had cooled, I made a few cuts, primarily to remove the black goo laden fabric, then added a few bits of fabric to the mix, and proceeded to my main floor craft room to sew the entire collage using straight or zig zag stitches. I changed threads from variegated brown to black, then green, and finally a very heavy white. I used the collage materials to guide my color choices.


According to the QA magazine instructions, the next thing I was supposed to do was seal the quilt before I added paint, oil pastels, etc. So here is the quilt right after I applied a mixture of two gel mediums to the piece. Also according to the instructions, you should mix matte and gloss gel medium to get a satin finish. When this photo was taken, it was difficult to see that satin finish! However, you should be able to see all the lines I made with thread on the collage. What the sewing machine didn't catch, the gel medium did!


Once dry, I was struck by how much the brown fabric felt and looked like leather. In fact, I was so impressed with the fabric, I thought it was the perfect addition to the football fabric I had shunned earlier this month. A great flopportunity had transformed this piece from dull to daring, or as I named it, "From Nowhere to Noticeable." In case you can't read it, these are the header words on the dictionary page and I named the quilt accordingly.

Originally, when the black fabric was in place, I had planned for this to be the first of several layers. I had planned to use various paints, oil pastels, and Shiva Paintstiks, materials I actually had that the instructions called for in the next layers I would add. With the addition of the football fabric, the entire game changed (pun actually intended there!).

Instead of oil pastels or Paintstiks, I reached for the rub-n-buff. The beautiful metallic blues and raw umber

were the perfect additions I needed to color the dictionary page and bits of the dyed and monoprinted fabric.


Here it is in all its glory after it had dried. I think it will be the absolute perfect quilt or even a table centerpiece for Super Bowl Sunday, February 5. The size of this piece is approximately 15 inches by 15 inches and it is completely covered in a thick layer of protective gel medium. So, should I (or my Super Bowl Party guests) spill something on the collage quilt, it will quickly and easily wipe up.

I can't wait to make another one of these collage quilts. The next one will incorporate some of the paint supplies I didn't use this time. Are you using your existing art supplies instead of buying new supplies? I keep seeing "use it up" and "finish those UFOs" posts on my blogging journeys, so it seems to be the perfect year to do it.

Inspiration Avenue: Alphabet quiltlet

Maggie's (Magpie's) prompt for us at Inspiration Avenue this week was Alphabet. "Art with words," etc. was what Maggie suggested when she issued the challenge. All kinds of images danced in my head, as I contemplated making art using stencils and hand made stamps. Of course, I had limited time, because I have a leak in my pipes (OK, not mine, but my house's) that I have been dealing with.

As I was further contemplating the challenge, I remembered back in July of last year, I wrote a tutorial featuring shaving cream on fabric. At that time, I used an alphabet stencil. Please check it out, if you are not familiar with the process I used.


I began with the fabric I stenciled using shaving cream, and tore a piece to quiltlet size (about 9 X 12 inches). The piece I used is in the upper left side of the above photo. Remembering what my friend Dianne of Art Beneath the Cottonwoods suggested in the comments of that post, I decided to outline each of the letters with my black ink pen. Not sure what kind it is, but I think it's a Rollerball or something like that. I just know it's not a Micron, because my Micron is deader than a . . .


I then colored an apple rubber stamp using Staz-on reinkers and stamped onto a portion of a dictionary page.


To the back of the quiltlet, I cut batting and drew a backward "A" using the same stencil as I used on the front of the quiltlet. To attach the batting to the quiltlet, I added my "free motion" stitching of the "A." It didn't show as well from the front as I had hoped, but I did like the technique of adding "free motion" stitches from the back of the fabric. Now if only I had a way to make real free motion stitches. In retrospect this is one technique I will definitely try again. Next time, the thread I use will be a much more distinct shade from the stamp or image I choose to use.

Thanks again to Magpie for challenging me to create this alpha inspired quiltlet. And, please check out all of Inspiration Avenue's entries this week.

Messed up tea

Kimmie and all my Tea Tuesday friends are drinking tea (or something fun) today and proudly displaying their tablescapes, their vignettes, their landscape, their art, their tea, or even their tea cup.


Since I still have no way to take photos, something you really need to do on Tea Tuesday, I decided to make some art. I started with a background using some Twinkling H2Os and gold leaf pen as a resist. In case you have never tried this technique, it is one of my tutorials, shown in its entirety here.


I also cut a teapot from a computer generated design, and planned to use my coffee/tea cup I made last year from a recycled plastic lid.


I glued some of the background paper to an 8 inch by 8.5 inch by 1/2 inch wooden board. When it was dry, I added the tea bag that I used in Tea Tuesday last week. Apparently I didn't let the glue of the tea bag dry enough because as I was outlining the stencil using my Micron 0.5 black ink pen, it stopped working. Yep, it's now dead from my stupidity. That's the second time I've "killed" one of those good Micron pens. They never recover, either.

That's when I grabbed the India Ink, but didn't realize how thin India Ink was and how much it bleeds, especially on a thin tea bag. So, instead of coloring the tea pot, and adding a bigger mess on top of this mess, I have decided to call this "Messed Up Tea" and submit it as my Tea Tuesday entry. I will gladly take any suggestions I can get on how to fix this mixed media mess and turn it into something acceptable.

Don't forget to visit Kimmie for tea Tuesday links. I'm sure she and the rest of my Tuesday pals have tea that is not messed up today!

"Let's Say Thanks" (gone, but not forgotten)

What do you do when you want to be creative, but have no way to get photos from your camera onto your blog? You improvise! You get creative! You find a way to let your loyal followers, viewers, readers, and friends know they are not forgotten. You also find a way to enter this week's CED challenge. So, let's see what kind of trouble I can get into art I can conjure up today.

On January 2 of this year, I posted one of my goals for 2011 and how well I did. My 2011 resolution is in blue, my actual accomplishment in black.

"4. Continue visiting the Xerox site (link on my sidebar under "Eye candy and Freebies") at least once a week, and sending postcard support to our troops until they are safely home out of harm's way. See this post for the specifics.

This is one thing I continued through September of this year. After that, I knew troops would be coming home from Iraq, so I stopped visiting the site."

So yesterday I decided to click on a few links on my sidebars (because after all, as Seth Apter pointed out in a post on Create Mixed Media, this is VALUABLE REAL ESTATE that visitors seldom take time to view),


and decided to visit the Xerox postcard site before I said good-bye to the link.


That's when I learned (as copied and quoted from the Let's Say Thanks web site)

"Thank you for your support of Xerox's Let's Say Thanks program.

We are no longer accepting cards through the website.

Let's Say Thanks began more than five years ago as a public way to say "thank you" to the men and women serving our country. Since then, more than 30 million people have visited the website to share their appreciation with our troops through cards featuring children’s artwork from across the country."

The site still offers ways you (and you and you, my dear readers) can help the troops. Once again, quoting the Xerox site:

". . .we've decided to shift the focus of the program to what the troops need most: donations. We will continue to support local cards drives and contests, and we encourage you to continue your support by sending mail, toiletry items or donations via www.give2thetroops.org."

Here is a copy of the first postcard I ever sent to an anonymous armed forces member back on Nov. 28, 2009. And here is what I wrote about the postcard:

"The one I chose first is this one created by a young man named Joshua, who lives in IL and is age 11. Before you think I stole the design off their web site, that is not the case. You may download each photo with the click of a button that is located below the "send" button."

It's now time to say good-bye to the Xerox link, but hopefully not the good deeds and ways we can help our troops. Statistically, returning service people active duty personnel and veterans suffer more emotional, mental, homelessness, divorce, and substance abuse problems than the general population. That is so unfair in a country that asked them to serve, then does nothing for them when they return home.




I'm sharing this on CED (after all, this is first and foremost an art blog), hoping this is a wake-up call to find ways to reach out to our returning troops, while creating a post I gleaned from my sidebar and various links. How do you feel about your sidebar? Is it taking up valuable real estate, or providing worthwhile information and links?

Silent Sunday: Wichita's train heritage as represented at Exploration Place

Inspiration Avenue: The Butterfly

Hettiene asked us to honor butterflies this week at Inspiration Avenue. She showed us many fine examples of butterflies, everything from butterflies made from food to butterflies drawn on canvas. They were all very inspirational.

On Monday I started out by prepping one of my wooden blocks. I had planned to paint it, then place various butterfly images on tags, then glue the tags to the block. However, on Tuesday I learned I could no longer access any of my external drives, so taking photos of the block would have been impossible to show, and the block was too large for my scanner.

So off to "Plan B," which turned out to be "Plan Butterfly."



In keeping with my desire to use materials and tools I already have, I dyed some of my (now quite familiar) background fabric, as well as a dried up wet wipe, and a piece of cheesecloth. However, when I tried to iron the wet wipe, it disintegrated and I had to use only the portion of the wipe that didn't get demolished by the iron.

Lesson to be learned: Wet wipes, even with the iron temp set on the lowest setting, will melt.

Does the background fabric look familiar? It should. Here and the last photo of this post I show this same background fabric dyed in blue, and here in pink. This time I used butterscotch and lettuce color mists, along with a white shimmering mist, which doesn't show in the scan, but is gorgeous when the light shines just right.

EDIT: In comments, Terrie asked about the butterfly and if it was a transfer. I left a message for her on her blog (because as I've said in the past, I never expect people to return to my blog to read about comments I write to them), but thought I should probably add it here, too. This is an image I printed from somewhere (possibly/probably Art e-zine UK) years ago on some transparent paper. For this project, I cut around the butterfly and used gel medium to add it to the wet wipe. Thanks for asking Terrie.

Thanks for the challenge, Hettiene. To see what others have created, head to Inspiration Avenue Sunday afternoon and view all the awesome entries.

Snowman collage

If you dropped by for Tuesday Tea with Kimmie and friends, you saw the start of this collage. I started with what was left of one of my outdoor garden signs I bought last year and finished with a collage I hope to stick on my front porch. Of course, I can't take photos of my front porch because I don't seem to have access to any of my external or additional drives (other than my operating system-OS-drive) .


Using a stencil I thought looked like a snowflake, I added various color mists and two smaller stencils. Once I positioned the water resistant fabric on the watercolor paper, it didn't want to stay glued when I used gel medium. Next I tried Mod Podge, a glue I have NEVER been fond of. Still not sticking on the edges, I finished using Elmer's white glue (not school glue).

Next, I covered the front of the fabric with gel medium, trying to stay away from the misted areas that have a tendency to run when covered with any wet medium. At that time, I added bits of a dictionary page and the holographic snowflakes (little embellishments often used as bits thrown on tables or into envelopes) that took on the surrounding colors of the collage.

Now that I have finished scanning this, I intend to seal it with a fixative before I hang it on my porch. I needed a winter piece of art for my front porch, because my Christmas wreath was looking far too dated. Not allowing myself to buy anything new, I created this using all the materials I have on hand. Are you recycling, reusing, and reinterpreting your art or media this year?

WOYWW #137: Rock on!

I'm joining in tonight because I don't want to miss WOYWW, hosted by our loveable and ever so thoughtful Julia at Stamping Ground. Show her the love, because she can use it!

However, if you were here earlier today, you learned that I no longer can access any of my computer drives, except the OS (operating system also known as C drive). That means I can't transfer photos from my camera to my photo editing program.

Since I can't show my desk this week, and since some of you are new (or newer) to WOYWW and have asked about my rocking horses, I thought I would show a few photos of some of the ones I've featured in the past. Forgive me if you have already seen these. At last count, I had slightly over 450.


Let's start in my craft room, where these candles normally live on the window sill.


Here are some I have received from WOYWWers (JozArt and Cath in Cyprus) and


one from our fearless leader, Julia.


WOW! This reindeer copied BIG!


And here is one that rolls, but doesn't rock. WOYWWendy is looking on.


Here she gives her approval. Yes, the bangs that come down below her eyes are just like I wear mine.


Let's move on to my guest bedroom, where you will find a lot of rocking horses, including several that live on pillows.


Of course, one of my favorite horses lives here, too.

This might be a better view of the horse that is nearly as tall as my guest bed foot board.


We must stop in the loo to see this one that children can ride.


Moving on to the living room, here are two in this vignette, one of which I painted and placed in an oval hoop frame.


Can you see the rocking horse outside my window? If not, it's easy to see a couple of my favorites live on my Grandmother's treadle sewing machine,


while this pull along horse lives below the machine.


There are lots of rocking horses in this photo. Some on the wall, some on the top of the kitchen (sometimes called Hoosier, although that was a brand name) cabinet, and some


on the metal shelf, all love to play together, especially when no one is looking.


Keys stay in place on my rocking horse key holder in my kitchen.


Head to my office, and you will see lots of shelves. This one sits over my computer between two book cases. I see three rocking horses in this photo and I know there are more. I like keeping them together, especially since they love to play together.


Also in my office, I have two shelves with horses on them. Sadly, only one is shown here, along with one of my hoops from the 80s.


A detail of the shelf shows a bowl of paper clips decorated with a single rocking horse earring I found at a garage sale.


Three more rocking horses are on this bookcase in my bedroom. Although this is my only bedroom shot, there are many more in the room. I can't get away from my "friends" (not that I would want to) because they are everywhere!


Heading to the basement, upon entry, you are greeted with a rocking horse painting in a frame. I think that's probably the end of a tour, which means that's as many previously shown rocking horse photos as I want to pull off my blog.



However, here are a few of my approximately 450 that I assembled awhile back for a rocking horse reunion. Hope you have enjoyed the tour and can appreciate my love of rocking horses, even though I had no desk to show today.

So, rock on this WOYWW, or until I can figure out how to get my other computer drives back.