My last post showed some of the mono prints with acrylic paints I did. Well, I took one of the prints and, based on our lesson a week ago, used Neocolor 1 crayons to color our print. What fun!!!! This was the picture I used for inspiration to mono print this series.
Here is my original mono print with acrylics. I was quite happy with how this turned out.
Then over dyed (which made it quite dark) and then I colored with Neocolor 1 crayons to enhance some of the colors. This was our lesson last week, which really freed me up to experiment with crayons..
Here are all three together...original, over dyed and colored with crayons!
Next up was putting a collage together using more papers that I mono printed. This is a collage/quilt I made....now to quilt it!!!
I also printed some more mono prints so I would have more choices for the borders for my next piece. These turned out pretty good...on this one I used Gelato's crayons to color over the print.
This was printed on deli paper....then colored with Intense Blocks, then a wash of water. Yep..still having fun!!
Last week we were still playing with mono printing...this this time we are using paints. Because I'm conscious of spending $$'s - of forget that...I'm just cheap and have all these acrylic 99 cent paints to use up...so that's what my mono printing was done with! I'm quite happy with the results...but first, this is how we decided on what to print on our medium.
Hilary had us pick out some pictures that we either liked the color or shapes in the photos. I happened to have in my "Hilary" folder, some old pictures from an old calendar. These are the two I used as my inspiration for printing. I loved the colors....
This was the first mono print I did. We used a palette knife to apply our paints You can see how thick the paint is...I actually got two prints from this attempt - pics which follow. I tried not to apply it as thick when doing the rest of the mono prints.
Here are the before and after prints, after meaning I applied dye to color in the white areas.. These will most likely be used as background pieces or some will be perfect for stitching.
These two are on fabric. All the rest are on paper.
And have to add a great grand baby picture...this is Boscoe with Rilynn!! How sweet is this!
I'll explain "IT" in a moment....I want to introduce you to my friend, Joan. Some of my followers may remember Joan from a fabric painting session she did at our house in 2013. You can see that post here. Joan does beautiful paintings....I just need her to come back to the house and paint more fabric or paper!...until then....Joan is/was also a good 'mom' to "IT"....here are some excerpts of emails Joan has sent to me over the past few weeks...I'm also including video's that she sent me!
"I went to a friend's husband's 80th birthday yesterday and one of the guests there brought Bill a gift of a monarch caterpillar. She and I talked and I asked a few questions about raising the butterfly since I had never attempted it or knew anything about it. She leaves the party and returns a few minutes later with a inch long caterpillar in a cottage cheese container resting on a milkweed and gives it to me. Not knowing what I was getting into I accepted the responsibility of this life. I went home a little later and transferred (IT) to a quart glass jar with Saran cover and poked breathing holes in the cover, not In IT. I watched IT through the evening and got on line to read about IT's life cycle. I was very concerned that I would not have enough milkweed to feed its voracious appetite, about 20 leaves though its life cycle so I called my neighbor last night and she said she would check to see if she had any milkweed growing in her back yard in the morning."
"It may be all for naught since IT hasn't moved since I brought IT home. When I see a sign of life I may give IT a name. So far I feel like a failure. I'm torn between hoping it moves and hoping it doesn't. Bad mother! I will have to go hunting for milkweed growing around here and the weeds are all wet from the rain."
"Update on IT, which should have been named by now. I had to run some errands and was gone a couple of hours. During that time IT shimmied out of it's exoskeleton, shedding in on the jar floor like a castoff dress, forming an emerald green "kimono" around itself, better known as a chrysalis, and was hanging by a spun thread from the Saran Wrap ceiling when I got home. You just can't turn your back on these things, and since it's all wrapped up, IT can't eat anything, at least for now. I moved it from the counter to a serving cart by a window and IT swayed so much I was afraid the thread would break so I did not take IT with me to the cottage. I'm just waiting for something to happen now." "I'm trapped. I need a baby monitor. I was going to go early this morning to the dealership and get my oil changed. I'm getting maintenance messages, instead I pulled up a chair to my island because I don't want to miss the metamorphosis. Now I think I know what it's like waiting for a birth. How long does this take. It already turned black. I could wait for hours!" This is Joan releasing "IT"!!!
And a happy ending!!!! "IT" is alive and well....just check out these video's Joan sent me!
I told Joan she needs to write a blog, as she is so funny. I always enjoy reading her emails and her 'MacGyver" episodes! But those are a whole other blog post!!! Who knows...I may have to share some of those if I can get Joan to give me permission!!! Until then I hope you enjoyed meeting and reading about "IT" from my friend, Joan!!! Congrats, Joan!!! You were a good mom to "IT"!!!!
Baby Rilynn Marie made her debut on July 5, 2019, 6 lbs 13 oz and 20”!!! We are so happy for Kayla and Nate and for the new grand parents (as well as us now becoming great grand parents). Welcome to our world little one...can't wait to meet you!
Proud mama! We heard she was a super star in the delivery room!
Proud grandpa, Ron...this is Bob's son.
And grandma, MaryJo! I know she's already in love with this little bundle. As it should be!
This past winter I saw a book folding class being held at our local used book store, Cottage Used Books. How cool that we have a used book store 2 miles from our house! And they do book folding classes - a technique that I didn't know about.
So two weeks ago I attended a one hour class at the store taught by the owners daughter, Jenna. Jenna is a sweet young lady and very talented! She let us choose which pattern we wanted and I chose the LOVE pattern for my first folding. I didn't have any trouble following the instructions, it's just a very time consuming technique but what a cool way to use old books that would otherwise just be thrown out!
First, I want to show some of the folding books they have on display at the book store. Are these cool or what!
What a great way to display your book folding abilities...book ends!!
I probably should have shown my finished book first then shown their folded books! HA Mine isn't the best but I'm happy with it. This is the pattern I chose to make.
This was the start of my book...you can see the 'L' better starting to form! Well, I can!
And my finished book! I think I have the first folded pages squeezed together too much so the 'L' isn't as defined as it could be. But still!!! I finished my first folded book!!! YEA!! Thanks, Jenna!! You are a great instructor!
In the class, we were also given another pattern, which is pages folded and pages cut. Inward/outward folds! It's really unique as well. I only have about 5 or 6 pages cut for the Flamingo so it will be awhile before I get this one finished.
I know they have offered this class a few times, so if you live in the Goodrich/Davison/Clarkston area, check out their FB page for upcoming classes. Or just stop by for a few books!
Kinda fun isn't it! Always good to learn new techniques to have in our 'tool' box!
What's a Squash Book, you say? Well, I didn't know either but some of the ladies in my online MIP class showed a few posts on the squash books they made. I was so impressed with what they had created, I just had to try to make one! So, that I did! I found a Youtube from Maymay Made It and her instructions were so easy to follow! I even signed up for her Face Book page!
This is the front cover...the book measures 5"x5".
But it's what's inside that is interesting!
And the back.....
This little book reminds me of the exploding box my friend Jan did and the one I made for Amber's graduation. Although, this is SO much easier and smaller...but you could make any size you wanted.
And I was able to use my papers from Hillary's class!! Woohoo!
Of course I had to do a quick video just to show how it opens!
Here's what the book looks like when it's open all the way.
And just a close up of each section..
Check out the YouTube link above and I bet some of you will end up making one as well.
I think this will be a good graduation gift for Nick in 2 years instead of the exploding box. I can put pictures on each of the sections.
And, I didn't with this book, but you can also add papers to the back of the book so that gives you lots of areas to cover!
I finished this paper collage a few weeks ago but between being sick, playing with mono printing, etc. I never got around to posting the finished piece. So here it is! It measures 15" x 17"
I'm happy with how this piece turned out. I used my gelli printing with masks, a small piece of hand dyed fabric (piece with bright yellow in it) and some old papers I stamped and overdyed. Of course, I love black and white for my binding and I think it turned out good on this piece. Doesn't take much to make me happy does it!
Colors aren't showing up as bright as they are in person. We got new phones and I'm just getting used to using all the camera settings.
Wait until you see the class project I took at our local book store! It's called 'book folding' and it's a blast! I know...I need another hobby but it's always fun to learn something new...good for the mind!!!
We have a used book store 2 miles from my house called Cottage Used Books and I saw last winter they were offering this class. I just had to see what it was all about! I have quite a way to go on my book but I'll post my progress sometime this week.
Until then...have a great day! In between coughing and blowing my nose (still!!), I'll be working on more projects!!!
Before I got 'infected' with the cold/flu bug, I did complete our lesson on mono printing with thickened dyes. I've done mono printing with acrylics before but never using thickened dyes. What fun!
These will all make good background papers. I might have to go back and make some more feature papers to use these with! HA
I used Hydrangea and Misty Gray dyes...sometimes mixing them together!
The tiny looking dots was actually the imprint left from one of the foam rollers I used to paint the dye on with. I think it was an old roller. The newer roller didn't show that texture.
Yep, I have been MIA this past week! Me, who doesn't get the flu or colds (usually!) came down with a whopper this week! This bug has kicked my butt!! I finally went to urgent care yesterday afternoon...my own doctor couldn't get me in until after next Tuesday!! WHAT!!! Actually, our former doc retired and this is our new doc. Remind me not to get deathly ill or just remind me to go directly to urgent care! So now I'm on the mend, thanks to antibiotics and steroids my head feels better! Bronchitis is taking a lot out of me and I just want to sleep all the time, which isn't me...I don't nap during the day, ever. But lookout world, I might be back in full force in a week!!
Just so this post isn't all words! This is a picture Jan sent me of Gracie! She was enjoying a tea on the front porch of Jan's home. How cute is this!!!
Some blog readers may remember Gracie the Flamingo. She sat at the front of the house we rented from Jan and Larry each winter. Gracie was fading so back in 2016, I repainted her. You can see that blog post here. Jan and Larry have sold the house and took Gracie with them. I know she'll be in good hands and I have a feeling she'll be moved around Jan's yard quite often! Who knows...next time she just might be invited to dinner!
