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Archive for March, 2008

Trapped in Glass

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

A couple of years ago I really wanted to learn to solder my own jewelry pieces. I’d been seeing some beautiful pieces, mostly made with microscope slides, in books and magazines and wanted to make some myself. I hunted around and found the supplies at the hardware store and just started playing with them and taught myself how to solder. I’ve since upgraded to a nicer “gun”, better solder and supplies. I’m still not really good at it, it really takes alot of practice but it’s alot of fun and I love being able to wear my art!

I first make a collage that is 1″x3″, usually using an old book page for a base. I try to keep everything thin and the layers flat so it will sandwich nicely between the two glass pieces. I then clean the microscope slides and lay the collage in between and wrap copper tape around, being sure to make nice “hospital corners” on each corner. I then burnish the tape with a bone folder. One thing I’ve learned is that the better your tape looks the better the soldering will look in the end! I then flux and solder around all sides and edges, using lead free solder. Then I clean the piece and attach some type of jewelry finding. I love these little “pin bales” from Junkits, it makes it so you can wear it as a pin or a necklace but I’m having trouble finding them anymore and I’m worried they stopped making them.

Here’s one of my very first pieces using pages from an old Asian book, an image of a Geisha, with some wings added, a quote and a rubber stamp chop.

My Love Has Wing:

Here’s another using some scrapbook papers and old book pages. I cut a crown out for my Beauty Queen and added some glitter glue to have some sparkle.

Beauty Queen:

Here’s one where I added some beads and a charm on the end. I think this would be a sweet gift for a new bride.

The Wedding:

The last two pieces, The Beauty Queen and The Wedding are for sale, $12 each, contact me if you’re interested.

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Another Quick ATC

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

Here’s another ATC using scrapbook paper that looks like a map and some textured cardstock. I tore and layered them and then stamped the car stamp and words from Catlife Press over top.

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Tiny Works of Art

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

Artist Trading Cards or ATC are small cards that are 2 1/2″x 3 1/2″ that were originally traded among collage artists to share ideas. But nowadays everyone has jumped on the ATC band wagon and you’ll find lots of “real” artists, rubber stampers and scrapbookers trading ATC’s as well. There are lots of places, especially on-line, where you can participate in ATC swaps and get some really wonderful little jems back.

Here are a couple of ATC that I’ve made. They both combine some collage ideas and rubber stamping. The first is made with an adorable “Bee Girl” stamp from Catslife Press. I stamped her on cardstock, colored her, cut her out, mounted her on some scrapbook paper from Basic Grey, stamped some letters and added some Sparkles Glitter Glue to her wings and antennae, very simple but very cute!

This next one was more complicated. I stamped the image of the girl with wings, from Peddlers Pack, and over stamped a wonderful quote from Emily Dickinson. I colored the image with pencils, added a few rhinestones and then dipped the entire ATC in beeswax. Which is why it was a little hard to photograph:) I used a small crock pot to melt my beeswax in and used a small pair of tweezers to quickly dip the piece in and out then let it dry. I love using beeswax in my collages and this is a really fun and different way to use it. I like buying the beeswax pellets from the craft store they melt quickly and when you are done you can let it cool inside the crock pot and then just turn it on when you are ready to use it again. Just don’t ever plan on cooking food it in though!! 🙂

Now, where to keep them? I like to store my ATC’s in a 3 ring notebook with plastic baseball card sleeves inside, you can find these at comic book, baseball card shops or on-line.

If you’d like some more ATC ideas there is a fantastic book called “Artist Trading Cards: An Anthology of ATC’s” published by Somerset Studio/Stampington & Co, I highly recommend it!

http://www.stampington.com/html/artist_trading_cards.html

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Love Nest

Sunday, March 9th, 2008

Keeping with the theme of nature as inspiration here’s another collage using birds and a nest. I copied these images from an old biology book for children.
A tip about copying: For my collage images that I photocopy I like to use “Epson Photoquality Ink Jet Paper”, it’s the same thickness as regular printer paper but you get a very nice photo realistic look with it. That way you get a nice printed image without the bulk of most photo papers or cardstock. It’s a little expensive but well worth it!

I can’t get enough of these little hangers, they are a perfect way to display small pieces of art work. I believe Somerset Studio still has them for sale on their website.
http://www.stampington.com/html/the_shoppe.html

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Easter Collage

Sunday, March 9th, 2008

I can’t believe Easter is so early this year! Here’s another one of my postcard collages, this time with an Easter Egg theme. I used a template to cut the egg shape and used a rubber stamp from Stampendous to make it look crackled. The basket charm finished it off nicely I think.

I really love the popularity of eggs and bird images that has popped up lately, they really appeal to me for some reason. I recently painted my kitchen a robins egg blue and it’s beautiful. Nature is such a great source for inspiration:)