ATC Backgrounds

I participated in a Fat Book hosted by Marian McBryde with the theme "The Child Within". Most of the artists involved focused on the origins of thier artistic beginnings, as did I. I attribute my artistic leanings to my Grandma Myers, who taught me to knit. The knitting pattern background is her favorite slipper pattern.

I inserted an ATC background inside my page, with a call to the artists to complete it and send it back to me for a trade. &drew was the only player! However, he did mention that he thought the paperclip attached to the page was just an embellishment. He didn't realize a challenge was hidden within!

The backgrounds here are leftovers from those I put inside the pages.

&rew was kind enough to want to keep my enclosed background and sent the Origami ATC in its place. Now that's what I call a Fair Trade Agreement!

ATC Trade from Andrew Borloz

My Second Trade Ever! The above ATC is the work of &rew Borloz.
Fascinating technique!

Tejae Floyd's ATC

This past summer was my First Ever ATC trade. I become way too attached after I make them! I also had not yet found out about groups and swaps, where the trading is rampant! I met Tejae Floyd,a gifted artist and generous information sharer via an Art and Soul yahoo group. Isn't her ATC beautiful? Like a dummy I forgot to scan the ATC I sent to her. My ATC had a Gustav Klimt theme. Anyhoo, Tejae's art is an inspiration to me. Check out her polymer clay hearts. They are stunning. I don't know how anyone is able to choose the one they must have! The one I would choose would be brokn, of course!

Finished Bird ATC

After adhering bird paper towel piece with soft gel medium, I added sequin scrap using gel. Scrap from SkyBluePink.
The photo is not as sharp as I'd like it to be. My apologies.

Red Bird Green Background

I like this better.

Red Bird White Background

So far, so good....

And Now for Something Completely Different

I need to take a break from the ancient looking ballerina and work with some Color! I cut up a chipboard box for this ATC. First step: gesso'd through stencils to give texture (that doesn't really show here). Next: painted a layer of Golden Hansa Yellow Medium, upon drying added paint with Ranger's Acrylic Paint Dabbers in Citrus and Willow. Stamped french script, stamped eggs with gesso, stamped swirl by rhonna farrer with white ink and embossed with UTEE. Under the ATC in the photo is my paper towel Fusion Collage made in Traci Bautista's class at Va 2007 Art and Soul. Now must decide which Bird to use, white or green background.....

Ballerina Chosen and Collage Begun

I chose the ballerina with the more expressive face. I also like the fact that her toe shoes are more distinct than the other ballerinas. Thank you, Connie, for your comment! Anyhoo, I dry brushed some white here and there, stamped Italian Poetry, Hero Arts, adhered her to canvas using soft gel medium. I have begun arranging paper on the bottom, but have not found "it" yet.

Any suggestions for what "it" may be????

Run For Your Lives ATC

Teehee. I used an old book page, xacto'd around the runner and inserted a Barbie postcard in the frame. An old one but a good one.

Dignity ATC

Inspired by Rohinton Mistry's book "A Fine Balance". The only word I changed from his actual quote was the pronoun, from he to she. Artchix image. I keep a notebook of quotes from books that have inspired me or "hit a nerve". I have tiny sticky notes littering my floor at all times. It is so frustrating not being able to highlight in library books! The written work is my biggest inspiration.

Ballerina Two

Eenie meenie minee mow. Holy Indecision Batman! Must sleep on it. Opinions appreciated!

Ballerina One

Image straight from printer. I liked both theses images, until the gel reacted with the ink and gave them a pinkish tint.

Inkjet Gel Transfers

I'm having difficulty with inkjet transfers. Once I add the transfer medium, in this case I used Golden Soft Gel Gloss, the picture gets pinkish. Does anyone know why this happens, and if so, how can I prevent it? Today I applied for membership to an inkjet transfer yahoo group. I obviously need it! I will post the link if I am accepted for membership. The ballerina images are from The New York Public Library Digital Gallery. The above images are from the collection titled: 500 years of Italian Dance: Treasures from the Cia Fornaroli Collection. Low resolution images can be downloaded from the site for personal use. My intended use is pretty personal, a Christmas present for my sister, Linda! My sister was a ballerina in her youth and is enamoured of everything Italian. As am I, but thats a story for another day! At first I thought I would use an image of her from her dancing days, but as I spent more time with the canvas, I decided that an older image suits the surface. The ballerina's are from the late 1800's. Now which one do I pick?

Neglected No More

Fortunately, my daughter let me keep the light on while we watched Office Space. The EZ Mount was easy. Peel the sticky part up, place the stamp on, cut around it, store on the folder. This reminded me of the Colorforms my daughter played with when she was a toddler! Colorforms for grown-ups rule! I can't wait to create with these stamps, now that they are so accessible.

Benign Neglect

My project for part of this weekend. My muse is off somewhere laughing at me agonizing about the car issue. So, when the muse flies, work applies! Cleaning my work space, organizing my stamps, filing images all get done while waiting for Muse to reappear.

I have quite a collection of unmounted rubber, as you can see. Most of it is virgin! The stamps above are from Burnt Offerings, Divas D'Este, and Lost Aussie Designs. I can't remember where I got the cityscape. Most of these I have purchased online or last year at Art and Soul vendor night.

I have invested in some EZMount Mounting foam and Acrylic blocks. The directions are very simple. My purchases were made online at Sunday International. I also invested in a Stamp n' Stor storage folder. Will post my findings about this system. Hopefully, my daughter will let me keep the light on while we watch Office Space, so I can get started tonight.

Instant Aging

Starting to really like it now. This step was adding a mix of Golden's Acrylic Glazing Liquid to Burnt Umber Light with a dollop of T Buff thrown in. Should the raised accent be on the top, bottom, or side? Time will tell. I have to start thinking about an image now.

Coffee and Canvas

The new issue of Somerset Workshop has me itching to paint with coffee. This application is not what is presented in SW, but I thought I would see what would happened if I painted coffee on the canvas. I like the way the coffee has mellowed the aquamarine glaze.

The Next Step

Good evening! Fighting complete immobilization because I have to make a BIG decision. I need a new car. The decisions between buying or leasing, where to finance, what is the real price, or at least best price, MSRP, inventory price, are enough to make a girl take to her bed. Which I did. For an afternoon nap. I'm test driving again tomorrow, and for now will put that out of my head.
My next step in this canvas: a wash of Aquamarine Golden Glaze. A good start!

Mail Call Part 2

Here's whats inside that teal and chocolate box! A wire wrapped glass necklace, delicate yet tough, just like Tori. I wish every gift could so perfectly suit the recipient!

Mail Call

I received a beautifully packaged Christmas present for my BFF Grace's daughter today. This year I've started my shopping early! I actually saw this necklace on etsy in July and have been obsessing about getting it for Tori. An extra paycheck made it possible! yeehaw!

Broke out the new Golden Light Molding Paste

Having a wonderful day with my muse! My first attempt at molding paste. I usually use gesso to build depth. I like the consistancy of the paste. It's like a really expensive cold creme. Yum. First I built up the corner. I let it dry while working on the two ATC's below. I added another layer of paste thru the stencil and added dollops here and there to blend the raised corner into the rest of the canvas board. I'm thinking color now. Robins egg blue, or a tealish color.....

I'm thinking its not a good idea to clean tools that have molding paste on them in the sink. Holy clogged pipes Batman!

Hope everyone has a great Monday. Right, who am I kidding? I have a truckload of laundry to do now....

What I Have So Far

I think I'm happy with these! For "She would have preferred a more fitting vessel" I edged with Perfect Pearls and added copper tape corners. I printed the words out on my computer and stipled them with ink. I adhered the slide with diamond glaze. The quote is from Joanne Harris' book, "Five Quarters of the Orange" somewhat paraphrased. An excellent book. For the ARtchix image ATC I used a piece of mica adhered with brads. I like the texture the ribbon and fuzzy fibers add.

Anybody wanna trade?? I think I need to get a tripod. These photos are blurry, or maybe its the wine!!

On the 4x4 canvas, I added some wire and the words "What Possibilities Remain?" I haven't glued it together yet. Not sure I'm ready to commit to the composition. It is a very interesting question, don'tcha think??? Here is the complete quote from Carol Shield's "The Stone Diaries":

"A thought comes into her head: that lately she doesn't ask herself what is possible, but rather what possibilities remain."

I highly recommend any of her books.

What I'm working on

Feeling Autumnal, I guess. Working on a few ATC's and a 4x4 canvas. Struggling a little with the composition of the 4x4, which I'm finding out is not my favorite size to work with! I have a great book by Mary Todd Beam titled "Celebrate Your Creative Self". I used her tissue paper technique on the canvas. I used a vintage sewing pattern, painted with Goldens and one of my new favorite colors -Interference Oxide Violet. OOOHAHHH. Painted the slide and stamped with script. Inside the slide is a piece of copper I burned and embossed with a heart shape. On the microscope slide ATC, I used copper foil tape to join the glass. The paper is a gorgeous Caspari napkin. The images in both ATC's are Artchix. Not sure where I'm going with these, but I'll post them when finished. Although today I feel like melting some UTEE in my new melting pot.....or painting with coffee, which I had completely forgot about until I picked up the new Somerset Workshop last night at Michael's. Along with some silk flowers and stencils to use with my Tulip spray fabric paints.

Thank you, Marian MCBRYDE, for posting a comment and many apologies for spelling your name wrong.

Fatbook moving Forward.....

My next step in creating my page was to add an anatomical heart image. On my drive home through Maryland from Hampton I stopped at an antique barn. I found a book titled "Library of Health", a 1925 edition with a wealth of black and white drawings and incredible colored plates. This is the origin of the anatomical heart. I scanned and made a gel transfer. I gesso'd the writing with letter stamps. For Home, I gesso'd chipboard letters and wrapped wire here and there. The Man in house stamp is one of Claudine Hellmuths. I also used a female torso stamp on top of the heart that is from My Stamps-an Art and Soul Vendor night purchase! The final step was the required original fabric element, measuring at least 1"x1". This step was the most fun. I used pink felt and "tortured" it. A technique I discovered reading &rew Borloz's comment on Tejae Floyd's blog. &drew learned this technique in a class given by Lesley Riley. Back to the torture! I painted with acrylics, used silk flowers as stamps, added clear UTEE on top of an embossing stamp and burned pinholes everywhere with a heat gun. I was careful to watch for "smoking" the felt (too hot), and wore a paper mask during the heating process. Next step was to attach the felt with brads to the front. I sewed a crack across each satin heart and wired it to the felt. I am pleased with the finished product! Each artist's offering in the final fatbook is quite wonderful. This is my fifth fatbook with Marian as the host and in my humble op, the best so far!