Backgrounds AB 101

I see two basic ways to flood book pages with colour- water soluable pigments or acrylic.

WATERCOLOUR:

Watercolour paints consist of finely ground pigments bound with gum arabic and mixed with glycerin, which acts as a moisturiser. There are 2 grades, artist and students. You probably get what you pay for. Watercolour paints are available in tubes of thick, moist colour and in small blocks, called 'pans' or 'halfpans', of semi moist colour. Tube colour is richer and useful for washing large areas. The pans require a little more work to 'lift' the colour. The more water the more translucent the colour; that is, you control the strength of the colour by adjusting the amount of water. Flat, broad, brushes give better coverage in large areas. Watercolour uses the bigger brushes as details are generally not as sharp. Also watercolours enhance the paper texture so you can get different looks with different papers. You can also add jellies and pastes to alter consistency, transparency and finish.

Paint can be applied to dry paper. When applied to wet paper the term is wet on wet. You can make highlights by using soft tissue to dab and lift colour but leave soft edges.

Other watersoluble products are tempra, poster paint as well as crayons and pencils.

These water soluble crayons and pencils were spritzed with water rather than swiped with a wet brush.

These pages were brushed.

Watercolour paint is very easy but also unpredictable.

ACRYLICS:

Acrylic is a thick, polymer-based paint that comes in tubes, bottles, or jars. It can come as a thick product or fluid. Price also affects quality. Colours can be very opaque to very transparent. Acrylics can imitate tempra, oil, and encaustic. Full strength yields a very plastic like finish. It can be thinned with water or an acrylic medium. You can also mix the paint with gels or glazes that give different sheens. (glossy, satin, matte) It darkens as it drys but does not bleed once dry. Acrylics should be stirred rather than shaken and brushes need to be cleaned quickly and thoroughly with soapy water.

Acrylics seem easier to control and can even be scraped.

Brushes, of course give different effects depending on their shape and bristle.

At this point in my journey this is pretty much theory and I am talking mostly to myself as I try to understand the different products. I luv the effect of the watercolours but I'm horrified at some of the puddles. The acrylics are kind of 'in your face' when you mess up. I do like the crayons and pencils for their control but large areas of background are slower and not as spontaneous in their execution.

Something to remember is nothing is every really final as more layers can be applied. AND, this is a background. Next will be adding layers to create interest and depth.

The 'what if's...' are pretty staggering!

Chicken Scratches

Have you ever seen what a few chickens can do to a pile of dirt, a flower bed or a new flagstone path? They are definitely movers and shakers in the world of excavating! When they are done piles are leveled, anything alive or green is 'no more', and landscaped paths are obliterated. Amazing!

Often the tracks they make with their feet are compared to handwritten comments as chicken scratches. I am hoping to reduce piles of ephemera, weed out detris, tread new paths and generally make amazingly pertinent and personalized art journals.

I've been doing an on line tutorial that Altered Book Lover has kindly made available to me. I've posted about it under the label Altered Books 101.

So far I have learned that while any book can be altered there are definitely some that are better than others. Picking the right book.

The pages need prepping.

The cover needs strengthening. AB101 Covering

There are various options for glue preferences.

Coming up is colouring the pages.

I am an incorrigible note taker, jotter downer and general scribbler. I can't say I'm a doodler. I had raised my hand for The Sketchbook Challenge but I think that was a bigger bite than I could chew. I can certainly see the value of sketching something everyday to increase awareness as well as ability. I am also having a fresh look at all my scribblings and I'm switching to a micro pigment ink pen so I can incorporate any new note books and post it notes! ;^) I'll be dipping my toes only at the shoreline and I think I'll wait a bit before I go looking for my surf board. But there is certainly a wealth of encouragement, advice and 'how to' available on the web site.

I'm not a scrapbooker although I've gotten a few supplies because I had wanted to make some kind of book for each of my five kids. The 3 ring binders I selected may morph into an altered book as my expertise increases.

A journal is in essence a journey and what fun to pack colours, pens, inks, paint brushes and bits of the flotsam and the jetsum of our lives. What if we discover much, much more than the 'how to' of altered books?

Monday Musings

First we have coffee!

In reviewing my 2011 goals I am once again reminded of the adage that "you can't do it all". I think they are right. So I'm deciding what part of ALL is the part that I can't do!

This week my 5 things include:

some blog/computer changes,

journal/sketching/altered books,

the dreaded mending,

closet editing,

spring placemats

When the ground is blanketed with snow I feel I have all the time in the world. As soon as the gravel shows on the country roads I know that the grass in the yard and the debris in the flower beds is soon going to have me looking for my rubber boots, gloves and wheel barrow. And it is here! Spring has sprung!

Rooster Work

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This is a moot point point if you don't add a rooster to the equation!

I'm rather flabbergasted by the gals on the DIY blogs. I'm very capable of hammering nails into the plaster walls much to the chagrin of my hubby, but I've never wanted to learn how to wield the bigger boy toys. I liked to think that in many of my projects I'm the brain and he is the brawn. Not true, but he does make me look good! lol Over the years I've come to appreciate our combined strengths and weaknesses. We have separate hobbies but we also have many common goals and projects. We compliment each other as we are definitely not alike. I would be remiss to not include my dearie in some of my projects.

Interior decorating is a very old luv. I have gotten very creative in finding budget solutions to my decorating dilemmas. One goal is to go through the house room by room and update each one. I'll be adding finished rooms as we progress to the side bar. I'd like to take at least one day a week to share about creative decorating.

The bathroom is first up. Originally this was a pantry. The wall had been moved to accommodate a bathtub. We added wall board and covered the floor with some square tiles 20 years ago. A couple of years ago we replaced the tub. We painted the wall board but now we need better flooring, baseboards and trim, and new lights and a fan.

Before:

So far:

The floor was not level because of 2 layers of old stuff and water damaged fir flooring. A thin underlay, almost reminded me of a thin bubblewrap, was used. It was also the pattern for cutting the flooring remnant. It went in pretty smoothly although it was a long day before we finally got the toilet back in place.

I must admit that my rooster is not easily distracted by my squawking that the sky could be falling and stays pretty focused so this coop should see pretty steady improvements. Time is always an issue but we'd like this finished up soon as spring is starting to happen. This week lambing began and the 'real' chicken coop needed some *editing* as we make plans for the coming year.

Creativity is developed through use and finding solutions to stetch budgets is a great learning experience. What if we put our heads together to find creative answers?

Finished! No Fooling

There are lots of things not finished. Winter is sending fat flakes to say she isn't quite done. The worst cold ever has snuck back up on me and asked for another spoonful of the kind of medicine that is helped by Mary Poppins addition of sugar! All this is making me grumpy.

So this^

Became this ^ with a lot of muttering, vows, and some muscle.

The first quarter of the year is over. FIND is my word for the year and I'm not finding my groove and I don't really mean rut! So I need to find a better way to make things happen for the rest of the year.

I am slightly addicted to saving scribbles, notes, articles. Heck, whole magazines or parts there of. I don't file right away and the 2 file drawers, though reduced from 4, still bulge and the piles drive me crazy. I have learned to get rid of empty flat places where it is easy to dump piles. I was grumpy enough that even without my glasses I pitched Paper. :O

What if I was finished saving paper?

I edited my library of books a few years ago. I still have LOTS, mostly technique books. I have 2 dozen lined up and ready for action. I like to start new things. I have a dozen ideas on any given day. I have opportunities. I belong to a sewing club with monthly challenges, a quilt group with monthly and a yearly challenge. I belong to several on line groups with challenges. I'm beginning to feel slightly challenge stressed because of the extras- the socializing, the time for tutorials, the scheduling, the rush for the deadline, and the choosing of the commitment over the 'just because'.

What if I turned from the call of the challenge to the first technique book on my line up and turned to chapter one and worked in a series?

Friday's are for finishes and I think I'm done going around in circles. It makes for a dizzy chick!

I need more credit cards!

What handy things these plastic cards are! My Reader Reward Card for the book store has been seeing some use! I've been on a reading binge and I have 3 more to purchase but I daren't get them until I get some work done. yikes!

Then I got seriously overwhelmed in a new decorator store I found and couldn't resist adding a bit of BLING! to my life.

The ol' debit card has been getting a serious workout as I lay in my year's worth of supplies. I used my Michael's coupons and encouraged the Art store to add to their Dye-na-flo display. I am so happy to have found this product up here in the boonies! They assure me they will be getting more.

Then I got 2 great patterns at my sewing club as well as a free kit for some stuff to help Nina do her part in the overall plan. One project is to carry all my stuff so my hands can be free to grab stuff off the shelves! I'm also hoping a snazzy bag will lead into a spring wardrobe from my fashion fabric stash. The notebook cover has a slick lining technique and a very cool zipper pocket was added for our sewing club demo. Very cool! But the project is sized for the standard composition notebook so there is no figuring measurements and I am not a math person so one size for one readily available book. That I like!

Now I didn't use any credit but I need to give credit to the crafters before me who extol the uses of the plastic card to spread glue and paint.

A few drops of paint.

Then use the card edge to spread it.

This gives a totally different look than a brush, sponge, crumpled paper, etc. and is not messy at all. I like it. Now I need to learn how to build up the layers and that's where all my pens, inks, stamps, etc. will be coming into play. I'm totally pumped as the young people say.

As I said, "I need more plastic!" lol

Journaling the 30's

Weekly journal quilts are all about using up the leftovers. My DD gave me a lot of Thirty FQ's. I think she may have moved on to urban chic and I have the leftovers. I divided them up and the 'also rans' are in the leftover bins. Here I am again playing with the not so great while the best of the best awaits.

I think mug rugs are cute but maybe too small to get thru my larger piles, so these are little 12" place mats for the mug and the cookie plate! I've cut 12 backs, 13 inches square and I'll do some improvisational piecing on the front. With the plan for the next few weeks in place maybe I can even get to the good stuff!

Of what value is it to you?

The third colour workshop I taught was very much hands on. We talked about light, medium, dark, as well as bright and dull. Colour is the first thing people will notice about a quilt. But without good use of the fabrics' values, none will be able to determine the block design and all the hard work of matching points and seams will be lost in a blur of colours, much like a variegated afghan.

Value is so very subjective. It just depends on the fabric it is playing with.

A single fabric can be light in one block,

medium in a second block

and the dark in a third.

It is helpful to find the medium first. Determine the light and the dark and then fill in the gaps.

Everyone got a medium grey fabric to use as a reference point. Solids or near solids are much easier to place in a line when teaching the eye to discern subtleties.

The colour itself is a distraction so there are ways to eliminate colour. A red coloured piece of cellophane, plastic or glass can do this. Hold the cellophane to the eye and gaze at the fabrics from about 12 inches away. This can be very surprising sometimes.

Photocopying the fabrics on the black and white setting gives a permanent reference. A camera on the black and white setting also is beneficial.

A trip to a paint stores can provide the most useful tool. Find a paint card that has white to black. This is a professional gradient. It is quite helpful for getting a good range of lights, mediums and darks.

For me at least, value is challenging but the more I do the better I get at it.

Which glue?

The Altered Book 101 is slowly coming together as I experiment with various methods for gluing pages together. This strengthens them for the various applications of colour and embellishing.

First option is a glue stick. It has the advantage of being relatively tidy. The pages dry flat.

Another cheap school product is white glue. This is messier and doesn't dry as flat. I used my finger to spread it and then the Kleenex stuck to my finger! lol


Gel medium is the one I've been using and I now realize I can spread it much thinner if I use an old credit card. It also dries flat and can be used as an adhesive and a clear finish. This is not as cost effective as the first options but I do find it kinda multi purpose.

Gesso is a substance that can be used as a glue as well as a substrate that is much like a primer. It dried fairly flat.

I used it to prime a page and glue down another paper. It worked fine but...

The pages curled quite a lot.

The cure for that is to apply more gesso to the back of the curled page.

It certainly solved the problem but I'm wondering if I would have had to do this extra step had I done this with the gel medium. Something more to try. I should also think about the amount of drying time but it is a good idea to do a lot of pages at one time for when those those creative times strike. Glue needs to be spread evenly, giving special attention to the spine as well as the edges.

EDITED: I did do a second trial with the gel medium as a glue. The pages did not curl even though I used the same paper colour wheel as with the gesso. I suppose there are different ways to do various things. The trick is knowing when to use which one!

Friday runner

I had forgotten all about the weekly journal quilt and was dabbing glue experiments.

Hmm, I have some leftover triangles in my baskets and decided to do a quick reversible runner for the hall.

One side has some darker triangles to compliment a Bali.

The other side has a chrysanthemum Bali with light triangles. These especially match the unframed art work. I did 'whip' them up quickly and now I'm undecided how to actually quilt them.

Spring Fling!

I seem to enjoy spending money in the spring. Flinging it all about. That will end next week and I'll be rolling up the side walk, hiding the keys and tearing up anymore coupons!

In the meantime, I'm storing up books, art supplies and decorative accessories. I'm not sure what I'll be wearing but that hasn't ever been a really big priority in spite of my stash of patterns and fashion fabrics.

I have found HomeSense. Not good; as I only intended a reconnaissance of the store and had an armful within the first 5 minutes!

I again accumulated some art supplies with the Michael's coupons. A last, quick, stop at the art store and you'd think I'd have learned. I found some Dye-na-flo which I have been keeping an eye out for. And 'only white gouache' turned out to be a bagful of stuff!

See that gorgeous square plate on the aqua lap quilt. I may have to return for a few more as that is perfect for my spring look.

Time to fling some of the bling of spring around the house!