Flower Pounding

Created on: 5/10, 2009 at 08:17 pm

Happy Mother's Day. We decided to do some flower pigment transfer today. You need fresh petals, some paper (the girls used water color paper, I did it right into my art journal), paper towels and a hammer.

Put the petals onto your paper, cover with a paper towel and take out your frustrations! Pound evenly all over the paper for best results.

We were a little impatient and kept lifting up the paper towel to see how it was coming along. We used tulip petals, Japanese maple, Brigham bush blossoms, and quince petals. The quince left the most satisfyingly perfect imprint, but the tulips were best for the squishing sound.

In the end, we squeezed the pounded flowers until they dripped pigment. Then we blew through a straw onto the drops. I love that look, all spidery and organic.

Seasonal art is the best. We wait all year for this.

I haven't put another layer on this entry yet, but the outdoors photo gives a truer color.

I'm also doing some knitting for a good friend named Brian. I can't post finished pictures until I've got one up on Etsy, but the wait is going to be worth it.

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I Gots the Grumpies

Created on: 5/6, 2009 at 01:33 am

OMG, I am so grouchy. I don't know why, except it's getting on that time of the month. Sheeee-ooot. Some body come put me outta my misery with a chocolate bar!

I spent all bloody day cleaning my desk, doing laundry and slapping another layer onto my journal entry. The words were kind of the antithesis of what I was feeling. I wonder if I should make a new entry that reads "fuck all y'all"* and work on it when I'm feeling this low. Oh, yeah, and the blackened out part is where Timmie's birthday present from, what, two years ago sits. No fair peeking until I mail the effing thing.

I've got this thing above my desk where I do my writing- it's a net hung with feathers and a fabulous Crow block print given to me by P. (Who is shy of the internet, but who may give me permission later to give her credit.)

*The y'all here is no one specific. It's just me having an internal Springer moment. Picture me with summer teeth** and laugh. Ah, well. At least my desk is clean.

** Summer teeth- Some 'er over here and some 'er over there, yokel style.

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St. Petersburg Stitch Sucks!

Created on: 5/5, 2009 at 12:10 am

Okay, it doesn't for real. In fact, this bracelet for DD1 whipped up in a matter of hours, but I still had to think about every stitch, all the way through. I like stitches that let me put my brain on hold. Oh well. I'd love to try this with some 8's. The 11's feel so insubstantial. The pictures in the pattern looked like they would feel, I don't know... thicker?

I didn't know if copper, even hammered copper would be a strong enough clasp for a 6YO, so I got into Husband's galvanized steel stash. This stuff is only 16 gauge but I had a hard time shaping it. Many bad words were said. By the time it got to the anvil, I was REALLY ready to hammer it.

This is DD1's first bracelet from me, so to honor it and the jewelry to come, I got them both tins to keep their stuff in today. DD1 promptly loaded hers with her Skinny, a shell she painted, and her necklaces from Grand. DD2 took off the lid of her tin and put her feet in it. She stayed that way for half an hour.

Here's the last shot. These beads came from my mom's stash. I have no idea how old they are.

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Art Journaling or Why It's All Gail's Fault

Created on: 5/4, 2009 at 11:44 pm

It was cold and wet here today. Check out our heron down on the beach with its neck pulled all the way into its scruff.

It was a good day for art journaling. I know, I can hear you now. "After that rant about over-zealous scrapbooking, you're going to tell me you engage in that nonsense even when you don't have to?"

Well, actually, yes. And I'd like to lay the blame squarely on Gail for getting me started. Bad! Bad Gail! (Oh, and thanks by the way, I'm really digging this!)

And since this is all Gail's fault, I'm dedicating this post to her, giving away my secret to blended backgrounds. What you're seeing here is the pages just ahead of where I'm working. That strange face is Be(a) the doll's stamp that I carved, only with a little black smiley thing going on. It reminded me of a deranged colonial, so I kept it. The color on the back ground is crayon.

I'm showing here an experimental thing of putting painter's tape on the back pages so my paint doesn't slop around to the other side. Or rather, it will slop, but it won't be an issue. This is painter's quality masking tape and (from the future) it didn't work as well as hoped. Yes, it kept the paint from going everywhere, but it ripped the page when coming off.

Here's the blank page, all ready for my creative mark.

I'm starting with pink and orange. I've decided to use laytex paint meant for interiors of houses. Our local hardware sells them relatively cheap and they are so very creamy. I love they way they go on.

I dipped my brush in, glopped the paint on, really, and spread pink and orange roughly over half the page on both sides. I use a nice thick layer and then go over the full page with up and down strokes to blend them without combining them.

The next step, which you're seeing in the photo is done while the paint is still wet. I dip a spoon into the paint and drizzle it on like honey.

Then I brush up and down again, the full length of the page until it looks good.

More drizzling.

More blending.

More drizzling. Once I get it blended and I'm happy- on to the next step...

Texture. I used a copper wire to make a cross-hatch all over, then telephone-cord swirls and then hearts on top of that.

Lime green is next. I'm making a picture frame type thing.

Here you can see I used a red that complimented the green and then filled the middle with a really thin layer of purple. I put on just a drop and spread it around until I was practically dry-brushing. That let the texture pop right out.

Here's the text. I used gloss gel inside the 'frame' for adhesive and stuck clipped sentences right onto it. Another coat of gloss seals it in. The text reads "I was there at the very beginning, the landscape and the language, the language for strong women, love and family and friendship, I live very much in the present, blind luck, I loved it and you would have too"

Putting the diamond shapes in took all damn day, done in and amongst cleaning off my desk (first time in a year and the pile to sort was knee high), laundry (also knee high), and sorting out relationship problems with a friend of Husband's who needed some advice. And Karma, the wasp paper in the background is for your journal. I've been saving it forever!

This is my third day's worth of work on the journal. I wanted to have the text read "I am so content" but I couldn't find the word content anywhere. It probably doesn't help that I've only got two magazines. I should prolly hit the library sale and bulk up my stash.

I couldn't get enough of this monkey. Who ever photoshopped blue eyeshadow on her should be kissed.

Here it is done. It's like the ugly couch. You can't look away! I learned a lot by doing this page, especially how colors change as you layer them. What looks great side-by-side in the bottle doesn't necessarily translate the same way on the page. Nonetheless, I'm happy with the final outcome, even if it isn't color-yummy.

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Green for May

Created on: 5/1, 2009 at 11:41 am

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