Allegiance to the UK

Imagine my surprise this morning when I realized I didn't have anything for Friday Smiles.  I still have company for another day, but I woke sick as a dog.   So not only did I not have anything to share, my internet is slow, and my cough has taken over the fun I had planned for the day.

Instead, I decided to join Chris of Pear Shaped Crafting, our host this month at Art Journal Journey.   Her theme is Art for art's sake.

I dug out a piece of Tyvek and two Sharpies.

I cut the Tyvek into three strips and colored two of them.  Next, I created my background using my handmade shimmering mists.

I wove the three colors together 

and zapped it with my heat gun, which is a step I wish I hadn't taken.

I don't usually bring politics into my art, but after seeing the way Trump has bullied our allies in Europe and now the UK, I was appalled.

I HAD to stand up for my beliefs.  It reads:

This blogger stands with the UK.  
Trump thinks everything is a negotiation he must win.

I deeply apologize for not visiting my blogging friends, but hope this cough, sore throat, and allergies are only temporary.   I am once again grateful and delighted you chose to visit.  I also hope to see you at Art Journal Journey.  

Second on the 2nd: a wall hanging for a silent auction

Today's art is taken from April 19, 2008.  It was back when no one knew about my art, and by my own acknowledgement, it wasn't very good art.  Why I was asked to contribute to a silent auction still astounds me.  After looking at photos of this post, I wonder what anyone will HONESTLY say about it today.  Here is the post in its entirety:

Hanging for a silent auction

Last fall I made fabric paper that I decided to turn into a wall hanging for a silent auction I was asked to participate in. I honestly thought the auction was today, and I've been working all week to get this wall hanging finished, only to find out the auction is next month. Below is the original fabric paper, and I will show you what I did to make it a wall hanging.  

I started by making a mask which I used to lay down glazes.  I then added circles stenciled from punchinella.

Originally I planned to turn it into a hanging with circles and squares, but as the piece progressed, it took on a definite "Time" theme. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the final piece. I know it's a bit busy, but it has a lot of tactile interest, and many of the embellishments move, twist, and swing for lots of interaction.

 

 

 

 

I covered the back with decorated red rosin paper, then finished the edges with grosgrain ribbon. 

This is the upper portion of the piece

and a detail of the upper third. Note the beads I strung through eyelets on the left. These are handmade tyvek beads left over after I made 100 plus for a recent charm swap. I'm glad I made extras because they came in handy, although I wasn't sure at the time I made them what I would use them for.

This is the middle third which includes clock faces attached to laminate chip samples I used as embellishments. Thank goodness for the Crop-a-dile, because without it, I would never have gotten the holes in the Formica brand laminate chips. One squeeze and the holes were there, thus enabling me to attach them using brads.

As  I work my way down the hanging, you can see the clock hands made from polymer clay that came from a mold I made for this piece.

We've now reached the bottom of the hanging. The "tick tock" tags are die cuts. The wire screen dipped in aluminum paint that I attached using brads are left over from another project.  Note the string of beads that spell "Time."

I'm really glad this piece is finished. I hope it finds a loving home.

UPDATE: I was told this piece commanded $42.00 (US) and went to a friend of the silent auction recipient who lived in California.  Although I didn't attend the get together, I was told that many of the donated items went for the minimum bid which was $5.00 (US).  It sounds to me like the silent auction recipient had a lot of cheap friends. 

_____________________________________________________

I must apologize for the bad photos, but I'm so glad I now have a camera that takes fantastic photos.  Since this piece is long gone, these are the best photos I can offer.

I've shown you mine, now it's your turn to share your Second on the 2nd post.  The rules are simple.  This is a post you are especially proud of, or one that you posted before anyone knew your blog existed.  Please link below, but be aware the link is only open for five days.  It's best to share your link on or around the 2nd.

My friend Halle's 2014 birthday gift!

Yes, you read correctly.  I was almost a year late with the gift.  I bet the PO people thought I was looney when I wrote Happy Birthday 2014 on the package.  But better late than not at all, right?  I had to laugh at my friend Voodoo Vixen who wrote in a comment:

you are going to have to wait for your birthday card but then there is nothing new in that!!

I OBVIOUSLY won't have to wait as long as Halle had to wait for her last year's gift.

I know many of the T Stands For Tuesday crowd saw this on Halle's blog on Tuesday, but I am showing it because I wanted to explain the various materials and fabrics I used.  This is the cover to the book.  I finally finished it the other day and sent it on its merry way.  I was hoping to determine how to make it better, but, after reading the instructions in Ruth Rae's book, Layered, Tattered, and Stitched at least six times, I finally gave up and decided it wasn't going to get any better.  I made a similar one for Krisha last year, and it also had the same flaws this one has.

The background fabric was colored using my handmade shimmering mists.  I also sewed various papers and umbrella fabric swatches to the back.

Before the color in my printer died, I printed this on some loosely woven cotton.  I should have found a tighter weave, but I used what I had.  I backed it with umbrella swatches and a lovely fabric I found in my stash that had gold threads running through it.

This is the inside front cover, which has some of my rusted fabric sewn over very thin curtain fabric.  It was easier to flip the photo than make you stand on your head to see it.

For Page 1, my background was snow dyed fabric,

over which I sewed lace and some shimmering mist fabric.  To that I added three tyvek flowers and a sentiment: "Strangers are just friends waiting to happen."

The background for page 2 is a hodge-podge of ink, paint, and shimmering mists over which I sewed lace, an oatmeal dyed heart, and a paper rose I fussy cut and added to oatmeal dyed fabric.

This page (Page 3) was very special to me because Halle had sent me the ribbon I used to surround the fabric and buttons I adhered with E6000.  The top background fabric is snow dyed, and underneath is flour resist.

Dyed lace and floral fabric sit over the flour resist fabric that makes up Page 4.  I added a rub-on at the top and dyed ribbon (using Staz-on and alcohol) and buttons for embellishments.

This, Page 5, is one of those pages that started life as an inspiration flag.  This was a syrup resist background with lots of added lace, fabric, and ribbon.  Have I mentioned how much I hate my handwriting?

I know I've mentioned this before, but I don't see how to show the back side of these pages unless you stand on your head, or turn the book around.  Maybe Rae didn't decorate the backs of her book???

I sewed the word "Love" on the ribbon because it seemed like an easy one I could handle by stopping and starting the machine.  The background fabric is syrup resist.  The other embellishment on Page 6 is a rose I was gifted with a few years ago.

OK, sort of easy.

Snow dyed fabric was used on Page 7.  I added lace to make up the difference in the size of the page.

Shades of last summer make up the raspberry stained fabric I used for the bird.  I'm still not sure where I got that glitzy fabric, but I still like it.

Snow dyed fabric makes up the background of Page 8.  I added a flower with a brad center and three pieces of bias tape to finish out the page.

The inside back cover started with fabric I sprayed with shimmering mists.  I added more misted fabric, dyed lace, and fabric I dyed using Staz-on and alcohol.  I wrote "Made with love" using a Sharpie.

The outside back cover was last.  The background was created using watered down paint, shimmering mists, and alcohol mixed with Staz-on.  The large heart was misted with a smaller heart used as a mask.

I used Bleubeard's and my signatures with my "handmade by" stamp.

By the time I added the final heart, my final needle was broken.  Not to be deterred, I adhered it using fabric glue.  I couldn't decide which side I preferred,

so I left it so the recipient (Halle) could peek behind it to see the back.

I can't say I had fun making this book, because it was very frustrating.  I simply could NOT figure out the directions, so set off to make the book the only way I knew how.

Thanks for looking, and I hope to get Halle's 2015 gift to her before 2016!  Happy, happy belated birthday HALLE.

New Wind Chimes From Old

I have these wind chimes that had fallen completely apart.  I wish I had taken a photo of them hanging on my front porch, but I forgot until I had them down with the help of a step stool and into the basement.

This is all that is left from these wind chimes I purchased a few years ago.  Most of my wind chimes last a bit longer than these have, so I wanted to make sure I repaired them so they would last.

I have lots of old (but not vintage) silverware that I've either been given, or picked up for pennies at the thrift store.  I think at one time, spoons were going for 5 cents each ($0.05 USD).  Now I'm sure they are much higher in price, but at the time, I had considered making jewelry or some such nonsense that was beyond the scope of my grip abilities.

Nothing matched, and that was what I was going for.  Even though I've seen lovely art made from spoons and forks, if I couldn't make jewelry or other adorable recycled art, I needed to find a way to use these.  Somehow, I've collected a HUGE amount of these pieces and it was time to put them to good use.

It was time to deconstruct what was left of the original wind chimes.

As I removed the strings from the base, I noticed they were held together by metal bands.  I also noticed the eye bolt on the back of the base, which I assume was for the clanger.

I cannot tell a lie.  it took two days for me to get to this point.

I sorted and constructed a lot of beads during that time.  Then I wrapped the wires around the silverware.  No drilling, no punching, just a lot of wire wrapping.  And not anything especially good enough to write home about, either.  But these were for me, and they didn't have to be perfect.  They just had to be artsy.  The observant person will note that all three spoons have beginning and ending gold beads that are made from tyvek and embossing powder.  I made 100 of them for a swap one year.

When I strung the wax thread, I started doing it wrong.  I got a bit frustrated because I had already assembled one when I realized my error.  You have no idea how much I dislike rework!

Finally, I was back on track, and was able to assemble the unit correctly.  As I took the wind chimes upstairs, I realized the spoon I was calling the clanger, was too long.  So I shortened it, and now

I have some lovely artsy wind chimes I can be proud of.

Not only did I make them myself, for Day 12 of 22, I reused the "Welcome" base and recycled seven pieces of old silverware and a ton of beads, including six I made from used tyvek and embossing powder. 

Thanks again for your continued support of my projects.  It's difficult to recycle items and make them not look like some six year old made them.  But I'm trying and I appreciate all your comments that continue to push me through these days leading up to bEARTHday.

A gift that went awry, part II

If you missed yesterday's post (part 1 of this story), you can see it by clicking here.

When I finished assembling the pages for the book I was making for Krisha,

I took these two photos.

Then panic set in, because I couldn't find any more photos.  None, zip, zilch.  And the book was already in Krisha's hands.  How would I be able to show all I did over the course of about three weeks?  Then something wonderful happened.  I took some photos of a sunrise (we all know what those are for).  When I was taking them off my SD card, I realized I had never removed the rest of the ones I took for this book.

So, dear friends, here is the rest of the story:

This is probably the third time in my life I've pinned anything!  Will wonders ever cease to exist.

The completed front cover to Krisha's book when finished.  Since I've already shown the pages individually, I'll let you peruse them at your own pace.

Inside front and page 1.

Pages 2 and 3.

Pages 4 and 5.

 Pages 6 and 7.

Page 8 and inside back cover.

Hand stamped heart using Bleubeard's and my signature stamps, colored with handmade shimmering mists, and sprigs of rosemary from my garden.

For the outside back (shown before assembly) I stacked hand dyed and commercial fabric over misted tyvek.

After reviewing the photos, I realized I didn't show how the book went together.

Those brown pieces at the top of each page like the one shown above, are used to hold the pages together.  Each piece was a different size, so sandwiching the two "pages" together was a nightmare of my own doing.  But, the idea was, to cut heavy cardstock (I used 110 lb white) to just slightly smaller than the size of the fabric, then add about an inch and a half to the top.  That top area was then scored and painted on both sides.

The cardstock is used so the pages will stand on their own and are sandwiched between two of the finished pages.  You sew the cardstock to one fabric piece, then the other fabric piece.  That comprises two pages.  What you see above are two pages.  When I add another assembly (two more fabric pages sewn back to back), I overlapped the brown areas and sewed them together.  In other words, those brown areas were made up the gutter.

Did I lose you?  Once the assembly is complete (4 pages), I added fabric to both sides that covered the brown I so carefully painted.

At the risk of being redundantly redundant, you can see an example which I showed in the second photo of this post.  (See how neither of the "signatures" and gutters were the same size?)

My big problem is, and Ruth Rae's instructions never addressed it, that half the pages are upside down when you flip through the book.  You have to turn the book around to see the "backs" of each page, or otherwise stand on your head.

I hope you enjoyed this two day adventure of how I made this book.  If any one can tell me what I did wrong, I'm open to any and all options and suggestions.  And if you own Layered, Tattered, and Stitched by Ruth Rae, the name of the project is called (and this is her spelling, not mine) "Ancestory Album."  Maybe you'll see something I didn't.