ATC Friday

Three sets of round robin cards, where I was the third person to work on the card - that means I "finished" it. These hearts were quite full already, so I just added a few words.

These cards got a little autumn detail with a fineliner, and some brads.

And these Paris cards, which have a fairly 3D frame, got a few bits added here and there.

ATC Tuesday

These cards are from another Pick-a-Theme Swap, where each player chooses what they would like to receive. I was in a group making altered playing cards. The first player wanted a Dr Seuss theme. 

This player wanted a stamp with a famous woman on it - I've gone with Queen Mary (as in William and Mary). 

This one wanted a children's book theme - internationally famous children's stories, I think. I chose Wind in the Willows.

And finally, I think this was simply a house shaped card theme. With nothing particular which the house had to feature.

Revisiting my Journal Quilt Project, week 45

This  journal quilt is  made with a piece of the complex cloth I made a few days before I made the JQ. When my mother and I were working on it (she helped me stamp it) we thought it looked like a seascape, so I went with that - added some seaweed and some fish.

ATC Friday

Another set where I was the second person to add something. 

These are a little different because one of the things which I added actually broke (the fleur de lis), so the final player sent them all back to me to change that element (I switched it to a paper flower). So there was a bit more back and forth than usual...

ATC Tuesday

These cards were for a swap with a theme of "winged things" - usually things which would not normally have wings. These can be people or animals, but also inanimate objects. I tried to go for a variety of strange flyers. These swaps come up quite often and I try to join them when I can, as I really like that theme, and have a small collection of cards all with unusual winged things.

Revisiting my Journal Quilt Project, week 44

Not much to say about this one - it was just a piece of fabric I screenprinted, which I had leftover, so I turned it into a Journal Quilt.

ATC Friday

Two sets of round robin cards, where I was the second person to add something.

What I liked about this set is that when I sent them out, they were this way up:

The final person to work on them flipped them around. Which worked well. 

These ones were a little more straightforward. But still lovely.

ATC Tuesday

A new trend in the Artist Trading Card world is circular cards, or "coins" as they are frequently called. The cards are 2.5" in diameter - so they still fit within the size of a normal trading card, which is 2.5x3.5". These were for a swap with an open theme and were the first coins I'd made. I really enjoy making them - they require a different sort of composition than the rectangular cards, as there is less space, but also, the lack of corners means you have to imagine things differently.

Revisiting my Journal Quilt Project, week 43

This week was another instance where my journal quilt was inspired by another swap I was taking part in - this one called Shades of Sunshine, and it was for four little quilties, which you can see below. Apparently I made a bookmark as well.




I didn't really say much about them at the time, but you get the general idea.

Rainbow Heart Quilt in action

...and here's a reposting of my recent baby quilt, getting some genuine baby action with its new owner - awww!

ATC Friday

These round robin cards are ones where I've been the middle player - I received the card below, added something to it (second picture below) and above is the finished card as it came back to me. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the dogs on this card, so I added a heart and a suitable definition from my arting dictionary (an old dictionary I cut up for art). 

With these, the initial design seemed to take up a lot of space, so I only added some washi tape and a butterfly. The Japanese figure was added by the last person to work on the card.

ATC Tuesday

These four cards were made for a Pick-a-Theme Swap - separate themes for each player, but you only make one card of each theme. The first card was for a dandelion theme.

Then a geology theme and a geometric theme

and finally, a Reading theme. 

Revisiting my Journal Quilt Project, week 42

Back in the day, when I didn't work and had a lot of time for making art (when not inundated with small children), I used to experiment with more techniques and materials. This week's journal quilt was made using neocolour crayons - they can be used in lots of ways, but I decided to monoprint with mine.  I used the technique on some postcards for a swap, and then on the journal quilt as well. Because it's interesting, I think I'll share the method as well...

Here's a photo of the glass plate with the crayon on - I think you could probably draw your design with the crayons dry and then mist it with a spray bottle, but I've not done it that way - I just dipped the tip of the crayon in water and coloured as I went along. The secret is to make the plate pretty wet before you try to transfer the colours - if it's at all dry, they just stay on the plate and don't move to the fabric.

Because it's a monoprint and only works once by definition, I made all of mine fairly different, but I didn't bother to take photos of them all in construction.

Once the design was on the plate, I placed the fabric over and smoothed it out to come into contact with the glass (left below). Right below shows the fabric after the print has been made.

 

After printing, I added free motion stitching to emphasize the shapes and then a few embellishments - I think they work fairly well. The journal quilt was printed twice - not from the same print, but I did colour them similarly. It's not a technique I'd want to use on a huge area as it's a bit time consuming, but it works nicely for postcards.