scribble monoprint

My contribution to a fat book technique swap held by Belinda Spiwak over at Mixed Media Art Friends. I had to make 37 pages of the same technique and in return will receive 37 different pages, plus instructions. Wow! Technique nirvana!!!

The basic materials and directions are shown below. They're for your personal use and to share for a little playtime with your friends. If you plan on using them in any other way, I'd appreciate if you could list my blog in the credits.

Not the full stack, but you get the idea! -



Fanned out for effect -



A Picasa collage -



Hmmm....note to self......this might make a nice background or header one of these days!


Scribble Monoprint – Anne Marie Desaulniers

Ingredients:

Caran d’Ache, Neocolor II Watersoluble Wax Pastels
Strathmore 140 lb Cold Press Watercolour Paper
Water from the tap
Table salt
Large wooden spoon
2 – glass sheets, several inches larger than your paper

Playtime:

-Scribble directly onto the bottom glass plate with your Neocolor II’s (they’re just like crayons, so can take a lot of pressure). Use your lighter or brighter colour first, then add a darker one. Add a third colour if desired. Think and act like a child! Be messy and use a fair amount of pressure. Leave enough empty spaces to allow the colour to spread.
-Run your sheet of Watercolour paper under the cold-water tap. Get it soaking wet! Remember to wet both sides thoroughly. Hold the edges and allow the excess water to drip a bit (but not too much) and then quickly lay it down on your glass plate.
-cover with the second glass plate
-apply pressure to the back of the glass plate with the wooden spoon. Using circular movements, cover the entire area.
-when you’re finished, do it again!
-carefully pick up the edge of the second glass sheet and pull it away from the first glass sheet. You’ll notice that the WC paper will stick to it. Quickly turn it over (drips on the paper are good) and sprinkle with table salt from a saltshaker.
-separate the WC paper from the glass sheet and lay it to dry on a protected surface
-clean up and don’t forget to sop up the extra paint with a paper towel. The towel can be used in future art projects. Waste not, want not!!!!


Get messy and have some fun!!!

I hope that everyone that celebrates is having a very happy Easter! As for the rest of you, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day!!

trash to treasure

Something a little different!! This is my contribution to the wonderful "Trash to Treasure" swap that Diane is holding over at the Cloth Paper Studios Yahoo group. We were instructed to make journal covers out of scrap cardboard and then design and decorate with things that would otherwise go to waste and be thrown in the bin. Think of it as our little contribution to the environment! Of course, both the front and back of mine could be used as front covers, but I'll leave that choice up to our creative swap hostess.

Front Cover:



-Two layers of cereal box cardboard for the base
-Used tissue paper. Wrinkled up and attached with matte medium and then painted with copper acrylic paint
-Scrap of citrasolve treated national geographic, left over from my shadow box auction piece
-shredded paper stitched onto watersoluble, and then dissolved
-strips of shredded paper stitched onto an end scrap of fabric (cut off to straighten the edges when making the bee block)
-Flower - underlayer is a circle of the inside of a President's Choice 100% Sparkling Fruit Juice can (Kiwi Berry flavour if I remember correctly). The metal was cut with heavy duty scissors, pounded with a jewelry hammer and shaped into a shallow cup form. Then three layers of scrap organza (from another project), cut into circles, freemotion stitched and then held upside down over a candle flame to shape (just touched by the heat, not the fire except when I screwed up). I used tweezers to save my fingers. Note: Make sure that you do this outside, or in an area with extremely good ventilation. Use your respirator to protect your lungs as this stuff is toxic! I do it outside, wearing a respirator and with a big bowl of water beside me to douse runaway flames.
-Little balls of gold foil chocolate wrappers
-Leaf - gold, silver and bronze foil chocolate wrapper pieces, laid onto a scrap of tulle, encased in watersoluble stabilizer, freemotion stitched and then dissolved.

Detail:



Back Cover:




-Two layers of cereal box cardboard for the base
-Collaged chocolate wrappers, attached with matte medium
-Used felt pads from my last alcohol ink domino session at Deb's. Heat distressed! Edges accented with copper acrylic paint.
-Metal squares cut from the inside of a President's Choice 100% Sparkling Fruit Juice can. Spirals stitched s l o w l y on my sewing machine. No thread in the needle!! Pounded with a jewelry hammer and shaped.
-The foil chocolate wrappers (Ferrero Rocher, yummmm....) were accented with red oil pastels -- not a good choice as they didn't dry on that surface and needed a couple of coast of Krylon Workable Fixative

BTW, those metal squares really aren't all that comfortable to hold in your hands, so they should probably be kept away from little fingers.

Detail:



The flip side:



Top - the back of the front cover

-Collage of old book pages (they're fair game as the cover is falling off)
-Leftover copper paint from the front cover, shaped and dried on the freezer paper I was using to protect my work surface. I cut out the shape (paper and all) and then used matte medium to attach to the base
-a flyer from the "Sketch" program, that was left at my last quilt guild meeting
-More chocolate wrappers
-Bits of gold leaf left over from other projects. Flecks, really....left on the backing paper. I just never got around to throwing them away!
-Paint, gesso & teabag drippings
-a thin coat and polish of Renaissance Wax

Bottom - the back of the back cover

-Collage of old book pages (from the same book)
-Thread bits under a layer of Godiva tissue paper (left in a bag that someone gave me). Fixed with matte medium
-Walnut ink spray that didn't dry (probably because I was in a hurry and the matte medium wasn't absorbant), so had to be blotted and sprayed a few times to get some colour
-More chocolate wrappers
-Bits of gold leaf left over from other projects
-a thin coat and polish of Renaissance Wax

This was quite a fun process and they are my first EVER book covers!! I'll probably have separation anxiety when I give them away, but I expect that I'll be making more in the future. I've actually never made a book and I'm not sure that I left enough room for binding, but I'm hoping for the best!! So, what do you think?