Art Every Day Month: the final wrap-up

Some of you have visited every day, or nearly every day this month, so a final wrap-up is in order.

As you may recall, on Day 1, I showed both my completed October and blank November calendar pages.  In just a few hours, my November calendar will be completed and on my blog.

For Day 2, I showed a different kind of wrap-up.  I wrapped my Mexican sage into bundles so they could dry into smudge wands.

On Day 3, we in the US set our clocks back, as I did the one in my kitchen.


Days 4 and 11 were spent making nature inspired Mandalas for Mandala Monday.
I hosted four T Tuesdays, which were on Days 5, 12, 19, and 26.

On Day 6, I took you to Paris, via my 7 Continents Altered Book.

Many of you suffered along with me on my nearly daily journey of painting, inking, swiping, spritzing, masking, stenciling, cutting, and decorating file folders that were turned into Christmas gifts, which I did on Days 7, 10, 13, 14, 21, 22, and 25.

On Day 8, I joined Friday Smiles with several calendar pages I created for my desk for 2014.  Of course my model was the extremely handsome Bleubeard.

I spent Day 9 fighting wind and rain while cleaning my herb garden and preparing it for winter.  I later cleaned my "Flower Bed" over the Days 9 and 10 weekend, but only showed it as part of Day 11 Mandala Monday.

Days 1 through 14 have now been accounted for, so it's time to skip ahead.  On Day 15, I was tired of working on File Folders and did a bit of sewing scrapbook pages for a friend.

On Day 16 I started a collographic plate, which took two more days (Days 17 and 18) to present a completed project.

Day 20 arrived not too long before my dear friend Kathy did.  Since I had no time to make tangible art, I put my camera to the test and shot photos of others' art as we made our way to lunch.

After cleaning most of Day 23, I potted a pineapple top.

I followed that on Day 24 with a spread in my collage inspired altered book I called Flower Power.

Continuing my use of recycled materials, I covered some CDs on Day 27.

I celebrated Thanksgiving on Day 28, when I revisited my collage inspired altered book in order to Give Thanks.

During the month of November, I read a mystery called A Puzzle in a Pear Tree.  Per our Artful Readers Club (ARC), I reviewed the book, then made the above artwork on Day 29 as part of the review.  Note also, I used a print from my home made collographic plate as part of the art.

For my final day (Day 30), I created a small work I originally intended to be a quiltlet, but decided to turn into part of a scrappy journal cover, instead.  In case you missed it, I used some of my snow dyed fabric I created earlier this year.

Although AEDM 

is over for another year, it's never too late to make art every day, and to think about next November.

The collographic plate results

I want to begin by apologizing to Dawn at Girl Unwinding because I didn't participate in Mandala Monday this week.  Please visit her blog to view her fabulous mandalas.  The reason I'm not playing with mandalas today is because I didn't want mutiny among my readers and followers.  Comments left the past two days indicate everyone wants to see the project completed, and SOON, too.

As with the previous two days (here and here in case you missed them), I will begin with the supplies needed to complete the task (from back left clockwise):

Practice paper (card stock and paint chip samples used)
Glaze
Inexpensive acrylic paint (two shades of green used)
Collographic plate
Paper plate to hold paint and glaze
Brayer
Craft sheet or other product to cover the surface of the table.

Pour a decent amount of glaze and paint of your choice in the paper plate.

Use your brayer to mix or combine the paint and glaze.

Run the brayer over the top of the plate, being careful to get only the highlights, in this case, the tree. Don't do what I did and allow part of the brayer to touch the base of the plate.  You will get a mess on your pulled sheet if you do.  Make sure you wipe off any excess paint and glaze (which of course, I didn't even notice) prior to the next step.

Lay your sheet of paper with the side you want to print facing the plate.  Use your hand or another brayer to press it down and smooth it out, reaching only the high points of the plate.

As an aside, you can use this exact same technique on fabric or copier paper, but you will need another sheet of heavy paper on top because the paint/glaze mixture will seep through to the back and you will get paint on your hand.  I often use an old file folder to cover my fabric, but since I am already using card stock and heavy paint chip samples, I can skip this step.

Once you believe you have made good contact with the collographic plate, gently lift and remove the finished piece.  Set aside to dry.  As you can see, I failed to remove the excess paint, which I didn't notice until I had created a few of these pieces.

Since these were samples I was trying before I used them on my file folders, I printed a few more before I ran out of paint and glaze.

Once the paint was gone, I cleaned the brayer and collographic plate, so they would be ready for use at a future time.  Don't allow wet paint to dry on either your brayer or your plate, because it is practically impossible to clean the plate afterward, which will affect future collagraphs.

Here are a few of the completed prints.   These sat for 12 hours and are STILL not dry, as you can probably tell.  So, you might want to use less glaze than I used.  However, I had to photograph them, or I would not have had finished examples for this post.

Ruminations:

1.  You will more than likely get better over time.  Not sure I did, but I got better at knowing how much paint to apply.

2.  Ghost prints (second prints) seem to be the best.

3.  I can't say this enough.  Keep a towel handy to wipe away any part of the paint left from the brayer that gets onto the base of the plate.

4.  Use only enough paint to cover the raised part of the plate.  I failed to remember that and that is why the ghost prints were so much better.  In fact, I might even wipe my brayer off a bit before I color the plate the next time.

5.  Although you can use Shiva/Markle Paint Stiks with this technique, I don't recommend it.  Nor do I recommend using crayons, colored pencils, or ink.  For this collographic plate, paint truly is the best only way to go.

6.  If you have made your collographic plate correctly, you can soak it in soapy water to remove excess paint.  Otherwise, you will have to wipe it down with a wet rag and a bit of running water.

I hope this has inspired you to make your own collographic plate.  This one was about as difficult as the two I made before, but this time I created my own image, rather than relying on found objects.

Today we celebrate Day 18
of AEDM with Leah, our host of this month long event. Are you still having fun?  Do you have better days than others?

My dear art friend and shop-aholic will be here by the time most of us wake on Monday morning.  Needless to say, I don't plan too much for Tuesday T, but of course, I will be here, if only in spirit and a scheduled post.

The collographic plate, part 2

If you missed part 1, please go here before reading this post.  Please note that the link opens in a new window.

These are the supplies you will need for this part of the process:

Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil (must use heavy duty only)
White Glue (PVA)
Old faux credit card
Collographic plate started on Day 1

Measure the width (or length) of your collographic plate.

Leave ample room for overlap.

Apply glue to the back and adhere to the foil.  Spread a generous amount of glue (and I mean GENEROUS) around the entire plate front, including in, around, and out of the raised images.  Use your faux credit card to even the glue out, but don't scrape it off.  Just level the glue and get in any cracks that you might have missed.

Gently push the foil against the string and use the dry end of your card (or a different one) to smooth the foil over the edges.  Make sure all sides are glued and covered, including the back.

Remove your excess foil, making sure the entire piece is still covered.

If you have long fingernails like mine, be sure they don't tear the foil.  I almost did as can be seen in the tree trunk.

Now you must wait another day (at least, depending upon your climate) for the glue to dry.  I'll be back soon with more on this technique.

Today is Day 17
of AEDM and I have finished my collographic plate and am waiting for it to dry.

A new collographic plate

I've made two collographic plates in the past.  Here is one of two I made in July, 2011.

This is the other.  Now those of you who frequent my blog know how much I dislike Mod Podge.  However, I used it to make and seal these two plates.

If you are new to my blog, you may not know what a collographic plate is.  The above photos (sad as they may be) are the beginning of a collagraph.

According to Wikipedia:

Collography (sometimes misspelled "collagraphy") is a printmaking process in which materials are applied to a rigid substrate (such as cardboard or wood).

The process of collography comes about from a collographic plate like the ones I made above. After printing, the paper or fabric is called a collagraph, adding further confusion to the words.

Here is a print I made using a Shiva Paint Stik on fabric.  If you want to see how I made it, here are the supplies and process I used.


Today I'm at my kitchen table making a different kind of collographic plate.  As an aside, Dawn asked me to show some of my hearts.  I never think about them, they are just "there."

It's far too cold to work outside, so I am going to make this using the following supplies:

White glue (PVA)
Bookbinder's string
Old coaster destined for my neighbor's trash
Pencil

I have often said I can't draw, not even simple shapes, but it didn't take long to realize the pencil I was using just wasn't going to cut it.  That's when I changed to an ink pen.

This became a disaster when I tried to wind the string around the image outline.  String has a mind of its own, and it definitely didn't have my project in mind.

A close-up shows I had to cut each piece of string when it changed direction.  It also became painfully evident I didn't follow the lines I carefully drew.  Since the glue is not yet dry, and I can't move forward until it is, I will need to pick this up tomorrow.

This is Day 16
of AEDM and I started a new collographic plate that I hope to use to print on my file folders.

Looking back and some observations about blogging

Although I am still without a computer, I wanted to check in to let all my loyal friends and followers know I am still around. Luckily, I had already selected and saved all the photos for this post, so much of the work was already done. Since I'm currently "unavailable," I thought it would be a good time to look back over this year and show a few of my favorite and a few not so favorite pieces I made during 2011. Interspersed with that I thought I would share some thoughts I have on blogging and being a good blogger.

(Journals I made in January, 2011)

I've been giving this a lot of thought lately, ironically before I lost my ability to get on the internet due to a dead computer. At the time, which seems like eons ago, I wasn't sure I wanted to continue blogging every day or even every other day. What I decided was, if I didn't blog, I would miss it terribly. I love the social interaction I get with my readers and the people and friends whose blogs I read and visit. Obviously, I miss it even more now that the ability to reach out to my friends has been eliminated. It's analogous to being a bed-ridden shut-in whose friends have stopped visiting.

(Prizes I offered to OWOH back in February, 2011)

And since I really enjoy this blogging activity experience, I took a long hard look at what makes a good blog. Here are a few things I have learned and a few things I live by.

(About all I accomplished the entire month of March, 2011)

I am myself. I make no pretenses that I am someone I am not. I am reasonably articulate, write with passion and occasional humor, and love mixed media art and fabric surface designs. Other than that, I make no claims (except that I need a much better camera!).

(Rusty book cover I created in April, 2011)

I take responsibility for my actions. I try not to be offensive to anyone, but different people interpret things differently. I remember when I said I owned a gun, it upset some people. But I had admitted it, took responsibility for it, and accepted any flack that came my way as a result of my actions. Thankfully, much of it was either thought provoking responses or good-natured joking.

(Altered puzzle I made for Annette, who kindly allowed me to use this photo from May, 2011)

(From June, 2011, this quiltlet was made for Nicky during the second WOYWW PIF anniversary)

An action is one thing, foul language is another. I simply do not use foul language. I have never called anyone the "b-word," and don't use the "f-word." Since I would not do this when I speak with someone face to face, I would also never do it on my blog. For no reason! Never! By the way, the "b-word" is NOT Bleubeard.

(Summertime tea using everything that belonged to my Grandmother, July, 2011)

I tell it like it is. If I make a mistake or something turns out wrong, I don't rewind the day to make it better than it was. I let everyone know what to expect. After all, if it can go wrong, it probably will, and I will discover and report it.

(First time dyeing fabric using Sharpies and alcohol was in August, 2011)

I make things my way. Due to a limited art budget, I seldom have all the materials needed to complete a project I want to work on. That means I must improvise. In fact, sometimes I don't have any of the materials I need! If that's the case, I start with the original instructions and find similar materials. From there, I usually follow my own rules, often hoping for the best, and offering alternatives in the form of a tutorial.

(The mess I made the first time I used paint with my collographic plates was August, 2011)

I don't ask people to jump through hoops. Whether it's commenting on a blog post, or signing up for a giveaway, I like to keep things simple and straight forward.

(One of my first altered wood blocks from September, 2011)

Speaking of comments, I get so infuriated when I have to type in one of those senseless words just to leave a comment. I usually get it wrong and have to reenter it. Oftentimes I learn the comment will be visible after someone approves it. Why not just let us "publish, " since the approver must approve it anyway! And is approve r even a word?

(Nevr-Dull used to dull surfaces on magazine images in October, 2011)

My thoughts on leaving comments: If I visit, I leave a comment. I don't expect you to know I was there if I don't let you know I visited . To me, it is courtesy. And I love it when people leave me comments. However, one thing I am not inclined to do is reply by e-mail. I much prefer a blog reply and that means on your blog, not mine. I don't expect you to return to my blog to see what I have written in comments that might or might not pertain to you. If I must make a correction or addition to a tutorial, I do it in a blog post, not in the comment section of my blog.

(A piece I made for a Christmas gift, from Nov., 2011)

The focus of my blog. Although this is primarily an art blog, I also add a few (and sometimes more than a few) times I go out and about. I also add photos of my home and yard. Sometimes I wonder if these are distractions to my art blogging and tutorials, but there are days I simply don't make art, either because I'm gone, or I am in the process of making a piece that takes several days to create.

(one of several Christmas quiltlets I made in December, 2011)

That's my take on what makes a good blog and how I try to follow my own advice. What do you think makes a good blog?

I hope to be back online in the near future. I may even be able to post and visit many of you by New Year's day (which I just learned is tomorrow!). However, should that be unfeasible, I will now wish each of you, my dear friends who I have come to love, a safe, prosperous, and happy New Year. Let's start 2012 out with a bang, not a whimper!