Posts Tagged ‘mixed media’
Saturday, June 20th, 2009
I’ve really been inspired lately by all the collages I’ve seen that are various shades of white, I love the “shabby” look of it. So I thought I’d give it a try. I white washed most of the items with gesso, sometimes adding water sometimes just straight from the bottle. First I white washed some vintage music paper and an image of a blue bird, then stamped the bird cage on transparency using white, I adhered the bird to the paper and then using my sewing machine I stitched the transparency onto the paper using different stitches. I then white washed a pair of Tim Holtz’ grungeboard wings (if you don’t know grungeboard is sort of a flexible type of chipboard, it’s very cool to work with), tied some string through a vintage button, added them to the board along with the words “spread your wings” and then added some vintage white lace across the bottom. It’s a very different look for me but I like it alot:)
Tags:bird, button, cage, collage, cottage style, lace, mixed media, shabby chic, tim holtz, washed, white, wings
Posted in 3D and Assemblage, Collages on Canvas | 11 Comments »
Friday, March 13th, 2009
Here’s a pretty little collage I made this week. I got some really neat pewter crown charms and added one to an image of a sweet girl along with the word “queen”. I mounted her on paper from a vintage Italian book and black and brown cardstock. I aged a very cool metal embossed frame I had with some brown ink and mounted it all on a piece of chipboard for some stability and added a metal hanger to the back. I think it’s got a simple but very elegant look to it.
Tags:charm, collage, crown, embossed, frame, metal, mixed media, pewter, queen, wall hanging
Posted in 3D and Assemblage, Hanging Collage, Misc. Collage | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
I recently got a really cool stamp set featuring bird cages from Catherine Moore: http://www.characterconstructions.com/ , I love her art work and her stamps are great!
I made a few ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards) with them. I started by making a base ( 3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″) for my card from black cardstock and vintage music sheets, I then added a vintage bird image. Then using black Staz-On ink I stamped the bird cage on a transparency sheet and attached it to the card with tiny brads. I then stamped part of one of the words on a tiny tag, it says ” (cage ‘d” and tied some hemp string around the tag and added it to the card with foam tape. All three cards were done the same way except the one with the quote, I turned the transparency over and stamped in white Staz-On ink a quote from Emily Dickinson that says “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul”. I love old bird images and think these cards came out really neat.
If you don’t know alot about ATC’s here’s a helpful link:
http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/
Tags:ACEO, art, ATC, bird, birds, cage, caged, collage, emily dickinson, mixed media, small
Posted in ATC | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
I love working on canvas board for my collages as opposed to a stretched canvas over a wooden frame because there is no “sag” in the middle and they are a little less expensive, which is always a good thing:)
For this collage I started out with a 5″x7″ canvas board and inked the edges in a brown ink. Then I tore a page out of a vintage children’s book (a story about Hansel and Gretel) and inked those edges, then using gesso I white washed the page as well and adhered it to the canvas with gel medium. I cut out an image of a mushroom and adhered it to the canvas and then cut out a scalloped border from polka dotted scrapbooking paper, inked the edges and applied it to the bottom. I cut out an image of a sitting woman, added wings to her and then adhered her on top of the mushroom. I cut out a crown and the words “My first wish is” from the same book, inked the edges and adhered them. I then sealed it all with gel medium and added two vintage buttons, that still have thread in them, to the piece with some melted beeswax. I’m super happy with the results.
Tags:art, buttons, collage, crown, fairy, gel medium, gesso, mixed media, mushroom, vintage book page, whitewashed, wings
Posted in Collages on Canvas | 1 Comment »
Sunday, February 15th, 2009
I love working with beeswax but it’s a little time consuming, a little messy and a little unpredictable but it’s fun so it’s worth it:)
Here’s a little info on using beeswax. I use an old small crock pot for my beeswax, keep in mind you can’t ever use it for food (or anything else for that matter :)) ever again. Melting Pots work too but you’d have to clean it out I guess if you used it for anything else. I just leave the wax inside when I’m done, it cools and dries and I put it away and just plug it back in next time I’m ready to use it. Now here’s the time consuming part, it takes hours for the wax to melt again and I’m not a patient crafter so I hate waiting! I use a wooden spoon to help stir the wax (metal can get hot) and tweezers to dip with. I lay my items on wax paper to cool. So all you do is make your item (in this case I made a collage of a fairy in a jar and cut them out) pick it up with the tweezers and VERY quickly dip it in and out of the wax, letting any excess drip back into the pot. If you leave it too long the wax will be too thick to see your art work underneath. If that does happen you can try to melt some of it and blow it out of the way with your heat tool. You can also dip a paint brush in the melted beeswax and brush it over larger objects like canvases. Then just lay it flat to dry and cool, don’t touch it while it’s wet, it drys pretty quickly.
So, I got out my beeswax pot the other day and made some really fun ATC’s (artist trading cards). The jars are dipped, giving them the look of cloudy old glass, it’s hard to capture in a photo but they are very cool in person.
These will be listed for sale in my Etsy shop over the next few days.
Tags:ACEO, art, artist trading cards, ATC, beeswax, captured, collage, fairies, fairy, jar, mixed media
Posted in ATC | 6 Comments »
Monday, February 9th, 2009
Woodland animals and themes are so hot right now and I love them! Lots of deer, mushrooms, squirrels, etc, so cute! So I’ve made some more pendants with some woodland critter illustrations cut from that same vintage 1929 children’s book I’ve been using alot lately (poor book looks like swiss cheese now:))
Cute little squirrel in a red jacket and black pants, the back says “Mr. Bushy Tail”:
A little fawn, this is one of my favorite!:
Sweet little grey bunny rabbit:
Cute brown sparrow:
I really want to find some vintage images of some mushrooms to make some pendants with, I love mushrooms, they always remind me of Alice in Wonderland:)
Tags:animals, art, bunny, collage, deer, fawn, jewelry, mixed media, pendant, rabbit, soldered, squirrel, woodland
Posted in Collage Jewelry | No Comments »
Friday, February 6th, 2009
I recently went through some stuff I had stored in my dad’s basement and found my old button jar. It’s a huge mason jar with tons of vintage buttons in it, I was so glad to find it:) I made a couple of soldered pendants with a couple of the more unusual ones.
This first one appears to be a shell button (maybe mother of pearl), the back side was pitted, dirty and had some cool green running through it. I cut the word “curiosity” from an old dictionary and added it to the button, glued it to a piece of vintage French book paper and sandwiched it between glass and using a wider tape than normal soldered around it. It makes for a very cool shadow box look I think.
The second one also looks to be shell, it’s white with a little sparkle to it and has a beautiful embossed design in it.
Tags:altered, art, book, button, collage, french, jewelry, mixed media, paper, pendant, shadow box, soldered, vintage
Posted in Collage Jewelry | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
Last year I worked on one of the most ambitious collage pieces I’ve done. This time I took some pictures during my process, which I don’t normally do since I get so caught up in working on something I don’t stop to think about it:)
I had bought a large paper mache’ bust and I want to make it into more of an old style mannequin so I went to the craft store and got an unfinished round wooden base, finial and dowel along with some black matte spray paint.
I spray painted all the wood and drilled the dowel to the base.
Then using gel medium I completely covered the bust in torn pieces of paper, scrapbook pattern paper and pages from old books. Once it was covered and dried I used gesso to white wash all the papers.
I wanted the piece to open up in the chest so I cut out a door with an exacto knife and added a metal hinge and a glass bead thumb tack for the door handle. I added vintage trim inside the door to cover were the hardware was attached. I also took a scrabble tile with a tiny collage of a girl on it and tied it with a ribbon around the neck along with some more of the trim.
I also added a vintage tape measure around the waist and big vintage button and more vintage buttons around the neck.
I then cut holes in the top and bottom of the bust and slid it over the dowel and attached the finial at the top.
Then came the hardest part. I wanted something inside of door but the inside of the bust was hollow so I made a little cardboard shelf and attached it to the inside and placed a little blue mushroom bird on the shelf. I also wanted him behind a screen so I took some tiny gold screening and glued it inside the door. I added a quote on a strip of paper and attached it to the screen with a safety pin. The quote is from singer song writer Tori Amos and it says “You’re just an empty cage girl if you kill the bird”. That quote was the whole inspiration for the piece and I think I achieved what I was going for with it.
Tags:3D, altered art, art, bust, collage, mannequin, mixed media, paper mache'
Posted in Large Collage Projects | 5 Comments »
Friday, January 23rd, 2009
I recently found a wonderful children’s story book from 1929 that has some beautiful illustrations in it and decided to use them for some soldered pendants, on the backs I added words I cut out from the stories.
This first one was about the story of a little bunny who wanted red wings, on the back it says “I wish I had a pair of little red wings”
This next one is a pretty red fox who was down and thinking, the back says “the fox thought and thought”
This one is a cute little grey squirrel and the back says “Mr. Bushy Tail”
These unique pendants are currently on sale in my Etsy shop:
http://www.PisforPaper.etsy.com
Tags:animals, art, bunny, collage, fox, jewelry, mixed media, pendant, rabbit, soldered, squirrel, wings, woodland
Posted in Collage Jewelry | No Comments »
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Here’s some more soldered collage jewelry for Valentine’s Day.
I love old movies and I really LOVE Cary Grant, he’s one of my all time favorite actors so I thought he’d make a great pendant. I used scrapbook paper for the background it has hearts and word all over, added a wonderful pic of Cary and I also cut out the words “Heart Throb” from an old dictionary.
This next one features an image of a sweet couple that I punched out in a heart shape over old book paper and I stamped the words “Key to My Heart”. The edged are done with scalloped soldering and a tiny key dangles from the bottom.
Tags:altered, art, cary grant, collage, heart, jewlery, love, mixed media, pendant, soldered, valetines
Posted in Collage Jewelry | 1 Comment »
