Ars Longa, Vita Brevis

Book Binding

2009-04-21T17:22:00.002-04:00

I've been working on some samples for different types of bookbinding. It is really addictive. I made this first one using a bunch of left-over scrapbooking paper. The style is called "stab" (which my hubby just loves. The entire time I was working on it he kept saying "I stab you!" and laughing...) but it's also known as Japanese style binding.
This one is a tapes style binding. It's one of the oldest styles of binding out there. If you ever take a look at a really old book--where the spine has those little ridges--that's tapes binding. You bind onto the tapes or thongs and then cover them using leather or book cloth. I opted not to cover the spine on this one, because it fit the feel of the book better. The covers are old bingo cards.
I have a couple more I'll try to get up in the next day or so.

Hope

2009-04-17T22:49:00.003-04:00

The IAA is doing an on-going journal swap. Here is my page for this month:
This page was done using copic markers to spray the background and the writing. The wings are a stamp that I embossed and then colored in with copics.
I've decided to do a poetry theme for all my pages, since I'm a poetry junkie. I've got a bunch of more work to put up--I've been busy writing up some new course proposals for fall this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

A-hoy.

2009-04-08T23:45:00.002-04:00

Here is a page from my art journal. I'm sorry about the typed in text over the photo--but the photo was part of an application packet and I didn't think about deleting the text before I posted the pic.
I've really been enjoying the way that the colors of the copic markers go on the page. There is something so sharp about them. And at the same time the texture is almost velvety. I drew the skull as part of an experiment. Sort of an "I wonder if I could do this?" And I think it turned out well. That's the thing that I love about my journal. It's a space just for me. And we all need a space that we can just be in.

How To Color Tears With Copics

2009-04-07T23:15:00.001-04:00

A brief how-to on coloring transparent objects using copics. Hope you enjoy!

Copic ciao Airbrushing

2009-03-29T19:00:00.004-04:00

One of the things I haven't talked about yet is the differences between the different versions of the Copic markers. There are three different basic styles: sketch, original, and Ciao. The Ciao and the Sketch have the same broad/brush tips, but the Ciao is smaller and round in shape. It's marketed as a beginner marker and tends to run about 1$ cheaper than the sketch. But bear in mind--they contain less ink, so you're going to need to refill them sooner. The original marker is square shaped and has a detailed point and a broad tip. Personally, I like the sketch, but I've got quite a few of the Ciaos.
One of the other big differences is that the Ciaos were not made to fit into the airbrush gun. They are too small. There is a way around it however. I've made a little video to show how to easily adapt them. For those of you out there who want to take the airbrushing plunge, but only have the ciao.

Copic Airbrushing

2009-03-26T20:50:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone;
As promised, here is a little something on using copic markers to airbrush with. Sorry it's a little late--I got Strep last week and it knocked me out.

You can do the airbrushing using a special made aerosol can full of air, but I use a mini-air compressor made for traditional airbrushing. It's fairly small and pretty quiet. It fits nicely on the floor next to my desk. Here is what it looks like:
To hook up to the compressor you need an adapter and the airbrush which comes in a kit made by copic, called ABS3, here is a photo of the kit:

You simply screw the can onto the airbrush on one end and attach to the air-hose of the compressor on the other end. Then the markers slide into the brush like so:

Flip on your compressor and you are ready to go. Here is a page from my journal--the background was done using copics and some stencils. Sorry the picture is a little blurry, my journal is a little thick and my scanner does not like it. Take a look at the diamonds on the bottom of the LH page--they are wood that I sprayed with the copics.

One of the things to bear in mind when working with the markers is that the color is less intense when sprayed then when you are drawing with them. Take a look at this sample:

I used the same red and green for the background and the doodles/text. It looks really different doesn't it? I keep thinking I need to create a color chart with the colors airbrushed to go along with my hand-colored color chart!

Since the markers can go on just about any surface, the possibilities are truly endless when it comes to airbrushing--plastic, metal, paper, wood, you name it! Ahh, I really do love these markers!

Copic Part 3

2009-03-16T20:12:00.003-04:00

For my last installment on blending copics, I'm going to talk about blending using a pallet.

Using a pallet to blend colors is a lot like using the tip-to-tip process. The only difference is instead of placing colors directly onto the tip, you place them on a pallet first. You can use any plastic non-porous surface; like a transparency or a old cd jewel case.
So why would you want to use a pallet instead of just going for the tip-to-tip? Well, if you're going to be working in a larger area, or if you want to blend more than one color together then using a pallet makes life easier.

Here is a photo of my pallet--an old cd case--I took my makers and colored onto the surface to create spots of color.

Take the lighter color that you want to blend with and use it to pick up the color and then color just like you would using the tip-to-tip method.
If you want to blend two colors together with a third, take the 2 darkest, and color on top of one another on the pallet and then pick up the color using the third.
You always want to pick up using your lightest color. And when you're done, color off the marker on a piece of scrap paper to clean the nib.
Take a look at my sample:
For the body I used YG13, to pick up the other colors, E37, G17and E49. For the horns I used the blending contrasting color technique. And for the teeth, I used the colorless blender to pick up the W7 from the pallet and blend into white. I then went over the teeth with Y00.

Hopefully, in the next couple of days, I'll post some stuff on using the copics for airbrushing! In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me, by clicking on the contact me button to the right.

Copic Tutorial Part 2

2009-03-12T18:56:00.006-04:00

Continuing on my discussion of copics that I started yesterday, here's some more info on blending.

When you want to blend several colors together there are a couple of different ways to do it. The first way, tip touching, which I talked about yesterday, is good for small sections. But if you want to blend into something a bit larger then you might want to try a different technique.

For blending in the same color family, I recommend gradation blending. Now, a good way to tell if you have colors that will work well together for this is by looking at the letter/number classification. You want colors that have the same letter and first number (which is color classification and brightness) and then try not have more than a two number difference between the second numbers. For example, b11, b13, and b14 would work wonderfully.
But it's not a hard and fast rule. Experimenting is the name of the game.
Take a look at my sample:

For the first step, color with your lightest, working in small circles and saturating the paper fully. Then while the first color is still wet, go in with the second and work up to 3/4 of the way. Right away, go back over with the lightest color to blend the colors together. Then go in with the darkest color and work up to the bottom 1/4. Go over it with the second darkest color and blend up, and then again with the lightest and blend up.
This technique took me a bit to get down, so practice, practice, practice!

Now onto blending contrasting colors!

There really is no rule for what contrasting colors work well together. But you do need to remember your basic color rules--since the two colors will be overlapping, they will make a third color where they meet. So if you use red and blue, you will have a little purple spot in the middle. This is especially true for the lighter colors. Just bear that in mind, if you don't want a big brown spot in the middle of your color blend!

Take a look at my sample:

You want to start with your lightest color and work in one direction, moving in straight lines, lifting slightly at the end of each stroke so that the color is slightly lighter. Don't worry about getting good saturation at this point, just get a good base coat. You want to go to about 3/4 of the space. Now come in with your contrasting color and do the exact same thing but in the opposite direction, covering to the 3/4 mark in the opposite direction. Now go back in with the first color and repeat. Then do the same with the second color. Keep going over it, until it's blended.

Hopefully, I will be able to get part three up tomorrow!

Copic Markers Tutorial

2009-03-11T22:13:00.004-04:00

As promised, here is the first of my copic markers tutorials.

So let's start out with some basics. When I first looked at the copics, I had no idea what those crazy letters and numbers used to categorize them meant. Here's what they look like:
The letters stand for the color category--e for earth tones, b for blue etc. The numbers relate to the shades. The first number tells you how much gray is in the color 0 being none, and 9 being a lot. The lower the number the brighter the color. The second number relates to the darkness of the color. The higher the number the darker the color. If you have a RV09, it will be a bright deep red, while a rv99 will be a duller gray deep red. Understanding the number/letters is important when it comes to blending--since it's easier to blend within a color family.

Now for some coloring:
When it comes to using the markers it's important to remember that they are alcohol based--which is why they are low toxicity--but the alcohol causes them to dry quickly. To get an even color distribution it's important really saturate the paper. The best way to achieve this is to color in small circles. When you work with more than one color for shading, you'll get smoother effects if you start with a well saturated base.

One of the best features of these markers is that it;s impossipble to contaminate the tips. If you get one color on a nib of another, simply color it off on a scrap piece of paper.

Tip-to-Tip blending:
Since there's no risk of color contaminating you can blend in small areas by touching the tip of one color, to the tip of another and then coloring with it. You should always color with your lightest color.
Take a look at some examples:

The larger circles were done with R32 and a blender pen. I touched the pink to the pen and colored in small circles working up to the top so that's pink into white. While it was still wet, I gently went in with the r32 on the bottom end and blended it some more. When I was done, I colored off the blending pen and it was nice and clean.
This is a great technique for small areas, take a look at the little circles, I blended r32 with y21 using the tip to tip method.

Tomorrow, I'll post some more blending tutorials.

Journal Swap

2009-03-10T16:09:00.003-04:00

Whew! It's been crazy busy here. But with the finishing of the Heirloom festival, I have time to do some fun stuff again!
I made this book--one of my first attempts in book binding with stiching into the spine. It was a lot of fun!
I used my copic markers--which I love, love, love--to decorate the covers. Here are some pictures:
Back cover-
Front Cover--
Side view of binding.

When I was the heirloom festival, I had a lot of students asking me about the Copic markers. Along those lines, I thought over the next couple of weeks I'd post some copic tutorials. So stay tuned!

Sod's Law

2009-02-15T21:32:00.004-05:00

This last week has been a living testament to Sod's Law--which states that not only will everything go wrong, but it will do so at the WORST possible time.
Here's what happened:
Our neighbors on the other side of the double accidentially severed their power line on tuesday. I got a call saying that inorder for the electrician to make the repairs the power had to be shut off on both sides--but only for an hour on wednesday morning. Ok, I said, no problem. I re-arranged my scheduale so that I'd be out of the house. Power went off. The electrician came.
And then the storms hit. (The wind was so ferocious that it caught my car door while I was getting in, ripped it from my hand and smashed it back into my head giving me a lovely black eye.)
And power went down all over the city.
We found ourselves at the bottom of the power company's to-do list.
Thursday, no power.
Friday, no power.
Then, we hear from our neighbors that the power is back on. Hooray! We come home, and low and behold, the power company had turned on the other side but not ours. So, we called and begged and argued and finally they came out and got it back on.
Ugh!
Needless to say, I am in a foul, foul mood.
Luckily, I managed to get this birthday present done for my friend Sarah. Here is her card:

And here is the ring I made for her. The doll is actually made out of UTEE. I made a cast from the original and then cast it using white utee. I used easy cast resin to fill it. The red background is sequin waste.
Here's hoping this next week is better than the last!

workshop day

2009-02-09T22:15:00.004-05:00

This last Saturday we had a workshop day for the IAA and I taught a beeswax collage technique. Here is a photo of the sample:

And her is a photo of Ariane working on hers:
And here is Diana, hanging out. Take a gander at that lovely bag of Copic markers. I have serious marker envy just looking at it.

Shaun, who kindly hosted, has the sweetest pets. Here's a photo of her darling dog, who wanted to make art so badly, she had her nose pressed against the glass whining.

Here is another photo of the dog--can you see me taking the photo?
And lastly, here's Kristin holding the adorable kitty-cat.

A moment of perfect stillness

2009-02-03T22:37:00.003-05:00

It's snowing here, again--admittedly not my favorite thing. Snow is ok the first time it falls and only if you don't have anywhere to go. But after the fourth or fifth time you find yourself thinking "son-of-a-#!*^&, now I have to go out and shovel again!"
But today I was looking out my window and I had what my yoga instructor calls a moment of perfect stillness. Everything inside of me just stopped--all that noise that is normally filling my head went quiet. It was such a wonderful moment, I had to take a picture.
This is the view out my window. I altered it in photoshop to turn it into a TTV.
Hopefully, I will have some art to post in the next couple of days. I'm working on a couple of projects for submissions, so they can't be posted. But hopefully I'll have other stuff done.

Oh Darling!

2009-02-01T18:31:00.004-05:00

I am just in love with Kris's new line of "Hello Dollies" that are Valentine themed! I am normally not a Valentines day sort of gal--as anyone who knows me well will attest, I am more likely to snort, roll my eyes and make gagging noises at overly romantic stuff. I think it has something to do with the fact that my idea of romantic doesn't always jive with the more traditional cupids and bows sentiment. For me, having my hubby hold my hair while I'm deathly ill from the flu and dry heaving, is the hight of romance--not exactly the sort of thing Hallmark makes a card for.
But I digress.
Back to the Dollies--they are so cute, they move even me to creating something sweet and love-dovey.
Here is a collage I made using a couple of images from her sheet. The main girl and the flowers. Take a look:

I think my favorite part of this piece is the wings--they were cut out of netting and then I dipped them in beeswax and then dusted them with perfect pearls. It was one of those serendipity moments, I was working with beeswax for the background and looking at the netting thinking to myself "Gee, I wish I could figure out a way to make these stiffer..." and then I saw the beeswax and thought "what the hey." It turned out really well. Here is a close-up.

Hope everyone had a good weekend and I'll see you soon!

Heirloom Festival

2009-01-30T21:09:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone:
As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm teaching a couple of classes at the upcoming Heirloom Festival. The dates are the 7th and 8th of March. I don't have my teaching times yet, but I put in a request to teach only on Saturday. But in the meantime, here are the class descriptions and a sample photo for each. I'll put up my times as soon as I have them! I hope to see you there.

Fragment Fun!
Clear Plastic charms are all the rage! Come and learn 5 different fun techniques for incorporating these into your paper-crafts and even turn one into a necklace!
Cost of the Class is 15$. Please bring your tool kit, including your heat gun.

Beeswax Mini-Canvas!
Beeswax is a fun and easy way to add dimension and beauty to any paper project. We'll use the melting pot to create an adorable mini-canvas (2 1/4 by 21/4) that has a subtle shimmer provided by perfect pearls. We'll try out the new Claudine Helmuth line of paints and learn about rag washing acrylic colors. Please bring your tool kit, including a pair of tweezers. Cost is 15$.

Snowed In!

2009-01-28T14:01:00.006-05:00

Like many of you out there, Indiana got a ton of snow last night. Pretty much everything is closed down today. My hubby stayed home, (even though Marian is the only College in the area that held classes today, but from the looks of things none of the other faculty members made it in today either...) so we've been enjoying a lazy day.
Here is a picture of our street, it's kind of hard to tell how much snow we really got...

Here is a picture of our walkway. Before we cleaned it off, I sunk up to the tops of my mid-shin boots. That's a lot of snow!

Here is a photo of a little mini-canvas that I did for my friend Kristin as a thank you for being fabulous. I have to say, I count myself as truly blessed to have her for a friend. She is always so supportive of me and a lot of fun to be with. I made this using beeswax, an image from her collage sheets, and UTEE for the crown.

I liked it so much, I decided to teach it as a class for the upcoming Heirloom Festival. I'll post the class descriptions and times when I have them.
In the meantime--enjoy the day. I'm off to make some hot cocoa and work in my studio.

Dolls

2009-01-25T22:06:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago I went over to my friend Kris' house and we made art dolls, using her new German Doll sheets, which are now available on fabric sheets. Here are the photos of mine:

I used this stuff called "chicken wire" that's made out of glittery wire for the skirt and the crown. Kris used it to make wings. Take a look at hers:

Mini-Canvas

2009-01-23T22:06:00.002-05:00

Hello all:
I know I've been gone for a while. I hit a place where I felt like posting was becoming a bit of an albatross around my neck. I would think of it and then think--ugh, I'd rather be in my studio working. So, I took a bit of a break from posting.
But, I'm back again.
Here is a mini-canvas that is for the IAA swap tomorrow. It's acrylic, beeswax, tissue paper and paper collage. The little tag and window both came from Retro Cafe Art Gallery.

Home Again, Home Again, Giggidy-gig

2008-10-08T20:39:00.005-04:00

I am back from my amazing whirlwind weekend in NJ. I had such a wonderful time and met so many talented artists and learned so much! I have a ton of pictures and will have to post them over a couple of days. The first day we did melt-art with Suze, who I have to say was my favorite part of the whole weekend.
Here she is (a bit blurry) teaching us all about melt-art.
Here is a photo of just a few of the projects we did with the melt-art pot. A crackle aging, a faux colored soldering, and poured colored utee accents with perfect-pearls.
Here is a shot of us working. The blond taking a photo is an amazing artist named Jessica who is from Canada. We had a lot of fun sitting together this weekend.
Here is a photo of three of the projects we did up close.

Here we are holding up our project boards at the end of class--we did nine little projects in all. Can you find me in the photo? It's like artist "Where's Waldo."
Later that day we were taught by Claudine. Here she is talking to us about our new fine-art products.

I have lots more pictures from my classes with Tim and of my "graduation." I will try to get everything posted in the next day or so! I am so full of ideas and new projects I want to try, I just don't know where to start. Hopefully, I'll be able to put some more "how-to's" up on my blog in the near future.
:)

Off to the Wilds of NJ

2008-09-30T21:26:00.003-04:00

I am getting ready to leave for NJ tomorrow to attend Ranger U. I am so excited to have been accepted into such a competitive program! I'm going to take lots of pictures and lots of notes. Hopefully, I'll come back with more ideas than I know what to do with.
In the meantime Here are two photographs of some design team work I did for Retro Cafe Art Gallery.

The Mysterious Applegate Family

2008-09-08T20:24:00.005-04:00

I know I've been quiet for a while, but I found myself in dire need of a posting break. I had a lot of deadlines in August and I think I got a little burnt out. I just wanted to sit and read, play in my studio without any pressure and take it easy. I love my blog, but the point at which it becomes a burden it's out lived it's usefulness.

But I'm back with some art. I made this little book as part of my design team work for Retro Cafe Art Gallery. I used several slide mailers (which are used to mail microscope slides) and glued them together to tell the story of the Mysterious Applegate Family. Here is the cover tied shut:
Here is the cover without the ribbon blocking it. I used photoshop to create the title cover.

Here are the photos of the inside. You're going to have to excuse my very chipped-up nails. Like most artists--I can't keep a manicure to save my life!

These last two pages use images from Retro's collage sheet titled "The Applegate Family" hence the name of the book.

And here is a picture of the back.

Necklace

2008-08-12T23:41:00.004-04:00

I've been playing around with casting plaster the last week or so. I wanted a large face to put on an assemblage I'm working on and thought plaster would be ideal. But in the meantime, I made a mold out of a doll hand and cast it to use on this necklace:
Once the plaster was dry (thanks in part to the magic of the microwave!) I painted it with a couple of acrylic washes, added the next and then glued it to the washer. The spikes coming out of the back are actually straight pins that I colorized using alcohol inks. The metal case for the necklace is made out of metal repair tape on top of heavy cardstock. I inked it with alcohol inks and then embossed it using some distress powder. It doesn't show very well in the photo because of the glare, but you can see a little bit of the embossing in the corner. I cut the pages and made the book, ran the ribbon (hand dyed using a combination of walnut ink and perfect pearls heat-set with an iron) through a hole that I pierced at the top and put the whole thing together.
Viola--a lovely grungy necklace. :)

Alcohol Inks Card

2008-08-10T23:59:00.002-04:00

It was my anniversary last weekend and I made this card using alcohol inks for my dh.
The process is really quite simple: using a non-stick craft sheet drop several colors of inks and a little bit of blending solution then push a piece of shinny card-stock onto it and lift off. Repeat until the page is covered. When I was done, I embossed the stamp (which is from Paperbag Studios) and then I dropped some blending solution on the card. That's what caused the white-ish spots. I also dropped a good amount of blending solution inside the heart to lighten it up. The swirl is chipboard that I inked with metallic green ink, heat set, stamped with stazon, heat set again, and then embossed several times with UTEE.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with more work.

Boo!

2008-08-07T19:25:00.003-04:00

I had so much fun working on my altered bird houses for the swap that I decided to do another one. I was in the mood for Halloween so I made a "haunted" bird house. For the roof I used tyvek, which I painted with black and copper paint, and then heated it with a heat-gun. Once it was cool, I cut it into strips and glued it to the roof. I finished it off with some copper tape on the top. It was a massive pain to glue it down--and I wondered what I was thinking while I was doing it--but in the end I think it turned out great.

Here is a close-up shot of the baby fairy-witch that is sitting on the side of the house. You can see the green metal stars that I hung using some black fibers.

News! News!

2008-08-05T23:26:00.006-04:00

I have been a busy little bee this last week. And I have some great news!
First-up: the newest volume of Page By Page is due out on the fifteenth, featuring an article and art work by yours truly. Kira's Zine, is always a treat and I am thrilled to be a small part of it.

Second: I had a piece accepted by Altered Arts Magazine. It should be in one of the winter editions--probably around the first of the year. I'm also writing an article to go along with it.

And lastly: I had a third piece accepted by Somerset Studios for their forthcome "Art Journal" publication. It's due out in January of '09. There isn't much info about the new magazine on their site--so I'm not even sure if it's quarterly or simply a "special edition." I will keep you posted.

In the meantime, here is a picture of my house atcs that I made for last month's swap at IAA. I've had this photo sitting on my desktop for forever and just kept forgetting to post it. I actually punched holes in my atcs and made them into a book--that turned out so cute! I just need to make a cover for it.

Now, you need to hop on over to Kira's site and pre-order her zine. I'm serious. Go now!

Are you going yet???
:)