Disintegration project 1

Today I am unwrapping the first piece I made from my disintegration collaboration project (DisCo), a collaboration from the ingenious mind of Seth Apter. If you do nothing else today, please click on the link to his page and visit his blog. He is one of the best artists around, and if his blog isn't enough, just check out all the links associated with this collaboration or the previously posted Buried Treasures. You may never want to leave your computer again!!

To refresh your memory, back in January, I gutted a hard bound book, then bound the pages with twine. I turned some of the pages into bundles, which I also wrapped with the same twine.

On May 1, here is what the elements had done to the bundle. It was falling apart more from my lack of good tying rather than from the elements.

The clothes pin and heavy wire showed more wear than the pages.

Even the images inside were relatively undamaged.

When I put things back in the basement, I stored everything for this project in a plastic bag and hung it for easy retrieval, so everything would be handy when I began working on it.

In fact, I used that very image from above in my first completed piece.

To help the disintegration along and to make it fit, I burned one of the bundles,

while I left some with the bundles' original twine intact.

The only things I added that were not part of the bundle, were a piece of mesh, some masking tape, dressmaker tissues, part of a ruler, and two pieces of bark.

I covered the piece inside and out with a brown paper bag that I painted. I lined the piece edges with parts of the book pages. I think I like the back better than the front. The size is about 12" X 18".

And here it is, my masterpiece (number 1) made solely from recycled materials and the disintegration bundle. I used a section of the book as the mat for the photo. Because the pages had gotten wet, they didn't lay flat, so I added a piece of cardboard and paper bag I altered over the pages for support.

I chose this image because it reminded me that memory is fragile and as we age, we lose even the most precious memories if there is no attempt at preservation. Moments of life become blurred, distorted, and begin to disintegrate. Without preservation, or perhaps intervention, attempts to save this piece (and project) from the elements and from my memory would fade, distort, and decompose, too.

Please check back tomorrow for the second piece I am making from the rest of the disintegration pieces.

A day of shopping and laughter

Yesterday was a fun shopping day when Dana, Kathy, and I got together to check out all the newest and coolest things available to us to make art. Kathy wanted to take advantage of the sales at Michaels, while Dana wanted to check out the new one on the east edge of town (Dana and I live on the north central/west part of Wichita). Also, Kathy wanted to go to a scrapbook store in Andover, a little town just east of Wichita. So, it all worked out well.

Kathy picked up Dana on the way to my place, then came to get me.

We took a few minutes to look at our latest art and some projects we want to try from the latest art magazines. Although I didn't get a chance to photograph Dana's art she brought, you can see something Kathy made. Her necklace, earrings, and bracelet all match and she made them. They are spectacular.

It's not long and we are off on our journey.


We took the interstate around town to Michaels, which was our first stop.

People say I am never in photos, so look closely. I took a photo of me in the side mirror!

Here we are at the brand new . . . . What is this store?

I had to back up a bit to get the name in, but yes, it's our newest Michaels.

It was so light inside and the employees were so helpful and knowledgeable, things I never thought I'd say about this chain.

After spending over an hour in the store, Dana is in line to check out. Can you see her head poking over the candy?

Kathy had already checked out and was patiently waiting on me, stuck in line behind a very large order.

At this point, we decided to eat, and not knowing Andover very well, decided on the chicken fried steak Wednesday special at KFC. It had started to rain and we made it inside just prior to the downpour.

Not sure what Dana and Kathy are talking about, but they look intense.

I'd better get over there and start eating. I'm the slowest eater in the world, and they always have to wait on me to finish.

Speaking of waiting, Dana got bored waiting on me to finish my meal, so started snapping artsy shots of their trash.

Yep, I'm still busy eating!

It's still sprinkling when we pull up to the cute scrapbook store located in a strip mall not far from where we ate.

Dana admires the potato vines planted in pots in front of the store

and comments on how much she loves the purple columns.

Inside, the store was light and airy, with tons of room, including a generous space for teaching. There were lots of products, including Tim Holtz and Heidi Swapp items. We had plenty of room to walk and never felt crowded, like in some art stores.

There were scrapbook examples everywhere, and they leaned toward the altered art side of the scrapbook look. I was really impressed and spent quite a bit of time at their clearance rack.

By now the sun had returned and Kathy and Dana went shopping in Sams, while I read one of Kathy's art magazines. That's the bad thing about Sams. You can only take one adult with you in the store at a time. I didn't mind. I blew my "allowance" on art supplies anyway.

Dana showed us an alternate way to get home from Sams. It took us past a row of grain elevators, which should be teeming with activity this time of year.

I love grain elevators in the landscape as much as I love palm trees (I know, they don't grow in KS), so when I see some, I have to take photos.

This is a typical view of the Kansas landscape once you get out of the immediate city.

Once home, I spread everything out that I got. Now granted, Kathy bought the scissors for our play days (far left front) and Dana surprised me with the little hand punch, but everything else on the table cost me just under $20.00. The big ticket item, glass cutting nippers, was not on sale, so I used a 40% off coupon. I'm determined to cut those glass pieces so we can make those fairies under glass, and this way we can experiment with mosaics, too, another thing I've wanted to try forever. The lavender ribbon? ROCKING HORSES! How cute is that?

As I was photographing my haul, I heard my neighbor outside, so asked him if I could borrow his mower (my neighbor Sally's is still not fixed and my lawn was really looking bad). I only mowed the front and side, but pulled a bunch of weeds and laid down cardboard under the pots. Whew, that looks so much better than before, but I'm really tired.

After taking this photo, I went in and put everything away that I purchased, then collapsed, not even getting these photos off my camera. But I'm awake now, and ready for this wonderful art day.

And don't forget. Tomorrow I unveil the first of my disintegration projects. If for some reason you don't know about this project, please visit Seth Apter's blog for details.

A spread in my Altered Recipe Book

On July 14, I discovered these Caron Crayons which I had received for Christmas one year. Since I had never used them, I decided it was time to try my hand at some hand drawn art.

I was surprised when I opened the Caron Crayons to find they weren't crayons at all, but chalk. I already had the materials I wanted, including the sticker from the cantaloupe I had eaten that day.

It wasn't much of a stretch to try my hand at something simple like the cantaloupe. I have some vines growing in my garden and one thing I know is they have little yellow flowers. Although my cantaloupe looks a bit like a childish apple rather than a cantaloupe (how many times have I said I can't draw?), I was happy with the way it turned out. I began by laying down gesso on the page, then added the tissue while the gesso was still wet. When dry, I drew the cantaloupe, added the sticker, vines, and flowers, and called it finished! Yes, I know I can't draw, but if I try with simple shapes, maybe I'll get up nerve to try something more difficult one of these days (like squares)!

Don't forget that in two days I will unveil the first of my disintegration projects. Today I will be shopping with Kathy and Dana. Kathy is coming to Wichita and we are going to a scrapbook store in Andover, a small town just east of Wichita. We are also going to visit Michaels and probably talk about lots of art. So, I will try to remember to pack my camera and show all the fun we had today!!

Nature prints on sheet music

Remember back a few days ago when I thought I was taking this book back to Kathy? Well, I finally had time to make one nature print yesterday. Why you ask did it take so long? The instructions were to cut a leaf, herb, etc., for printing, then press it like you would normally press any flower, leaf, etc., EXCEPT you only leave it in the press for between one to three hours, depending on the amount of moisture in your plant product. I've cut some leaves and flowers on days in the past, placed them in my press, then gotten so busy, the time simply slipped away.

Yesterday when I was watering, I pulled a weed from my front garden and pressed it, then after a couple of hours, did a very simple nature printing of acrylic paint on the back or veined part of the leaves. Some turned out great, others so-so. The author said it might take a long time to achieve the look you want, so (and since I'm not a rubber stamper, either) I was pretty happy with the technique.

This shows side one of the sheet music I used. The grey on all these pages is from the pieces not being flat on my scanner bed, not from the paper.

This is the middle portion. I accidentally tore the paper getting it out of the music book.

This is the second side of the page. Although this was a simple technique, compared to some in the book, I'm glad I started at the beginning, instead of jumping into the hardest project in the book, like I normally do. I think this will be a fun long-term project once I get into it. In fact, I really want to try this same technique on fabric next.

But for now, I'm back to putting the touches on my second disintegration project that will be unveiled on August 1.

Handing out justice in my Hands AB

This page started life as an example of dry Sgraffito. Sgraffito is a technique where a top layer of color is scratched to reveal a color beneath. The term comes from the Italian word sgraffire meaning "to scratch."

There are both dry and wet Sgraffito techniques depending on when you scratch into the paint. I used a bamboo skewer and actually scratched holes into the page. To cover the problem, I added this magazine image, then dry brushed some gesso around the image. I added the sentiment using a Zig pen and stencil.

Silent Sunday: the Kansas countryside