Wrecked End

This is the official end of Wreck This Journal. It isn't the end of my journey with it though.

The last couple of weeks I havn't spent as much time on it, other things have been calling me. The journal is still on my desk though. There are things I have done and not scanned, not shared. There are more things to do that I have planned in my head.

I may do them, I may not.

Other things are stirring... I have started writing. Not since a child have I done this.

I think my beginning of WTJ was the thing I learnt the most from.

I learnt nothing is ever so broke it can't be made beautiful.

I learnt I am far braver and have far more gusto than I give myself credit for. Maybe I don't actually creep passively through life. Maybe I have forgotten all the tough decisions, the wild changes. Maybe just because I don't wish to turn my life on it's head right now, doesn't mean I have become passive, weak and cowardly.... I am just making different choices right now.

Art is play and play is art. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you let yourself out to play regularly....

Pink Thing

The f m-i-l requested a long pink necklace for a friend which is to say I had absolutely no choice but to drop everything and get one made as soon as possible.

I went bead shopping on one of my days off and the sight of all those lovely beads distracted me from my anti-beading state and I accidentally decided on something a little more complicated than necessary. The result is a necklace that is sparkly and pink and pretty but really, really not my style...

I used...
Size 12 seed beads (little doughnuts) in pink transparent glass with a rainbow glaze, lilac translucent pearl.
Size 12 hex beads (heaxagonal tubes) in clear glass lined with lilac and clear glass lined with hot pink.
Size 12 Triangles in transparent pink lined with silver and clear frosted glass.
Size 12 tubes in pink silky (think the same affect as Tiger's Eye)
Size 10 seed beads (doughnuts again) in clear glass lined with pink and clear glass with a rainbow glaze.

The design is a simple spiral with three 'anchor points' and because each side has a slightly different length the tube is not completely straight is has a gentle spiral in it's shape as well as it's pattern...

Hen / Stag

Someone I know is getting married and a whole bunch of us are having a little stag do for him. Traditionally women don't go to stag parties but things are changing. I have never met his bride to be. In days gone by, with small communities you would automatically know bith the stag and the hen... So stag do it is! My first ever!

Someone got a cheap hen party set of a wand, headpiece and L plate and I being me, offeed to alter them.... Oh I enjoyed this soooo much! I let my inner child out and she had a ball! This is definitely my artists date for this week. The more icky and tacky and girly and over the top the better...


So we have wand with added ribbons as well as wire fixed with crimps with bells and beads. I also made a handle with gingham tissue paper and adhesive pink ribbon that says for you...




Fluffy L Plate was smeared liberally with interference violet paint. Adhesive ribbons were added top and bottom and all around the L. Stick on gems were added in clear and white on the white background and in pink on the L. I punched some hearts from pink pearlescent card and stuck these on too. I added some stickers to the L and then liberally dosed it all with glitter....
Finally we have fluffy horned headpiece with veil. I added ribbon in pink and white /pink pearl all down the back. I then sewed beads around the headband. Some cheap purple gems were added beneath the horns and then I painted the bottom of the veil with pink metallic paint...

Oh, did I mention the stag is a big, strong chap who is not in the slightest bit girly and can pick up cars? (yes really) Good job he is the sort who is up for a laugh...

Altar, Alter

Today I received a little packet of loveliness in the post, all the way from the other side of the world. One of the things was a beautiful clay disc with different symbols on each side. This disc is for use in earth healing and if you want to know more then Miss R is the lady and this is the place to go....

Now this disc was so lovely that it needed some place good to go. My altar was the obvious place for it to go. Except my altar only really existed in my head. I had the table in place but nothing beyond that. I suddenly realised I needed to gather the things together for it and get it done...


This was the first ever piece of silk painting I did and I always intended it to go on my altar and now it is, finally, there....


Some time ago I started, but never really finished a hearth craft course. I found a beautiful stone way back when which has been living in my kitchen. I always intended to paint it and tonight I finally did...


Here is my altar with the candle I dedicated on my hearthstone. The little figure is a very plain and crude polymer clay effort of mine. I struggled with this type of clay but a little prayer and it suddenly played ball and moved into shape. The ribbon I was given at Bride and of course, my new clay disc.

In large part, my abortive teacher training is responsible for the growth in craftiness in my life. This is a papier mache mask I made in one of our art sessions at college. We were supposed to work in pairs but I didn't, I wanted it to be mine and I had a vision. I had to work like crazy to get it done in the time but I did... and I love it. She sits above my altar...

So thank you Miss R, I achieved a lot today because of a lovely little gift...

Wish Jar Update

My wish jar is still very much a work in progress. I didn't post any pictures before of the early stages with clay so here are a few from just before I started painting.

It has had a few paint jobs.

White

White with grey and black.

Interference paint over the top.

Black

Purple mixed with irridesent medium

Sample area of interference violet.

And still I am not happy. Something isn't right...

Roundup

This week hasn't been so very creative as others in many ways. Being sociable has reduced my free evenings and I am not sure if writing an astrology chart counts as creativity.

I have been having a few issues...

I intended to paint some patterns on to cotton for another project. I used silk paints and gutta to make the lines. The paint spread along the threads under the gutta. I painted the gutta on both sides but it just couldn't penetrate the heavy cotton threads enough and the silk paints just soaked along them, spreading colour. I guess this why batik using wax is more common on cotton.

Today I bought four little pots of fabric paint as well as some fabric painting brush pens. I am looking forward to seeing how they work out and whether or not I can get the effects I want.

I have also done a little braiding. This is a lovely skill I first learnt at a workshop I went to with my Mum. She chose to do one on something more patchworking but not being a sewer so much i went and braided. We used simple cardboard circles with notches in them to hold the threads. I now have a foam disc with many notches which came with instructions for producing more patterns of braid than the one I had always used before. It is very theraputic, moving the threads and something I can do with little thought in front of the TV, once I reach a nice rhythm.

WTJ stalled. I used last weekend for starting my wish jar and astrological chart rather than wrecking. I did a little today but this was on the page sent to be by the most marvellous Mel. I can't say what is in progress but I really decided to torture the poor thing! In the olden days, the most vile of criminals were sometimes hung, drawn, and quartered. I won't describe that barbaric practice here but suffice it to say the poor page has been hung, drawn (or coloured) and quartered but also stabbed and filled with little bullets. Well and truly destroyed... *grin*

I also started a book called The Artist's Way with a group at On The Wing and I think this is going to be a beautiful creative journey....

Wreck This Melon

The lovely Wright Stuff has given me a beautiful little award. I love this award, it always makes me smile whenever I see it. So here goes! (and you may find a theme...)

Ten things I love....

• I love the coaster that Mel made from my get a friend to destroy this pag
• I love the back cover of my journal, I love squidging the hearts and glitter around...
• I love the way the silk paints soaked through and how they look on the black page with white letters.
• I loved walking my book...
• I liked playing fetch with the lost page and losing it in the sea...

And now for some of my most favouritest wreckers (trying to avoid people I always give awards to)
GenieSea
Judie
Kavindra
LaWendula
Magpie
Gretchen

Thing is, all the wreckers are so fantastic... Everyone has been on such a journey with this book and it is incredible to see the differences in journey, the sheer variety this book has inspired. I love it!

I am so glad Jamie started this for us and I am also so glad that so many old friends are on the trip too... Mel, Sam, Leone, Beverley.... If you don't believe how fantastic this all is go here....

Wishes in Waiting

Sometime ago I added the intention of making a wish jar to my list of 101 things. I had read about them on the blogs of others and tracked down some things online and seen some lovely pictures of ones others had made.

A wish jar is a jar where you put little pieces of paper with all your wishes written on them. It helps them to come true.... And is kind of neat and lovely....

Decorating a wish jar is very personal and every single one is different...

Miss R looked at my 101 list the other day and asked if I had made one yet. This got me to thinking about it and this morning I woke with an idea.

I had an idea to cover the jar with air drying clay and then make circular holes in the clay so you could see into the jar, like little portholes. From this idea flowed other ideas. to colour the glass in the portholes. To paint the clay with my irridescent paints. To paint the jar black under the clay so it would act like a mirror on those parts....

So I painted it black and rolled out clay and squodged it on over the top. I looked inside and discovered it hadn't had the desired effect. It looked black. Black with the occasional stippling of terracota. Not good. Off the clay came and the jar trundled off for a wash.

My next attempt was to smear green irridescent paint on and then on top of this, some blue irridescent paint. I then rolled out clay and squodged it all over the jar. I then used my knife to cut out the portholes. Where I made portholes I also removed the irridescent paint.

I nearly made a lid but I wasn't feeling a clay lid....

The jar is now drying, which might take some time...

Smiles by Post

I received a lovely package earlier this week from the fair Mel. I have already shared some things and will share others later but some I wanted to share right now. Little postal smiles...
Thank you Savannah!

Wrecking Crew

This week I have had some help with my wrecking. My 'Ask a Friend to do something DESTRUCTIVE' page has been completed and I didn't look while it was being wantonly destroyed. Mostly because it was taking place the other side of the Atlantic form me in Canada at the hands of my soul sister Mel.

I now have a delightful little coaster to sit on my art table amongst all my clutter! I also have a little innocent journal page with which to wreck some havoc. Mel also sent a lovely pressed flower for my pressed page and her daughter sent some goodies (see a different post).

I took my journal to the far west of this island I live on but I didn't do as I planned and lose my page there. I instead lost it in a small fishing cove near there. I wrote things I wanted to lose on the back and crumpled it up into a ball. I threw it for Little Dog a couple of times and she would run after it, pounce on it, throw it in the air and then drop it. When I threw it in the sea, she grabbed it back out again. She then dropped it but those sneaky waves came and stole it and within seconds it had vanished into a forest of seaweed....

I did a few other destructive things - nothing overly exotic really....
I coloured pages with oil pastels and then ripped and glued and taped...


I drew pictures with glitter glue and then closed the book so it spread...


I dropped silk paints onto a page and watched them spread. I intend to clean this page up by spattering it with bleach but I havn't gotten there yet.


I discovered that the silk paints had soaked through and I loved the way they made this page look.

I coloured the lines that were coloured outside of the line....

I do feel my wrecking pace has slowed. I am trying to not neglect other projects as much and my wrecking is now mostly confined to the weekend really.

Don't forget to click on the picture of the journal in my sidebar and go see what others have been doing!

The Wreckers

This weeks wrecking has been a little slow. Not surprising really with the pages I tackled. I still have any number of in progress pages but the only four pages I wish to show you are these...

Lines in motion. I did this while F was driving, going from left to right across the page and down the page with each colour before starting at the top with a new colour.
Non-stop Line. I have drawn mazes in this way before and really enjoy the effect they give (see postcards) so it is not surprising I did the same thing again but then wrecked it... ink splodged on in various colours and then water sprinkled onto the page on top. The ink has spread through several pages.
Coloured Page. I started with some small shapes and then did contours round in a lovely set of pastel markers. I love the effect this page gives. The markers soaked through so a couple of other pages will have this as a background.
Doodled Page. I doodled in and on and around th text as requested...
Then there is my title page which I re-wrecked and forgot to post a picture of...
I have had a few other interesting bits.

The gum F and I stuck on the sticky page has slowyl dried and as I have kept flipping through the book and forcing this page open, some of the paper has now torn.

My composting page had a little seed sprouting in the thin layer of compost on top! It was too small to handle and move and seems to have suffered in the heat...

My time passing page now gets a date stamp whenever I open the book to that page and look at it for more than a split second. I write the time and date in whatever pen comes to hand...



So observations....Not many really. Just the gentle process of metamorphosis between create and destroy.... The silver tape on the spine is splitting as well as gaining a lovely rumpled texture. I shall fix this at some point and preserve both the texture and the broken bits in the process.... I love my journal..It is so mine. Other books I own always remain to some extent the property of the author. This one is all mine though. I own it and it is a reflection of me....

Melonomania

Lovely Leone of Naturebrushstrokes has tagged me with the watermelon award. I already completed this award on my other blog here, so this time my melons are going to be creative (maybe red with yellow splotches, or purple crosshatching with blue and gold highlights?)

So basically I list a few things that make me happy and then I list a few blogs that make me happy....

As this is my creative blog there shall be a creative twist....

• My journal makes me happy. I love wreck this journal. I love the bits I have repaired. I love the back cover with glitter and hearts trapped in a pocket so you can squidge them about. I love looking at other peoples wrecking. Thank you so much Jamie...
• I love postcards. They invade my life in several ways. Postcrossing makes me buy postcards and send them to people around the world and causes lovely postcards from exotic locales to drop onto my door mat. I love Postmuse, who sends her blank postcards out to people who live or have been there so they can write their stories or thoughts on tha back and then post them back for her to blog about them and share the stories. I love 4x6 expressions, a lovely postcard art yahoo group where beautiful people make beautiful postcard art. I love Postsecret where people send secrets on postcards to be published on a blog and in books.
  
• I love discovering new art supplies, like irridescent paint and metallic paint and beautiful papers...
• I love supportive soul sisters, who spread the comment love and give me lovely things to comment on in return. The first of these was the lovely Mel....
• I love making things. I love pay it forward and blog candy which make me stretch myself in new directions with new projects, mostly after I have started as getting started can be hard to do sometimes.
• I love silk painting. It doesn't matter what you, the beauty of those glistening paints on that lovely silk just works... Try it (and don't worry if you don't have all the fancy kit... Chances are you won't produce perfectly rendered drawings on your first few goes so...)
• I love clay. It feels so much like mud and I love it... I must play with clay more.
• I love paper. I need to learn more about it, to make it, to bind it, to use it... My Dad was (is) a printer and I grew up with the smell of hot ink and paper. I watched him caress paper so it would do what he wanted and all line up or so he could tell the thickness. Paper is in my blood, going back three generations. I think i am the fourth...
• I love my printer. It is a scanner, copier and printer all in one and prints off good quality photos on expensive paper. It is a real godsend...
• I love beads. All those millenia of human creativity have resulted in so many different types of beads made from so many materials. Then to add to it all, the patterns and stitches we have discovered for putting them all together....

and now for my ten blogs... Looking at my ten creative fave things, I really feel that for me, creativity comes in a community, the two things go hand in hand here.... and they should in these blogs too. This is my all time bestest so there will be some repeats, not only from me, but back up the chain of awardees as well.... Starting to go in circles but hey...!

• Mel's Creative Clutter
• Dianne's Art Beneathe Cottonwoods
• Misty's Art Gecko Studios
• Flora's Bone Head Studios
• Paula's Little Scraps of Magic
• Leone's Natures Brush Strokes
• Suzie's Spirit Whispers
• Rowenna's Warrior Girl
• Kavindra's Clear Path to Happy
• Carla's Leafdays

and if you can't see why i like them....