It's time to turn questions into answers

Back in late March I answered Seth Apter's call for answers, even though I am a contributing artist in his book, The Pulse of Mixed Media. Of course, I read about the open call on his blog, The Altered Page.

(Image brazenly stolen from Seth's Open Call blog post.)

There were three twists to this open call. The first was that the project would be online, similar to what led to the book in the first place. The second was this was NOT a juried event, so even I had a chance of getting in!! And third, it was a real mail call. Remember real mail? You know the mail call that involved envelopes and postage stamps and what we cyber junkies call "snail mail."


There were rules, though, such as size requirements and questions we had to answer. We were given a choice of 1, 2, or 3 questions. We could answer any or all. Quoting Seth:

"Your answer must be presented on a 5" x 5" square, which could be a piece of paper, cardstock, canvas, wood panel, fabric...could be anything. Your answer must be in words, which can be written, typed, drawn, sewn, painted, etc. Since we are artists, I encourage you (but you do not have to) also make your submission visually interesting...in any way you desire. "

Two weeks ago, my 5 X 5 piece was shown on Seth's blog, The Altered Page.  It just goes to show how seldom I check my e-mail.  Since I love to explain how I make each piece I create, below is what I created way back in late March of this year.

I did something totally uncharacteristic for me and created a small practice piece. I wanted to see if the beeswax I planned to use would soak through my handmade paper into or through the card stock substrate to the back of the piece. I did this after I had already created the square I was going to send to Seth. I realize I don't have the concept of "practice piece" down quite yet! You can see here, I recreated the larger piece by tacking the handmade paper to the substrate with thread. Although I really liked how the beeswax complimented the thread, I was very unhappy with how it changed the color of the handmade paper.

The good news was, the beeswax didn't seep through the cardstock to the handmade paper on the back.

So here is the original 5" X 5" square I created. I answered the first question, which was "the artistic ingredient." I first sewed around the outside of the square, then sewed horizontal lines above and below the information I created on my computer and printed on my handmade paper. As you can see, I only placed the beeswax over the words to the answer, and left the rest of the handmade paper as I made it. If I had to do it again, I believe I would use something other than beeswax to add color and interest.

You can see I used variegated brown thread on the back side and a deep green on the front. Once again, I am just thrilled to be a part of this call for artwork!

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