Liquid Marin ATC Montage Class Photos

 Lucie and I had the pleasure of teaching our ATC Montage class at Liquid Marin in San Rafael on Saturday.  The students had the benefit of learning two ATC styles - i taught the 1-2-3  collage method with vintage images and ephemera.  Lucie taught the students how to create painted backgrounds and develop a more abstract modern style.

 Here is Lucie demonstrating how to arrange the two styles of ATC's on a black gesso'd canvas.

 Here is my finished work. By blending my collage style with Lucie's, you can create a dynamic yet composed artwork.

Each student created up to 10 cards - 5 in each style.    Here is a student's work in progress.

  Another student's cards laid out on the canvas.  Notice she chose to do some cards in the "landscape" orientation.

 Yet another student - still has a couple of cards to complete. We each played around with our compositions to balance colour, form and content to create a cohesive piece. 

 Everyone sure had fun playing with the supplies we provided.

 Lucie's finished canvas.

 And mine again.

And a student's.

 And another students - not quite done - but a great start!

 Can you spot the two styles of cards?

 Just amazing to see the talent in our classroom!

 And my two finished canvases proudly displayed on the wall in my living room.

I hope our students had as much fun as we did - and are showing off their masterpiece in their own homes!

If you are enticed (rightly so) to take a class with Lucie or myself, or one of the other talented instructors, please contact Liquid Marin or check out their website for details.

http://www.liquidmarin.com/

ATC Montage Sample

 Lucie and I made a sample of the class project for all to see!  

Here it is online - or visit Liquid Marin to see it in person.  

There are still spots left in class for those in the bay area who want to spend a few happy hours creating something fun and decorative for your home.

Artist Trading Card Montage

I will be co-teaching an Artist Trading Card Montage class with Lucie at Liquid Marin in San Rafael, CA on Saturday, March 26th.   Students will benefit from TWO teachers and learn TWO ATC styles!  Each student will receive a large canvas to prep for the montage.  You'll create at least 9 cards during the class.  Your finished cards will be adhered to the canvas for a delightful piece of art, ready to hang on your wall as soon as you get home.

Altered Hangers

Yes.  Hangers.  Altered.
See details below.  I hung a bunch of random items on twirly bent wire hooks.  I think this needs some editing.

Saturday afternoon i had my monthly play date with my creative friends in SF.  Sadly Shelley could not make it, but Dorothy and Karen and i did something NO MAN HAS DONE BEFORE.  At least i doubt it.  Karen found an assortment of vintage wooden dry cleaning hangers cleaning out her MIL's house and found this cool idea in a book called Bent Bound and Stitched.

You can see here on the pages inside the book, that you first create a coil out of  wire, by wrapping it around a dowel.  Then you flatten it out to create a flattened coil.  Duh.

Then you drill holes in the wooden hanger and SEW, yes SEW the flattened coil to the hanger.  Here you can see Dorothy had some fun stamping dots and swirls onto her hanger before the sewing with thin wire.

Here is a close up of Karen's meticulous coil.

And a close up of mine.  Oh look Birds.  I wonder where they came from?  I was allowed to dismantle one of Dorothy's necklaces to use those cute little beaded and shell drops.  Thanks to her sweet hubby for drilling my holes for me.

This is Karen's almost completed project.  After you create the altered hanger, well, you HANG stuff off of it!  She created some cool loopy hooks and ties (not complete here) to hang a collection of vintage items.  She plans to make one for each member of her family - creating a sort of alternate to a shadow box.  That's her husband's baby shoe and baby rattle with the shell handle.

Here is Dorothy's finished hanger.  Well, well.  She must have finished this after i left her house, i did not get to see it at this stage.  What fun she must have had searching for all these deliciously interesting goodies to hang from her altered hanger!

Altered Book Workshop - 3-13-11

I had the pleasure of sharing the joys of altered books with 13 lovely ladies at Liquid Marin in San Rafael, CA on Sunday afternoon. After creating 4 basic structures in their vintage books, we got to "play" with the collage kits i provided.  The first theme was, you guessed it, Vintage Birds.  Their kits included assorted ephemera, printed papers, stamps, buttons, lace and leaves.

Here are the students books all lined up after class for "show and tell".  Please note i rushed everyone along - so most people were not completley finished with their spreads.  But even so you can see the talent in this group.  It is always amazing to see how the same materials in an individual's hands, can turn into something so different.  It is great for the ladies to see what everyone has created - we can always get new ideas! 

The second theme was a riot of colour with flowers and butterflies.  I used one of the structures, where i created "tags" on the pages in the middle of the spread. Punch a few holes, add some flirty fibers and you have a very fun interractive idea.

  Oops that green glitter flower on the left must have gotten unstuck from the pink flower on the top right in this photo.  Glue dots to the rescue! BTW - the flowers are dollar store specimens, just taken apart and glued to the book.  Much cheaper than those prepackaged tins of flower petals from the craft stores.  I also used a bit of the new Washi tape on these pages. 

Here is the dazzling array of creativity from my students.  Most used the tag page idea for this spread as well.  I think the pretty colors just cried out  "spring party" - so lets use tags to celebrate the season.

The final theme packet contained asian inspired elements like textured mulberry paper, asian text, origami paper and mizuhiki cord.  A structure was created using folds to create three dimensional triangle flaps, that even hide a secret pocket.

I had so much fun with this group  - i think they had fun too!  Thanks to everyone for a fabulous afternoon.  And to Liquid Marin for creating this great local space for artists and crafters to learn and create!

Intro to Altered Books - still a few places left!

 I have been busy preparing for my Intro to Altered Books workshop to be held at Liquid Marin in San Rafael, next Sunday, March 13th.  Each student will receive a vintage book and learn all about prepping the book for colourful and creative collage. 

Here is a sneak peak at some of the goodies.  This is a kit filled with an assortment of paper in pretty pinks and oranges, fun fibers, doodads and butterflies.

 This kit has my signature vintage ephemera, including sheet music, dictionary pages and postcard text.  It is all in a sepia and soft blue pallette and has birds!

The third kit is Asian inspired with bold red and black, with handmade mulberry paper, origami paper with assorted patterns, Chinese text and even a Haiku!

Please contact Liquid Marin to register for next Sunday's class.  Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!!

Matchbox Swap - Flea Market Theme

I participated in yet another petite inspiration matchbox swaps last month.  The theme was "flea market" and we were paired based on our response to this question:
Please select which best describes your "Flea Market Style":

    (a) Neutrals, whites, aged, chippy, rusty
    (b) Victorian, pastels, florals, foof, cottage
    (c) Bright, bold, kitsch, retro, funky
    (d) Anything goes!
Although i picked "a" - i actually like anything goes! Anything that is that is vintage and pretty and i can use in collage or assemblage.

I received two lovely boxes from Erica and Michelle.  They both went with a primarily white and ecru theme.  it still amazes me how much fun a person can back into a tiny little box!

Erica covered her box with vintage sewing pattern images and lace.  Inside was a nice chunky piece of chenille - probably from a bedspread.  Also some doilies and little spools of lace and a lovely vintage gold pin, some dominoes and a pretty little heart charm.  Inside two vellum envelopes were a nice assortment of buttons and pearl beads.  She used that cool new printed washi tape to close the envelopes.

Michele sent a more eclectic mix, including buttons and lace, interested bits of paper, a plastic tin of goodies, some victorian scrap, and some some vintage christmas embellishments.  her box was decorated with sepia toned paper with lace and stickers and golden goodies.

You can see more pictures of other people's creatively decorated and lusciously filled boxes on the flickr site HERE.

  I went with a vintage office theme - using my latest paper acquisition from Cavallini.  I just adore their papers.  I went to the infamous Flax store in San Francisco and had to exercise great restraint and only purchase 4 sheets of paper!  One sheet was filled with reproductions of vintage ephemera, including two ads for typewriters.  I cut them out and glued them to the boxes.  I added some vintage red Cotton seam binding to the edges and added some two tone twine with a jaunty bow.

To enhance the "office" theme i added each girls initials with old typewriter keys.  And a plastic rosette pin set that off nicely. 

  Inside the box i was challenged to fit everything i wanted to add.  Then i realized that my boxes were a bit smaller than the ones i received.   no problem - they'll just get a little bonus stash outside the box!  The loot included ads from an old magazine, stamps and stickers, flash cards, buttons and floral doodads.  I stayed with a red/orange/yellow theme.  That helps decide what to include!  Inside little key tag boxes are some , you guessed it, keytags! plus old spinner erasers, brass tabs, watch faces, playing pieces and buttons.  I also threw in some parrot embroidered napkins, little tubular pencil lead boxes, rick rack, striped paper coin holders, some linoleum samples and a large plastic number.

 
I hope the gals love their boxes as much as i love the ones they sent me!