The vintage children’s books I use for alot of my solder pendants sometimes have very tiny but cute art in them. Too small for even 1″ square pendants I thought I could find a way to make some teeny pieces with them. So recently I got some flat backed round glass bubbles that are about 3/4″. I soldered around the edges and back and they are perfect. Like a little window with a tiny surprise inside it. I adore the way they turned out!
These can currently be found in my Etsy shop.
A while ago I had found some lovely small vintage photos at an antique store. I think they must have been a type of model shot, some had the same girls in different outfits. They are the perfect size for jewelry. I turned this pretty girl into a fairy by adding blue wings to her. I didn’t want to cut the actual photo so I cut the edge of the wings to match her shoulders and applied them onto the photo. I also added the word “fly” from a vintage book and mounted her on vintage French book paper. The tiny collage is sandwiched between glass and soldered around the edges. Because the photo is black and white I added black patina to the solder to pull everything together.
For while I’ve been admiring an art style that I can only describe as “primitive mixed media girls”. It’s a mixture of paint, paper, embellishments, etc. hand draw and cut into the shapes of girls with a very “prim” look. I’ve decided even though I don’t think I’m very proficient at drawing (or even painting) that I’d like to give this style a go. This is my first attempt at it, so please don’t be too harsh 🙂 I’m pretty happy with the results for a first try, I need to work on my painting techniques for sure!
Since I love Alice in Wonderland so much I thought she’d be a good place to start. On watercolor paper I drew the basic shape of the girl with a pencil then painted her in with acrylic paints and highlighted with Gelato sticks. I then cut out her clothes, glued them down and traced over all the edges with a fine tip black micron pen. Then I cut her out adding a bow and vintage button. Next I glued her to a painted canvas, adding the definition for “curious” cut from a vintage dictionary.
Melting wax that is. I decided I hadn’t played with bees wax for awhile so I got my little crock pot out and played around with it the other day. I made some more captured fairy in a jar art cards, like I did in the past, dipping the collaged jars into the bees wax, they always turn out cute. I also did a bird collage I’m really happy with. I started with a wooden tag and collaged vintage music sheet and images of a bird and egg and the word “fly” cut from a vintage book. Then I took a brush and covered the tag with the melted wax. One of the cool things about wax is it can be remelted. So in a couple spots were it was too thick and cloudy I used my heat tool and melted it a bit to thin it out. You can also use a mini iron to melt the wax as well. I then added some game pieces that spell “egg” and faux grass for a nest. I covered a 5 x 7 canvas board in vintage dictionary paper, mounted the tag in the middle on cardstock and then added a few vintage buttons.
Here’s a couple of my fairy art cards:
doesn’t he look shocked to be captured?:
and this is my bird and egg collage:
I’m sorry it’s been so long since my last post. The year has hardly begun and already it’s been rough. I’ve had alot of health issues and almost two weeks ago I unexpectedly lost my Grandfather (which has been terribly hard for the whole family).
But I’ve been trying to keep busy, mostly by redoing my work space. I’m almost done, it looks so great and functions so much better than before, I feel so organized! I’ll post before and after pics soon.
In the meantime here’s a few collages I’ve made recently with the thought of Valentine’s Day and love. I took white chipboard and cut out a heart shape (aprox. 5 1/2″ square) and adhered some vintage music sheet and patterned papers that I’d whitewashed and “sponged” with painted bubble wrap. I then added German paper scrap birds, vintage text, ribbons, sewed on buttons, etc. I punched holes at the top and added eyelets and wrapped cream wire for hangers. I think they turned out really pretty, they have a very shabby chic look to them. I love the blue one so much I might even keep it for myself:) The other two are currently for sale in my Etsy Shop.
Here’s a couple of new charm necklaces I’ve made recently. I’m enjoying mixing altered and soldered game pieces and charms together.
The first one is sort of a pun, it’s a skeleton key necklace. A large metal key with a skull charm and a soldered domino charm with dancing skeletons.
This one is all Alice, a tiny glass bottle filled with blue beads and three soldered game charms, a domino with Alice on a blue background, an “A” scrabble tile with vintage “Alice” text and a vintage bingo tile with vintage “drink me” text.
These are both currently available in my Etsy shop, click here to visit.
Ok, I also can’t seem to stop making things with Alice in Wonderland either 🙂 I’ve been making Alice jewelry and collages for years now and am happy to see a big jump in popularity because of the new Burton movie. Somerset Studio even did another issue with lots of wonderful Alice art, the first Alice issue some years back is still one of my favorites and I still have my dog-eared copy.
Here’s a picture of all of the Wonderland character soldered domino charms I posted about recently:
and here’s a domino ring I made with Alice:
and here’s my favorite, a charm bracelet. It has charms made with shrink plastic, soldered wooden game pieces, a tiny glass bottle, soldered dominoes, vintage King and Queen puzzle pieces, vintage text and silver charms.
All these items are currently for sale in my Etsy shop, click here.
I just can’t seem to stop making things with birds 🙂 Here are a couple of new mixed media necklaces I made last week.
I enjoyed making my Alice in Wonderland Domino charms so much I used a larger domino, inked it blue and stamped a really cool flying bird on it and then soldered around the edges, adding two sets of jump rings to the top to hang from the ball chain. I also adhered a glass rhinestone to the front for a little added bling:
I also made this necklace with a pretty silver bird charm and a tiny soldered word charm that says “fly away” on vintage music paper, also on a ball chain:
I recently found a couple more gorgeous vintage children’s books, one was in pretty bad shape and that makes it easier to cut it up:) They both have some wonderful illustrations that I’m turning into soldered pendants. Here’s a few I’ve made so far.
This first one I really love, the white cow is so sweet but mostly because I feel so clever with what I put on the back side:
This next one is a sweet Momma Cat and her kittens:
A birds nest and bird flying away (love this one!):
and this one is a child riding a horse under a full moon, really neat:
All these pendants are currently for sale here in my Etsy shop. And I’ll be adding even more in the next few days.
This recent collage of mine was very influenced by mixed media artist Catherine Moore, her mixture of every day items to make clothing and art dolls is very inspiring to me. I also used the Paper Fashions Fantasy book I gave away recently for the top of the dress and one of the hangers that comes with the book, this shows you can use the book in a very artsy way not just for cute fairytale princesses 🙂
It’s on a 5″ x 7″ canvas board I painted brown. I made the top of the dress from inked vintage paper with a vintage button tied with hemp string, the skirt of the dress is a bird cage printed on a transparency with a red bird inside. Tied to the hanger with hemp string is a tiny tag that says “(cage ‘d”. The background is vintage music sheet and it’s embellished with a piece of vintage measuring stick and a quote on tattered fabric from Emily Dickinson that says “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the Soul”. I’m really happy with the results!
close up of the dress:
