The Matchbook

Summer Reading: Plaster Studio

2011-06-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to finally get my copy of Plaster Studio! This is a book by two great artists and great teachers - Stephanie Lee and Judy Wise. I've been lucky enough to take a class from Stephanie Lee, and Judy Wise saved my bacon once when I was teaching down in Arizona and ran out of encaustic medium. So, no, I didn't get a free review copy, but am a bit biased in favor of these lovely ladies . . .

I was delighted that the book includes instructions for one of my favorite Stephanie Lee techniques - Cracked Burlap! Part of why I'm so excited to get this book and learn more about working with plaster is that it's a wonderful substrate for encaustic. Once dry, it's rigid and absorbent - the perfect surface for wax.

And the smooth but cracked surface she manages to create are very tempting to me.

And the instructions are really well done - step by step photos, with the written directions right underneath. And the detailed information about different types of plaster and how to use them - AMAZING!

The book even offers ideas for making three-dimensional substrates - cages, nichos, shrines, vessels. And all of them can be decorated with mixed media - I lean towards encaustics, but acrylics can also be used. The book includes ideas for both.

In fact, the only minor complaint I have about this book is that it includes projects with instructions to put wax over acrylic . . . something I've learned to think of as a no-no. (Imagine dripping candle wax on a plastic tablecloth and how easily the wax will chip off when it's cool - encaustic on acrylic doesn't generally create a very stable bond).

That said, a lot of people - including Stephanie Lee and Judy Wise - use encaustic over acrylic all the time very successfully. They use thin coats of acrylic on very absorbent surfaces so that the wax can still penetrate the surface.

Bottom line, I loved the book. I read it cover to cover, and am adding it to my list of "must have" reference books for encaustic - especially for those who are interested in doing dimensional or sculptural work.

Summer Reading: At Home with Handmade Books

2011-06-23T00:02:00.000-07:00

A month or so ago, I got a surprise in the mail: My very first ever freebie crafty item to review! Yup, this is the disclaimer - this book was sent to me to review, completely unsolicited: At Home with Handmade Books by Erin Zamrzla.

I have quite a few books from the publisher, Shambhala. Titles like Art Heals by Shaun McNiff and Art is a Spiritual Path by Pat B. Allen. But I didn't even know they did full color how-to craft books!

But they do, and there is a similar philosophy expressed. The projects are beautiful, simple, practical and useable. The focus of the book is using recycled and reclaimed materials to make new and functional books. At Home with Handmade Books includes projects that use socks, tea bags, and sponges - and includes books that hold recipes, serve as pincushions, and double as sachets.

I loved this recycle-bin book project - it uses old hardback books and turns them into journals with blank interiors and Japanese-style binding. I love changing up the binding from hardback to hand-stitched!

There's also a whole series of travel books that you can make to feature collected postcards or store road trip souvenirs . . .

This though, is my favorite project . . . it's a book made of ziplock bags that you can use to store collage tidbits! I don't do a lot of bookmaking, but this is one I would absolutely make!

And the instructions are very easy to understand . . . something that's a challenge with complicated and precise projects like bookmaking.

Making with Heart

2011-06-15T00:03:00.000-07:00

The Rebel Craft Rumble is happening tonight - it's a big fundraiser for SCRAP. I'm one of only four contestants competing for the chance to go up against last year's Craft Master, Sister Diane. It's quite an honor - and quite a challenge. One of my competitors, Miss Demeanor of Criminal Craft fame, has been talking some trash on Twitter about me . . . in a friendly, may-the-best-crafter-win, get-my-goat kind of a way. (To be fair, so has Sister Diane. And I haven't exactly been a shy flower). So, now I'm just gonna make it official and throw down the glue gun gauntlet right now.

What the heck makes me think I've got what it takes to compete with the top crafters Portland has to offer? Well, besides an incredible amount of hubris . . . perseverance and a willingness to try a lot of crazy stuff until something works.

A few months ago, I was working on an installation for Mad/50 with the theme "The Commons." I struggled with this thing. I was working with the idea of common space, the spaces and places that we share and hold in common. National parks, sidewalks, monuments, and even churches. I started off with this.

I like the trees and the background maps of Mt. Hood. They set the tone for the kind of common space I was looking for . . .

But it just wasn't workin' for me. The two women talking over the fence? Nope . . . too literal. Cheesy. The big church window? I liked the idea of it and set it aside. What the piece needed was heart, soul, some kind of center.

So I tried to make a heart - home is where the heart is, and that's the real common space. I really went for it . . . I went dimensional, used plaster, paint, cord . . . the whole nine yards.

Yeah. It looks like . . . well. Some kind of dead squid thing. From a bad horror movie. Needless to say, it didn't make it into the final version. I kept trying to work with the church window . . . but it was just too big. In frustration, I went in a completely different direction. Circles, connected.

By a slightly less frightening, but still symbolically open, heart.

And here I am with the final piece where it was installed at SE Madison and 50th in Portland. Yup. I kept at it - through the crazy squid heart phase and all the things that didn't work. I kept at it. So look out, Miss Demeanor. It's you and me in the first round, and I am Gonna. Keep. At. It.

And if I'm lucky, I'll make it work! May the best crafter win.

Playing with Leaves and Octopodes

2011-01-06T18:16:00.000-08:00

(For those of you who are wondering, octopodes is the most accurate, though not most common, plural of octopus.)

Back in September, I got invited to teach encaustic techniques to an organization I had never heard of before - the Nature Printing Society. It is a group of scientists, educators, artists, and other geeks and misfits who love making art prints from any sort of natural ephemera that will hold still long enough - plants, fish, and yes, even octopus.

nature prints by Bridget Benton made by placing feathers
and plants on light-sensitive etching plates; plates are then inked and printed

Making impressions of natural objects is one of the oldest - and most accurate - ways of recording the essential characteristics of natural objects: this is why the scientists love it. It also opens up whole new worlds of creative possibilities: this is why the artists love it. And as for the geeks and misfits, hey - who wouldn't love rolling ink on an octopus or tramping through the woods looking for nifty leaves and branches to print?

nature prints on fabric by Bridget Benton using an inked gelatin plate for mono-printing; shown here collaged with some mass-produced fabrics

Yup - you guessed it: artist, educator, and nature-loving nerd that I am - these are my people. I eagerly accepted the invitation to teach - it seemed like a great opportunity to learn some new things! In fact, doing the work to prepare to teach an encaustic class for nature printers opened up some new possibilities in my own work - I played with pressing leaves and other natural objects into the wax, and using oil paint to pick up the impressions. This led to a whole new series of work that I showed (and demostrated) during Portland Open Studios in October and at Guardino Gallery in December.

encaustic with oak leaf impressions

And I had a great time teaching at their annual conference at the Oregon coast. The whole group is so open to learning and sharing techniques that I felt completely at home. I took several classes while I was there, too, but there was one that had me giddy with excitement: Octopus Printing. Now, fish printing or gyotaku, is pretty well known in the U.S. as a Japanese import: you ink up a dead fish and then gently press paper onto the inky fish surface to pick up an impression. Using octopus as a giant rubber stamp, however, is not as well known.

gyotaku, or fish print, made by Nature Printing Society member

But I am deeply drawn to octopus. Octopodes. Octopusses. However you say it, I love their sensuous shape and suckerness. And to get a chance to print them? How could I resist? We started out with small ones, sold for food at local Asian markets. Thawed, cleaned, and dried, they are remarkably easy to position and print. They can also be re-frozen and then re-thawed and used again for printing. I admit, this is not for the squeamish.

me with my first octopus print!

several of my wee octopus prints!

I would have been happy just to make little prints. However, some local fisherman had caught a large octopus in their nets: knowing that we were in town and looking for non-commercially viable catch to print, they saved it for us. Several brave souls from the Nature Printing Society, including our intrepid Octopus Printing Instructor, Sharron Huffman, cleaned and gutted the octopus so that we could do giant octopus prints.

Sharron inking the large octopus

Sharron after the first print was pulled from the octopus

Now, Sharron has been printing octopodes for many years - she's as drawn to them as I am. She had one specimen, purchased at a Seattle fish market, that she carefully conserved and used for years to print from. She even has a detailed how-to on her website. Now, if you're lucky enough to live in the Portland area, and want to do some hands-on octopus printing, she's having a workshop in her home studio in February! Oh yeah - you can bet I'll be there!

print of large octopus tentacles by Bridget Benton

large octopus print on silk by Bridget Benton

If you're interested, here's the info: Sharron Huffman will teach Beginning Octopus Printing February 12, 1:00–4:00 p.m. at her home studio in Milwaukie, Oregon. $65 plus $15 materials fee. Limited to 5 participants. Contact Sharron at slhuffman@mac.com for more information and registration. I hope you'll join us!

participants in the octopus printing classroom, Nature Printing Society workshop, 2010

Gallery Walk 2010: Guardino Gallery

2010-09-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

It's Last Thursday on Alberta. A few Last Thursdays ago, I had an opening at Guardino Gallery - sharing space with amazing sculptor Julie Fiedler, and I never posted about it, so I thought I'd give you another little virtual tour.

Most of the show was encaustic work. This piece, "A Wish and a Prayer," was one I really struggled with, but I love the way the shape of the praying hands and the wishbone echo each other.

I think this piece was my favorite in the show . . . the piece has a lot of dimension, and the cat's cradle is actual string suspended over the moonlit sky . . . I want to do more in this series, but it's incredibly difficult to construct and work the multilevel surfaces; it takes a lot more time than I have right now!

Here's another piece that rocks the multilevel surfaces . . .and takes full advantage of the scroll saw my father-in-lawish gave me two Christmases ago. Here, the heart sort of turns into an octopus on one side of the bridge and a tree on the other . . . the bridge is Portland's St. Johns Bridge. I'm not totally satisfied with this one . . . I think the octopus is maybe a little much. I think I want to keep working on this one, maybe pull the octopus tentacles back a little bit and make them more vine or root-like.

A few more encaustics . . ."What is Left Behind" and "Recipe for the Moon." Each of them includes some collage elements . . .

This is a diptych . . . my first really successful one. I had just finished reading an article on bower birds, and somehow the drawing hand and the heart only really came together after I added the bower bird. It feels like the bird is making a bower in the heart . . . there's a seduction of some kind happening in the painting. At least for me. It's always interesting to me what other people see in the paintings.

Here, I'm combining encaustic on the panel and the panel is mounted on a reclaimed drawer decorated with acrylic, tea bags and resin. More hands. More tea bags.

And here's a look inside the gallery . . . me and Julie's stuff looked really great together! I had a few collages up, too, things I'd worked on while I was up at Whidbey Island this summer.

And this Last Thursday's opening at Guardino on Alberta with Katherine Dunn and Lisa Kaser looks AMAZING . . . and there's a Dia De Los Muertos opening at Fantasma on Alberta featuring the work of Alea Bone and Linda Rand . . . be sure to drop by and check them out!

Gallery Walk 2010: 100th Monkey

2010-09-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

Back in April, I had a feature show at 100th Monkey Studio's Gallery . . . it included a bunch of my work to date with recycled and reclaimed materials, along with some experiments (including a few that didn't go so well). I felt the piece above was one of the most successful . . . I created a background with tea packets stitched together, then gessoed and painted on the surface. I really like the effect.

So now you're going to get the virtual tour! This piece includes actual teabags along with the tea packaging.

This is an encaustic piece that utilizes tea tags my friend Leslie has been saving for me . . . I have probably hundreds of them and this was my first foray into using them . . .

And here I experimented with drier sheets . . . I printed on them, then stitched them to a canvas surface, along with plastic bottle caps, like buttons.

Here was another experiment - birth control packets and a nest with egg and branch. Home - how we make homes and how we make ourselves feel at home - has long been a theme of mine. Naturally, this intersects a great deal with the role of women and women as homemakers, and the traditional crafts and practices of women and how, as women, we have the option to accept or break out of those roles and redefine them.

And then after all of that deep stuff, we move back to bottle caps. Their plastic wonderfulness and total flexibility and bright colorfulness.

Fused plastic bags as quilt blocks. Another very fun thing. I'm not sure why I enjoy it so much - perhaps just the meditative ironing and arranging and stitching. So, I'm fusing up more plastic bags this week while it's still nice enough to be outside and get good ventilation.

And here's a few more that were in the show.

Now, imagine yourself standing in the gallery . . . considering the pieces, sipping a glass of wine, and deciding which ones appeal to you and why. Or which ones don't appeal to you. The ones that inspire you to try something new, and the ones that make you think. And hey, while you're at it, try heading out to First Friday this week if you're in Portland, or maybe take a gallery break sometime this week wherever you are.

Hello, Green Craft!

2010-08-25T23:41:00.000-07:00

Ok - you folks saw it here first, back in 2008, with my series of DEMOs on making jewelry from bicycle inner tubes, and now it's seeing print in Somerset Studios' Green Craft Magazine:

The photographer - and I couldn't find the photo credits - did a wonderful job!

The directions aren't terribly detailed, but the whole magazine is filled with some great inspiration! And in the article, I'm teamed up with Shirley Goff, who creates wonderful handbags from tires, along with a lot of other wonderful recycled adornments!

Check out the magazine and see articles on turning a men's dress shirt into a halter top and making earrings from pop tabs along with a lot of other crafty recycled wonderfulness.

In Which Our Intrepid Blogger Goes on a Cruise

2010-06-17T19:46:00.001-07:00

Featured below, you see all the reasons why I wanted to go on a Crafty Chica Cruise: Of course, there'd be crafting, a trip to Mexico, and a shot at sunshine in April, but the big draws? Getting to hang out with the Crafty Chica Herself - Kathy Cano-Murillo (right) and the ever-delightful Sister Diane (left). Add sun, surf, and stuffed iguanas, and I was totally in!

Now, it turns out that I'm not much of a cruiser. Seasick? Check. Mildly claustrophobic? Check. So overwhelmed by the possible shore excursions that I actually didn't spend any time in the surf? Check. A little freaked out by the floating Las Vegas casino atmosphere of a Carnival Cruise ship? Double-check.

But I still had a great time! Why? Well, Kathy Cano-Murillo is just as fun, generous, and crazy glitter sweet as her books, blog posts, and awesome craftiness would lead you to believe. Not everyone lives up to their on-line image but the Crafty Chica does it - plus some! (And man, did she score us some serious swag!!) Here she is modeling the amazing apron she decorated during the cruise!

I also had an incredible time being roomies with and generally geeking out with Sister Diane. She was there creating an epic podcast about the Crafty Chica Cruise - I haven't seen sign of it yet, but I'll let you know when I spot it! In the meantime, she chronicled our adventures at the Mexican fabric store and the Mexican paper store in nerd-a-rific technicolor detail! Here's a shot of us heading ashore - with no idea what wonders lay ahead!
But the thing is, vacations are generally made great by the things you don't expect. In my case, it was towel animals.

Yes, towel animals. Finally, I understand why hotel towels are always so darn stiff and scratchy - its because they have to be if you're going to fold them and roll them and twist them into loveable animals!

Apparently, towel folding or towel origami, is popular on cruise lines and tropical resorts. Having spent no time at either before, they were brand new to me!

If you're feeling inspired - and maybe in need of a vacation at an exclusive resort - try venturing into the land of towel-folding with Ian:

Of course, if towel-folding seems too mundane or you're looking to get really fancy, you may just need to hop over to Amazon and order this book:

And no, no-one did anything fancy to our toilet paper on the cruise. But if you want to go on your own crafty cruise, the Crafty Chica is already accepting reservations for an 8-day cruise next spring!

Art and Healing: Part Two

2010-06-06T23:04:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been so busy doing things that there hasn't been a whole lot of time to blog about them - or time to absorb what's happened. *

It's been a wonderful whirlwind, and now I'm ready for a little reflection and a little quiet artmaking time. Sometimes things don't make sense until we write them down or until we share them - either through words or through our artwork or both.

And a good place to start reflecting is the amazing women I had the opportunity to work with at the Quest Center for Integrative Health's Healing Empowerment Project. The Project, led by Jo Brody, provides an expressive outlet for those living with breast cancer and its consequences. With a different art class led by a different art teacher each month, the women have the opportunity to create, explore, and take an active role in their own healing process.

The participants, diving in!

Opportunities to teach in an environment like this are few and far between, and I was honored to be invited to teach an all-day shrine making class earlier this year. As is often the case, it seemed like all I did was unload materials from the truck, offer a little bit of information about structure and adhesives, and then get out of the way.

The women were fearless. They took risks, told personal stories, and were absolutely willing to work intuitively. It was a joyous and inspiring thing to witness. And there is such a lesson there. Perhaps once you have faced your own mortality, the blank canvas just doesn't seem as scary as it used to.

Starting with Egyptian deities . . .

and completing with feather and sea.

Dress patterns, Botticelli, and Mother Mary . . .

United by spirals.

A collecting of materials . . .

and a lid of riotous color.

This piece, assembled by a particpant, features an image of singers originally created by Deborah Koff-Chapin.

And this is what art is about - at least for me. Expressing and exploring, and maybe getting lucky enough to tap into something utterly beyond ourselves.

* If you were curious . . . In the last four months, I've attended workshops at ArtFest in Port Townsend, taught several workshops here in Portland, joined Sister Diane on a marvelous Mexican cruise with the Crafty Chica, had a feature show at 100th Monkey Studios Gallery, participated in a few charity art auctions, taken on the role of Treasurer for Portland Open Studios, celebrated my 40th birthday with friends, visited family in Texas, and now, I'm in Beverly, MA, for the Encaustic Conference at Montserrat College of Art and will then be heading off to present at the Summit of Awesome in my hometown of Portland, OR. I have a serious back-log of eye candy and insights to share, so get ready!

An Artist A Day: Auction Tonight!

2010-05-13T10:50:00.000-07:00

Last month, on April 21, I had the chance to sit in the window at Muse, a local art store at 4224 SE Hawthorne, and start on an encaustic painting. Along with 33 other artists - each scheduled on a different day - I was working on a piece to be auctioned off to benefit Schoolhouse Supplies. You can see all of the work that got created, and all the work that's up for auction at Muse's An Artist A Day website.

Here's the piece as I started on it, working in the window at Muse, and beginning the background.

Next, I added the image of a heart . . .

After I got it home, I added additional imagery - bees and honeycomb - and worked more on the colors.

And tonight, you can go over to the big opening at Muse and bid on the piece from 6pm - 8pm, though I think the bidding closes at 7:45! Prices start at only $75, and the pieces are medium-sized, 16"x20". Proceeds help buy art supplies and get them into the hands of artists and teachers in the public schools - what could be better than that?

Here's the finished piece, called "Where the Work Gets Done."

Meltdown, or Working with Reclaimed Materials

2010-04-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

I love working with recycled stuff. Right after encaustics, it's my very favorite thing. I have a show up this month at 100th Monkey Studio Gallery - I'm the featured artist in their Recycle Reuse show this month.

Of course, the thing with reclaimed materials is that they are, by their very nature, unpredictable. Take this assemblage I made, for instance. I used a cigar box, an old plastic trophy part, dowels, wire, some old maps, a craft store cardinal - all pretty standard, right? And I used two of my favorite glues to put it together - E6000 (a glue recommended for use with plastics) and Mod Podge.

Now, you may notice something a bit odd. Something that led to the phone call I got yesterday. From the gallery. "Ahem, Bridget, your assemblage is melting." My first thought was that the E6000 and the styrofoam in the middle of the craft store cardinal were not getting along well. But no. The stem of the trophy was collapsing.

Now, this is something every encaustic artist dreads hearing. It's rare for a well-made encaustic piece to melt under normal circumstances, but in direct sunlight in a car window in Arizona while you go have lunch, well, things can happen.

It is, however, a phone call that one doesn't expect to get about an assemblage that doesn't include any wax.

I went over to the gallery today, marked the piece as "Not for Sale", examined the way the E6000 was dissolving the plastic of the trophy into a melty goo, decided I actually like it better with the trophy dipping at an angle, did a quick fix with hot glue, and walked away thinking "Lesson learned."

Then, I remembered that I had found two of those used trophy parts at SCRAP when I bought them years ago, and had used one of those trophy parts in a piece I'd completed back in 2007 or 2008.

A piece for a different show at the SAME GALLERY.

A piece on which I had used the SAME GLUE (E6000) to glue the SAME TROPHY PART to a wooden box. A piece, you will notice, that has remained distinctly UN-MELTED.

Next time, I'll try putting it together with rivets.

Art and Healing: Part One

2010-04-07T23:29:00.000-07:00

A little over a month ago, a friend of mine died.

It was sudden; she was relatively young and had seemed to be in good health. Just the week before, she had given a dance performance. Her death was a huge shock. It was incredibly painful. And most of March is just a blur.

One of the first things I did, a way of coping, of dealing with it, was to make art. In partnership with another good friend of mine, I decorated boxes to be given to her husband and her two daughters, boxes to hold mementos.

And I started working on a few other pieces. Some encaustics. A portrait of my friend and an image of a nest, the bird gone. The image of what's left behind.

Putting them together, they seem to tell a story. A story that helps. At least a little bit.

Encaustics in West Linn

2010-02-28T22:40:00.000-08:00

The Portland Chapter of the International Encaustic Artists has a lot of amazing artists in it . . . If you missed our show at the West Linn Library, I just want to give you a little taste . . .

The variety of the work is amazing!

A lovely piece by Susan Freedman.

Chicken portraits by Shannon McBride, art teacher in Lake Oswego School District.

Beautiful arctic landscapes by Kimberly Kent, the only plein air encaustic painter I know!

A piece by the talented Linda Womack - author of the highly recommended encaustic how-to book Embracing Encaustic.

A few of my little pieces on the left, and a big beautiful piece from Amy Stoner.

Some lovely encaustic photos from Vicki Moser, who is also a wonderful graphic designer.

More encaustics by Vicki Moser, as well as expressive works by Robyn Bogardus.

Deeply textured, organic work by Manuela Kalestiantz.

Triptych

2010-02-27T19:03:00.000-08:00

Not long ago, the International Encaustic Artists issued a challenge. A triptych challenge. So, I made a triptych using some sample boards I had started during classes, and some other encaustic bits and bobs. This piece is absolute proof that you can make art without a plan, and that you can make art with studio leftovers. I had a wonderful time stacking the little encaustic panels, collaging in map parts, and incorporating the window to get them all just so. It speaks to me of leaping, jumping, journeying.

I've still got a bit of work to do, but this is how I photographed it for submission to the juried IEA show. I had a very hard time photographing this . . . The colors are a little washed out, and there's shadows, but hey, I rose to the challenge!

Love Letter to Social Media: A Tale of Crafty Inspiration

2010-02-13T23:23:00.000-08:00

A while back, I posted a link on Twitter to this awesome tutorial for making little notepads from recycled cardboard from Sister Diane over at CraftyPod. A few weeks later, I ran into my Sweetie's mom and her friend at the bookstore. Sweetie's Mom's Friend (we'll just call her "Donna"*) was giddy with excitement.

Donna had seen the link, gotten inspired, and made a bunch of notebooks! She had one in her purse, and had a whole stack at home ready to give as gifts.

She showed me how she'd used lined paper - she's a writer - to make it easier to jot notes, lists, and ideas.

Donna even used an envelope to add a pocket inside the notebook to hold receipts or business cards or other odd paper bits.

Donna was excited, and I have to admit, I was excited, too! Sister Diane put the tutorial on her blog, and I saw it on my Google reader. I tweeted about it, and that tweet got forwarded to my Facebook. Donna's my friend on Facebook, and she saw the link to Sister Diane's tutorial, and the rest is crafty inspirational history.

And this is the reason I love social media. Because it inspires us and connects us to people and ideas, and ultimately, gets us making things. And I'm happy to be one of many crafty worker bees spreading the creative digital pollen.

*Donna is not her real name. Names have been changed to protect the craft addicted.

Crafty Ideas from Anthropologie: Spring!

2010-02-12T23:09:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a lot of tidying around here. Spring cleaning, almost. I finally got my hard drive backed up, and I've spent the better part of two days of washing plastic bottle caps in preparation for some new projects. Thanks to the awesome folks at MacForce, I was also finally able to get a bunch of photos off of my iPhone and into my computer!

So how does this all connect? Some of the pictures were of the latest window display at Anthropologie, and they're very much inspiring some of my new work with reclaimed materials. Anthropologie has wonderful window displays - and they often feature recycled materials. I snapped these just a few weeks ago, and this time around they've used cut up plastic bottles to create Spring-inducing flower arrangements.

Check out the bicycle on display with flowers in the spokes! It looks like the designer may have used pastel or white spray paint to bring out the pastel colors . . .

Chakra Collage Recap: Eye Candy!

2010-01-27T11:00:00.000-08:00

I taught Chakra Collage for the first time last fall, and I'm getting ready to start another class February 23rd. The participants did a collage for each of the chakras, or energy centers, of the body, focusing on a different color each week. As part of preparing for the workshop, I went back and looked at some of the amazing images that came out of that class - and I wanted to share a few with you.

I'll start with a sample from the Root Chakra. If you want to see more, I did a whole post on the Root Chakra here. The color is red, and the element is earth.

Then, the Second Chakra, or Sacral Chakra. The color for this chakra is orange, the element is water.

The third chakra is the Solar Plexus Chakra. The color is yellow, and the element is fire.

The fourth chakra is the Heart Chakra. Its color is green, its element air.

Then, we move to the Throat Chakra. The color is blue, and the element is sound.

I couldn't pick just one for the Sixth Chakra, or the Brow Chakra. This one is also called the "Third Eye." Its color is indigo and its element is light.

And finally, the Crown Chakra. Its color is purple, its element is thought.

Alanna, Marta, Robyn, Patricia, and Deborah did an amazing job of working with their intuition and a collection of found images to create really unique and expressive collages! I had such a good time with this class, and I can't wait to teach it again!

How the Knittn' Kitten Made My Holiday

2010-01-26T16:39:00.000-08:00

The holidays may be long gone, but I have to tell you that I'm still getting a lot of joy from what the holidays brought me. There is, of course, the extremely lovely hand-knit hat and scarf set from my great-aunt Billie, a print of my dear friend Leslie's painting Divide, a super-cool t-shirt from the Sweetie that says "And Buffy Staked Edward. The End." Oh, and let's not forget the air compressor and hand-beaded necklace from the in-laws! EEEK! All my crafty, arty, and geeky bits were well taken care of.

The real joy, though, is that I had a little bit of time to make some gifts for family and friends - of course, that also meant that I didn't post on the blog at all in December! I was way too busy making things like the tea towel in the picture above to blog about it . . .

Back in the fall, you may remember me talking about local crafters getting together and coming up with free project sheets to support our favorite craft supply thrift store, Knittn' Kitten. There were a lot of cool projects that came out of that effort. In fact, you can hop right on over here and pick up a FREE .pdf that includes all of the projects! The one that caught my eye, though, was a stash-busting, tea-towel decorating project from Sister Diane over at Craftypod. I picked up a huge bundle of cotton dish towels from IKEA and the Dollar Store, and started hunting through my fabric stash. Look at the cool bird and handwriting fabric in these!

I made at least one for almost everybody on my list, and even had energy left over to make a few for myself! I'm so glad to find a way to feature the vintage kitchen fabric in these! Check out those cups!

Now, with any luck, I'll be able to get back to a more regular posting schedule . . .

DEMO: Matchbox Advent Calendar

2009-11-28T21:38:00.000-08:00

Just barely in time for the lovely month of December, I'd love to share an advent calendar project idea . . . For those of you growing up in Christian households, the advent calendar is used to count down the days until Christmas.

In this version, each of the days 'til Christmas is a little matchbox drawer opening up to reveal a scene taken from a recycled holiday card. You could also hide candies or tiny gifts in the drawers - or even adapt this idea to create a countdown to some other special event, like a birthday or other holiday.

Materials:
review the directions before buying any new supplies - substitutions are always possible

25 matchboxes
A lightweight board 2" wide and 36"-37.5" long
Scraps of foam core
Xacto or craft knife
Gesso
Acrylic paint
Heavy white craft glue
Diamond Glaze or other sealant
Mod Podge
Number stickers for dates
Recycled greeting cards, other decorative stickers and holiday doo-dads
Paper clip
Glue gun

Directions:

1. Start with 25 matchboxes and a lightweight board at least 36" long and 2" wide.
(I used two pieces of 36" bass wood that I got at the hobby store. For strength,
I glued the two pieces on top of each other with wood glue, and clamped them together
as they dried.) You might choose to use foam core as your base, but it's likely that
the foam core will warp.

2. Take all the little drawers out of the matchboxes. Otherwise, they might
accidentally get glued in place.

3. Using a thick craft glue like Tacky Glue or Ultimate Craft Glue, glue the
matchbox cases to the board. (I like to use a toothpick to apply the glue, and then I
clamped the little cases to the board with mini plastic clamps so they'd attach
firmly to the board as they dried.) Clean up any glue that oozes out from under the boxes
as this may keep the boxes from sliding in and out smoothly.

With any luck it should look like this when you're done. My bottom
matchbox hung off the edge just a little bit because my board was a bit shorter than
all of the matchboxes added together.

4. I chose to add a special accent to the top using foam core. I traced around the
top and drew a star shape on the foam core.

5. And then I cut the shape out with an Xacto knife. You might decide to create a different shape, or add a shape to the bottom as well.

6. Then I used a toothpick to apply glue to the interior edge . . .

. . . and fit it around the top of the board, pressed flush to the back of the board. I was using 1/4" foam core, and my bass wood boards were each 1/8" thick, so my topper fit perfectly without blocking access to the top matchbox.

7. I glued a bit of paper to the back to strengthen the topper.

8. Now, once all your glue is dry, gesso the whole contraption in preparation for painting.

9. Now, coat with the color of your choice. I used two coats of red acrylic paint.
I didn't paint the inside of the matchbox cases because the paint can build up and make it
difficult to slide the drawers in and out. I left the insides of the cases
and the matchboxes themselves unpainted for this project.

10. I happen to have a crazy big collection of letter and number stickers that
I got on sale, so I used those to apply dates to my advent calendar - one date for each box.
If you don't have stickers, you can try painting the numbers on, or even cutting numbers out from an old calendar and gluing them on.

And then I used some cool metallic star stickers I found
to add a little pizazz!

11. Next, coat the calendar with Diamond Glaze or another easily
controlled acrylic for durability.

12. While it dries, start working on each of the individual drawers. I created a
template by trial and error, using an old holiday card that I wasn't super crazy about.
I created a form that would fit roughly inside the boxes.
After you've made a template, try laying it over cards, wrapping paper, or images you like
and start cutting them out.

13. After cutting an image out, fold up the corners so it will fit
inside the boxes like a liner. Test it out and trim as needed.

14. Next, coat the inside of the box with Mod Podge.

15. Press the liner into the box. And let it dry. You can also cut individual characters
out of the cards and use a bit of foam core to lift them up and give them some dimension in
the box. Use your heavy craft glue to attach the card stock to the foam core
and the foam core to the inside of the box.

16. Bend open a paperclip to create a hanging hook for the back. I used hot glue to attach
the hook to the back, but Goop or E6000 or even duct tape could probably be
used to attach a hook of some kind to the back.

Each little drawer can be completely different, or they can come together to tell a story
as the month goes on and the drawers are opened one by one. Note: As you are preparing your drawers, consider that having them all open on one side will probably cause the calendar to tilt. Also remember that you won't be able to leave the drawers open completely and have them stay in the calendar. The entire image inside the box probably won't be visible all the time, so adjust your compositions accordingly. Try having the drawers alternate which side they slide open on.

Here, you can see it hanging in my entry way - with the little drawers closed, and then with
several of them open!

If you try making one of these for the holidays or for some other ocassion, I'd love to see it!

Recipe: Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

2009-11-23T22:30:00.001-08:00

Oatmeal is my favorite winter breakfast food and pumpkin pie is one of my all-time favorite desserts. This recipe brings them both together in a completely yummy and wonderful way, with a texture almost like really good bread pudding. I love it warm from the oven and topped with baked apples. And it's low on the sugar and the butter, and high in fiber, so I like to pretend it's super healthy, too!

Ingredients

Dry:
2 cups regular, not quick, oats
5 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pumpkin pie spice

Wet:
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 can pumpkin puree
1 and 1/2 cups milk or soy milk
4 teaspoons butter, melted

Topping:
1/2 cup pecans
4 teaspoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar

To Make

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix dry ingredients
Mix wet ingredients
Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix
Pour into greased 9 x 12 pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
While it's baking, mix the topping together ingredients together and melt in the microwave. After the 10 minutes is up, add the topping. (You can also just leave it on the side)
Bake another 7 minutes with the topping.

For an extra treat, slice up 4 or 5 granny smith apples, mix them with some brown sugar and cinnamon, top with a little butter and pop them them in the oven at 375 until they're tender. Served on top of the pumpkin pie oatmeal, it's amazing!

Credit where credit is due: This recipe is my reinterpretation of a recipe I found over here at Katie Goodman's site Goodlife Eats . . . http://www.goodlifeeats.com/2009/09/pumpkin-pie-oatmeal.html . . . If you like it be sure to pop over and give Katie Goodman some love!

The Last Free Knittn' Kitten Project: It's all about the Doilies

2009-11-11T11:58:00.000-08:00

I wish I could crochet.

But I can't. I've tried to learn, and someday, I will, but it's just not happening right now.

I did get this amazing book by Linda Permann called Crochet Adorned - which is just chock full of the most amazing ways to incorporate crochet into pre-made garments as embellishments - and by following her instructions - which are very good - I managed to do a chain stitch. And I started trying to crochet into it. That pitiful little chain has sat ignored now for at least two months.

What happened next is that I picked up Generation T: Beyond Fashion by Megan Nicolay after a trip to the Knittn' Kitten (Portland's own crafty thrift store - I go on about it in depth here) and had an incredible brainstorm - a way to make myself a scarf that incorporated crochet - totally recycled, and without crocheting a stitch myself!

Doilies my friend, the answer is doilies.

And the result is this nifty doily scarf made from crocheted doilies from the Knittn' Kitten and a bunch of old t-shirts.

And yes, you can learn how to make it by dropping by the Knittn' Kitten and picking up the free project sheet - and while you're there, you can buy a few doilies or other other lacy tidbits and maybe some knit fabric at incredibly low prices. Ethel, one of the owners, showed me some knit velvet and velours that I think would work very nicely for this project . . .

Of course, the project sheet has a few bonuses - 'cause, well, doilies are just utterly inspirational. See, you can use them as stencils. . .

How could I resist?

And, if you missed the other free project sheets available at your favorite local crafty thrift store, it's not too late! I was in the other day picking up a few things . . . and found project sheets for all the projects to date (I picked up Sister Diane's tea towel pattern) - as well as some nifty beads and baubles:

For those of you who are just dying for all seven of the amazing Knittn' Kitten tutorials from such local luminaries as Heather Mann of DollarStoreCrafts, Teresa Sullivan, Diane Gilleland of CraftyPod, Joey Groendes, Christine Blystone, Susan Beal, Lee Meredith, and well, me, but don't live in town - you're in luck! Towards the end of November, all of these projects will be available as an e-Book from Sister Diane.

Or, if you're in a hurry for the crafty goodness, check out the e-Book Crafty Tree Trimmings - it's another collaborative of crafty instructions benefiting a good cause - 15% of sales go to Project Linus!

More fun with Plastic . . .

2009-11-05T22:20:00.000-08:00

Once again, I'm throwing myself out there and making more stuff out of reclaimed plastic. I joined up with the latest episode of Leave No Plastic Behind's art challenge, and have been saving large swathes of the plastics I consume . . . plastic bags, plastic bottle caps, bags from frozen foods, straws, lids, clamshells, candy wrappers, tub lids . . . fact is, I produce a lot more plastic than I ever thought I did.

The challenge, of course, is two-fold: one, to make art from the plastics and two, to change your habits so you don't use as much plastic. Let's just say I'm doing really well on the first, and struggling with the second . . .

I found this great tutorial on Etsy for fusing plastic bags. I had plastic bags from my trip to Mexico last year, from frozen veggies, from the Food Day newspaper that gets delivered whether I want it or not . . . So I fused them (with good ventilation, of course) and created squares . . . which I stitched up into this cool quilt square!

Of course, I'm still working with my first love in the world of reclaimed plastics, plastic bottle caps. I made another chandelier, this one for Tribute Gallery in NW Portland:

And, thanks to some friends, I've discovered more artists and creative folks out there making great stuff out of reclaimed plastics . . .

This amazing image of a curtain made of plastic bottlecaps was sent to me by Alea over at Bonewerx - to see more, check out the Dutch wiki the images came from!

And then there's this installation at Rice University by Aurora Robson (photo by Nash Baker) called "The Great Indoors" made entirely of reclaimed plastics . . .those dark curly lines? All bottlecaps!!

Dia de los Muertos: Eye Candy and Sugar Skulls

2009-11-02T22:48:00.000-08:00

A little eye candy from my Day of the Dead art making adventures . . .

A couple of ATC's I made for a Day of the Dead themed
swap on Swap Bot . . . with pictures that I took in Oaxaca last year.

The ofrenda or altar I made for my home . . . a place to honor
my late father and grandparents, and the late loved ones of my guests.

and here's me dressed as a Frida Kahlo calavera . . .

for the Day of the Dead procession and last Thursday
art opening on NE Alberta.

Friends came over on Dia de los Muertos to decorate sugar skulls . . .

Here are some of the results of our efforts . . .

I'm lovin' the creativity . . .

Check out the rose gripped in her teeth!

And this one still in process . . .

It's a wonderful holiday that allows us to honor our loved ones who have
passed and be so creative all at the same time!

DEMO: Sugar Skulls for Day of the Dead

2009-10-31T22:24:00.000-07:00

DEMO: Sugar Skulls

Sugar skulls are one traditional and crafty part of the traditional Mexican celebration, Dias de los Muertos, or Days of the Dead. During this time - usually celebrated from October 31 to November 2nd (depending on the part of Mexico) and adapted from ancient Aztec rituals and the Catholic celebrations of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day - families and communities put up "ofrendas" or altars to honor and celebrate the dearly departed who come and visit. The sugar skulls are decorated, and often inscribed on the forehead with the name of the recipient - who can be either living or dead! They might be placed on the ofrenda, or given as a gift.

I learned how to make sugar skulls last year from Cathy of Bossa Nova Baby - and you can check out my post about it here! She didn't teach it this year, and I've been getting ready for a Sugar Skull Decorating party this weekend, so I thought I'd share the recipes and directions with you! It might be a bit late to prepare for this year, but you can get all the supplies you need for next year on this website, www.mexicansugarskull.com. If you're local to Portland, OR, you can get the supplies at The Decorette Shop and at Global Exchange (they carry the molds!). Global Exchange also has stores in San Francisco and Berkeley.

Materials

To cast the skulls:

Sugar skull molds, like those from MexicanSugarSkull.com Trim the molds so each piece is individual and has a 1" plastic border. Skulls come in small one-part molds, as well as medium and large two-part molds.
5 lbs granulated sugar
1/4 cup meringue powder (available from cake decorating stores)
10 teaspoons water
Cardboard squares slightly larger than the size of the trimmed molds you're using

To decorate the skulls:

Royal Icing

2 lbs powdered sugar
1/2 cup meringue powder
2/3 cup water

Concentrated food coloring paste (like that found at cake decorating shops)

Additional Decorating Materials

Sequins, Tiny Paper Flowers, Metallic Leaves, Googly Eyes, Acrylic Gems, Thin Paper Foil, other small sparkly bits - again, many available at craft supply stores or cake decorating stores
Cake decorating tips and icing bags

Instructions

1. Mix the ingredients together for the sugar skulls - water, granulated sugar, meringue powder as listed above. Use your hands to evenly distribute the water throughout
the sugar. The sugar should feel like beach sand, and if you press your fingers into it, it should leave a clear impression. It won't feel wet.

2. Press the sugar into the trimmed mold. Press firmly. Fill it over the top.

3. Scrape off the excess - leave the back flat.

4. Lay the cardboard over the back of the mold, and flip it over. Gently lift the mold off.
If it cracks, you may not have enough water - dump it back in and lightly mist the sugar mixture.
If it sticks to the mold, you have too much water in the sugar. Try mixing it more.

5. Let the skull dry on the cardboard for 5-12 hours, or until it's hard to the touch.
Drying time will vary depending on the size of the mold and the ambient humidity.

6. Even after 12 hours, medium and large skulls will not be dry all the way
through. You will want to hollow them out, but leave at least a 1/2 inch wall thickness
and don't scoop into the neck area. Scoop out the moist sugar - it can be reused.
Now let them finish drying - another 5-12 hours.

7. Once both parts of the two-part skulls are dry, they will need to be "glued" together. Now it's time to mix up your Royal Icing! Blend the ingredients together and use an electric mixer at high speed to mix them together thoroughly. You will want to mix the icing until the icing holds firm peaks - 5 to 10 minutes.

8. Put a 1/2 cup or so of royal icing in a pastry tube and squeeze a bead of icing onto
both halves of the two-part skull. Put the rest in an airtight container, but do not refrigerate it.

9. Squeeze both halves of the skull together. Wipe away any excess
icing that oozes out. Let it dry another few hours. This kind of icing dries like cement -
it's the same kind that is used to put together gingerbread houses.

10. Now, you're ready to decorate! You can mix icing together
with concentrated food coloring to color it. Put each color in its own icing bag. I like to use #2 round tips to get a clean precise line for decorating. Again, this stuff will dry really hard!

11. And you can use the icing almost like glue to attach googly eyes, sequins,
foil, or little paper flowers as part of your decoration.

You can save these from year to year - though they last better in dry climates than in humid ones. And, if you stick to using only edible ornaments - just icing and cake decorating gems - they are edible! Enjoy!

Edited to add: You can also use this same process to make and decorate things like easter eggs or holiday trees! All you need is the right 3-D candy mold! Locally, check out the Decorette Shop for molds you like or just google "candy molds 3D" and you'll get more results - and ideas - than you'll know what to do with!

Where these things lead . . .

2009-10-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

I posted a while back about the classes I took at Art & Soul here in Portland this year, including one with Katie Kendrick. I did a bunch of little spontaneous paintings, and some of them have turned into other things . . .

LIke these two Bee ATC's for a swap on Swap-Bot. I also did a bunch of ATC's for Portland Open Studios Valentine's day cards, to be delivered to our friends at the press in February of 2010. And I forgot to scan them first.

And I just made a few collages, cutting pieces apart and recombining them. Here, I used a bit of a piece that had involved strategic use of a plastic doily dipped in liquid acrylic as a highlight (hence my search for my own plastic doilies. none at the dollar store, so after repeated trolling on-line, I am victorious! After several tries, I finally won an eBay auction for some this week!).

Here, more plastic doily goodness, and a tiny punched out bird that was in our class goody bag. Apparently, it's a Martha Stewart paper punch. I love the design, did an on-line search, and yes - won another eBay auction!

So - in answer to the implied question in the title, taking art classes leads to buying things on eBay.