Creating with Friends

Two artist friends and I are challenging each other to make new art. We're inspired by the many art books we've purchased . . . but never actually used. Well, we read them, and we look at them, but like many other people, we don't actually try the techniques we read about. We've changed that and are now attempting some projects.

The first was a hanging sign I made from Shona Cole's book The Artistic Mother. The sign acts as a reminder to do something, maybe one of your goals. I made spots for two statements, so I could make my reminder more of an action statement. Currently it says, "Fly Toward/Creating Art." The word tags are slid behind mica sheets. I have other word tags in a little envelope in the back for other goals I have. I'll keep those to myself.


Years ago "star" books were all the rage. I remember seeing them in magazines and craft books. I'd never made one, because they looked so complicated. Surprise -- they're not at all! We also have the benefit that one of our artists works at a printing shop, and she has access to great paper cutters, and cut all the papers to size for us. All we had to do was score and tape the pages together.


It's called a star book because of what it looks like when you open it up.


Accordion books were also very popular. I made mine with painted tissue covers, and watercolor paper.


Unfortunately, the water colored paper looks a little wavy. Maybe watercolor isn't the way to go for a folded page.


Our next projects are banners and a decorated box. I've made the banners, but still need to "bling" them a bit. Stay tuned!

Book Reviews

I'll give you a couple mini-reviews of books -- one for crafters, one for writers (or bloggers). The first, is The Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success by Sandra McCall. If you are beyond the craft-making as a hobby, and you'd like to sell your wares, this book should be helpful. She discusses paperwork, photographing your art, and different venues where you might sell your art. Her husband is a photographer and artist, and the photo hints are especially good. I've always thought taking a good photo of your art is the hardest part of trying to sell it. When you're competing with thousands of others on the internet, you need to let your art stand out. You also need to be consistent with your branding. Your name, logo, and image must be the same on every piece of print material and transmitted text. I've found this book very helpful to look through in depth or just look up specific things. One strange thing: after enjoying the book, I googled the author and discovered that she's dropped out of the art business. How odd. The book has been a big success for her, so I don't know what happened.


If you're looking to jazz up your writing, perhaps for your blog or in the materials you use to describe your art, I highly recommend Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge's Poemcrazy. Susan teaches you to play with words, and try new combinations. She introduces the reader to word tickets, where you write interesting words, then rearrange the tickets to make pleasing combinations. She'll have you creating incredible descriptions of things that will keep your reader interested.

Butterfly Reminder

Back in January, I told you about my idea to actually try some art projects that I read about in the many mixed media books that I buy. I've finished my first one, which came from Shona Cole's book, The Artistic Mother. Her book has really inspired a lot of people, and I know some artists out there have created art from her inspiring ideas. If you have made anything from her book and posted it on your blog, drop me a line and I'll post a link here.

I chose to do her Butterfly Reminder project. Of course, I can't just copy it exactly -- I need to take her main idea and tweak it a bit. The project is a little hanging piece for your wall that reminds you to do something for the day. In her example, she uses the words "Write Today." Well, that's a good goal, but I was thinking -- I have different goals every day. Sometimes I need to tell myself to write, sometimes to make art, and sometimes to exercise more. Although "exercise more" isn't specific enough for me. If it's vague, I'll never do it. Anyway, I decided I wanted to come up with a way that I could change the words.


After choosing my reminders, typing them on cardstock, and printing them out, I made little mica slots that the words could be slid into. My idea was to have an extra mica slot on the back to store the extra words. I attached the mica pieces using eyelets punched through the balsa wood base. I soon found out the eyelets wouldn't go through one piece of balsa and a piece of mica on the front and another on the back. Instead I just glued a little envelope to the back to hold the words.


I rubber stamped my butterfly design rather than cutting out a downloaded picture, as Shona suggests. I didn't feel like cutting around the edge of the butterfly because I thought the balsa wood was tricky to work with. It splinters easily and pokes your fingers when you cut it. I found that my metal cutting snips were stronger and worked better than regular scissors, so I just used them and kept the balsa wood in a rectangular shape. I did round the edges a bit. Balsa wood must come in different thicknesses, so either mine was thicker than Shona's, or she's just better at cutting than me.


I have two dangles hanging for the words because I wanted to have a verb and a noun for my goals. I used coated copper wire to hang the beads, which means it will always stay shiny. Now I won't have to worry about polishing it over time. If you're curious, some of my other words are: "Fly Toward Your Business", "Fly Toward Exhibiting Your Art," and "Get Moving -- Rollerblade", and "Get Moving -- Play Racquetball."


My next project comes from the book Book + Art -- Handcrafting Artists' Books by Dorothy Simpson Krause. This book doesn't have step-by step instructions for every example, but I will use one of the books as inspiration to make my own. I'm going to make an accordion book, like the one on page 70 called Hearts. It will be a challenge to come up with a subject for the book as well as the process. Would you like to join me in creating your own interpretation of an accordion book?

Portland Art and Soul Art Book Class

I was lucky enough to take a class with Leighanna Light at the Art and Soul Retreat in Portland, Oregon last week. The class was The Construction of an Art Book. We made it out of long strips of canvas that we folded to make book pages. Leighanna taught us great collage techniques -- painting, distressing, using copper patina on canvas (who knew you could do that?), attaching rivets, gluing and painting great papers. The class was informative, but then we were left to do our own playing. It was a fun group of women, from all over. I was surprised to find that there were a few others from Florida in the class! Here are some of the creations from the ladies in the class:











And this is the book that I made:

Altered Book -- Gardens

Here's my latest addition to a friend's book in an altered book swap. Her book's theme is Gardens. I decided to go old school, and I broke out my rubber stamps, glitter, and jewels. Sometimes the simple things work well. Her book is an old volume from a set of encyclopedias. I wish we still used those! I'd love it if my son had the experience of lying down on the living room carpet, pulling out a volume from the bookcase, and flipping the pages of an encyclopedia for an hour. What fun.

Becoming Poemcrazy

I must tell you about a book that I've been reading. I heard about this a few years ago, maybe in a review in the paper. At the time, I tried finding it in the library. Well, my library just never has the new books when they're really new books. I gave up looking.

Flash forward to 2010. I'm currently taking Stephanie Lee's online Thought Threads class. You can check it out at the button on the right margin of this blog. The class is all about keeping a personal journal: creating a habit of writing daily; using it for reflection and responding to your feelings and desires; and using your imagination to really see the possibilities in your life. Stephanie has given us a list of books that we may be interested in.

Well, surprise, here's the book I looked for so many years ago: Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge. I immediately bought it from my trusted source, Amazon.

Susan Wooldridge teaches you to recognize that poems are all around you: in a walk through the woods, the view from your window, a moment with your child. She is a lover of words, and finds them in magazines, field guides, and her own imagination, and she links them in unexpected ways.

Am I reading this because I'm busying myself writing poetry? No, but I think I was initially attracted to it because I used to be a prolific poet. I actually haven't written poems in decades, save for the eight haiku I wrote in Katie Kendrick's Spontaneous Haiku Painting class. (My poems are in photos 9 - 14 in Katie's blog post that I linked.) I just want to broaden my writing, expanding it with a greater use of language. My writing could be these blog entries, my personal journal, or magazine articles. No matter what it is, I'd like to sprinkle it with surprising and visual word combinations. Here are a few that Susan Goldsmith uses:

haystack, surge, sidewinder
frozen oceans, bluestone, grass lover
fragile, invincible, white water jug
seaweed, sparklers, tinting
Ligurian Sea, Edgewater, Cheyenne

If Poemcrazy, sounds interesting, you might want to also try her other book, Foolsgood: Making Something from Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Process. In this book, Susan writes stories about transforming what life brings your way. I think we all could use a little of that.