Yes - we started up again - after a two month summer break. Carol, Shelley, Dorothy and I were excited to see each other again, share some cool art projects, swap books AND do a great shadow box project - all in TWO HOURS!Note to my students: we are always on the lookout for new members of this group! If you can commit to a monthly book swap - we'd love to have you. Please contact the store to register.
First off the girls loved the new facilites at Scrapbook Territory. Needless to say - the shopping is great. I was just there a week ago to prep the supplies for my classes - and there were so many new things. We got settled in and Shelley showed us a canvas wall art piece she did at a workshop this summer. It featured using texture from cheesecloth and aluminum foil to create a background. Dorothy shared a blue themed altered book that came back to her from a lengthy mail swap she particpated in. Carol showed us a game board collage she made this summer at the ZNE event with Lisa Kaus. You can see a pic on her blog here.
We also got to see some pages left over from last spring's round robin - in the Calamity Family book and the America book. One of our artist friends moved away - and we'll send her America book back east. And she sent us the Calamity book with her pages done. Interestingly i did a spread in that book, taking creative license to invent a story about the Galveston hurricane on 1900. I wrote about it here.
Next we introduced our NEW books to the group. My Music themed book was described here. Carol's book is called My Party. You will create a couple of spreads that describe a party - real or imagined. What a cool concept. I get to work in this one this month - and i have LOTS of ideas. 
Dorothy's new book does not have a niche or drawers. Dorothy is the QUEEN of the niche - so it was quite a shock. But her book is a cute look at the art of Kissing! Shelley's new book is called Circus. She told a sad tale about preparing the letters for the title and as every collage artist knows, she dropped the letters and could not find the "I". You know how that is, you just had it a minute ago and now it is gone. aarrgghhh.
I'll post pics of those books in the coming months when i get to take them home to work on.
Next we got started on our workshop, an ambitious project to create shadow boxes using a variety of techniques. First we sprayed the bare wood boxes with Color Mists from Outside the Margins. Two or three colours in combination gives a lovely effect on the blond wood. I'd probably apply a layer of gloss medium to give it a bit of sheen.
Next we used Adirondak Ink to create a background for the boxes. Using a felt pad on a rubber stamp handle, we stamped three or four colors on gloss paper. This is a Tim Holtz technique you can read about on his blog. After you stamp the ink you can "work" it a bit using the blending solution. But to be honest - the ink didn't blend as much as it should have - even when using Ranger Industries gloss paper i bought especially. Yo Tim, what's the dill-y-o?
Anyway - it still created a nice granity background. A few dabs of glue secure it in the back of the shadow box. Next the real fun stuff. Applying the same Adirondak Ink on the GLASS of the shadow box. Here you CAN play with the ink and keep working it until you get the mottled effect you want. Then to top it off, we used Archival Ink, swirly transparent stamps with acrylic stamp pads to remove some of the ink. It is another Tim Holtz technique. I learned about it a few years back when i took some workshops with Tim at, you guessed it, ScrapBook Territory. Yeah - where i am now teaching. Does that put me in his league?? nah...
Anyhoo, to complete the shadow box - we need to add something to the box. The girls all used feather butterflies i brought along from home. I did a paper butterfly sample and wanted to try a sea inspired version - so i used shells cut from another Cavallini paper to go along with the blues and greens. A few bits and bobs decorate the outside the of the box.
These all came out awesome - although with varying degrees of clarity. I think Shelley's version using a lot of yellow ink was the easiest to see through. I think i'll try one using those colours. I hope i still have some feather butterflies flying around.....!
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