Sacred Geometry

I have wanted to do some string art for one of my mindfulness cards.  Traditionally, string art involves using nails to anchor the string.  In the setting of altered art, I usually use mini brads to anchor my string designs.  When I started exploring the idea of sacred geometry, I found this string art pattern for a chambered nautilus.  Since our mindfulness cards are only 4 x 6, the format is a bit small to use brads in place of the traditional nails for string art. That's when I decided I would just "embroider" the nautilus pattern onto my cards.

Here, I used 140 lb. watercolor paper for my substrate.  I scaled the pattern down to fit the 4 x 6 card and ran it off onto cardstock.  I laid the pattern over my card and used an awl to poke holes into the card.  I then chose gold metallic thread to "sew" my nautilus design.

In the beginning, it took me awhile to figure out the sewing pattern (plus my thread kept getting tangled!)  Once I was familiar with the sequence, the other cards were faster to make.  It still took about two hours to make each card, but the process was quite relaxing.

No Mud, No Lotus

When I saw this color palette of blues and pinks, I thought I would do this pop-up lotus flower.  I painted the background (140 lb. watercolor paper) with cerulean blue acrylic.  For the flower, I used ink pads and an ink blending tool to color sheets of vellum.  I followed this tutorial to make the flower:   http://www.instructables.com/id/Amazing-flower-pop-up-card./

I chose this quote from Thich Nhat Hanh which states "No mud, no lotus," and finished the edges by stamping with a mandala stamp.  I can't remember where I got the beaded dragonfly, but it complimented this page, so I put it on a gold cord and will include it when I send my page. 

Turquoise, Teal and Olive

Another beautiful palette to explore this month!  The colors immediately brought to mind peacock feathers.  I debated whether to use actual peacock feathers in my spread but ultimately decided to use my peacock feather stencil.

I had fun pulling out all of the supplies that I had in these three colors to help me decide how to make my pages.  I had acrylic paints, glitter paints, embroidery floss, Glimmer Sprays, Dylusion Sprays, Distress Inks, glitter glues, Perfect Pearls, markers, gel pens, Inka Gold...dizzying, huh?

Next, I created several swatches to see which products gave me the truest colors.  I liked the look of the Blue Teal Glimmer Spray for the background.  On top of that, I added a light coat of Blue Ice Glimmer Spray for a little more shimmer.

I had not played with my Inka Gold in quite sometime.  In fact, I discovered that a few of my pots had dried out, so while I had them out, I sprayed some distilled water into the pots to moisten them back to a creamy consistency.  I pulled the Turquoise and Greenyellow (which looked more gold than olive green).  Since I did not have the Inka Gold in teal, I used a deep blue glitter paint instead.

When the feathers were done, I added a little bling for embellishment.  I chose this brief quote by Henri Matisse about creativity (probably because the recipient of these pages is a very accomplished artist which sort of intimidated me!)

I also made a peacock feather bookmark to compliment my pages.

Box o' Bliss

This month's Mindfulness cards are playful, tongue-in-cheek.  Although not a traditional mindfulness prompt, "Chocolate" made the list by popular vote.  I knew it was only a matter of time before I would tackle this prompt. 

I admit that I borrowed this idea from a spread I did in an altered book round robin several years ago.  That book's theme was "My Imaginary Vacation."  I envisioned my Imaginary Vacation to involve loads of decadent chocolates and Johnny Depp.

For these chocolate cards, I found an image of a box of chocolate truffles and cut them down to 4x6 size.  Through painstaking trial and error, I created a template for a 3-D looking box to house the truffles.  .

I had already asked my swap partners who their celebrity crushes were, so armed with this information, I scoured the internet for photos of their celebrity crushes.  Now, this is where the fun comes in.  I sized the heads of the various celebrity crushes to fit the chocolate truffles.  Then, I created pull-outs with their heads!

Johnny Depp still remains a celebrity crush of mine, but I had also had to include Pierce Brosnan in my Box o' Bliss!

Penny Leis for Graduation

It's graduation season again and in Hawaii, we honor our graduates by giving leis.  I have made various penny leis over the years.  The pink and iridescent cellophane lei in the top photos were made for a family friend graduating from college in Colorado.

The red and black cellophane lei in the middle is for my nephew who graduated from the University of Hawaii at Hilo.  Red and black are their school colors.

The red lei in the bottom photos is for my niece who is graduating from high school.  At her school, each class votes on a class color that will be associated with their class throughout high school.  Her class color is red.  Since she is petite-sized, I wanted to create a daintier lei that would not overpower her.  I experimented by making this lei with glittered tulle (3" x 3" squares).  I like the way it turned out.  The size turned out just perfect for her!

Turquoise, Pink and Orange

I cycled through a lot of different ideas before I finally arrived at this page (above).  I love the color palette, so I was surprised and frustrated that I couldn't easily figure out what to do.  I think part of my struggle was that many of these color journal pages will be bound in a Midori style journal (elastic cord binding).  The size is 8 x 8 with a fold in the center.  This is a surprisingly small size for me and it required some scale adjustment on my part.  Also, some recipients want the work to be flat.  Talk about a challenge!  My style tends to be chunky, embellished, interactive.  I find that my "go-to" techniques often require the structure of  an actual bound book (which is why altered books really appeal to me!)  So, outside of my comfort zone I ventured.

The creative process began with this idea of Kandinsky-inspired circles.  I made a mock up out of concentric felt circles, but once I saw it, I wasn't loving it.

It took me a long time to reach the decision to abandon this initial idea and start anew.  So, once back to the drawing board, I began to make a connection between these colors and Bollywood.  This palette reminds me of India and knowing that Jen loves music, Bollywood seemed a logical choice.  Easy and inspiring, right?  Or so I thought. Beginning to feel the time crunch, I forced myself to just START.  While pulling stencils that gave me an "India" vibe, I thought I might try playing with these new layered stencils from Altenew (Dahlia).  Using Distress Stains, I chose orange for my background color. For the first stencil, I applied a pink Distress Stain with a felt applicator (I was too lazy to find my sponge daubers).  I applied a turquoise Distress Stain through the second stencil.  Some of the colors started to bleed into each other which gave it a soft, water-color effect.  I was fascinated by this layered technique.  This is how it turned out:

Interesting, but it didn't feel right for these color journal pages.

Next, I pulled out my Dylusions sprays and started playing with some of my other stencils.  This background was created with orange and pink Dylusion sprays.  I added another layer applying turquoise acrylic paint with various plastic lids and Q-tips.  I was happy with the bright and energetic look that was emerging.

As fun as this was, it really needed something more.  I toyed with the idea of adding silhouettes of Bollywood dancers.  Or a Buddha image.  Again, none of this was really grabbing me.  I think that's when I started to move toward a Boho page.  I imagined colorful ribbons decorating the page edges. 

 Yes!  But, it still needed a focal point.  I found a quote about music that seemed fitting.  I printed it out in a 3 x 3 square and framed it in turquoise paper (using my new Frame punch board from We R Memory Keepers).

Despite the early struggles, I am very happy with how this page turned out and think Jen will love it too!

Bargello Leftovers

 

Look at the pretty cards I made with my washi tape bargello leftovers!!