A Secret...

I am taking part in my Soul Journal Yahoo groups Mandala ATC swap. For those (like me) who have no idea what ATC means, I have finally discovered it means Artists Trading Card. This means I have to produce 20+ cards, either copies or originals. As it is sometime before everyone will receive their cards, i don't want to post pictures of the cards or certain details... I wil later, but not now...

So here it is...

I began with three sheets of white card upon which I marked the cards out. I then gesso'd with a mix of clear gesso and acrylics in colour one. i used a glue spreader so the mix gave a nice texture with little ridges and different thicknesses of colour. I then used scissors to scrap some chalk off a stick onto the wet gesso mix. The chalk was in colour two and once dry I brushed it so it gave a softer look in places. I then splatterd some ink on in colour three.

I then began work on the mandala itself by cutting out circles of sugar paper in colour one. I then used oil pastels in colour three to draw round the edge of the circles and then smudged the colour inwards. Onto this i stuck six shapes in a darker shade of colour one and into the centre of these, a smaller shape in colour two.

So now I have to choose my affirmation and copy them onto each card. I would also like to pretty up the back of the cards a little, if I have time!

One thing I love about the cards is that every one is different. The balance of the three elements of the background varies. The way I cut the shapes and glued them on varies to. Every one is unique!

I also love the fact that the cards suit Eostre and also fit Project Spectrum! Bonus!

Mandala for a Teenage Girl 2

And the second mandala... using much the same tools as the first.

I added some spray fix to both mandalas to try and give the glitter a bit more staying power...

Burning

This image was completed early last week.

I started with red and orange marker pen scribbles, then I added pink and red ink marks. Over this I added red paint. I then spoldged on white paint and spread it using a kids texturing tool. I then cut out some flamey shapes from some irridescent cellophane. The words are in gold stickers and although it has been cut off a little, due to the size of the book, reads ' How bright do I burn?'.

Mandala for a Teenage Girl

Just because I have been busy at work with overtime and very quiet on this blog, doesn't mean I haven't been creating! I have a lot of things complete or near complete it seems...


This mandala sits on one side of a spread in my niece's book. There will be a second mandala on the other page of the spread but that is still at pencil mark stage. They each sit in the middle of a near A4 page for her to journal around. I haven't included affirmations as I don't want to inflict my views on her, I just want to create a pretty place she can share her own.

This one was made with silver and lilac embossing powders and a glue pen; pink, purple and silver metallic paints; purple and silver crayola markers; silver fine line pen and silver and purple glitters. The page is gesso with white acrylic over the top.

I found this hard to get a good image of because of the sparkliness of the mandala. Some of the detail with the fine silver pen is lost as well in this picture. Some of the images appeared in silver all over!

I was inspired to include some mandals in my nieces book by the prompt from the Soul Journal group I belong to. They have a yahoo group here and a blog here. This month includes an ATC swap and a mandala competition.

Kenny's Page

Collaged with yellow magazine pages. clear gesso. Paint 'Black Dog' large with black acrylics.

Wrote a selection of the names we used for him in red gel pen round the outside of the page as a border. Wrote in orange gel pen around the page some of the things he used to do.

Used acrylic washes to create 5 'frames' getting smaller as they went in the page. lemon yellow for the outer one and cadmium red for the inner one with gradations in between.

Discovered what to do with my autumn blending chalk pack and used the yellow, red and prange chalks to make the colours radiate from the middle. (wish I had scanned it at this stage as it was pretty!)

Mixed my copper and gold metallic acrylics to give a more appropriate shade and then spread lightly over the top of the page with heavier dollups in the middle.

**********************************

It has been over two weeks since I wrote about this page first and it has taken me this long to be able to finish as I find it a very moving page and finishing it has made me feel very sad.

I used the images from a lovely sympathy card as a template. Kenny was a black dog and his earthly body was done using black sparkle embossing powder and his spirit in snowflake tinsel embossing powder.

His name was printed from my PC and I cut the letters out to make a template and I had put some irridescent cellophane underneath. I used the template to sponge on black paint which I overlaid with PVA glue and then pasted the cellophane letters on top. Finally I added some sparkly stick on heart shaped stones.

Book Making 2

I managed to part F from an old light blue shirt and cut a large rectangle out that was enough to cover the book completely. I then took my silk paints and started to paint the cotton. It became obvious painting was not going to do it so I just dropped it on using three colours, azure and navy blues and purple. I then sprinkled it with enough water to make it damp and scrunched it in my hands to allow the water to spread and the dye with it.

I scanned the material several times and above shows one of these although there is a bit more purple in real life. I then added some metallic inks with a sponge - do this after you have put the cloth onto the book as the glue made this a little messy as the ink ran. The silk paints were fine because I had ironed them to set them.


The photo below shows the board covers laid on the cloth. I cut the board near the holes to make strips. The cloth will act as a hinge between these two bits of board so the book can still be opened once it is bound.

I then taped the board across the middle to hold it the distance apart I wanted it and to hold all the pieces tsraight relative to each other. Make sure you allow a little extra spine width to allow for the thickness of the board - I didn't and had to rip a few pages out. Then glue the outside of the board covers and stick down onto the cloth. Stroke the cloth outwards to remove any bubbles and wrinkles and to ensure it is taut.

The masking tape across the middle is no longer required so can be removed. Fold the fabric across the corners and glue it so that wherever fabric touches fabric or card with the fold it will stick. I then ironed the corners to ensure the material was smooth and well folded. I then glued all the fabric flaps, ensuring there was glue right up by the cover and folded the material over, ensuring that I smoothed it to make sure it was taut. I then removed any excess glue that had come through the cloth and secured with masking tape as it dries.



This next part is hard to photograph... I then took some black cotton and took it through one of the board holes through the cloth into the inside of the book. I then threaded all the pages and took the cotton through the hole in the other cover and through the cloth. I then took the thread through the second set of holes, then the third and fourth and then back down. I did this alot of times!

Make sure all tail ends are at the same place and sew them through so they are between the first / last page and the cover. Knot them together and then slide them under the sewn down spine, near the holes. Then put glue along the spine to stop them escaping and coming loose. Press down the spine so any escess glue comes out and wipe away.


Of course it isn't finished yet! I need to make or find some preety paper to glue across the first page and front cover and also the last page and back cover. This will hide the edges of the fabric and the board on the inside and ensure the book is fully joined together. Now I have lots of lovely interiors to make for my Neice!

Book Making Part 1

I started to make my first book tonight.

I haven't done much. I took 24 sheets of A4 paper from a folder which had 4 holes punched. I then punched four holes in each of two pieces of A4 board for the covers. I then took 23 further of the pages and sliced them so I was left with a thin strip of paper with the four holes. The slices will sit in between each full sheet to make the book fatter so there is a little more room to accommodate collage and paint.

Next I need to find an old shirt of F's....