Collage Play

The first photo above shows the entire collage...I was playing with the newest Tim Holtz dies, from Sizzix, cut a few out, lay all the pieces out in front of me and let them "speak" to me...apparently, this is what they said...I was putting together a sample for a class meeting that night, so I was just trying to include lots of different ideas . In the next two photos, you can see some of the details...you can also see where I stamped the images that I cut, using the dies and the black thick foam we sell at the store to create "custom" rubber stamps. This is a very cool idea that Tim Holtz shared with anyone who was paying attention at CHA...and since I dote on his every word...well here we are..

After cutting the foam, you can mount it to the acrylic pieces that are used as clear book covers by the Zutter company, with the Bind-it-all machine. They are sturdy, but you can cut them on your trimmer...if it doesn't go all the way thru, it will at least score it and you can snap it. I cut the acrylic pieces with my big Fiskars Guillotine cutter. The stamps are attached using the Claudine Helmuth matte medium from Ranger. I let it dry overnight, but I am sure it is usable way before that.

The hook at the top of the collage is one of Tim's dies...the one with the long skinny hinge on it, that I doubled over to create a loop...the butterfly, bird, heart and the word "wish" are made from some Accu-Cut dies...sprayed with Maya Mists...Tim's dies for the bird's wings, labels and keyholes..the gold key (TH die) is just more of the black foam-it's pretty inexpensive, so you can use it for embellishments, too...sprayed it with the Krylon 18K gold paint...(do that outside if possible)

In the bottom photo, with all the black foam stamps, you can see that I did an imprint into the flower piece...just heat the foam with your heat tool, and impress a stamp right away...we've been doing this for years, right?...anyway, I would definitely do this before mounting onto the acrylic as I think the heat might warp the acrylic...these images can be erased from the black foam by re-heating, but...two things to consider...you have it mounted on the acrylic by now, so you don't really want to aim the heat gun there..also, the foam is very inexpensive...just cut another flower and impress with a different stamp or leave it plain...All the images were mounted onto colored chipboard, from Creative Imaginations, a 9x9 piece on top of the black 9 3/4 " square piece. I used Zip Dry mostly for all the gluing.

Here is what I did with the bird cage. I sandwiched a piece of mica between two grungeboard pieces, added a patterned paper die cut on top, traced the whole thing onto more patterned paper, and glued it all together...

Here is another photo showing the bird cage on the front of a journal...this time I broke the bars on the bird cage, and since they are grungepaper, they stayed twisted, so it looks like the bird could fly away...and the bird is that black foam again...cool effect...please no e mails or letters, I know it is all just pretend...but I like the idea of that little bird being free...

So, now we are on to this week's prize to a randomly chosen commenter...just leave a comment, related to anything...and you will be entered to win this set of Hambly transparencies...there are six of them, I think.

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Also, I mentioned in the newsletter, that I am starting a series of musings on the anatomy and physiology of the artist (keeping in mind that I am talking specifically about us as artists, not Picasso, etc)...actually, we deserve the musings so here goes...I will add a different physiological system each week (I hope!)

The Nose (sense of smell) of the Artist:

When we get a whiff of certain aromas, smells, odors, there is a very strong physiologic effect. In fact, I do believe, that it has been established that the sense of smell is the strongest sense for evoking memory. Smells can warn us of dangers...like the need to open the window when we spray toxic paints or fixatives, or glues in our studio...a good idea to heed this warning! Also, we can smell our materials...certain inks have a strong small...Stazon has an almond odor...grungeboard and grungepaper has a very distinctive smell...some people love it...others not so much. The smells of our world can inspire us to create art...flowers, new babies, a vintage trunk full of old papers, ...I love the smell of melted wax, and can tell that it is permeating the room...same for UTEE. Copic markers, alcohol inks...brand new books, even, soldering supplies, flux...something burning (an important smell!!) Our world is filled with smells, and we, as artists, experience them all the time. We take in these smells, and they definitely have an effect on us..positively or negatively...sometimes we won't use something because of its smell...other times, we put up with it because we "need" that product.
....and when there are the times that we relish the smell of what we are doing...It is all being recorded in our brains as part of our art experience...perhaps to be remembered at some later date, when this time of creating is brought back to us, letting us relive some happy memories. Our remembrances of wonderful times don't always include photos. Maybe we can begin to notice more how our sense of smell enhances our artwork, our process, and our enjoyment of what we do.

Next week: the artist's stomach!