Carving out some art

Last month at Green Pepper Press Street Team, Michelle Ward challenged readers to carve stamps. Though I didn't get mine done in time for the deadline, the post for Challenge 18 is a great resource for anyone wanting to get into stamp carving. It made me get out the cutting tools and a sheet of rubber and get to work.



I carved a lot of birds - my NaNo project last year was built up around bird mythology. One day, far off in the future, I'm going to have the time and motivation to stamp my own tarot deck, so in preparation for that wondrous time, I carved out words and symbols for the four suits, and the corresponding astrological symbols. (Can you sense the procrastination in this great project?)

I stamped one of my birds in acrylic paint on a page torn from The Coral Island, and I really like the rough, textural look of the image.



And on one of my favourite stamping lists, Stamphappy, there was a thread about blogs, which gave me a chance to track down a few of my list-mates in the blogosphere. Hi people, if you're dropping by, after I've left manic messages on your blogs.

And lastly, I have beautiful mail, from Debbi Baker. A beautiful green ATC, made to celebrate St Patrick's day, from tissue paper or beautiful serviettes, I think. The photo doesn't do it justice - it really glows.



And because Debbi is an awesome chick, she wrapped the ATC in that gorgeous, filmy lavender ribbon. Thanks Deb!

A busy weekend

Easter has been fun - despite the heat and humidity and thunder storms and craziness at work, I actually got a lot of work done.

TMTA's theme this week is Texture Effects. I made an ATC made from a background of scrunched up newspaper, lightly covered with gesso for extra texture, and dry brushed with copper and gold acrylic to pick up the shapes and texture of the newspaper.

I used an image of Virginia Woolf, and once it was down on the card, it seemed to need simple embellishment - a black ribbon and an gold charm holding a leaf pressing. I was quite surprised at the way my subconscious constructed this - it wasn't until the leaf was glued down that I realised it was rue, and then I had my theme for the ATC.



This week's Inching Artists theme is Words. These inchies were cut from a very precious piece of scrap paper that I've been using under my craft work for months, letting it accumulate layers and layers of paint in that perfectly random way that can only happen with scrap paper.



And lastly (how productive have I been this weekend? Chocolate is the super-fuel of the creative mind!), I have a fabric ATC that will be zooming over to WA fro a one-on-one exchange with Debbi Baker. It's a piece of velvet (I know! I said I'd never use that stuff again!), with a layer of blue foil netting stitched over the top, and a motif in buttons, beads and sequins set in the middle. It was fantastic fun to make.

Think Monday: Think ATC

Twice in a row! I'm on fire with the organising and the doing of craft this week.

The theme this week at TMTA is Transparent Art. I took a transparency of an antique daguerreotype of the moon - it's mottled and golden in that beautiful way that daguerreotype photographs are. (I had to use the word twice, to make it worth looking up the spelling.)



The image is over a background of pearly iridescent ink, which of course, doesn't show up in the scan, but makes the image really glow. I took the words from an ancient dictionary.

I love using transparencies, but the hard part is finding original ways to frame the very obvious edge. This time, I put my new sewing machine to the test, and it blitzed through the plastic and card with no problems, even when threaded with horrible, snagging metallic thread. Oh metallic thread! You look so fine, but you are so evil. Same problem that I have with velvet, I think.

Think Monday: Think ATC and Inching Artists

I managed two challenges this week; I'm quite pleased with myself.

This week's theme at TMTA is Fashion. I went for a playing card type of concept, with a glamorous girl whose waistline fascinates and frightens me. I'm not really one to suffer for beauty, unless the suffering involves glue and scissors.



And for Inching Artists, there's a numerical theme.



I really love these inchies! I love them because I used something from UNDER THE MAT. Under the mat is the place where I shove scraps that are just too good to throw away - but I never use these goodies fast enough, and my mat develops hillocks where the stuff has piled up. That's why it's always cause for celebration when I drag something out and use it. This time, it was the cover page from a sheet of Stampers Anonymous unmounted stamps. I cut the numbers out, lacquered them with Dimensional Magic and stuck them down onto a sheet of scrap paper that I slathered with gold paint.

I really need to seek out some swaps for Inchies - I would like to make more. Any suggestions for Inching communities.

Fabric Postcard

The theme this time was "Veil". I chose it, and then was spectacularly stumped by what I should make. I fooled around with some chiffon, and made some burnt, embellished sandwiches, and came up with this:



I don't know about it. It's kind of gone beyond my comfort zone. And velvet? Why did I work with velvet? It shrinks and shreds and changes size and it leaves black fluff everywhere and it is completely evil. On the other hand, the postcard is kind of eyecatching. I think I like it. *is confused*

Inching Artists: Holes

Holes are the theme for this week at Inching Artists. I made an ATC with three inchies, and each inchie has two windows punched into the layers. It's a simple design, but satisfying to execute.

I stepped out for a breath of air...

And suddenly it was February, 2008. Thanks, Debbi for giving me a gentle poke in the backside, to get me blogging again.

So, what have I been up to? I'm working on my postcards for the February swap, which has veered off-topic severely for me. The theme this month is "Veil", and somewhat ironically, it's a theme I chose. So, I wandered the aisles at Spotlight, selected some likely fabric of a veil-like texture, some cerise chiffon that was lovely and slippery and draped beautifully.

It was too tempting - I had to burn it. I'm starting to wonder if I might have a bit of a problem.



It was amazing fun to fling every shiny scrap into the chiffon sandwich - there's sequins, beads, gold leaf, and some really lurid fibres I would never have otherwise used. Once I'd stitched it and burned, it turned out very pretty, and it looks amazing over black velvet, but it's not exactly veil-like. It's too pretty not to use. I just have to figure out how to work it in to the theme. I can do it.