ATCs swaps

I have been swapping very happily through 2 yahoo groups: Art4mail and Surface Design.
I am also a subscriber to Atcsforall and thought the illuminated letters looked like something I would love to do.
These had to be hand drawn or handpainted.
I struck nothing but obstacles: I tried it on canvas paper and they looked seriously crappy.
I need a US$1 note and can't get 10 anywhere. Not the postoffice, not my bank. Then I did the hand drawn ones, they are here and I am disappointed in them as well.
Oh well....I haven't put my ATC label on the back, so now I have to wait till maybe someone whose first name starts with E, F, G or H has a birthday!
Deep sigh: should have stuck to my medium of choice although I have to say, I did enjoy making them, I just don't think they have been done accurately enough....

Paper-cloth

I went to the Craft Show in Brisbane yesterday which was terrific and very inspiring.
Of course, had to buy some beads, some  packets of luscious fabrics, threads, book.
One book Stitch Alchemy shows a technique to create sheets of paper-cloth.
Basically, you put a piece of fabric on some freezer paper, slap some diluted white glue on it and cover it with strips of paper. The resulting sheet can be used to paint, stitch, embellish, cut..whatever.
I did 3 today.
#1: gold tissue paper and the handmade paper our washing came back in when we were in Bali many years ago plus some junk mail.
#2: a no longer required dressmaking pattern
#3: I used pastels to colour ordinary printing paper and added a paper serviette and some coffee crystals.
The sheets are about A3, but I could only scan part of them.





#3

 


#1







#2



Unfortunately, I cannot seem to control where this pictures go.

What can I do with these sheets?

If I want to add stitching, these are nice and firm and need no further stabilizing.

Maybe I'll make some bookmarks? Some ATCs? acrylic paint? 

Mungo Dreaming

And here it is!
Thank you Tessa and Neville Wright for taking the photograph.
I am very happy with it. It does what I want it to do: tell a story, pull people in, wondering what it is all about. When they look closer, they wonder more: what is it?
Enjoy!
The frame is pretty cool too and I was happy with that as well and a photo will be posted.
Although....does anyone read this blog?????

Down to Earth

Whenever I am "told" I have to make something for an exhibition, I usually start by feeling annoyed and like " I don't want to do that". But often, those events were the start of work I was very happy with.
And this is what happened this time.
The outdoor exhibition is called "Down to Earth" and you have seen the tree art that I made.
But slowly another idea started to take shape and this time I just went with it without too much pre-planning or even drawing.

I had some hand woven wool that I frayed and layered. There was going to be a line that indicated the division between under and over the soil and from there I let myself be inspired by my "stuff".

I rolled some paint on the wool before I attached anything and even did some monoprinting, where I created grass on allfoil with acrylic paint, then turned it over onto the wool and rubbed the paint down.
You really need to see the closeups of the "digs" the right one has small piece of bones and even some teeth.
Well may you ask: teeth of what?
I don't know: we found a little skull, maybe it was a wallaby or maybe a hare. I took some of the teeth out and sewed them on.
On the left hand side are pieces of shell.
The stitching I did was very free,  after my spell trying to learn painting, it turned out to be like painting with thread: stitching some grass for example, then adding shadows and highlights.
This is the most fun I have had for years with a project.

I bought a picture in a frame on the market and I will use that to frame it, but it needs some work to make it look "earthy" enough. I probably will use impasto gel medium, find sand and maybe some other stuff and I will be a good girl and test the process first on a board I have.

Finished Leaf ATCs

Unfortunately, the pictures don't do them justice. The satiny black background caught the light of the scanner and the glitter is no where as interesting as in real life.
I tried to photograph them and that was even worse than the scan!
I hope the recipients are happy with them and I hope I get some nice ones back.

the fun about making ATCs

A friend asked me: " why would you make beautiful things for strangers?"
My quick reply was: " it isn't just about giving, it is about receiving beautiful things in the mail from all over the world"

But there is much more to that: because ATCs are so small, signing up for a swap of 10 isn't too overwhelming and that is what I have done. The theme is "Leaf".
First I found a piece of peltex (it could have been fast2fuse) in my stash. I had bought some black rayon satin and I fused it to one side.
Next decision: put an all over quilting pattern over the lot or cut them apart now?
I decided to cut them apart. The only guideline in the swap was: think of the composition and I reasoned that by working with a 3" x 4" piece, that would be easier. Because heavy stitching can distort a piece, I always cut a work a bit bigger, then trim it to size nice and square ready to finish the edges.


I had 10 pieces, black satin-ed. I started to free motion some leaves on a couple of them. I added some embellishments to a couple. But soon I was getting bored and needed to look for something different.
Rummaging through my stash I found a piece of rust felt. I cut it into a leaf shape, stitched it on.
Mmmm....what else does it need? Found some thick yarn and stitched that on. I work on a Bernina and have a cording foot: it has a hole in front to feed the yarn or cord through, so that you just stitch and it attached the cord easily. I used clear thread through the needle, but in the past I have done that using metallic or complementary colours.

It still needed something else and I stitched on some "chips". Chips are little piece of stone with holes through them. I have them in a number of colours, I used the pale ones to bring some light in what was a fairly dark composition.

Here are the 4 in progress pieces. I'll take a proper photo when they are finished.

When you do ATCs, you'll have to do a back.
It needs some info on who you are.

 You can print them on card, but I printed these on cotton.
No address as we are changing back to a postbox soon.

 

ATCs

That stands for Artist Trading Cards. They are 2.5" x 3.5" . They are fairly easy and quick to make, much quicker than fabric postcards and you can swap them.
I have joined a few different swaps, but I'll share with you some old ones I did. I didn't actually swap them, but just gave them away.

You get the idea.....