The answer is, sadly, not much. This was one of those amazing and rare days when both of the kidlets were at play practice until 5:30, which should mean I would have a lovely looooong day at the studio to do piles of stuff.
Sadly, however, my parenting and dog owning duties mean I didn't get there until about 1:00, and I had finished a bunch of stuff and didn't have a good sense about what I was going to do next. I was also listening to an audiobook, which meant I wasn't going to write, because I had a head full of somebody else's style.
On the plus side, I did figure out how to print envelopes from the computer, and got the studio rent, the parking fee and a letter to my friend in Washington all sent out.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Harlequin Shrinky Doll
I recently rediscovered my trove of Shrinky Dink plastic, and decided to go back and play with it some more. (BTW--isn't that the dopiest name you've ever had to say about an art material?)
I found this jointed doll pattern online aliciag.com, downloaded it onto white cardstock, and then used black plastic Sharpie to trace the lines onto the plastic.
Here you can see the pieces I traced and colored. At this point, I have baked them and they all fit on a 4"x4" ceramic tile.
This stuff does shrink down pretty small--here is an uncooked arm, and the cooked companion, arranged next to a quarter for scale.
I had to replace the head I made at first, as I managed to punch through the jaw line, so it would no longer attach to the rest of the body. I outlined one of the blank heads, complete with hair, and drew my own face onto the plastic. The holes are all 1/4" from the hole punch. The plan is to attach this head to the body and then make wire curly hair to attach around the head.
And here is the finished doll. As I look at her, I think the wire hair doesn't really work--it's out of scale with the rest of her. I am planning to go back and make yet another head and leave off the holes for hair.
I found this jointed doll pattern online aliciag.com, downloaded it onto white cardstock, and then used black plastic Sharpie to trace the lines onto the plastic.
Here you can see the pieces I traced and colored. At this point, I have baked them and they all fit on a 4"x4" ceramic tile.
This stuff does shrink down pretty small--here is an uncooked arm, and the cooked companion, arranged next to a quarter for scale.
I had to replace the head I made at first, as I managed to punch through the jaw line, so it would no longer attach to the rest of the body. I outlined one of the blank heads, complete with hair, and drew my own face onto the plastic. The holes are all 1/4" from the hole punch. The plan is to attach this head to the body and then make wire curly hair to attach around the head.
And here is the finished doll. As I look at her, I think the wire hair doesn't really work--it's out of scale with the rest of her. I am planning to go back and make yet another head and leave off the holes for hair.
Paper Dolls
I have started working with paper arts recently, and I am finding a ton of neat projects to do with paper.
This is a paper doll I made with the Son Of Doll Parts sheet of rubberstamps from Alpha Stamps. I call this one Dahlia--the face just looks like a Dahlia to me.
I started with a head stamp, a corset stamp, and four separate stamps for the arms and legs. The leg stamps were already patterned. After I colored in all the pieces with colored pencil, I discovered that there were no shoulders to attach to the head, so I just cut something freehand to see how it worked.
As you can see, she's got a bit of a linebacker build--not too heinous, but not really delicate enough for the rest of her. The sleeves are made from trimmed off gaffer tape border that I got from the $1 bins at Target. I made the skirt from some gauzy pink ribbon that was left over from something, and the ribbon across the top of the skirt is from an embellishment fiber set from Michaels.
Dahlia is just glued together--she is not mobile at all, so I decided to make some others with jointed bodies. The Twins are the result:
Basically, they are the same technique and materials. I cut out something that better approximated shoulders and neck for these girls I also added small crystal brads for their hips and shoulders. You can't tell from this photo, but I also used Aleene's paper glaze on their hair bows and waists to hold some opalescent glitter.
I think they all look like circus performers, with their gauzy skirts, patterned tights and corsets.
This is a paper doll I made with the Son Of Doll Parts sheet of rubberstamps from Alpha Stamps. I call this one Dahlia--the face just looks like a Dahlia to me.
I started with a head stamp, a corset stamp, and four separate stamps for the arms and legs. The leg stamps were already patterned. After I colored in all the pieces with colored pencil, I discovered that there were no shoulders to attach to the head, so I just cut something freehand to see how it worked.
As you can see, she's got a bit of a linebacker build--not too heinous, but not really delicate enough for the rest of her. The sleeves are made from trimmed off gaffer tape border that I got from the $1 bins at Target. I made the skirt from some gauzy pink ribbon that was left over from something, and the ribbon across the top of the skirt is from an embellishment fiber set from Michaels.
Dahlia is just glued together--she is not mobile at all, so I decided to make some others with jointed bodies. The Twins are the result:
Basically, they are the same technique and materials. I cut out something that better approximated shoulders and neck for these girls I also added small crystal brads for their hips and shoulders. You can't tell from this photo, but I also used Aleene's paper glaze on their hair bows and waists to hold some opalescent glitter.
I think they all look like circus performers, with their gauzy skirts, patterned tights and corsets.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Belle Femmes ATCs
These are my very first attempts at ATCs--Artist Trading Cards.
I ordered an ATC kit from an online supplier: ArtChix, which came with (among other things) watercolor paper in the proper dimensions; images of women, some rub-on transfers; faux postage. . .A lovely cache of inspiration.
This first one I did I call "Open Door," for obvious reasons. I started by splashing blue and purple watercolors to give a soft background. I really liked the blue door image that came with the kit, and I paired it with this lovely faux postage of a noir-ish woman who looks poised to peer around the edge of the door as soon as it opens. The kit also included the fortune tag and the words "open" and "door."
The color scheme of the background pointed me to the violet on a crown, and the phrase at the bottom also reiterated the "journey" theme of the rest of the card. I inked the edges to give the whole a finished look.
I started this second card with the same blue/purple/pink background along with the blue butterfly that came on a transparency. The exotic butterfly lead me to the exotic Spanish woman and the foreign stamp at the bottom. I inked the edges of the fortune with silver leafing pen, and attached the gold border. I named this one "Butterfly Mantilla."
"Medieval Romance" is where I started to experiment with images that were not part of the Artchix kit. Again, the background is a soft blend of watercolors; this time blue and green. The large figure on the left is a "brass rubbing" of Robert the Bruce. My sister-in-law gave me the miniature figure for Christmas, and I did the rubbing with a silver hard wax crayon--the type used at the London Brass Rubbings Center in the crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. The medieval beauty is from a collection of British queens from Alpha Stamps. The "Fig. 2" is a rub-on that was left over from an accordion book class I took at the Scrapbook Shop here in St. Paul. The butterfly was from the ArtChix kit, and I used tea colored Distress Ink to edge the two sides.
The fourth ATC I call "Queen Caroline." The background is a page from a used French book I bought from Half Price Books. The woman is an image of Caroline Otero I found online--you can read about her here. I actually formatted the image onto some Avery transparent labels, and printed it on my ink jet printer. The crown is a transfer from the ArtChix kit, and the butterfly came from that kit as well. The key is actually a 3D charm from Michael's craft store, from the soon to be liquidated "Stuff by Duff" line. I pierced the card so I could run some very thin beading wire around the key to hold it in place. I twisted the wire and held it down with tape on the back.
I am terribly fond of these, as they are my first efforts, but they are supposed to be traded, so I'm going to have to gird myself to let these go.
I ordered an ATC kit from an online supplier: ArtChix, which came with (among other things) watercolor paper in the proper dimensions; images of women, some rub-on transfers; faux postage. . .A lovely cache of inspiration.
This first one I did I call "Open Door," for obvious reasons. I started by splashing blue and purple watercolors to give a soft background. I really liked the blue door image that came with the kit, and I paired it with this lovely faux postage of a noir-ish woman who looks poised to peer around the edge of the door as soon as it opens. The kit also included the fortune tag and the words "open" and "door."
The color scheme of the background pointed me to the violet on a crown, and the phrase at the bottom also reiterated the "journey" theme of the rest of the card. I inked the edges to give the whole a finished look.I started this second card with the same blue/purple/pink background along with the blue butterfly that came on a transparency. The exotic butterfly lead me to the exotic Spanish woman and the foreign stamp at the bottom. I inked the edges of the fortune with silver leafing pen, and attached the gold border. I named this one "Butterfly Mantilla."
"Medieval Romance" is where I started to experiment with images that were not part of the Artchix kit. Again, the background is a soft blend of watercolors; this time blue and green. The large figure on the left is a "brass rubbing" of Robert the Bruce. My sister-in-law gave me the miniature figure for Christmas, and I did the rubbing with a silver hard wax crayon--the type used at the London Brass Rubbings Center in the crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. The medieval beauty is from a collection of British queens from Alpha Stamps. The "Fig. 2" is a rub-on that was left over from an accordion book class I took at the Scrapbook Shop here in St. Paul. The butterfly was from the ArtChix kit, and I used tea colored Distress Ink to edge the two sides.
The fourth ATC I call "Queen Caroline." The background is a page from a used French book I bought from Half Price Books. The woman is an image of Caroline Otero I found online--you can read about her here. I actually formatted the image onto some Avery transparent labels, and printed it on my ink jet printer. The crown is a transfer from the ArtChix kit, and the butterfly came from that kit as well. The key is actually a 3D charm from Michael's craft store, from the soon to be liquidated "Stuff by Duff" line. I pierced the card so I could run some very thin beading wire around the key to hold it in place. I twisted the wire and held it down with tape on the back.
I am terribly fond of these, as they are my first efforts, but they are supposed to be traded, so I'm going to have to gird myself to let these go.
Monday, January 14, 2008
That Fresh Paint Smell
I have become obsessed with paper arts recently. Altered books, art dolls, artist trading cards--and those are just the "A"s! What will I find in the rest of the alphabet?
My studio is increasingly a wonderful place to spend hours that seem like only minutes. My collection of art supplies is wonderful and varied, and I am increasingly hungry to DO ART!
Accordingly, this is my online journal of what I am up to, and what I have done. I hope to post here photos and scans of my work, along with the details of how I did them. Maybe even some photos of works in progress? Perhaps--we can only wait to see.
Some of these things I have been doing for a while, some I am just starting on. All are feeding some part of my soul that has only recently come out to play. It's amazing how much law school does not encourage the experimental artist!
So come on in--the paint is dry, and there's even a place to sit. I'll bring out the pinot grigio, and let's do some art!
My studio is increasingly a wonderful place to spend hours that seem like only minutes. My collection of art supplies is wonderful and varied, and I am increasingly hungry to DO ART!
Accordingly, this is my online journal of what I am up to, and what I have done. I hope to post here photos and scans of my work, along with the details of how I did them. Maybe even some photos of works in progress? Perhaps--we can only wait to see.
Some of these things I have been doing for a while, some I am just starting on. All are feeding some part of my soul that has only recently come out to play. It's amazing how much law school does not encourage the experimental artist!
So come on in--the paint is dry, and there's even a place to sit. I'll bring out the pinot grigio, and let's do some art!
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