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Showing posts from August, 2009

Book review: The Quilting Arts Book

I’ve found that many mixed media artists become inspired to try art quilting, but do not have a traditional quilting background, thus, some of the basics of design, assembly, and finishing may be unknown to them. If you’ve ever wanted to just dive in and start, this is a good book for you to check out. The Quilting Arts Book Patricia Bolton, editor I really enjoyed reading through the collected articles in this book: the tagline is “Techniques and inspiration for creating one-of-a-kind quilts”, and this book is full of exactly that. From composition to piecing, applique, embellishing, machine or hand stitching, The Quilting Arts Book covers it all. Check out out The Bookshop for lots more links to books about art quilts in addition to this fine guide! Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Artsy blogging round-up!

Cathie Filian Cathie is holding a charity dog costume & book auction. All the costumes were handmade by Cathie and featured in her book Bow Wow WOW! The proceeds benifit the Humane Society. Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Craftside has tutorials on how to make two punk rock scarves one with yarn and one with fabric, info on participating in the Good Mail Day Challenge, One Person's Oddity and a Polaroid Postcard design, a bunch of mixed element jewelry and tips on laying a pattern out on plaid fabric. Crafty Princess Diaries Tammy talks about booth set ups for art shows as well as trade shows. Cross Stitch at About.com One of Connie's friends is really big into Egyptian history and culture, so she has some pattern ideas for gifts. If you like Egyptian-themed decor, you will love these charts! Mixed Media Artist Have you ever used an online publisher to create your own artist book? Naughty Secretary Club Jen shows how to transform old lace cu

Design ideas for page layouts

Sometimes I get stuck in a rut when it comes to choosing the layout design for a mixed media collage or altered book page. I find myself recycling the same layouts that have worked for me before. Even if I start with a new idea, it just seems like my page elements creep towards comfortable spots of their own volition! Well, I’ve found a wonderful site to help me get past that, and I hope it will help you too. It’s designed for scrapbookers, but you know what? The basic layouts archived here will work for any visual art form. It’s called Page Maps , and is owned by Becky Fleck. Thanks so much for so many great ideas, Becky! Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

A new critter at our house

My daughter fell in love over the summer while she was in Ithaca doing her summer theater internship. But not with a human. She fell in love with the hedgehog that belonged to one of the other girls there! After doing the appropriate amount of research on the critters, and learning that there is a breeder only 15 minutes from our house, Dani is now the proud mommy of a baby girl. Meet Thistle , as she meets Phoebe : Don't worry...Phoebe the cat is a Ragdoll, and they don't hurt stuff :-)

My favorite mixed media art magazines

There are so many magazines out there, covering every type of art form you can possibly think of. Still, there are two that are my absolute favorites, covering the broadest categories of mixed media arts. Cloth Paper Scissors If you can only get one, make it this one. A must for fabric lovers. Six issues a year, it covers types of fiber arts and collage work, including mixed media, assemblage, altered books, art dolls, visual art journals, rubber stamping, creative embroidery, and book arts. Somerset Studio This one is a close second. It is a lush magazine featuring paper arts, book arts, art stamping and the lettering arts. Includes how-to articles, an extensive paper-arts column, craft marketing tips, artist portfolios, artful journeys to exotic locales, and book reviews. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Artsy blogging round-up!

About Family Crafts: Find out how to can make a story sack for the book, and soon to be movie, Cloudy With a Change of Meatballs. Aileen's Musings Aileen's created a quirky copper bird pin,,,,stop by and check it. Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner Alexa revisits and reconnects with a craft from her childhood Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Craftside has a sneak peek into the soon to be released book; Who's Your Dada? Redefining The Doll Through Mixed Media, free graphics of good angel/bad angel birds with a tutorial for using them as T-shirt iron-ons, how-to's on bleaching and cutting photos to create windows, and a mosaic chicken project. The book and bobbin winder contest continues, leave a question on any topic and you are entered to win! Crafty Princess Diaries You'll find some big crochet fun in these new little books published by Leisure Arts and written by Drew, The Crochet Dude! CraftyPod Sister Diane's new podcast c

Copyright and images

Every once in awhile, questions come up about the practical meaning of some of the terms that we use a lot in mixed media art, especially in altered books and collage. You’ll read that images are "royalty free" or sometimes that they are "copyright free". These two things don't happen to be the same at all. Just because someone offers you the use of an image for no fee (royalty free) does not mean that you can do whatever you want with it. Someone may still hold the copyright to that image and may set whatever restrictions he pleases. It’s confusing, because some copyright holders will let you use their image but not sell anything made with it. Others will let you sell an item that contains the image, but you may not resell the image itself to others. And there are lots more variations on this theme. Basically, bottom line…the copyright holder has the right to set any restrictions he wants. Your best bet, if you are unsure how an image may be used, is to check

Online publishers for your artist books

Ties That Bind Here’s a list of publishers who will do small runs (even just one copy, some of them). It’s like self-publishing without the huge cash outlay of having to have 10,000 copies printed…and pay for all of them yourself. This form of printing is called Print on Demand (POD), and many artists are using these services to produce books of their work. I’d love to hear from anyone who’s actually used any of these companies: were you pleased? Were you treated well? How were the images? Did you have a lot of freedom to select what you wanted? A collaborative art project that I was involved with recently, Ties That Bind , produced a book this way, using Blurb . I bought a copy of the resulting book, shown above, and I plan to buy more. Our mission was to raise money for Ovarian Cancer Research (my Mom is a survivor), and all the profit from the sale of this book goes towards that cause. I am very impressed with the quality of the resulting book. Blurb Lulu MyPublisher Snapfish Bo

Question of the Month: What's the best thing you've made so far this summer?

Over on Jewelry&Beading , the Question of the Month that's gotten the most enthusiastic response is this one: What’s the best thing you’ve made so far this summer? So, anybody want to play show and tell over here? Collage, altered books, digital art, wearables, polymer clay, metal or metal clay…we love it all here, and we get enthusiastic about seeing all of it! So come on, don’t be shy. I’d love to share some of your summertime work right here on Mixed Media Artist ! Just send me an email with an image of your favorite summertime creation so far and anything you want to say about it, and I’ll post it here with a link to your site or blog :-) Email cyndi @ mazeltovjewelry.com (remove the spaces) with the subject line "my favorite project"! Here’s my fave so far, inspired by my mother’s flower garden. There is nothing this woman can’t grow: RuthAnn's Garden Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , ar

Antique moon image

Here is a copy of the antique moon that I used for my Bead Journal Project pages. It’s copyright free, so please help yourself. If you’re not sure how to take this image for yourself, do this: Right click on the image Left click on the phrase “save image as” Give the file a name, ending in .jpg Make sure it’s saving to either your desktop or to whatever folder you desire (use the drop-down arrow at the top to change the destination if needed) There! It’s yours to use :-) Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Peeled paper technique

I have a couple of young friends whose mother passed away from brain cancer a few years ago. I didn't know her as well as I know her sons, because I've traveled and worked with them on youth group trips for years. Knowing what fine young men she raised, I feel that she was an exceptional woman, one of the many whose legacy will live on through her children. Her youngest son, Nick, founded a non-profit organization in his mother's memory, the mission of which is to help fund the basic needs of children in developing countries. He calls it Cling . That story reminded me of one of my favorite psalms, which has a line about clinging to God. I've used that verse in this mixed media piece, and I'll share the peeled paper technique with you that I used to make this. You've got to select very heavy paper for this technique: extra-heavy watercolor paper or hand made papers are generally best. If the paper is heavy enough, you can create multiple peeled layers in ea

Artsy blogging round-up!

The Impatient Crafter : Madge transforms a Kraft paper lampshade from Target into a sophisticated accent piece for a teen's room in this post for I Love to Create. About Family Crafts Do you paper mache? Share your projects and stories! Aileen's Musings This week Aileen's been busy altering cabinet cards. Check out her newest funky cabinet cards and download more freebie images for you to alter yourself. Cathie Filian Cathie and Steve spoof their love of Mod Podge in their latest video. Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Craftside has a fun mixed-media cupcake jar topper project, a how-to on making bottle cap bookmarks, a tutorial on painting over a photo to create a multi frame effect, and a fun beaded fan design. And the tables are turned, leave a question and you are entered to not only win a free book but also a Wrights SideWinder bobbin winder! Crafty Princess Diaries Re-purposing crafting materials is a great way to make sure you don't

Nina Katchadourian’s sorted books project

Tell me this doesn’t look like a lot of fun: A Day at the Beach Nina Katchadourian writes: The Sorted Books project began in 1993 years ago and is ongoing. The project has taken place in many different places over the years, ranging form private homes to specialized public book collections. The process is the same in every case: culling through a collection of books, pulling particular titles, and eventually grouping the books into clusters so that the titles can be read in sequence, from top to bottom. Check out some of her other found poetry and stories on her website! Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Fun with BigHugeLabs

BigHugeLabs has a selection of fun online toys you can use to jazz up your photos. A couple that I particularly enjoyed are demonstrated below! The Motivator : create your own motivational posters The Warholizer : become a pop icon The Hockneyizer : create a photo collage Copyright 2009 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Calls for entries and submissions

GreenCraft Magazine : deadline Sept 15, 2009 Somerset Digital Studio : deadline Oct 15, 2009 Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Combining cartoon and vintage imagery

I had a lot of fun putting together the series of digital postcards that became Jim's Story . If you missed them, the links are below. Following are the steps that I used with Photoshop to make these. Part one Part two Part three 1. Scan copyright free cartoon or clip art images. 2. Convert the file into a stamp, following the directions in Making a Digital Stamp . Make sure that all interior "white" spaces are cut out. 3. Scan the background image (I used postcards) and increase the canvas size enough to add a thin black border. Adjust the colors to a more sepia tone if desired. 4. Stamp the clip art image in place. Enlarge it and clean up the edges if needed. 5. Choose a font for your message. Move the text box or rotate it to fit. Copyright 2009 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact. Technorati Tags:

Books, books, and more books!

I've got a rather impressive birthday coming up next month. You know, one of the ones with a ZERO at the end? All my loved ones want to know what I want, and the answer is...not much! I'm a pretty content person overall. But I do have a special fondness and weakness for books. So I'm asking you: what books should I buy? Please don't feel you have to confine yourself to suggesting mixed media art books...I'm really open to suggestions in most art fields. Maybe even open to books that have nothing much to do with art. But only maybe :-) So far, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to ask for Ann Baldwin's Creative Paint Workshop for Mixed Media Artists , and Jacqueline Sullivan's dvd called Acrylics: Textures, layers and metallics . Anything I should add to my list? Image: Stock.xchng Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Artsy blogging round-up!

The Artful Crafter: Eileen blogs about learning photography - one frame at a time. The Crochet Dude Drew is giving away all his latest designs that are included in his new line of patterns that just launched nationwide! To enter you just leave a comment on his blog! The Impatient Crafter Make a super cute pair of flip flops with your kid or teen for your end of summer vacation! Madge shares the 411 in this post for I Love to Create About Family Crafts Hurry on over and submit your photos and ideas! Sherri is now accepting Halloween submissions. Share your costumes, haunted house ideas, more and browse through the photos everyone else has submitted. Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner Alexa shares 3 great photography tips for taking better photos of your crafts. You don't even have to have an expensive camera! Cathie Filian Join Cathie Filian on HSN August 17th where she will be showcasin the new formulas of Mod Podge, Chalkboard Paint and Texture Paint. Craftside-A

Calls for entries and submissions

2010 Niche Awards : deadline for professionals Aug 31, 2009; for students Sept 30, 2009 Altered Coutur e : deadline Sept 15, 2009; theme, altered suits Art Doll Quarterly : deadline Sept 15, 2009 Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Jim's postcards home - part three

Part one Part two Next week, I'll be showing you how to combine cartoon imagery with vintage pictures, digitally. Really big news in town, Mom and Dad ~ the library started a new children's program. I think this would be a pretty good town to settle in. Much love, Jim Dear Mom and Dad, Some of the guys have come up with a new way to fish. I have been invited to go along next time! Love you both, Jim Copyright 2005 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Jim's postcards home - part two

We got an infestation of rocking horses this spring. This is how the animal control officer deals with it. I think I am ready to come back home. Love, your son who misses you both, Jim Dear Mom and Dad, The railroad boss has found a new way to deliver our pay each week. It's weird, but I guess it's efficient. Love, Jim Every now and then the soldiers from Camp Devens do their drills in town. Your loving son, Jim Copyright 2005 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Jim's postcards home - part one

About four years ago, I became obsessed with a man I named Jim. As a young man, Jim moved to my town early in the 1900s, to take a job working for the railroad. The thing is, Jim never existed. But that didn't stop me from coming up with an entire series of postcards that Jim sent home, telling his parents about his adventures in his new town. I'd like to share this time in Jim's life with you over the next few days, and then I'll show you how to combine cartoon imagery with vintage pictures, digitally. Dear Mom and Dad, The town of Ayer has hired me to work on the railroad. I would say it needs a lot of work. Love, Jim Dear Mom and Dad, Crazy stuff is always happening around Ayer. Miss you both. Love, Jim There is lots of stuff to do for fun around Ayer, but sometimes it gets a little strange. Your son, Jim Copyright 2005 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided