My first efforts at paper cloth making. The first one is three pieces drying at the very beginning stage. The other is tea bags on white (!) muslin, some how or other it looks pink.

The pink one in the middle of the 3 pieces is old magazine pages that I put under another project that I was spraying radiant rain on to. I saved them and used them in this project. Keeping with my plan to use whatever is at hand.

cloth paper

The dark blue is black and white napkins that have been inked over with a Colorbook brand dauber, and then I added alcohol inks and topped that with some radiant rain and sprayed with workable fixative to keep the rr from running. The center piece has been painted and inked and the one with leaves is basically muslin and come old book pages.

Cloth paper project

Cloth paper made on muslin and gingham. You are supposed to use white muslin but I could not resist using green gingham checked fabric that I bought recently. The pink one is patterned tissue paper and some paper that had radiant rain on it which caused the pink tint.

The the other two are tea bags and other paper.

Another new experience

I decided to try making a crazy quilt block and this is the result. I have started doing a little hand embroidery on it. I am not sure what I will do with this block. It was just stuff I have around the house left over from other projects. It's fun but I don't think I would make one this big again and I am going to experiment with ways to do the top stitching by machine. That may take some of the fun out of it, however.

my first little block

Well yesterday I decided to dive in and make a little pieced block. I used the style of the liberated quilter, Gwen Marston. This is about the size of a postcard, so I have a ways to go, but this much was lots of fun.

Peacemaking banner

This is the banner I made for our church for Peacemaking Sunday. Some of the parts are on velcro so the children could put them on last Sunday.

More fabric postcards

Fabric postcards

Two more fabric postcards. These are backed with painted Lutradur.

Reaching Out

Page 6 of altered book for Spark inspiration project

Life goes on

Page 5 of altered book for Spark Inspiration project

Mothers day

Page 4 of altered book for Spark inspiration project

Blood and Tears

Page 3 of altered book for Spark inspiration project

One night

Page two of altered book for Spark inspiration.

Under the covers

Page one of altered book for Spark inspiration project.

Fabric postcard #1

I decided to try making a fabric post card and discovered it was fun. I have not sewed in years and my sewing machine is 40 years old this year. I used some very heavy two sided fusible interfacing as an inside. The fabric is some that I dyed a long time ago for a project and this is just a left over scrap.

Artarazzi challenge #32

Here is my entry for the artarazzi challenge this week. Below you can see the challenge photo which I contributed this week. The results that have been submitted are amazing.

Artarazzi challenge #32

I am the guest artist for Artarazzi challenge #32. Here is the challenge photo. It is a photo of Sake barrels at a shrine in Osaka, Japan. I just love the variety of designs on the repeated shapes.

Artarazzi challenge #28

Artarazzi has digital art challenges every week.

Here is the original photo:

Here is my entry: New Mexico Dreaming

The colors in the original photo reminded me of the many photos I have from New Mexico. I added some scenes from San Augustin an almost ghost town in north eastern New Mexico. I used images of a crumbling old ruin of a house, a church, and a cemetery stone from 1888. I also have superimposed a scene from Chaco canyon. The woman's face is from a collage I did years ago. I Can't remember her name now.

Inside of the weathered book.  I dribbled some blue paint on it before the project.  

altered papers project

Painted paper towels that have been hanging out in the weather since February.  

Altered book project

On February 20th I put out some books and old magazines to destruct in the weather.  They hung on a little tree sculpture in front of my house through snow storms and ice.  Through rain and sun they stayed put.  I took them down on May 2 but I am just now getting around to posting them.  

Big brother

The nurse at the hospital set up a place so that Miles could hold Ty for a photo.  He was so sweet.  

This sweetie is my new grandson born on May 21.  

Challenge 24 from Artarazza

This challenge started with a picture of a rusty object.  You can see the original at:  

http://artarazzi.blogspot.com/2009/05/challenge-24.html

ATC Workshop

Last Thursday I held an ATC workshop for the high school art club.  It was so easy to do.  I just took over my collection of atc's in their plastic pages.  I took a lot of paper and brads and punches.  I also took a bunch of paint chips and some old greeting cards.  The school provided paper, glue. pens and pencils.  The students came and went as their time allowed and seemed to have a great time.  They created wonderful cards and proudly penned them to the bulletin board.  Both boys and girls actively participated.  I hope I can do this again soon.  

Spring in Iowa

10 Reasons to believe it might be spring in Iowa. 

10. The snow is almost all gone, still some in shaded places.

9. Little bits of green are  showing in the grass and the garden.

8.  Our next door neighbor whose yard is a terrible mess is getting ready to put in his usual fabulous vegetable garden.

7. The neighbor behind us who tends his yard like a Japanese gardner got his lawn mower out today..... and he put his snow blower away.  

6.   Neighbor behind us's wife has clothes out on the line.

5.  The pond at the farm is ice free.

4.  The birds are singing cheerfully.  

3.  Dear husband is spending most days working at the farm.  (Clearing brush in the conservation easement.)

2.  Dear Daughter in Law, Guinevere, has new kids (baby goats)  arriving in her dairy herd.  

1.  It is 71 degrees here today.  

High school workshop

After my show in September, I was invited to visit a high school sculpture class to show them how I work.  Now I am invited to give a workshop at the High school all conference Art Day i n mid April.  It is going to be called rcycled sculpture and jewelry.  I met with the teachers the other day for planning and I took a few very rough pieces that I propose for the students to make.  I will provide a variety of materials and they can make whatever they want.  The catch is that the length of the workshop is 45 minutes, so not much detailed art will be done.  

I found those great reflective letters at the auction.  They are aluminum I think, very light weight and easily cut and punched.  

Charms for a swap

Here are some charms I made for a mixed media swap.  

Happy Birthday animation

An animated birthday card for my son who lives in Japan.

Too much of nothing.

Here is another video I am working on.  This one needs some work on the music for sure.  

Blob animation

I have been taking lessons on using PSP (Paint Shop Pro)  in a yahoo group.  I just figured out how to post an animation on my blog.  

More flower book photos

Some pages from the flower book

Flower book cover

This is the cover for the flower book I made for a person to person exchange.  

Some closeups of the altering magazine pages and a rain drop.

Altered papers evolving

This is the second week and a nice rainy day.