First Domino Pendant/Ornament

So, I've been seeing all of these awesome altered dominoes online, and since we've had a box of brand new ones laying around, unused, for years, I decided to give it a try. I had given it a half-try a couple of years ago by just stamping on the blank white back of one, but since then, I got interested in making fabric and paper beads, pendants, wire wrapping, etc., so I had hubby drill tiny holes in both ends of each plastic domino for eye screws, the whole box, because I dream big. Ha!

I've started with three, two of which I put a layer of clear gesso on, then a layer of acrylic paint, and that's as far as I've gotten, but I plan to hand paint a tiny landscape on each of them. Of course, that can change when I start playing with them again.

This one, I decided to use the three basic alcohol inks, that I've had forever, on. I experimented by dripping a bit of each color onto the domino, letting them sort of run together, and left it to dry. An alcohol pad carefully applied around the sides took off most of the ink that had run over, but the blue left a slight stain, which I'm not worrying about, because this is a learning experience. 

Once it was dry, I stamped the half face onto it with a stamp I've had forever, and love, and black Stazon Ink. It's not quite as dark as it appears in this photo, and the bottom of the face kind of melded into the ink, but I like it. 

When the stamp was dry, I applied a layer of Diamond Glaze dimensional glue, and left it to dry. That would have been the end of it, but I stuck my finger into the glue before it got good and dry, leaving a hole right in the middle, so I filled in the hole and added a second layer of glue, trying to even it out. When that was dry, there were some uneven edges, where the glue was a little thicker, so I added a third layer to get it more even, which also trapped some dust that had fallen onto the domino, making tiny little bumps in the finish. I don't mind though. Not trying to sell it or anything. Just learning.

It looks like it has a thick glass over it now! I added tiny silver eye screws, a charm that says "Imagine", and a jump ring through the top eye screw for a cord, ribbon, chain, etc., and it's ready to be a pendant, an ornament, or an embellishment. The wire hanger thingy at the top is only temporary to see how it looked hanging up, and if the blue stain on the side bothers me, I can always add a layer of paint or alcohol ink to cover it, and I would if it was a gift or for sale. For my purposes, however, it is fine as is!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

A bit closer view!

The back, which is actually the front of the domino. Some people fill in the dots or paint over them. I chose to leave it alone, because I like it, and it has also occured to me that I could add a second charm, facing this way, with a different word, and it would make it reversible! Although, I should have paid more attention and let the two pink dots be on top. It was still fun to do, and I learned what not to do, so now on to the two still waiting! 

You're never too old to learn something new, and it makes life interesting! Go for it!

Stitch Meditation 37 and Covering Edges

 This piece may seem somewhat discombobulated. That's because I stitched on it in different sessions over several days, while several things were going on in our lives, including the death of our brother-in-law. So much information is being thrown at all of us from so many directions about all of the things going on in the world that I think it's affecting all of us in one way or another. Some days it's very hard to be positive, but I worked on this piece in spurts, trying to meditate white stitching, until it said, "enough!"

It is about 5" x 5" square, and is made of scraps from new and vintage fabrics, perle cotton and embroidery thread, and embellishments. I used a fabric stamp on a tea stained vintage scrap from and old bed skirt, lace from an old bra cup, buttons cut off some old clothing, and tiny beads. I also had a small scrap of silver wire, left over from a wire wrapping session, that just fit for a forehead dangling embellishment. He also has a little tassel tail. 

The piece may be discombobulated, but I like it. I look at it and see where I was mentally and emotionally while making the stitches.

 I also stitched some eyelet trim onto the ends of the pages in the fabric book (shown in a previous post) to cover the raw edges where I cut the placemat in two. I may add something else to the trim at some point, but, for now, it covers the bottoms of and also adds to the collaged pages. 

This will probably be the last post showing this book for a while, while I add more to the pages, as they tell me what they need. I will share again when it's finished.

Hope you are all staying safe and creative. It certainly is a challenge these days! Take care!

WIP Pages in My Wire and Plaster Art Journal

I painted on paper so long I forgot what painting on canvas felt like, even if the pages are textured with gesso/marble dust and modeling paste!

These are some of the spreads I'm currently working on, all very much still in progress! All are in my wire/plaster journal inspired by Jeanne Oliver's class (see previous post).

Bare beginnings. Let's see where they go from here!

Thin paint, napkins, ink, and texture to start...

Playing with a cruciform composition; many layers, textures and techniques...

After I posted this post, I worked on this one a bit more. The whiter background is due to a different light. I didn't like the whitish negative spaces, despite the texture not showing up in the photo, so I added some lines and a bit of gel pen marks to the cruciform attempt. I also re-worked the wire in the binding, because before it had a hump in the twisting that was going to push a hole in the middle of the page. I flattened it out. I like the wire much better. Not sure about the lines!

Texture, a tinge of paint, old photos printed off, and a bit of collage...

The beginnings of another She Tribe painting (see previous post) with inks, napkins, and text...

This one just lacks a final touch, and I'm waiting for it to tell me what that is. Many layers of many things built up to this point. See the post just before this one to see what it looked like before I rolled the light paint over it. Don't know if I did the right thing or not, but it's growing on me!

I added color to another blank spread today, but don't have pictures yet. Can't wait to experience the journey of emotions that each of these spreads will take me on, as well as, the pages waiting for their first marks! Fun stuff!

WiP Journal Pages-Before and After

The first spread I did in the plaster and wire journal that I made, inspired by Jeanne Oliver's free class (See the previous post for the Wandering Muse; Plaster and Wire journal).

It started out with a layer of a pretty blue acrylic paint, which I, unfortunately, sprayed a turquoise/teal color over, then a coffee color, which, instead of a mist, came out in splotches. I did some stenciling in titanium buff, but the turq/coffee paint, although dry, mixed with the buff. I tried taking some paint off. I tried spraying a fixative. The spray paint kept bleeding through.  I added a dark tea bag, some stencils and stamps, napkins, pencil marks, a small gelli plate print (blue cat), more paint, etc. After several layers, this is what it looked like. Too dark and too busy. I didn't like it, but didn't know what else to do to it to lighten it up some.

Then I saw in one of my groups where a lady had a painting that she said didn't have any contrast much in it, so she used a roller to apply white paint over the whole background. The texture in the background picked up the white just enough to allow enough of the colors to shine through to make a huge difference. I thought to myself, "Why not?"

So I mixed a bit of burnt sienna with titanium buff and used my little hard roller to apply it over the top of my very textured pages, and this is what I got. Not sure if I like it better, or not. Part of me really does. I know it needs just a touch of something, and the crow got kind of lost. So this is where it is for now, as I wait for it to tell me what else it needs. The little flap on the right page has a stenciled key on the other side, so there are two hidden keys to all of this chaos. I'm not caring too much for the flap right now, but, for now, it stays.

Close ups of both pages. Now I can see all sorts of little images peering at me through the chaos. I hated to cover up a lot of the stuff that started out on these pages, but it became necessary. I'm thinking the rolled on light paint made the whole thing more cohesive.

Fun to work on, but I'm going to let it rest for a while and grow on me, while I work on some other pages. The experimenting and the process is exciting! It took me years to learn to paint freely, and I enjoy it so much more than I did when I tried to get everything so perfect and realistic looking, which, of course, it never was.

I am so grateful to the teachers who said it's okay for your art to not be perfect, to paint fearlessly, and to enjoy the process!

Don't be afraid to try, to experiment, to play, and to enjoy! It doesn't have to be perfect for you to love doing it!

Stitch Meditation 34

So, the other day I did some stamping on some cotton scraps with Stazon ink. I got these cute little cat stamps in a supply swap a few years ago, and I just love them! Yesterday I picked up these three little cotton scraps and did a quick stitch meditation with them using perle cotton thread, which I am now addicted to. I just wish it was a little cheaper! I didn't use a backing, because, as usual, I didn't think about it until I was already stitching. I like it just fine for my purposes though!

24th Stitch Meditation-Last of the Current Ellies!

This is the last of the fabric elephant prints that I had printed off on cotton a few months ago. I really like the stamp, so I may print off some more at some point, but she's it for now. I used the variegated cotton thread again to stitch the ellie scrap to the batik, jacket, and scarf scraps, just allowing the needle to go around and around in squares this time. I really like the colors! It's about 5" x 5".

My laptop completely died on me about three weeks ago, so it took me a while to pick out, order, and get a new one, which I received at the end of last week. I've been getting online some with my Kindle Fire, but not posting much, while I was without a laptop, and I've been busy setting up and getting used to the new one, which is basically an ongoing process, because I lost everything that I hadn't backed up yet.

I've been taking photos of my stitching and painting, etc., but am just now getting around to posting them here, which accounts for several at once. Plus, we've had a death close in the family today, so the next few days will be busy.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my efforts at blogging and I wish you a blessed February!

23rd Stitch Meditation-Another Ellie!

This is another little ellie that I used a wooden fabric stamp on cotton a few months ago for practice. I used a couple of the prints in previous pieces, and I decided to use this one on the last page of the book, and it's already tacked to the page here, with french knots. 

I used variegated cotton thread that I got for Christmas, which was actually intended to make friendship bracelets, to stitch the elle print onto a rust dyed scrap and a scrap from one of my old  linen jackets. I like it! 😊

19th Stitch Meditation-Elephant and Moth

I finished this little 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" piece yesterday in one sitting of about an hour and a half, using scraps of fabric and lace with off white crochet thread and yellow variegated crochet thread. The outside white border is a paper towel that it was laying on.

The lace and the herbal tea dyed cotton with the stamped elephant came from a bed skirt found at Goodwill a while back. The little red strip is from one of my discarded blouses and the moth is a glass blob embellishment that just seemed to belong in that spot, so I captured him with thread! The threads are inherited from my mom's stash.

I was trying to learn the Pekingese (Chinese) stitch around the elephant, but I botched it at the beginning. I stayed with the rule of not taking out any stitches and kept going though. Not sure this is the way the stitches are "supposed" to look, but I like they way they turned out!

Anyway, it was a fun piece to do, and I'm happy with it, so into the stack it goes with the previous 18!

17th Stitch Meditation-Elephant Stitches

My 17th meditation, using cotton fabric scraps, both white scraps from a thrift store bedskirt, one tea dyed, red from my discarded rayon blouse, elephant practice stamped with wooden fabric stamp (I need more practice!), and DMC embroidery thread, approx 4" square.

This was like a mini vacation for my mind! So happy I discovered this kind of stitching! No pressure to stitch or finish it a certain way. No patterns or directions to follow. Just stitching whatever the needle and thread tell me to! I LOVE it!