Buried Treasure 2010

Here is a repost of an old blog post that is part of the "Buried Treasure 2010" idea from Seth Apter's blog

The Altered Page

Trying out my new patina technique- learned at ACE Hardware

Titled "Skin Circuitry" an Emblage

Detail of an ACEO that I decided to attach.

The woman playing the "organ" ( skin is an organ you know) is a collage that I had made in the 90's and resurrected. Made from an image from an old sterograph, Japanese paper and biology diagram.

So, I'm kind of new at some of these assemblage techniques. I am oh so great at collecting wonderful bits and pieces and even buying the necessary supplies to create any number of wonderful projects. The problem is that I am trying to learn a lot of connection techniques on my own because I seem to want to try things without going to workshops and start on projects before certain skill levels and knowledge are embedded in my brain.

I have always been a hasty worker whether it's cooking or printmaking or gardening. Call it impatience ( but not to my face, I get so defensive) or a glorious lack of perfectionism (I'm saving that for another lifetime) but I have trouble waiting for glue to dry and want to hurry up and get to the next step.

Well I'm finding with this altered art/assemblage and collage that it's necessary to plan out your layers and connections in a logical order or things start to get botched in a hurry.

Then when there's a mistake that messes up my one of a kind beginning of a background it can be so frustrating.

Take rivets for example: I took a silversmithing workshop one day two years ago and learned how to make some nice cold connection rivets. So I had an idea to connect the collaged old book cover to the antique tin ceiling tile with some copper rivets. In order to make the copper tubes for the rivets I had to remember how to load the jewelry saw which I had also learned in the same class two years ago. The saw was picked up at a garage sale so I was hoping it was reasonably functional. It was guesswork really and I sawed three of them before I broke the blade which was looking kind of cattywompus and I was amazed that I was able to cut anything at all.

Did I stop and look in one of my glossy metalsmithing books to see the right way to do it? No, I wanted to GET ON WITH IT! So with some pounding I ended up with three slightly split and bent rivets. So rustic, so primitive. Oh well.

After that was attached I decide to attach a bead which would have been way easier BEFORE I attached the collage.

This is what you call a "learning process" and I know I could benefit by slowing down and PLANNING out my projects. My short attention span has been more suited to lampwork and stringing and making ATC's so far. (and I am a good but messy cook if I do say so myself)

I'm not totally disappointed in the final product but I think I need some more techniques under my belt for that finer final product that I'm seeing so many good artists putting out with their altered art/mixed media /assemblage pieces.

Let me know what you think!

Wabi~Sabi Swingline Shibori

We'll see how this paper bundle fares.

This will spend 7 months exposed to Arizona desert sun and monsoon season.

Wabi~Sabi Shibori

Stapling Muslin

Recently I caught up to someone's blog that was involved in Seth Apter's Altered Page Disintegration Project. (I wish I could remember whose it was, I need to start taking notes when I visit and comment on blogs because I find I'm losing track really quickly!) I'll update this after some sleuthing.

I was enchanted by the idea of disintegrating bundles that are left out in the weather and using the components in later projects. My aesthetic has been embracing the Japanese idea of Wabi-Sabi, the impermanence and shifting with age and deterioration and disintegration.

I gathered up suitable materials that would most likely change with six months of Arizona monsoon and scorching sun and wind. I assembled two bundles, one for materials and objects and the other primarily paper.

Then I had the idea of stapling muslin in a design onto muslin. I'm always finding rust spotted muslin in antique stores from pins etc. I thought it would be a rather nice wabi-sabi shibori as long as the staples rust as I hope! The staples bunched the muslin slightly so I'm pleased with the design so far. Rust will be all the better!

I'm going to leave them out for the six months I'm in Alaska and see what I'll come back to next winter.

Image and imagination

"Down on the Farm"

I had a chance to go through a great drawer at an antique shop in Tucson while I was waiting for a friend that needed a ride home from the doctor.

I found some nice vintage images to play with and try out an image transfer technique that I had read about. It involves ironing freezer paper to muslin and putting it through the printer. It worked pretty well except for some bunching on one sheet that didn't have a totally stiff edge ( that can be remedied by taping it)

I had recently gotten some tapa paper at a garage sale by disassembling some place mats which proved to be a nice excavation when I found that the paper had been formed on pieces of old Pacific Cement bags.

I also picket up a slew of old rusty tiles near our property recently that looked like perfect surfaces for some altered art.

I addition to that I just had to buy an old wooden shoe shine kit at the thrift store, thinking that perhaps I could use the shoe polish as a surface treatment. The very next day I read about Don Madden of Fully Flummoxed doing the very same thing on The Altered Page feature "Secret Sunday".

I was pleased with the results of shoe shine on a gessoed board. It came out with a wax shine that I could scratch up for a bit of distress.