Art Journal - Video Flip Through 1

Happy New Year, my dear friends!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and that you are rarin' to go again in 2014 with lots of arty projects.

I have been lax in posting to my blog the last couple of months because of other commitments but I am back now and will do my best to share what I'm up to on a regular basis.  I so appreciate you checking in from time to time to see what I'm doing.

I decided to share my first ever video that I made a few months ago.  It's pretty rough but I decided I would share it anyway.  Part of being an artist is learning new things and working through the learning curve to improve your craft.  My video recording certainly needs some work but because I am asked so often to share more of what I do and how I do it, I figured even in this amateurish state, you might enjoy the video.

In this video I do a quick flip through of one of my art journals and talk a bit about the pages and how they came to be.  I can't tell you how many people have said, "Wow, I'd love to take a walk through your art journals one day."  Well, be careful what you wish for.  Ha, ha!

See you again soon, my dear friends!

Joanna

"The Only Gift ..." Original Art In My Etsy Shop

I often forget that I should be using this blog to promote what I am selling in my Etsy shop.  Duh!

So, here's a piece that is a combination of mixed media, collage and zentangle-inspired work.

The quote is, "The Only Gift Is A Portion Of Thyself."  Unfortunately I can't remember whose quote it is.

It is about 5" X 8" in dimension and was made using salvaged cardstock for the substrate, assorted recycled papers, inks, stamped images, zentangle doodling and various images.

The link to the listing on Etsy is here.

Thanks for looking!

Joanna

Altered Spoon Art

It's true.  Nothing is safe in my household from being altered into something artsy.  Even something as humble as a wooden spoon.

I took a plain wooden spoon and used a variety of rubber stamps to embellish it.  The saying is one of my favourites, "Bloom Where You Are Planted."

I then took a silk flower that had been discarded and paired it up with a handmade clay face cabochon and glued it to the bowl of the spoon.  Some funky fibers were also added for additional textural interest.

Magnets were added to the back so that it can be displayed as "kitchen art."

ART DOLLS "HOW TO" With Recycled Supplies

I have been creating art dolls from recycled/repurposed materials for about 12 years now.  It's something that I always come back to at some point, no matter how long I am pulled in other artistic directions.  If you follow this blog you'll have seen the post from December, 2012, where I shared some images of a series of art dolls I made with tags.  Here's the link to that post if you missed it:  We Want Some Old Stuff - Part 5

And another day, I will post some other art dolls I have made from all sorts of materials.

Today, I wanted to share with you a series of "Star Gazer" art dolls I made with the most innocuous of base materials.  Most of these examples have two basic ingredients:  a vintage wooden milk bottle cap liner and a chipboard star cutout (photo shows them with a quarter for size reference).

The chipboard stars were given to me by a friend who was going to send them to the trash.  "Oh no," I cried, "I can use those for something."  When will I ever learn?  It's comments like this that have my studio packed to overflowing!  Anyway, I digress.  As soon as I saw the stars I loved their wonky shape and thought they'd make a great body for some kind of art doll.  While rummaging through my stash of crap (I mean, wonderful stuff), I came upon the vintage wooden milk bottle cap liners and started experimenting with with a couple of face rubber stamps I already had.

One thing led to another and this "Star Gazer" series of art dolls emerged.  I painted the stars and then used various treatments on them.  Some have foiling, some are stamped and then glittered within an inch of their lives, and some are covered in glitter glass (which, for those who don't know, is glass that has been pulverized until it is the size of chunky glitter.  It is incredibly sparkly but hard on the fingers when working with it).

I had some Prima paper flowers that had been salvaged from the trash, along with a bunch of other doodads and a big supply of recycled butterfly embellishments that were abandoned on my doorstep.  Seriously.  I'd often open the front door to find bags of stuff (not crap) left for me.  Thankfully, these butterflies were things I could use.  Not everything left on my doorstep was exactly a treasure let me tell you.

Below are scans of the finished art dolls.  I am very pleased with how they turned out.  There are a couple that use vintage recycled slide mounts for part of the head (No. 6 and No. 9), and one has a face of hand molded clay (No. 6).  They all hang from metallic thread for easy display.  If you double-click on any image you should be able to get a close-up look at them.  The scans really don't do them justice.  They are VERY sparkly !!

I will list these in my Etsy store sooner or later, but if you are interested in purchasing one or more, please email me at:  joannabanana@shaw.ca

I will be charging $25.00 for each one-of-a-kind doll and if you order here through my blog, I will pay the postage anywhere in North America (that's a savings of about $10.00, as my thanks for supporting my blog).

Any questions about how the dolls were made, feel free to contact me.

Adios Mi Amigas!
Joanna

MORE Angel Ornaments, Courtesy of Kay and Mary Beth

Wow, I am just SO impressed with how my fellow Facebook artist friends are taking this idea of angel ornaments (made with recycled greeting cards) and running with it.  These latest beauties are by Mary Beth Aufmuth and Kay Portmess.  Aren't they gorgeous??

If you're wondering what this project is all about, go check out my blog posts from December 27 and December 30 to see.  It is an easy project that is so much fun!

Mary Beth's angels are the first photo and Kay's are the second two!

Cheers!
Joanna

BY MARY BETH AUFMUTH

BY KAY PORTMESS

BY KAY PORTMESS

"Discard Divas" Altered Art

I did a whole series of "Discard Divas" who were all made from a variety of recycled materials, hence their name.

These two examples were created by altering laminate samples from the hardware store.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Laminate samples, like the kind you'd take home to see how they'd look in your kitchen if you were thinking of  replacing your countertops.  These sample pieces were about 4" X 5" but most you'll see in the hardward store are much smaller.  They make a great base onto which to create small art because they are very sturdy and have nice finished edges.  The hole in the top makes for ease of display once they are turned into some fun and funky altered art.

I used paint, inks and stamped images on the laminate itself for the background.  The divas are made up of a variety of vintage images, discarded/salvaged items and assorted embellishments.  Each piece is adorned with scrap fibers and funky ribbons.

Wish Upon A Star - Altered Art Doll

"Wish Upon A Star" began as a wooden star wand (from the kid's crafts section at Michael's) and a bunch of wooden star shapes.

I used inks and dyes with stamps for the large star piece, which became the doll's body.  The wand was painted silver and adorned on the star section at the top with various glitters, a stamped image for the face and a metal finding with rhinestones for the headdress.  The other small wooden pieces were added as accents to the body.

CLOSE UP OF BODY 

CLOSE UP OF HEAD

ANGEL ORNAMENTS by KATHLEEN and LOIS

I was thrilled to get messages from Kathleen Childers and Lois Inman Engle, fellow FB artist friends, with photos of the beautiful little angel ornaments they made from my post here with the instructions I posted here.

Aren't they adorable?  These ladies really have taken a simple little idea and run with it.

Thank you, Kathleen and Lois, for sharing them with all of us!

Joanna

PS - The first two photos are Kathleen's and the last four are Lois'.

HOW TO Make Those Recycled Christmas Card Ornaments

Wow, I had no idea these simple little angel ornaments would be such a hit.  Thank you for your interest in how they are made.  I hope the following tutorial will be helpful.

RECYCLED CHRISTMAS CARD ANGEL ORNAMENTS

Supplies:

Christmas cards (covers only)

Scissors

Glue stick

White glue

6” of decorative thread or ribbon (for hanger)

Pencil

Card stock (to make angel template)

Assorted decorative embellishments (ribbon, stickers, glitter, jewelry findings, etc)

Copy and print off the angel template, trim off most of the excess paper around the image, and gluestick it to the cardstock, then cut it out.  This will be your template to use for the Christmas card.  You can make the angel any size you want but this one is about 4” at its widest by about 4.25” at its highest.  This size works well to get two angel shapes from one Christmas card cover measuring about 5” X 8.”  Of course, there is no reason not to make your angel shapes from different cards.  That will just make them more interesting!  And don’t worry if the image prints off at a different size than what I’ve noted here.  Just work with it as it is.  You can always alter the size of your template at a later time if you’d prefer it smaller or larger.

Trace around your cardstock template on the back side of your Christmas card.  Then flip the template over and trace a second image on the back side of the Christmas card (or on a separate card if the first one is not large enough for two tracings).  You will now have two angels that are mirror images of one another.  Cut both out.  The finer the job you do of cutting them out, the less finishing work you’ll need to do later on.

With the angels face up (good side of Christmas card), take the angel with the wing on the left and cut from the center bottom of the angel body up about halfway.  We’ll call this the Left Angel.

Take the angel with the wing on the right and cut from the center top of the head down about halfway.  We’ll call this one the Right Angel.  (Photo shows both angels with the cuts as described.  You may need to look closely to see the cuts.)

Here’s the tricky part.  Holding the Left Angel in your left hand and the Right Angel in your right hand, slip the slot you created in the Right Angel’s head up into the slot of the Left Angel’s body.  Adjust the fit until both sides are even (this isn’t an exact science).  In the photos below I have taken the Left Angel from the white/red set and the Right Angel from the gray/gold set and slotted them together.  Hopefully the contrast in their colors helps to demonstrate what I am doing.

Use a couple of discreet dabs of white glue at the bottom of the now-joined angels to hold them together as one.   Do the same with the head, but if you are making a hanging angel, then layer your looped decorative thread or ribbon in as you glue, hiding the ends of the ribbon or thread of course.  Let dry before moving on to the next step.

You may want to trim the bottom of the angel or around the head or wings just to even things up. 

Now comes the fun part – decorating your angel!  You can leave it just as it is and it makes a great ornament, however I have trouble leaving anything plain, so I usually do some embellishing.

To cover the center seam that shows where the two pieces are joined, I will often run a small strip of double-sided tape (.25” wide) from the bottom of the angel to the neck.  I’ll then cover that tape with decorative ribbon or trim or some kind of embellishment.

I love adding a head to these ornaments and have used everything from clay face cabochons to bottlecaps with vintage face images on them.  The limit is really only your imagination.  Just remember that these items add bulk to your angel so if you are going to be mailing them, keep this in mind.  Also, depending on what you are adding for a head (or other embellishments) you’ll probably need to use a stronger adhesive such as E-6000 or Goop.

Even if both pieces of my angel came from the same Christmas card, I am always surprised at how they look when they are slotted together to make one.  That is part of the fun of this project, I think. 

Keep in mind that this template is a just a rough outline of an angel so that you can get the idea of this project.  You can certainly create something more refined or elaborate.  If you come up with a great shape that you are willing to share, we would love to see it.

I’m sure you’ll think of all kinds of other ideas of how to embellish your angel ornaments.  I would recommend that if you are going to do any kind of treatment to the ornaments (like paint, or glitter glue covering the surface), that you do that before you slot the two together.  It will be much easier that way.

The last thing to do is give the wings a gentle bend toward the back so that they and the arms stand out a bit from one another and give the angel a 3D effect overall. 

I hope you have fun with this project and I would love to see what you create if you wish to share.

I've included photos of a few more of these ornaments.  You can also see my previous post from December 27 for other samples and embellishing ideas!

Cheers!
Joanna