Saturday, April 26, 2008

Thanks and latest doings

Thanks so much for the kind comments on Ragalia. Hopefully she will find a nice home

I have been trying to expand my faces by adding character (like the Jester) and expression (like Hyacinth). I decided I needed to practice this so I made myself a new journal which I call my Face book. I was going to do image transfer with Gel Medium, but I couldn't get it to come out distince enough (turns out I wasn't letting it dry long enough--next time!) so I stamped the image on white tissue and then used the gel medium to seal it to the cover. Similar effect but you can still see the tissue though the background colors and images do show through. I bought those stamps on sale and finally used them! Front and back are the same except I arranged the pics differently. I used osnaberg for the binding fabric and fringed the edges. Like the effect. I used gold cord to sew the pages in and then threaded pearl buttons on the excess. The book is 5" x 7". I used the pages from the tree journal as I made the right size pages for it and also replaced the clay leaves with foam ones since the clay was a little too brittle for that application. It was a gift for a very dear friend, a wonderful artist and very accomplished woman (she has two great books out on silk ribbon with techniques that are popular today) who lives on a farm with lots of trees. Here is the first page of my face book--a self portrait of course though my friend said I look drunk, cross-eyed and angry in the pic! See--I need lots of practice.

I also had time yesterday to sneak in a new altered cigar box. This one has a picture printed on silk then embellished with hand-dyed lace, beads, velvet leave, and sequins.
The box was gold painted wood but had a very unattractive emblem on the front so I used my favorite--paper towels--to cover the sides and front after sanding off the emblem. then I gave them a very light coat of gold interference and topped it with thick gloss gel medium. I like the effect though it looks dark in the pic. It just needs a clasp and I think I may use a piece of jewelry. The top is very thin and I may have trouble getting a nail in there but try I will.




2 comments:

Betty said...

Stephanie, I just found your blog and spent a delightful half-hour perusing your lovely work! Simply wonderful.

Please keep posting your works of art.

Betty Pillsbury

LouAnne said...

What is "interference" that you put on the box sides? I inherited a few wooden boxes from my mil that are nice boxes, but have markings on the outside. My #2 granddaughter loves boxes and I would like to enhance one of them for her.