Altered Silver - art_preparation

Project : Angels Among Us - early spreads

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 01:53:27 -0600

This altered book project, Angels Among Us (named after the title of the book), is really just an excuse for me to play with colors. It's a small (5x8", 127 pages) hardcover with many Gustave Doré woodcuts and various clip art angels used as spot illustrations. This book found its way to me by being a remainder under $2 that I selected sight unseen, solely on the basis of its title…

The Fallen Leaves 2 : Restoring color

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 18:55:00 -0600

After the leaves had been sealed on both sides (as previously described) and were thoroughly dry, I could start working on how to restore the natural color they had when I initially gathered them off the ground. I tried several different ideas, but let's cut to the chase here and go directly to what worked best: chalk. I use Carb-Othello, but any good brand of artist's chalk should work as well.…

The Fallen Leaves I : Sealing

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 23:30:00 -0600

I had a couple opportunities this autumn to gather some very color-filled maple leaves, aiming to preserve them for future use in some paper arts project. So here are the details of what I did to them.

The first group I gathered was about 30 which were mostly bright yellow. The second group was only 9; these were more red, with touches of yellow. For the most part, each group received…

Requiem for a pen

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:30:00 -0500

Less than a day after writing about my Angels & Aliens project, the Pentech GelGrip pen I was using for the sketching ran out of ink while on duty. To finish the drawing, I grabbed the Penstix micron pen that I'm using in my altered text book (which I haven't described here yet), but the micron gives an entirely different writing experience. It's more of a "final lines" kind of pen,…

Quiltmaker software

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 12:15:00 -0500

I just came across this little toy, by way of Meggiecat's blog archive. It's a little software goodie (for Windows) called Quiltmaker that is designed for "sketching" a quilt design. Check out the details and download your free copy at the Quiltmaker website. While I'm sure it comes in handy for those interested in making quilts, I can't help but think of all its other possible applications. You could play with…

Composition Book Blues II

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 14:25:00 -0500

I was embarking on a new project, to make a quick, daily collage in the spirit of a "gesture drawing." I wanted to keep all these collages together in the same spot, but after putting the first collage into a composition book, I discovered that the composition book just wasn't going to work out for me. Others seem to be having good results with them, but I simply couldn't accept the…

Composition Book Blues I

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 23:50:00 -0500

Why are so many people using composition books for their gluebook support?

In USA, composition books are a familiar item most of us have grown up with. They're about 7.5" x 9.75" and usually contain 50 sheets of paper folded in half (for 100 pages), with center-sewn binding and a foldover chipboard cover (typically with a black/white mottled pattern). That seems all well and good for writing on with a ballpoint…

A Gluebook??

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 12:45:00 -0500

When I first started seeing things called "gluebooks" in web galleries, I didn't have a very high opinion of them. I saw standard composition books used as a place to glue daily ephemera. Got some junk mail that day? Glue it into the composition book. Went shopping? Glue your receipt. Emptied an office product? Glue down the box cover. Snacked on a candy bar? Glue the wrapper. Prepared ground beef for…

Brushwater Paper

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 14:10:00 -0500

After playing with acrylic paint for awhile, the brushwater takes on some interesting colors. This water is destined to be disposed, but it can assist in transforming plain paper into something more special.

When my brushwater becomes very saturated, I grab a couple sheets of solid tone paper. I crush, crumple, twist and otherwise mutilate the paper short of tearing it. Then I simply put the paper into the brushwater, sometimes…

Image (or text) Transfer

noreply@blogspirit.com (Silver) — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 11:00:00 -0500

There are many techniques for transfering printed (or photocopied) material from one surface to another. Some of the methods can get pretty complicated. I've tried out two of the simplest-seeming methods so far.

Inkjet onto acetate
Basic instruction: Print from your computer onto a sheet of acetate. Burnish it to the new surface.
My findings:
- It works. Keep in mind that the resulting print will be reversed, so if you…