Altered Silver

Puff-puff! What a busy week this has been! Let me just squeeze this in quickly for Artwords at the proverbial last minute...which actually was several hours ago, but shh! maybe Susan won't notice how late this is! =:o

 

Two very new ATCs, still sticky with glue. I collaged the base paper way back when, and the walnut ink gave it a very nice café au lait coloring. I really wish I could remember exactly what steps I took when making that paper, because I like it a latte.

Oh, it's bad, I know. Heh. ;)




(My ATCs are not available for trade at this time.)
Technorati tags: atc/atcs, artist trading cards, collage, mixed media

After making the second group of layer-painted papers for the APoH project, I scanned the individual papers, then prepared four sets to print out at ATC size, after some hue/saturation modifications. Thus like last time, the four newest layer-painted papers emerged as sixteen ATC backgrounds.

Each card was decorated with a strip of unravelled raffia, a scrap of torn handmade paper, plus a number, word or phrase that was punched or snipped from a book.

 

Although there are several layers on the cards, most of the backgrounds are exposed, keeping all the details and intricacies of the layer-painting visible. I really like how cool they look, and it's encouraged me to also scan some other layer-painted papers and collaged papers for future ATCs as well.




(My ATCs are not available for trade at this time.)
keywords: art,altered books,mixed media,atc,atcs,artist trading cards,paper arts

Here's a little fun activity I've been intending to do for a long time: altered text ATCs. Thanks to a recent discussion on the AlteredText Yahoogroup, I found the inspiration to give it a go.

The process begins with pages torn from an old paperback book, then large areas of text are snipped out approximately ATC-size, and affixed to cardstock with acrylic medium. The text is selected, then decorated. The cards are measured, cut out and the edges colored with a marker.
 

From the eight pages I started with, these are the seven ATCs that made it to completion.
  

  
Media for these cards include Pitt and Sharpie markers, colored pencil, watercolor, watercolor pencil and wax crayon.

This is as far as the eighth card got before I realized that something had gone terribly wrong...
Look closely. The text should have read, "In wine she drew a cup of courage."
Oops. All the words were present and selected in pencil, really. It seems I just got a little carried away in the stippling stage. So now this unfinished card simply acts as an example that yes, mistakes do happen.




My ATCs are not available for trade at this time.
keywords: atc,atcs,artist-trading-cards,altered-text,palimpsest,mixed-media

One of my current altered book projects has only one stage in motion: to initially paint spreads in various ways using a limited palette of six hues. Nothing else will be happening with that book until the pages are all painted, but thinking ahead, I anticipate that I might want to add some tags or whatnot into the pages, and if so, they too should be developed with the same palette.

So I had myself a good afternoon of making what I call layer-painted paper. I began by sponging multiple layers of paint onto four 8.5x11" sheets of cardstock until all the hues played nicely together. Then I covered most of the paint with stamping designs, layering those as well. With both sponge and stamps, each color was allowed to dry before the next color was added.

After photographing the papers in a group, I scanned them individually. Then I prepared four sets to print out in ATC size, after some hue/saturation modifications. Thus, out of the four layer-painted papers emerged sixteen ATC backgrounds. The cards were decorated with cut-and-painted strips of drywall tape (using the paint to adhere the strips to the cards) and then topped off with found text.

 

That meant most of the backgrounds would remain exposed which was the intention. The more of the backgrounds that can be seen, the better! I find myself captivated by the intricacies of layer-painted papers and even set up one of the scans as my desktop wallpaper.

At some point, the layer-painted papers will become some kind of "things" to go into that book project. This ATC series was just a fun (and unexpected!) bonus.


(My ATCs are not available for trade at this time.)
Technorati Tags: altered books, mixed media,atc/atcs, artist trading cards, paper arts

I looked at the piles of tiny collage pieces I'd made and decided to give some of them something to do. I picked out eight of the most Hallowe'en-themed, then set about putting together a small ATC series.

Some bright orange cardstock made an ideal base on which to start. Onto that, I printed two sets (four cards each) of writing; one was old German book text, the other old French handwriting. After cutting out the cards, I colored the borders with crayons and pencils, then edged the sides with black marker. I had some small scraps of black handmade paper with silver threads sewn onto it, so I snipped the scraps into smaller scraps to place on the cards, making sure each card also received some of the silver threads. Then one of the tiny Hallowe'en collage pieces was added to each card.

I had expected the cards to be done at that point, but something seemed to be missing. A rubber stamp would've been good, to break up the emptiness of the black scraps, but I didn't have any stamp that seemed fitting for a Hallowe'en theme. Therefore, I needed to make one.

I picked out a hunk of leftover rubber (from trimming unmounted stamps) and traced around it in my doodle sketchbook to create a "template area" to work in. In that area, I drew a simple skull shape. Then I re-drew the drawing onto the rubber scrap and used kai scissors and an Xacto knife to cut it. Then I stamped it onto black paper using white ink to see how it turned out. Perfect!


My new stamp completed the cards quite nicely. This little series was a great way to put those tiny collage pieces to work!




(My ATCs are not available for trade at this time.)
Technorati Tags: atc/atcs, artist trading cards, collage, mixed media, rubber stamps

These are seven more ATCs created before, after and even during my "marathon" of the abécédaire français set in November. Mostly playing with techniques and other ideas. They're displayed here in alphabetical order according to title, but not in order of when they were made.



All ATCs are 2.5" x 3.5", supported by cardstock. The media used on the seven shown here include: acrylic paint and glaze, found imagery, found text, chalk, sanding, tissue paper, markers, metallic ink, colored pencil, rubber stamping and watercolors.







(My ATCs are not available for trade at this time.)
Technorati Tags: collage, mixed media,atc/atcs, artist trading cards

These are some additional ATCs created before, after and even during my "marathon" of the abécédaire français set in November. Mostly playing with techniques and other ideas. They're displayed here in alphabetical order according to title, but not in order of when they were made.





All ATCs are 2.5" x 3.5", supported by cardstock. The media used on the eight shown here include: acrylic paint and glaze, found imagery, found text, chalk, sanding, tissue paper, metallic ink, colored pencil, rubber stamping, watercolor, Versamark and PearlEx powder.



(My ATCs are not available for trade at this time.)
Technorati Tags: collage, mixed media, atc/atcs, artist trading cards

After making five "A" cards followed by only a single "B," I wasn't holding out a lot of hope for an ATC alphabet. Too many other projects demanded my primary attention. Yet when it came time for "C," I managed to make four that still rank among my favorites.

The C's are: Classified, Color, Contradiction and Creating.

The media for these four include printed papers, acrylic paint, book text, giftwrap ribbon, colored pencil and marker.

For "D," I made one card, just one. Strange as this one is, it's probably my top favorite of all the ATCs I've made to date.

The media for this one are printed papers, acrylic paint, found text, rubber stamping, gel pen and chalk.

Continuing with the alphabet, the next card should have been "E," but that letter eluded me (hm...Eluded...) so I jumped right into "F" with Focus, which came together quite easily with printed papers, stamping ink and acrylic paint.

At that point (sometime in July), I gave up on the ABC idea (I blame that elusive E), and I also didn't make another ATC for several months.



My ATCs are not available for trade at this time.

Technorati Tags: collage, mixed media, atc/atcs, artist trading cards