Another assemblage

 

The following post was originally published in April, 2014. 

Sometimes I think I've found my calling when I rummage through my found objects and find things that make me happy.  Today is no exception.  And from all the comments I got on my first assemblage, you seem to like them, too.

This is my latest offering.

The very heavy metal pieces are ear tags for cattle.  A friend gave them to me when he cleaned out his garage one year.  I added a can lid, a washer, and a bolt, all things that were of no use to people who were getting rid of them.  Although the mirror, at the very top of the assemblage is new, it went through the flood that consumed my basement a few years ago.  The glass bubbles and butterflies were from my stash and new, but I needed something to add a bit of color to the piece.

I'm not sure how clever this title is, but if you don't like it, we'll blame it on Bleubeard.

Here is a side view that shows the size of the block I used and a bit of detail of the piece.

More detail shows the tags were either made by, or came from a serum company.  The mirror had been sitting in rusty water at some point.

I love rust, and this assemblage is no exception.

Today is Day 9 of 22 and I reposted another assemblage I created that I named "Forty Five (and Counting)."  I hope you enjoy it, because I hope to add more assemblages to my repertoire, along with fabric and paper.  Thank you so much for visiting today.

 

Assemblage fun

 

This post was originally published in April, 2014.

I've wanted to create an assemblage for awhile now,

and the idea of using found objects to create one fit perfectly with the concept of recycling.  So I grabbed a few metal pieces, and set out to create something fun.

I began by covering one of my 12 inch X 12 inch X 1 inch (30.48 cm X 30.48 cm X 2.54 cm) wooden blocks with paper scraps.  I laid down bits of watercolor to create a bit of color.  In addition to the metal pieces, I got out some of the Sculpey I had been given in exchange for a tutorial, and made a few faces and hands from a mold I own. 

As I was creating this piece, those words kept running through my head, so I knew this was what I had to name it.

Some of the details are shown here.

Today is Day 8 of 22, and I recycled a block of wood, several pages from books and dictionaries, a rusty can lid, a metal ring, and a metal piece I have no idea what it's called or what it was used for in a previous life.  I also managed to use some of the Sculpey, too.  Please enjoy my Mother and Child Reunion and thank you for visiting.  

 

T stands for Teabag Beauties

 

I am still unable to leave comments, even on my own blog.  I plan to have the courage to reinstall Firefox in a few days.  I'm reluctant to do so because I will lose everything, including all my saved cookies.

Blogger has finally been kind to me and I can now once again leave comments.  Let's hope it stays that way and I haven't jinxed it.

The following post is from April, 2014.  

Before I jump to my recycle post for T today, I wanted to show six tea bags from tea I drank last week. 

They are now completely dry.   I can't wait to remove the tea from these so I can make art using the bags.

As for the watercolor paper I dried them on, I am still pondering whether to keep the six colors intact, or cut them into smaller pieces.

As for this week's T Stands For Tuesday post, I recycled some very different tea bags.  After all, it's still all about recycling.  It began a few weeks back when I started this in my collage altered book,

then added tea bags that did NOT like to come apart.  It was about that time I came up with the concept for this spread I call "Teabag Beauties."  Remember, these tea bags are what some people would consider trash.

I had hoped this would put the entire spread in context, but the lighting was not especially good.

As I've explained in the past, this book is larger than my scanner, so you don't get the full effect this way.

I should explain that I first laid down two shades of green paint, then thought the pages were too dark, so I added a bit of white paint to tone the colors down.  Next I added the cheap tea bags that don't open well.  In a way, I actually preferred the distressed look. 

I added two flowers and two buttons I hoped would compliment the floral colors the girls wore, but the buttons turned out a bit unbelievably garish against the green background and vintage look of these little beauties.  I noticed it more so in the scans than when I took the photos, so I'll more than likely try to either remove the buttons or live with the spread as is, since it doesn't look garish in real life.

Today is Day 7 of 22 leading up to bEARTHday and I recycled five tea bags, sent the spent tea to the compost pile, used some gifted images, added two gifted flower petals, and included two buttons I removed from an old dress.

Now it's your turn to show how you celebrated T this Tuesday.  Remember, you don't have to take the photos on Tuesday, you don't have to drink tea, you don't have to drink anything, as long as you can relate the post back to something drink related, as I did with this spread.  Be sure to use a direct link below so Bleubeard, all our Tuesday T friends, and I can visit you, too.  And remember please, not everyone visits on Tuesday, so please make sure you add the link associated with Tuesday T, and not to your blog in general.

 

 

Hurt

 

I continue to be unable to leave comments, even on my own blog.  I plan to reinstall Firefox in a few days, although  I'm reluctant to do so because I lose everything, including all my saved cookies.   

For several years, I played along at a British website called Craft Barn.  Although they are no longer in business, they originally sold various mixed media and wood products.  They also had annual twice monthly challenges, and in 2014, it was Quotes and Lyrics.

The following post is one of those challenges which was from April, 2014. 

 Craft Barn's Eighth Challenge: Knowledge and Hurt

The eighth Craft Barn lyrics or quotes challenge came out today.  I checked before I went to sleep, and decided the word I would use would be HURT, mainly because all the DT examples were Knowledge.  Of course, those of you who know me, or follow along on my blog, know that I'm a positive person, with no room for pain or emotional baggage.  So finding a good quote was priority # 1, and finding one I could use recycled materials with was priority # 2.

Once again, I started with one of my used file folders cut in half lengthwise.  To that, I glued a background of Tootsie Roll Pop wrappers, things most people would throw in the trash after consuming the candy.

For the detail shots, I cut hearts from red Tootsie Roll Pop labels that I outlined using a Sharpie marker.

To set the CB 8 apart, I used a shiny wrapper I found in my stash.

I added a chocolate image to this heart.

I continued with the red raspberry  wrappers I turned into hearts until I came to the 

word "hurt."  In case you can't read it, here is what it says:

All you need is love.  But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.

~Charles M. Schulz

Although he died in early 2000, I’m sure most of us remember this cartoonist who gave us such Peanuts characters as Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and my all-time favorite: Lucy, who, like me, thinks everything should cost 5 cents.

This is Day 6 of 22 leading to bEARTHday.  For this prompt and subsequent artwork, I recycled 10 candy wrappers and half a file folder.  I also used two magazine images.  I hope you had a super Easter for those who observe it.
 

As an aside, I was really impressed with how many different children I found on the covers of the Tootsie Roll Pops. 

 

Happy (plastic free) Easter

 

I am still unable to leave comments, even on my own blog.  I plan to reinstall Firefox in a few days.  I'm reluctant to do so because I lose everything, including all my saved cookies.  

As most of you who follow along on my blog are aware, every April leading up to bEARTHday, I try to create something new from recycled, repurposed, or reusable items and turn them into art.  Each year the task gets harder because there are limited things I can come up with to create.

For example, I'm not one who drinks soft drinks, especially in cans, so art made from aluminum cans is limited.  I also seldom drink anything from plastic bottles, including soft drinks or water.  So making art from plastic bottles is practically out of the question.

You will find a ton of art (and some of it quite clever) made from plastic bottle and jar lids.  Unfortunately, it would take me about as long to collect enough to make art from these lids as it would for plastic lids to disintegrate in the landfill.  I am just not a person who buys plastic.

That reminded me of the plastic we use at Easter, so I am bringing back this post about my beef with Easter.  I call it

Why Easter is not Green

At the risk of repeating myself, I've said this before: for being so green, Easter isn't really green at all.  So, please put up with my antics while I share my thoughts with you.

What do I mean by Easter not being green?  Easter celebrates a rebirth, time for renewal, time for spring. It occasionally occurs around the time we celebrate Earth Day, too. So why is it, you ask, that it’s one of the most UN-green holidays ever? Plastic, plastic, plastic.

In case you’ve never thought about recycling, plastic is a petroleum product. It lives simply forever in the landfill. On a larger scale, it’s the material that wars have been fought over, especially those in my lifetime.  

Plastic wrapped in plastic stuffed in a cardboard gift basket

Same baskets, expanded view.

 

Although the bag is canvas, there is a ton of plastic in the bag.          

Plastic holding candy wrapped in plastic.

I give this one credit.  Although the plastic gifts are wrapped in plastic, at least the "grass" doesn't look plastic and the "basket" is cardboard.

This is possibly the worst offender of all the baskets I found at Sam's a few years ago.

Supplies: Plastic Easter Eggs and Napkins

Plastic has taken over the Easter industry. There’s probably more plastic sold, then disposed of at Easter than at Christmastime, although I have no statistics to support that. Granted, even though I don’t have kids, I can see what is being sold in the stores: plastic baskets wrapped in cellophane or plastic, loaded with plastic eggs, along with individual chocolate bunnies wrapped in hard plastic shells, sitting atop plastic grass in various colors.  Even Peeps, those disgusting marshmallow confectioneries sold in the United States and Canada, shaped like chickens and bunnies, come wrapped in plastic.

Am I a cynic? No. I love Easter. It even lands on my birthday on occasion. But parents need to indulge their children in a very different way using only recycled or eco-friendly materials to celebrate this holiday which will also provide a great teaching moment.

However, if you have some of these ugly eggs, here's a way you can use them to your advantage.  BTW, I got mine at a garage sale years and years and years ago (probably sometime in the late 1980s).

Although my plastic eggs are very old, I have observed two types.  One type snaps together in two parts, and one type is fused together, like the one above.  This is a single egg that snaps shut, while the other type twists apart into two pieces.  I'm not describing this too well, I'm sure, but you don't want this one shown above.  You want the egg that comes apart into two pieces.

Now that you've chosen your plastic egg, pull a napkin of your choice apart.  There will be three layers, so be sure to use only the top layer.

Once your napkin is apart, turn it over and cut it in a circle.  Cover the egg with the glue of your choice.  I prefer white PVA glue which helps the napkin shrink and fit perfectly on the egg, while sealing the entire assembly.  When dry, you can even stamp on your egg(s).


Try not to press too hard, because the napkins are fragile and will tear apart, like mine did.  However, since the egg color and the napkin colors were compatible, once the glue dried, my error didn't show as badly. 

Once dry, place your egg in your Easter basket and make about a dozen more!

While I make a few more of these, let’s look at some of the worse plastic Easter offenders and some possible alternatives.

1. Plastic Easter baskets. Alternative: buy natural fiber baskets at the thrift store, or dig out one you’ve had for years like I did.

2. Cellophane or plastic wrapped Easter gift baskets. Alternative: consider wrapping your Easter basket using tissue, old dress patterns, or other eco-friendly materials. Or, leave it unwrapped if it doesn't have far to travel to reach the recipient.

3. Candy goodies wrapped in plastic to go in the plastic baskets. Alternative: dye real eggs using natural dyes with your kids and hide them in the baskets or outdoors early on Easter morning. Instead of buying the pre-made chocolate bunnies, why not buy a bar or two of your (or your kids) favorite chocolate and cover with various bunny stickers or rubber stamped images.

4. Plastic grass. Alternative: Use your paper shredder to make recyclable grass. When Easter is over, put the shredded paper in your compost pile or around the base of your plants. Don't leave it in your basket, because it might attract varmints or critters. If you have plastic grass, be sure to either dispose of it quickly and responsibly so pets (like curious cats, dogs, or birds) don't get into it and accidentally digest it, or do as I do, wrap your basket filled with the grass (probably purchased in the 80s) in a large kitchen trash bag that you keep from year to year.  Never dispose of it so birds can get it. They will be attracted to it to use in their nests.

5. Hard plastic wrapped chocolate bunnies:  Alternative: Instead of a chocolate bunny, find the softest, cuddliest stuffed bunny rabbit to add to a child's Easter basket.

6. Plastic eggs.  Alternative: Here's a look at some I've made in previous years.

I hope you find some lovely napkins to recycle your ugly offensive plastic eggs this year (next year since Easter is today) and turn Easter into a genuine green holiday!  Note too, this is the same basket and same green plastic grass I use every year.  At the risk of repeating myself, I really appreciate your visit on this Easter Sunday. 

 

I hope you enjoyed this look back on my take of why Easter is not green.  For Day 5 of 22 leading up to bEARTHday, I recycled two Easter posts.  

 

Recycling old magazines

 

Again, I am unable to publish my comments.  Blogger has decided to strike again.  You will see my comment I left to you SOON, I hope.  BTW, I will be re-installing Firefox in a few days. 

Yesterday I showed you how to use wax paper that holds cereal.  Today, I will show something that includes a cereal box.

I'm fairly certain most of you know to put your cardboard to good use, like the cereal box I'm showing in the above photo.  But did you ever think to save old magazines, especially those from advertisers, to use under pieces or objects you glue?  Once the glue has been spread on the item you wish to adhere, remove it, and turn the page of the magazine.  You are now ready for the next item you wish to glue.  Works well on both wet and dry glues.  Kelly at Collage Lab uses coffee filters when she spreads her glue.  I use coffee filters to make coffee!  If you don't get magazines or junk mail, an old telephone book will do the same trick!! 

For Day 4 of 22 leading up to bEARTHday, I showed one way to recycle old magazines.

 

 

Cereal Freebie

 

I appear to once again be unable to publish my comments.  Blogger has decided to strike again.  You will see my comment I left to you SOON, I hope.  BTW, I will be re-installing Firefox soon. 

I've been highlighting freebies since 2014, and today I'm bringing back two from that year.

Inside every cereal box is great FREE wax paper.  You can use it between book or journal pages that may still be slightly wet with paint, behind pages you don't want getting paint or spray ink on, 

you can create various techniques using it, or you can line your spray mist box, then use it in art collages later.  All you need to do is wipe it off with your hand before you put it to work the first time, and you have a freebie from repurposed materials.  

And although I used regular wax paper on this next project, you can certainly use the cereal freebie wax paper.  However, when using the cereal wax paper, after opening it, use a clean, dry towel to wipe down the inside.

I first cut four strips 8 inches long and 4 inches wide.  They are now 4" X 8".   If your decide to make this you may choose any size, but be sure each strip is twice as long as it is wide.

You can (and may) now put your wax paper away because you won't need it anymore.

Now that your strips are cut to size, audition your dried flowers you pressed last year

to see which ones work best in the space available.

Choose four different flowers, leaves, or arrangements, then fold the wax paper in half. 

While your iron is heating to wool (NO STEAM), bring out your parchment paper or your craft mat.  Be sure whatever you use will cover both sides of the assemblies.

After cutting a sufficient amount of parchment paper, you can return it to your craft storage area.

Now it's time to iron your squares.  Keep moving your iron because you don't want steam hole impressions showing on your finished work.   Feel free to check often to see if the wax paper is sticking onto itself around the edges.

Turn the pieces to the opposite side and iron that side, too.  Be sure to cover your iron when you do.

Once you are sure the wax paper is sticking well to itself, you are ready for the next step.  Isn't this lovely with the light shining through?

If your guillotine cutter (or craft knife) cuts better than mine, you may skip this step.  However, I didn't cut a single one of these to the exact proper size, so I had to improvise. 

Once all four of your squares have been sewn, grab some colorful washi tape and place it the length of one side such that there is a small amount of space between two of the panels when the washi tape is in place.  You need that tiny bit of space  

in order to create a 90 degree bend.

Continue adding tape and bending until the four sided box is complete.

Place a tea light (preferably battery powered) inside the box

and enjoy it from every angle, while others admire your creativity.

This is Day 3 of 22 leading up to bEARTHday and I recycled wax paper from a cereal box and repurposed some flowers in wax paper and created a lovely light I can take to my back patio to enjoy in the evening.