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Showing posts from January, 2010

More artsy links!

  Beading Arts Cyndi is so happy that the third year of the Bead Journal Project has started. This year, she's making a bead embroidered bracelet for each month of the project. Creative Dreamer A tutorial to make your Valentine a fun little gift...   Faint Heart Art Vicki uses Photoshop to wow and for digital scrapbooking   Gadabout Media Valentine's Day means making heart motifs, so Chloe has found some funky and fun hearts to craft   Hankering for yarn Noreen thought that designing a knitted bookmark for Valentine's day gifts would be a quick and easy process. Well! it turned out to be a real saga, but it was oh so worth it! The hearts and cables knitted bookmarks are just wonderful, and the pattern is now blissfully easy, since Noreen cracked the code on it. The Artful Crafter How to use waterslide decals for decoupage under glass. Put your original designs anywhere with inkjet or laserjet decals.   Technorati Tags: mixed media ,
Designer Foliage I Norm Olson 16x20 Fine ... Buy From Art.com

Artsy blogging round-up!

  Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style Check out a new product Linda found and a new friend Linda made at CHA. Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Check out fun pictures with some great crafty and stylish peeps at The Craft Super Show and CHA   The Artful Crafter Do you have any crafty angels – angels you’ve made or angels you’ve met? About Family Crafts If you are looking for ideas for fast and fun home-made St. Valentine's Day cards, check out what Sherri has to offer.   Aileen's Musings Aileen is participating in One World One Heart International blog giveaway. Stop by and see what OWOH is all about and enter to win some goodies! Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Craftside went to CHA and it brought back tons of fun pictures of all sorts of creative people. Check out some of the fun pictures and projects along with a link to more studio space photos and how to bead quill around a core bead from the book Bead Quill Jewelry.

How to get your work featured on Mixed Media Artist

There's really no mystery! If you'd like to share a piece you've made, all you have to do is shoot me an email to cyndi @mazeltovjewelry.com (remove the spaces). Please put mixed media image to share in the subject line. We love to read about things like what inspired you to make the piece and any challenges that you faced, so tell us a bit about yourself and the image that you're sending. Please size your image to 72 dpi resolution, and make it no wider than 600px. I'll gladly share your website and/or blog link along with your image and description. If you'd like to consider sharing an in depth artist profile with us (see Artist Profiles for past examples), just put mixed media artist profile in the subject line. I'll send you the questions that I ask profiled artists to consider...I think you'll be able to tell from those questions whether or not you'll want to do a full profile. If it seems to be too much, you could simply send me an

Recent publications: January 2010

Art Making & Studio Spaces: Unleash Your Inner Artist: An Intimate Look at 31 Creative Work Spaces by Lynne Perrella Fabric Jewelry Wrapped, Braided and Sewn by Heidi Pridemore and Nancy Zieman Exploring the Latest Trends in Mixed Media Art, Volume II by Sherre Hulbert 101 Mixed-Media Art Projects, How-to's & Ideas: A Beginner's Guide to Messy Art Without Rules! by Jennifer Greenleaf Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Book Review: Secrets of Rusty Things

Secrets of Rusty Things by Michael de Meng I loved this book! That said, I have to tell you that if you are looking for a purely techniques book, you’d be better off with a different one. But for me, Secrets of Rusty Things: Transforming Found Objects into Art was just delightful. Michael de Meng shows how he goes about doing what he does from the first stages of hunter-gatherer, through the sometimes frustrating times of picking and choosing, and the final stages of assembling his treasures. There are plenty of techniques along the way, but the focus of this book is more on the thought process and creative journey of a found object genius. Often very very humorous, Michael’s writing is the perfect complement to the artwork that he shares.

Shibori quilt - part six

The Spruces of Utah After completing the hand quilting through all three layers of the quilt sandwich, I marked the outer edges and zigzag stitched with my machine all along the lines.  Then I cut out the quilt close to the lines and zigzagged around the edges again to make sure they were secure and wouldn't slip. The edge was finished with 3 strands of embroidery floss, using a blanket stitch.  I added a sparkly silver-lined green 8/0 bead to every third stitch.  The finished size of the quilt is 18 x 21 inches  Creating the background fabric: Part one , Part two Creating the quilt: Part three , Part four , Part five , Part six Copyright 2010 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.

More artsy links!

Creative Dreamer After issuing the Valentine Challenge last week, I've got something to help make it easy to plant a few seeds of joy, and make it easy for you to participate in the challenge! Gadabout Media DIY Are you inspired to create something to help the people of Haiti? Here are a few suggestions to help you get started.   Hankering for yarn Noreen's been working on a new design for Knitted Shadow Scarves. She describes the process of designing and building a new pattern. Hard work- but oh so worth it to bring an idea to life!   The Artful Crafter Are you sometimes frazzled by all the demands for your time? Here’s Eileen’s plan to make more time for her art. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals
Festivities Revisited 2 Ruth Palmer 16x20 Phot... Buy From Art.com

Artsy blogging round-up!

  Cross Stitch at About.com Have you ever stitched on silk gauze? Vote in the poll and tell us about your experience or lack thereof by leaving a comment. Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style Hey diddle diddle, the pig had a fiddle...This verse was printed on the fabric that Linda used as the inspiration for one of her favorite quilts.   Jewelry & Beading Check out Kathryn Lane Berkowitz's gorgeous seed bead work! Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter Happy UnValentine's Day from Madge with this tongue in cheek card for iLoveToCreate   The Artful Crafter How to use waterslide decals for decoupage under glass. Put your original designs anywhere with inkjet or laserjet decals. About Family Crafts Sherri has gathered together a collection of projects that would make great St. Valentine's Day gifts. Nothing quite says 'I Love You' like a personalized gift, hand-made by you.   Aileen's Musings Aileen's isn't quite up to

Shibori quilt - part five

The pattern left by the stitching in my background fabric made some natural spots to add beads.  I chose white and clear beads, many with an aurora borealis finish to give the sort of sparkle that you'll see on a snow field.   My painted fabric isn't an exact representation of the snowy mountainsides, obviously, and the beads help to give more of that glitter, at least when you see the quilt in real life. In the center of the quilt was a larger patch of unrelieved white, and I decided to do a cluster of beads there, which would include some soft orange and gold beads to suggest a reflection of the sun. The beading took many hours...even though it wasn't complicated, there was a lot of ground to cover! Finally, I was able to take the finished quilt top and make a quilt sandwich with a thin layer of natural cotton batting and a piece of backing fabric.  I pinned the quilt together around the outsides and along the interior lines that I planned to stitch.  U

Calls for entries and submissions

Handweavers Guild of America,  Eye Dazzlers : deadline 02/15/10 international,  02/22/10 USA  Stuffed Magazine : deadline 02/15/10     Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Book Review: Mixed Emulsions

Mixed Emulsions by Angela Cartwright The subtitle of this marvelous book is " Altered art techniques for photographic imagery. " And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what’s included here. Angela Cartwright shares dozens of ways to alter your actual photos through different media and by utilizing different substrates for your work. She covers tinting with oils or water media, stencils, bleaching, markers, gesso, encaustics, embossing, stamping, inks, sanding, and scratching the photo surface. Lots of ways to texture both the image and the frame are covered, along with collaging techniques, decollaging, and different methods of adding depth and dimension to the "frame" of the image. One of my favorite techniques that she explains is a gesso wash applied not only to your canvas substrate, but also over your image. It gives the images a beautiful aged look that blends into the background, especially if you’ve printed out your photos in black and white or in s

Shibori quilt - part four

Time to add a pop of color!  I decided on using the complementary colors to all this blue green, and settled on a nice strong orangey red.  I used some lovely shades of Golden's tube acrylics, diluted well, to make some snow painted fabric (I'll share a tutorial for snow painting later).  I choose a strongly colored piece of the resulting cloth and cut out a circle for the sun.   The reason for using such a diluted method of painting the fabric is that I wanted the hazy look that you get over the mountains.  The sun is rarely more than a glowing smudge in the sky when the clouds and snow spray are obscuring it. The sun was stitched on with the same "reverse" blanket stitch that I used for the trees.  I mixed a strand of red with a strand of orange embroidery floss to get the exact color I wanted.  Using plain red for a little extra pop, I stitched a couple of stylized cardinals onto two trees.  Time to start adding beads! Creating the background

More artsy links!

  Creative Dreamer Valentine's Day is approaching faster than you think...I'm issuing a challenge to all of my readers...and there is bribery involved! Come see... Gadabout Media Did you know that there is a really fun way to help out the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society? Coats & Clark and Burda are working together to make this happen.   Hankering for yarn Tatting with metallic threads gives the impression of a beaded motif. Noreen has designed tatted dragonflies that can be used as jewelry or in scrapbooking or appliqued to quilts, clothing or home accessories. The Artful Crafter Do you have any crafty angels – angels you’ve made or angels you’ve met?   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals
Vintage Collage IV Danny O. 12x12 Fine Art Print Buy From Art.com
Cross Stitch at About.com Cutesy Cross Stitch not your style? Seeking stitches for your sarcastic friends and family members? Check out Connie's snarky stitchery patterns for a refreshing change of pace that avoids an X rating. Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style Learn to make Linda's favorite baby-quilt standby--Baby Blocks.   Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter It's Chipboard Week at The Impatient Crafter and Madge throws down an 80s inspired mixed media necklace for iLoveToCreate! Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery See how I use some fun Sweater Surgery and button flowers to dress up a clutch and check out my Craft Super Show and CHA Schedule so you can join me in Customizing a Greeting Card Album and making all sorts of goodies with recycled wool felted sweaters.   The Artful Crafter The Artful Crafter Are you sometimes frazzled by all the demands for your time? Here’s Eileen’s plan to make more time for her art. The Crochet Dude Dre

Shibori quilt - part three

Now that my background fabric is finished and pressed, I'm ready to cut out the abstracted spruce trees that are going to decorate the mountain side.  Here's my source photo again, from our trip to Utah: I laid out my background shibori fabric and roughly drew some clusters of spruce trees.  After I was satisfied with the basic shapes and sizes, I refined the sketches and made a cartoon of each cluster.   From the cartoons, I drew a pattern for each tree or for same-colored groups of trees that were attached.  I used these patterns to trace the shapes onto fusible interfacing and then iron them onto the backs of appropriate fabrics.  You can see more detailed instructions for this process here at my Pear Quilt tutorial . I pinned all the trees into place, and began stitching them down starting with the ones in the back.  My first idea was to embroider a stylized version of the branches, based upon some of the sketches I made while we were in Utah.  I didn't en

Calls for entries and submissions

Handweavers Guild of America, Small Expressions 2010 : deadline 02/01/10 international, 02/08/10 USA Fantastic Fibers : deadline 02/05/10  500 Felt Objects, Lark Books : deadline 02/13/10         Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Shibori quilt - part two

After gathering up all the threads, I painted the top with watered down acrylics.  Traditionally, shibori is dyed, but I used paints since I didn't care about keeping a soft hand to the fabric.   Here is Part One of this project.  Sewing all the threads took a couple of hours: I used a mixture of Phthalo Green and Phthalo Turquoise tube acrylics, watered down a lot.  Golden's is my favorite brand: After the piece dried overnight, I removed all the threads:   All the remained was to paint in the sky.  The next steps will be to create some appliqued spruce trees:   Creating the background fabric: Part one , Part two Creating the quilt: Part three , Part four , Part five , Part six This post contains affiliate links Copyright 2010 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.

More artsy links!

  Creative Dreamer I'm making a mini pin cushion to celebrate a friend's birthday...and sharing with you how I did it! Hankering for yarn 2010 is off and running with lots of exciting new projects pouring out of Noreen's studio.... The Artful Crafter Come one, come all - free decorator candles! The only catch is that you have to make them yourself; but that’s half the fun. Here’s how to make your own zero cost candles. Gadabout Media DIY Flower accents are a hot trend in fashion and accessories - but why buy them if you can make them instead?  Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals
Derniers Frimas David Graux 9x12 Fine A... Buy From Art.com

Artsy blogging round-up!

  Crafty Princess Diaries Even though this crafty princess is from the South, she still needs a warm crochet hat now and then. Cross Stitch at About.com Connie has a "handy" motif you can adapt for multiple uses. Stitch her suggested saying or choose one of your own.   Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter Madge opens up a rather sticky can of worms in this post about copyright infringement. Right click, save. Done.  The Artful Crafter Eileen went shopping in her closet and made a 20-something sweater new again. Here’s how to update a dated BIG sweater. About Family Crafts Have a sick kid at home? Check out this collection of crafts Sherri has compiled to help entertain them while they get better.   Aileen's Musings Aileen has a blogoversary coming up and she's offering a fun giveaway! Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner Alexa gets back into her crafty groove with a cool & modern statement ring!   Craftside-A behind-t

Results: What's on your work table?

I received this great picture yesterday from Geneviève Crabe who owns Amaryllis Creations , showing the current project on her work table!  Here is my work table today, I'm working on a framable bead embroidery piece. The centerpiece is one of my first attempts at polymer clay. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Artist profiles - part six

Triangular by Laura Tabakman Start the new year off right with some inspiration from some more fabulous mixed media artists!  If you'd like to share your work, please contact me...there's always room for more.  Peter A Luber, mixed media miniatures Ptolemy Elrington, metal assemblage Valerie Foster, altered books and mixed media Laura Tabakman, mixed media art and jewelry Nicole Natri, collage Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Results: What's on your work table?

LuAnn Kessi sent me this great picture from her work table in answer to my Question of the Month!  Isn't this great? This is a very recent image of my worktable directly next to my sewing machine. I am passionate about creating quilted textiles. This is not a posed shot.......it always looks like this. I love color, I love humor, and orderliness feeds my soul. I am not big into keeping things clean......I just like them well organized. If I have to search for an hour to find something.......it takes the joy out of creating. Things get strung all over when I am in the middle of a quilting project, but when the quilt is completed, I take time to do a clean sweep, put everything back in its place, then I can start the all over again! Tour my Thread Shed Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

The mandala maker

Ok, this is way too much fun, too addicting, too much of a time-drain, etc etc etc. Guess what I spent quite a bit of time doing anyway? Go to GirlsGoTech and try it out. And don’t curse me, please! Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Shibori quilt - part one

Mike and I went Snowbird UT early in December.  He was there for a conference; I was there to play!  I hiked around the gorgeous resort area taking pictures.  Later, I relaxed on a spa-like reclining chair, sketching the trees.  My sketching is marginal at best, but I was pleased with some of the abstractions I came up with.  I knew that my next project was going to be a quilt that used those trees, but Christmas was fast approaching, and it was going to have to wait. When we returned home, my plans changed somewhat.  I was looking at some shibori fabrics, and noticed that some of the patterns reminded me of the landscape that I'd just left.  Originally I had planned to do a small quilt that featured one tree, or even just a part of the tree.  But after spending some more time looking at my pictures, I decided that a cluster was going to be the thing instead, and shibori fabric would be the background.  But first I had to figure out how to make it! There are many different s