Christmas Wreath-Fabric Scraps and Vintage Elements

I saw this idea of a burlap wreath. Once I started making this wreath, I added muslin fabric, medical gauze tape, and vintage pearls, and vintage rhinestone jewelry pieces.

The burlap came in when I began to make the bow and layered it with muslin strips

Coffee and Tea Staining and Aging Fabric for Fabric Journals o Primitiver Dolls

I recently have seen a new stain formula combining coffee and tea to make your fabric journals or your handmade dolls look shabby, stained, grungy, antiqued, vintage and quite aged.

Mix tea already brewed, instant coffee, cinnamon, vanilla (a tad) and let fabric sit for a bit. I have found that cotton, or muslin absorbs the color where a polyester or acrylic type fabric does not. (You can buy various degrees of cream or tan colored cotton or muslin). It resists the color. Do not rinse your fabric because the new color will wash out. Let it sit in the fibers of the fabric, and lightly squeeze the fabric, lie it down on an old towel to dry. You can also use a hair dryer or your dryer to remove the excess moisture or hang it up on a line with something underneath if it drips. I would stain my fabric first before cutting out the doll patterns.

Various teas like raspberry or blueberry tea have a different pigment and can make the fabric a bit pink tinged or purplish tinged.

After you make your doll or book, put some coffee grounds into your matte medium to paint over it in places leaving a texture, a coffee scent and a matte covering for the fabric.

So now get off to those primitive dolls and aged old fabric journals.

Inchies and Twinchies Will Be Coming Soon

Yes, who came up with "inchies" and "twinchies"? They are the smallest piece of art. I actually think I will use tweezers for the placement of pieces next time. Inchies definetely creates an artistic challenge to me. So I am making myself do them by joining a swap at Roses on the Table.
Check her blog out. Lot's to do there and for a low yearly membership because NING changed some things, she has videos and short classes. That is my next purchase real soon I hope. I have been working with herj trading groups and am saddened about the fee, but she is worth it.

Last year, I made two twinchies for Milliande another great woman that you should check out. She does not charge for any of her videos and you can watch them on YouTube. The music she plays in the background is fun and soothing too! She was collecting twinchies and was going to do a huge project with them.

So, off tomorrow, my inchies will go into the mail; all six of them. The theme was on butterflies. I also am participating in a vintage tag swap and only three needed to be made this round. I got those almost done for September and then Marie Antoinette ATC's are up on the agenda.

Man with Mustache for ATC

I am in a swap for vintage ATC. I am going to use this man for the trade.

I think I am going to give him a handle-bar-mustache-

Elmers Glue and Cloth Paper

Today, I began to make a piece of cloth paper prior to my going out hunting for "yarrow".

A friend of mine was going through a hard time and I know she loves to sew so I had seen "Stitch Alchemy" a wonderful book that I have wanted. I made mention of it to her, she looked at it online and ordered it. It took her mind off of things and onto things she loves. This book has a twist for her though. She has sewed clothing, costumes, stuffed animals and things like that. But this collage stuff is different for her. So, I just picked up the book for myself with birthday money.

I took a piece of canvas 18x12" and layed it on a glass cutting board. The book suggested freezer paper but I didn't want to stop my project because I did not have freezer paper.

I mixed elmers glue two to one ratio with water and applied it with a paint brush that I don't use much except for oil paintings. Apply the glue to the whole piece of fabric (you can use muslin or cotton fabric-preferably cream or white)and begin to add tissue papers and other vintage papers. I had about 6 tissues papers I have saved from packages and old pages from an old bible. Yolana and I are christians so I figured she would love the scriptures from Genesis in the piece and the colors I was using were green, yellow, aqua blue, a bit of pink and just a floral look. The first paper I used was the aqua blue and layed pieces down on the soak covered canvas (glue all over it, don't worry which way your brush strokes go, just cover the fabric good), and then lay a piece of tissue paper down, fill your brush up with glue and apply, dabbing or lightly brushing. Keep adding your papers how ever you want all over the fabric. I tried added layer upon layer of the same colored tissue paper to see how dark I could get the color. I applied another tissue paper over another type to see what I could see underneath. Use the underside of the tissue paper to get a lighter color. I then began to tear pieces of the Genesis pages and put in different areas of the canvas. Then, I thought, this looks like oriental home made paper, so I got my dried herbs, flaked them a bit on the glue cloth, and then filled my brush with glue and patted it on the herbs. So I am getting some nice texture and color. I stopped for awhile to take my walk and to let it dry. If your glue is too sticky add a bit more water. I used a whole small student sized bottle for this days process. I need to buy more perhaps at the Dollar Store.

When I am completed with this cloth paper, I am going to cut it and send Yolana a half. She will do the same project with her supplies and send me 1/2 of her 18x12 sheet. Then more fun will begin. I am going to teach her to collage and mix her medias!

Supplies for Using Color

After working on collage for months now, I have purchased some various supplies using coupons from AC Moore and Michaels. You can download their coupons. Why not save 40-50% on an item instead of paying the whole amount especially when colored watercolor pencils can cost from $18.00 and up. Michaels and JoeAnne's takes AC Moore's coupons also so copy away and go to each store. All of these stores are on the same route for me so I go to all of them. Do be aware that the prices are a bit different between Michaelsw and AC Moore's.

Now, back to the supplies that I completely love to use for color. I have bought a couple of different brands of watercolor crayons and watercolor oil pastels. I highly suggest buying the "Portfolio" series oil pastels. They are soft and when applied on paper, they go on so smoothly. the watercolor crayons are harder and do not. They almost make an indent in the paper if you press to hard. I bought the Staedtler watercolor crayons and the Loew cornell type. Do experiment though to learn.

The portfolio oil pastels can be applied to all surfaces or can be applied by wetting your paint brush, rubbing the side of the pastel, and applying to your paper. Applying the brush to the crayon then to the paper helps you limit the amount of color you want to apply especially if you are working on a small detail otherwise go to town with coloring on your paper. Apply one color on different spots of the paper, then add another color. Be generous with color or colors. If you are in the mood to do only one or two colors, then do that. The colors blend nicely together and come out looking like a watercolor painting. You can reapply the color after wetting down with a brush and keep painting or rubbing with your fingers the color. When dry, it is a bit more hard to apply color to make the surface darker. Writing on the oils after they have been wet and dried is almost impossible. Still looking for markers that work great on top of oil. Bic Mark-It has come out with a beautiful color selection of markers that I bought at Staples. The names are fun too like "Horsey Brown", "Sunset Orange", "Hot Aqua", "Plumtastic Purple"....These markers are made to write on wet and oily surfaces.

Acrylic paint is a wonder tool to use for color on your surface. I suggest purchasing acrylic paints that are in the craft section of the store and not the fine arts section. You will pay $.50-$1.00 for a bottle and can have many different colors that way and blend and mix. They dry quickly and if you want your work dryer quicker, use a hair dryer. Do not blow the hot air too close to the surface. Once dry, you are able to work on your surface again. the oil pastels, watercolors and acrylics look similar when diluted and dried. Do a sample sheet with each medium next to each other and see what you prefer. You may chose one medium over another depending on the project you are doing.

Gesso is mainly white. Yes, you can buy black and grey in certain stores. I use the gesso to prime or "prepare" my canvas, cardboard, old book page or illustration board. Remember, you can use what ever surface you want. I was talking to my son yesterday in Michigan. He goes to school there and is taking a course that incorporates music, literature and art. Boy do I wish I was there with him taking it. We were discussing various mediums and how they can be used to do a project. He was preparing to work on a three dimensional project. What he did not realize was the time it will take to have his project dry and be prepared for a showing. (He is a pre-seminary student but loves art :) you never know)! Gesso when applied to make your surface nice and smooth, can also be dried with a hair dryer. This is great for when you are drying a piece of antique paper or regular watercolor paper. These are less porous and will dry quicker than a board. You can layer your gesso by putting down one coat, let it dry, then put another coat down. You can put your gesso down with a putty knife or painters knife and have it be textured and bumpy or smooth. Gesso also can be used to fix a mistake. If you applied color that you do not like or painted a mistake, cover it with gesso, let it dry and fix. The black gesso as you can imagine gives a very different appearance and is used differently than white. Brighter colors of paints or crayon are to be applied to black gesso. Grey gesso is to make a surface somewhat bland, less eye attention than a plain white bare canvas.

You would probably never imagine that for color I suggest papers: new, old vintage, magazines, mail, newspapers, childrens books and ephemera. Ephemera is fun stuff. It can be lace, doilies, keys, stamps, anything little that can be attached to a collage or canvas. These have color, and texture and size.

Tomorrow, I will talk more about gathering visuals for color and other mediums used for color.

Don't forget to check out the notebooking site if you are a homeschooler or a mom who is thinking of homeschooling. "Notebooking brings in a child's creative juices with collecting, drawing, painting, collaging and design.