06/20/09 - Ars Longa, Vita Brevis Skinny Book Pages
Ars Longa, Vita Brevis = Art is Long, Life is Short. Made 30 of these for a 6th year anniversary skinny-book swap in one of my two favorite yahoo groups, abc_alteredbookclub. Here's the ingredient list for those that wanna know :)
watercolor paper, sewing pattern directions sheet, sewing pattern tissue pieces, mod podge, liquid acrylic paint, vintage image of girl from 1900's garden club, wings cut from sheet of scrapbook paper, liquid fabric paint stuff in gold pearl, fabric flower petals pulled from a plastic flower bunch, handmade soldered circle-discs, white fabric batting trim, black thread, glitter pen, cloth inkjet iron on transfer sheet, assorted stamps and stayz-on ink, white marking pen.
06/06/09 - Earth Day Altered Charms
Front and back view: Made with sculpey clay, a stamp, my own mix of pigment colors, gold leaf and a hoop for hanging. This was made for a Charm Swap in one of the groups I belong to, heck of a fun time! I'll be making an altered charm bracelet with the 10 charms I receive back... really looking forward to seeing them.
05/30/09 - Forward Motion Altered Tin
My latest altoid tin with the concept of positive thought & forward motion in relation to my business. It might mean something else to anyone looking at it though, lol! I used a passage from my favorite old book, a 1937 copy of Roget's Thesaurus. I used various vintage prints, a page from an altered book that never quite made it to life and the innerds of one of those cardboard and metal gift tags (the word wish) that you see at Target stores. A black star glass charm was purchased from a thrift store, two glass pebbles and one of tim holt's clear plastic disc things. I added some pretty cream lace around the inside edges like my friend Bev did her a tin she was making her daughter. The four eggs were so awesome to get a hold of, Sandra added them to the "treasure box" at our meetings and I fished them out really fast! The idea is to give a baggie-full of various found treasures to the treaure box then you get to pick out 4 or 5 pieces that you like for yourself. So far its worked out great!
04/27/09 - Altered Glass Charms
When I ordered the book "Pretty Little Things" from Amazon about a year ago I had no idea it was about making glass charms. So it wasn't until I saw the making memories glass slides at Micheals that I thought about trying it out. The book has such beautiful things and it didn't seem that hard so why not? I tell ya, soldering is not as easy as the book makes it sound but when you get it, it's cool beyond compare. Now now I have a few altered glass charms to hang from my Christmas tree, and a great way to make my mom an awesome Mothers Day present even though I have next to no money right now. If you are thinking of making these charms, I do suggest getting the book (its written by Sally Jean Alexander to make your google search easier) and also you can get copper tape at any stained glass supply store. Another hint, don't use too much solder, a little goes a very long way. Just get a bit on the tip of your iron then spread it on the copper tape, it spreads very thin if you work with it. Don't forget to use a good amount of flux at the same time, and between each stroke with your iron be sure to wipe the tip on your wet sponge. If you don't use flux and keep your tip clean by wiping, your solder will have pits and black "burnt" markings on it. Here's the ingredient list for my glass charms: Glass slides, images and text cut from book, metal tape, chain, glass beads, jump rings, soldier and diamond glaze.
Linki-Dinks - Check `em out, I did!
• Encaustic Art Cards at The Process and Flow
• Shabby-Chic Fabulousness at Thoughts from Alice W
• Beautiful, handcrafted jewelry at My Life in Color by Ro Bruhn
• Wikipedia has a list of Art Materials, Tools and Techniques to die for. Way to go wiki!
• Have you ever seen an altered fork before? If you only see one in your lifetime, let this one be it... gorgeous
• Snag some freebies that Stamping Rika gives away every Monday morning. She has some great ATC's, too
• A "gel medium image transfer technique" that looks too easy to be true. Have to try it someday
• I wanna grow up to be just like Nancy Lefko. Seriously, she makes some way cool stuff.
• Ever wonder where the word "steampunk" came from? Well, there ya go!
• Deviant Art has a great collection of altered art and handcrafted jewelry
• Ning is a great resource for artists. Look at the choices for altered art groups, but ning has almost any art topic imaginable.
• Micheal deMeng has some beautiful assemblage art pieces, look in each directory
• Here's some very nice freebies from Stempel-Gewerkel in Germany
• Sarah Ogren has some great mixed media collage art pieces, she's such an inspiration
• Have you seen Art Trader magazine yet? It's a great resource and best of all, its free!
• Patti over at Altered Attic always has a few good treasures to share
• Nostalgic Collage has a lot of neat altered art and mixed media eye candy
• Here's the vintage "garden club" image I used for the Ars Longa Vita Brevis skinny-book project. Just click the link to view and download.
• One of my favorite yahoo groups for all types of mixed media: ABC_alteredbooks
• Details Merchandising
• The history of Altered Art
• Ties That Bind: A Very Special Art Doll Raffle
• How to prepare canvas for Altered Art Applications
• Trish Bee is just too super cool and I love her style.
• The Cart Before The Horse and their Serious Silliness! (Check out her dolls omg!)