Paper Clay Bowl & Trinkets

My projects from Misty Mawn's Open Studio workshop are not in the order they come in the classes. We are allowed to work at our own pace and however we want to, so I kind of jump in on what speaks to me at the time.

The bowl is from an air dry sculpture class and is made from a clay slab, which I added texture to with found objects, then painted, inked, and rubbed until I liked it. I took the scraps of clay and experimented with the pendents, button, and bead. I pressed a stencil with the word "FAITH" into one and used a rubbing plate on the other, then painted. The button and the bead were formed and the holes punched with an awl.

All the objects were allowed to dry completely before painting.

This was such fun that I can't wait to try another one and to make an animal out of coiled clay.  The sculpture was part of the reason I decided to take the class and I have not been disappointed, although this week instead of sculpture on Thursday we had a class in photography photoshop, which was interesting as well. I worked with it some, but I'm going to have to do some more figuring out with my software. :)

Next week is abstract art, which I have never cared for too much, but Misty may change that. Looking forward to seeing what she has to share each day about it. :)

More Duck Tape Please!

I've been really busy for a few days, as most everyone else has, and haven't worked on a project in a couple of days, but thought I'd share another duck tape journal that I made out of the cardboard from a box I recived in the mail the other day.

I used turquoise duck tape, added a little washi tape, and a couple of stenciled animals, then added some old book pages that I had played with acrylic inks on, plus a little tissue paper, then held them in place with a beaded raffia bookmark tied around the middle. FUN! :)

And look! I found pink zebra duck tape at JoAnn's Fabrics/Crafts! I couldn't wait to use it, so I cut the covers from a piece of heavy textured scrapbooking paper, applied it to the covers, and stenciled two crows on the front. This one is still a work in progress.

 LOVE the pink zebra tape! The only thing is, it's on a tape dispenser and is not as heavy as regular duck tape. It's more like packing tape, more transparent, so I used a double layer for the spine. I'm just wishing I had splurged for the blue tie-dyed roll as well. Oh well, next time! :)

Would love to show you the progress on the large painted canvas headboard I'm working on, but the pics are on my camera, and I don't have time to upload them right now. I'm hoping to work on it a lot more today. I'm really liking it so far.

If I don't have time to post again before CHRISTmas, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend and New Year. Thanks for visiting! :)

More Bead Experiments...

I'm still playing with my beads, among other things, experimenting with different bases for beaded bookmarks. Here are some of my latest ones. These are so fun to make!

Left to Right-Purple ribbon with small beads and one of my home made paper beads, black leather with copper and turquois beads, natural raffia with antique looking beads, Fun yarn with copper metallic and turquoise glass beads, orange raffia with glass beads (the large bead is actually a gorgeous dark blue).

The one in the book is one of my favorites so far. Love the fuzzy multicolored yarn! I started the book and as much as I was enjoying it, I got sidetracked and haven't finished it yet, but I will. :) Mama picked out a black leather one with antique looking bone and brown/orange/green beads to put in her Bible.

I got a lot of my large full sheets of watercolor, pastel, and printmaking paper out of storage yesterday and brought them into my dining room studio/rat's nest. I've had them for years, too expensive to mess up. I've decided it's better to mess them up by using them than for age and bugs to  ruin them. I'm thinking I may cut them into smaller sheets and make usuable art journals out of them.

I have so many projects in progress it's not even funny. And I keep seeing all these new things that I want to learn or try. I hope I live long enough to at least finish what I have started with a few new things thrown in. It's all fun anyway, as long as I'm making something! :)

Journal Pages, Zendoodles, Sketches, and Beads--Oh, My!

Hey there! It's been a while! I haven't been as creative lately as I was for a while, but I have been doing a little dabbling. Below is a smattering of some of the stuff I'm working on. I also have several canvases in progress. I'll share them later. I didn't get the best scans of these but you get the idea. Okay, here goes...

"Love": This is a double journal page in my "Book of Me" Moleskine sketchbook. I was playing with fluid acrylics, making different textures and patterns when the red hair and face shape appeared, so I gave her eyes and a nose. The centers of the flowers are my fingertip with black paint, so they are essentially my fingerprints. The Chinese character is a stamp, and I think it may be upside down, that means LOVE. I'm thinking it needs a little something else on the right hand page, maybe a word or too...

"Depression": Also a double page spread in the "Book of Me." I was having kind of a bad day. Can you tell? I drew the face on top of the dark colors and textures. The little face on the right is a stamp in a light spot. Maybe she stands for hope? There are words hidden in the paint, but I'm thinking I need a couple of words stamped in maybe white ink...

Also from the "Book of Me" journal. I really like the dark side and light side of the face and the fluid acrylic colors and textures. What I am not happy with are the two prominant white spots in the center, which were entirely unintentional. The pages stuck together and this is what I get for forgetting to put wax paper between them before I closed the book. I have some more work to do on this one before I can live with it...

"Life Goes On": Double page from a different journal. The background was colored in with watercolor pencils, sprayed with water, and smushed around with a paper towel and let dry. The coffee pots and some of the flowers and butterflies were on a paper towel that I seperated and tore apart, then using acrylic medium I glued them to the pages. The dragonflies and bees were torn from a different paper towel and glued down and left to dry. I added more color on top with the wc pencils, then decided it needed a face peeking out from behind the pots. I have a friend who practically lives for coffee. My cousin made the statement that no matter what is happening to you at the moment, Life Goes On. It seemed to fit...

Another double journal entry, which came about when I noticed the face peeking out on a paper towel that I had used to blot up the red paint off another project. There were lots of red splotches on the paper, but the face just jumped out, so I tore that section out and glued the top layer to my pages with acrylic medium and let dry. Then with fluid acrylics and a dry brush she grew hair, a dress, and additional background. The dark yellow background was brushed on and combed through to make the stripes. I'm waiting for the right words to come to me to add, but I like her...

"Regrets": Another journal page. This one is a doodle drawing, where I drew a lot of irrelevent shapes and lines, then pulled the image out with a pencil and went over with a black zig marker pen. The expression on her face looked like she was thinking about what might have been...

"Harp?": A Zendoodle attempt in the journal with a black Zig marker. The background is not really gray. For some reason the scanner picked it up that way.  It kind of took on the shape of a harp by the time I quit on it...

"Birdie": Another Zendoodle attempt. Gread meditation tool. I love this little guy that emerged out of the doodles...

"Girlfriends Matter": A journal page about girlfriends. The stamp is one that hubby got me for Christmas a couple of years ago. I colored the page with watercolor pencils, sprayed slightly with water, then smudged it around with a paper towel and let dry. I added a little irridescent pastel color and sprayed with sealer, after I stamped it. The color swatches are scraps of unruyu paper (I LOVE this paper) left over from another project that I glued randomly around the page with acrylic medium. I sprinkled copper glitter onto the page while the medium was still tacky, let dry, then sprayed with a sealer. I wish you could see the glitter better, because girlfriends DO matter...

Attempted beaded bookmarks: These look remarkably simple, don't they? I'm probably the only person in the world that could have turned a simple project into something as complicated as I did, mainly because I was using what I had on hand and most of my beads had TINY holes. Anyway, it was fun, and these are my four trial (learning) bookmarks. Two on ribbon, one on copper wire, and one on bookbinding thread. The ribbon ones are my favorite, and I'm itching to go to Michael's or Hobby Lobby to get some beads with holes big enough for them to go through...

That's it for now. See why I call myself a "dabbler." :) I know it's been a lot at once, but thanks for visiting and I hope something on here made you smile. :)