Pages 12/17/08

I swapped Goth Postcards with british artist, Gillian Allen. She sent me a wonderful stenciled card in return. The technique is really cool and the result is a hazy, almost mysterious and ghostly look. It's definitely something I want to try in the future.

She also sent a link to a tutorial she wrote about this technique. I thought I would pass it on to all of you. Making Stencils.

Here's a link to the final goth art postcard pieces. It's a truly fabulous collection with many talented artists. There is quite a range of styles and treatment of the subject. I hope to do more swaps with this group again.

Pages 11/08/08

These are postcards I am working on for a FaceBook swap I am in. The theme is 'Goth'. (Not that I know much about Goth! *LOL*) Anyway, it's been fun making these. I used an image I found on istock. Her top is a textured paper. I painted on her hair and used a white out pen for the white line work. For the background I used pink colored pencil crayons and washed over some yellow acrylic paint. I finished the edges with two different Cat's Eye rubber stamp inks.

Pages 08/04/08

I made these odd charms for a swap on the Zettiology Yahoo Groups list. It was a tough challenge and I spent quite a bit of time to get these to work. I found a stash of these tiny doll arms at a funky little shop in Half Moon Bay in CA. The clerk kind of gave me the 'eyebrow' when I came up to the checkout with 20 doll arms. But I kind of shrugged and gave her the 'eyebrow' back.

I painted the arms with black and white acrylic paint, then spray sealed t with varnish to get rid of the 'sticky' feeling the pain made. I then made a neato loop hook with wire and beads and sandwiched a plain old washer between. I then super glued the washer to the top of the arm and made the loop secure.

I coiled some silver wire around the forearms and secured with a tiny dab of superglue. I thought I was done, but looking at the hand portion, it begged for something in it's palm. I took another batch of washers, sized an appropriate image and printed out label paper. I cut them out, adhered them to the washer, and sealed with a sparkle varnish. After they were dry I used another tiny dab of superglue to hold them in place.

Pages 07/15/08

Digital Collage for and Artist Trading Card swap I am in. I created this in Photoshop and it has multiple layers of graphics and text.

Pages 03/09/08

St Patrick's Day Matchbox Swap - This was the matchbox I made for a swap hosted on Swap-Bot. I had fun with it. I found a bunck of St. Patrick's Day swag at Michaels and made a zipper pull with a four leaf clover on it.
If you haven't made it over to Swap-Bot, I highly recommend it. The owners are making the site better and better for the user. In the past I've had trouble with not getting swaps back, but now the better swappers are making swaps JUST for people with long standing reputations. The community aspect is growing. There are alot of Matchbox Swaps, and there's a huge group of matchbox artists there. Swaps are available for almost ANYTHING, from candy swaps, to music swaps ... they have something for everyone.

Pages 02/10/08

Milagros Charm Swap - ArtErratica. These are charms I made for a swap over on the ArtErratica Yahoo Group. I got alot of practice with making my own wire eye pins and am getting pretty good at it. (After making 15 and then another 14 more for ANOTHER swap!) So, it goes to show practice makes 'somewhat' perfect. By the time I finished I had it down pat. I got these milagros when we were in Tijuana several years ago and it was hard to part with them. But hey, I know my swap partners will enjoy them. I used heavyweight brass beads and made danglies and embellished with random mixed beads of shell, glass and metal. When I get the final swap items back I'll try to post them. I love the ArtErratica Group - it's such a great group of talented artists who take pride in their work and come up with some awesome ideas.

Pages 01/10/08

I've become obsessed with matchbox swaps. Over at swap-bot.com, there are always various themed swaps going which I can't help but signs up for almost every one. I'm addicted. I've done all kinds of themes - holidays, color, sun and moon, sticker - almost anything you can think of has been done or is available. The idea is to decorate the box to the theme and fill the box with teeny tiny treasures that follow the theme. It's so much fun to try and find small items to fit in the box. You'd be surprised as to how many items actually FIT in one of these boxes!
Above is a mini book matchbox swap item. Participants made bound books which fit within the matchbox. I also included some 'extras', magnets, a bookmark and beads for my swap partner.

I've also been in several matchbox shrine, or matchbox ornament swaps. To the left are some small shrines I made with a Latin theme for a swap. I poured in epoxy and added tiny beads to the epoxy as well as a glass vial filled with seashells. The entire shrine sits on a domino as a base.

For most of the swaps I've done I've purchased a bunch of the standard safety matches, sanded off the printing, and painted or collaged over the top. But if you want to make and build your own and avoid the work of sanding and repainting - print out and fold your own. I load my ink jet with a nice card stock, or scrap booking paper and print directly from my template on to the paper. Trim, fold and glue as indicated, and voila - my own custom matchbox.

I'm sharing my template with you to try making your own. Feel free to print and use it, or share it with a friend, or class. If you come up with something cool, I'd love to see.

TEMPLATE: