Long Live The Queen

So do you think the grand queen Marie Antoinette will come back and haunt me for making her a 'cigarette girl'? It wasn't my intention when I began this Inchie doll. Her skirt is from a painting of the palace Versaille and the whole cake thing just took on a life of itself. Marie's face is from a painting of her as a young girl, just before the marriage that would make her queen of France. She's decorated with metallic pearl paints and alcohol inks. The inchie is, of course, her torso and tray.

Another Work for Collage Mania II

This is "Windblown" - a tribute to a young woman named Ayako, a friend and colleague of my daughter. This lovely, dignified young woman passed away yesterday morning from a cancer that had just been diagnosed in October. Ayako was in her 30's.
This piece is part of the Collage Mania II collection to be auctioned off May 5/6, 2008. Composed of dimensional flowers of beaded tulle and organza on a base of gauze cloth fused over snipped threads and fabric.

Collage Mania II - 'Think Pinked'

'Think Pinked'

is the title of my first collage for Virginia Speigel's Collage Mania II, a magnificent fundraiser for The American Cancer Society.

Crafted from pinked cotton, shredded tulle and gauzecloth over snipped threads, this work is stitched in glossy DMC rayon floss and heavily beaded with delicas, rocailles, and pearls. It was stitched in honor of my aunt, Minerva Mains Williams, a talented artist in her own right, who is a 27 year survivor of breast cancer. Eensy, teensy delicas in muted hues are stitched in rows on this square. The simplistic long-stitched rayon floss enhances the twisted shreads of a rose-colored tulle.
This tiny square features stylized floral beadwork in glass rocailles and tiny bugle beads.
Raspberry bugles are worked across this portion. You can also see the three colors of the rayon floss and its shiny texture.
This auction comprised of the artwork of a multitude of artists worldwide begins online

Monday, May 5, 2008, with a second day on Tuesday, May 6, 2008.

Complete details can be found at:

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CollageManiaDetails.html

Green Chunky Book Page for Saint Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, everyone!!! May the luck of the Irish be with you.

In honor of this very green day, I am posting the very green chunky book page that I made for a list swap. It was my first so I'm not sure if it follows fat book protocol but it IS quite green! LOL
The base of the 4x4 page - front and back - the 'green' definitions page from a dictionary.

First I cut at 4x8 inches then glazed with a mixture of glazing medium, metallic acrylic green paint, gel medium and a flat acrylic paint in a kelly green. Mixed all together, it looks like a pale shimmery green glaze. I painted and puddled it on so it was heavier in some places.

After the base layer dried, I took the page to the sewing machine, first couching sparkle Tinsel cording with metallic green Sulky rayon thread. On top of that, a strip of pleared chiffon ribbon was sewn with random stitching. Strips of lime green netting was knotted at various intervals and stitched in place with a random tacking method. Beaded lace applique (dyed green earlier with diluted alcohol inks in lettuce and meadow colorways) were glued in the middle. A square of vintage green ribbon was stamped with the letter 'g' and glued down as well.

The back of the page features a line of green definitions - gloriously glazed - and a pocket made from a tear out sheet from a 1940's calendar. The recycled strip of clothing seam (holding a calligraphy paper tag to the page) is attatched with decorative clamps from 'Rob and Bob Studio'.
When I get all the artists' pages back, I will be binding them using my Zutter Bind-it-all. Most likely with ribbons in the holes instead of coil. We'll see.

There's still time today to make some thing green and 'green'. All of the items on my page were recycled except for the little clamps but I've had them for a while.

So...... lift a glass of Guiness or a shot of Jameson's finest today and create!

My Fiber Booklet

Soo I've been doing a lot of swaps lately - for practice and because I love the work done in the groups to which I belong. This swap was for a fiber art ATC book so I got to try out several new things I'd bought. The first being the Orange Sherbet Batik fabric that is the front of the book.

The next is this rainbow assortment of adhesive vellum behind which I enclosed several vintage pictures as well as pieces of sheet music and lettering. I also used on top of the vellum rub-on letters in several different fonts. I enjoyed making this little book and hope it likes its new home.

My Little Piece of Bling

Meet my little tin man who is part of a collaborative artistic venture on on of my Yahoo groups. We were given the chandelier parts with instructions to add whatever we needed to make a dolly with bling! His little hat is an old perfumer's funnel - his face and arm are vintage glass beads. The wire is the new gunmetal color with which I've fallen in love.

Love That Misted Ink!!!

So I found that I really like alcohol ink. On one of my 'runaway days' to the city, I bought some Adirondak Alcohol Inks (along with a bottle of their extender) and thought "now what do I do with these". Ah, to the Batcave...
I tried to paint with them on 140 lb cold press watercolor paper. Hmmm. Dried waaaay to fast for me. What to do, what to do? Then I spied my trusty little Mini-Mister spray bottle-ette and filled that with the extender. And Misted. WOW !!! It ran, it spread. I drew lines with Krylon leafing pens. And misted. Walnut ink. And misted. Adirondak Alcohol Ink extenders (metals and pearls). And misted.
These are two of the papers that I ended up with. Not to bad for an ink novice.
The Extender really makes the color spread on the paper. Using watercolor paper gives it texture and weight. Also, hitting it lightly with a heat gun makes the thicker areas - leafing pen, alcohol ink additives and puddled inks - bubble a bit. I didnt have any but I'd say embossing powders would be great added onto the wet ink as well.
(Remember to use misted sprays and heat gun in a well ventilated area) After allowing them to dry thoroughly, I cut them into background sizes - inchies, PSIs, and ATCs. The Inchies and PSIs were glued onto chipboard and edged with the leafing pens.
and this is where several of them went. Toward a Distressed Alphabet swap for a group I'm on.
I added a precut letter - colored with leafing pen. This is a great way to use punch out letters that are in colors or patterns you may not like. Punch holes in the letter with a small hole punch and thread through some interesting fibers. Mine are DMC Rayon Floss.
While I'm sure this isn't a new technique, maybe there are some of you out there who like to experiment with paint and ink like I do who hadn't seen it yet. Get out your paints and spray bottles and have fun!!!