Mixed Media Artist

We're crazy about books here...we love everything from altered books to handmade journals. We love making them, decorating them, filling them, and even reading them! I have gathered up a load of links from our archives that cover every aspect of books that we've examined over the years. And I'll be adding more to this list as we go on...in fact, you'll always be able to find this post easily by looking in the sidebar under The Basics :-) Altered books: waiting for the lightning to strike! How do I get started? Who can I talk with about altered books? Other book arts groups Books on collage, altered and handmade books, and mixed media Mixed media arts magazines Paper and string: the stuff you'll need for book arts Some fabulous book artists Assemblage and sculptural books Sorted books project Brian Sawyer's bookbinding links Design ideas for page layouts Online publishers for your artist books More book arts resourc...

I decided that I wanted to make a little accordian-style books with some of my background papers. In particular, I wanted to use what was left from the pink and fushia monoprint paper . My first experiment didn't work out too well, as you'll see. I used a 1/2 inch paper punch and crocheted the pages together with an oversized hook. The crocheting went fine, but the holes were way too big! My second attempt resorted to a standard office-style paper punch and a smaller hook. Much better! I trimmed the rectangles to get rid of the large holes, and cut two more pages out of another piece of background paper. Here's how you assemble a book with crocheted joins: 1. Punch matched holes all along the edges of your papers that you want to join. Put the wrong sides together with the holes matched for two (or more) pairs of papers. 2. Leave a 3 to 4 inch tail which youll cover as you work. Pull the yarn through the first pair of holes with your hook, and single crochet over th...

Once I've got a great big stack of background papers to work with, I like to take a few days or weeks (however long they last!) and do some collage projects with them. Before cutting the papers up, I usually scan them so that later on they'll be available for mixed media digital collages too. The Prodigal is a piece that came to me all in one flash. It's not very complicated, but the concept of the prodigal had been rolling around in my mind for a few weeks, and all at once I knew how I wanted to visualize it. I used two monotype background papers that I made a few weeks earlier. Here's how Prodigal was constructed. How about using the basic methods to make a piece that represents a theme you are thinking about? Materials & Tools Decorative papers (heavy watercolor paper) Clear ruler Exacto knife Gold leaf marker Double-sided tape Beads, nylon thread, needle 1. Choose your papers and cut to size. I made the small squares 2 inches, but you should vary this fo...

Monotype background papers are loads of fun to make...you'll feel like a finger-painting child again. Just gather up some acrylics, a glass or plastic sheet (even parchment or waxed paper will do in a pinch), some papers cut to size, and any mark making tools that you wish. I used nothing but sponges, a brayer, and my fingers! 1. Place a dab of each color that you wish to use in a small plastic cup. Thin the paints with water so that they will move freely on the glass or plastic surface. 2. Use masking tape to block off the size of the area that you wish to paint on your glass. You will be applying paints to the glass surface, not directly to the papers. The slick surface allows the paints to move freely as you manipulate them, until you are satisfied with the design. 3. Play with your paints on the glass surface. The addition of water to the mix will allow you additional manipulation time, but don't allow them to dry out. Try not to over-manipulate them either, or you...

Psalm 62:1 My soul finds rest in God alone A while ago, I shared the directions for making rusted fabric with you. At the time, I wasn't sure what I was going to use the fabric for, but eventually the idea came to me to stamp paint some metallic swirls and circles on it to fill it out, and to turn it into a small quilt. Here's how this piece came to be, step by step. Create some rusted fabric or choose whatever fabric you want for the background. Choose some stamps (preferably ones you've made) and a metallic acrylic paint or two to stamp with. I chose Metallic Rust Lumiere, by Jaquard . Using foil adhesive, apply foil shapes to your surface. I used the foam brush to make three rectangles with the adhesive. After it dried, I applied foil and rubbed it into place. Stitch the surface fabric to a piece of cotton batting. The threads I used are metallic, but they don't show up well in this photo. After anchoring the top and batting together, I embellished with so...

Based upon the article, House Books , by Leilani Pierson, in the Nov/Dec 2008 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors . I decided to use some of the papers that I collected on our trip to Italy, and collage them over maps of the region. The green fiber ties were from an Italian gift from our daughter. Materials Reverse side of each page Front side of each page Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

I took a lot of shots of doors when we visited Italy last spring. I've always loved doors and windows, but the doors in Venice were really something special with their first step being right into the canal! I have shared with you the basic steps that I follow for making one of these little fabric collage quilts in a previous project, Ghost in the Wall , so I'll refer you to the written instructions on that post. Here, I'll just show you photos of the steps, and explain how I finished off the bottom of this one: Digital photo transfered to muslin, fabric, and batting Fabric wrapped and mitered around batting, backing pinned on (I removed it until after all stitching was completed on the front) Image applied to front and eyelets inserted To finish off the bottom: Create hooks with spirals on each end. I used 4 inches of brass wire from Vintaj, and hammered it flat for more strength. Wire up some beads and charms to add to the spiral hook. I used copper wire, about 3 inches, a...

Slightly stuffed fabric hearts with lots of trim! These hearts are super-easy to make. I don't ever use a pattern for them, although I suppose you could make yourself a paper pattern if you really wanted to. Also, if you decide to do more complicated shapes than my simple hearts, a pattern might be a good idea. Either way, you can use either a sewing machine or hand-stitching to assemble them. I used a combination, but did as much as possible on the machine, because I am LAZY!! 1. I folded a piece of fabric, right sides together, and cut out my hearts free hand. See how the point at the bottom is on the seam? That means you won't have to pin it at all to sew it unless the fabric is slippery. 2. Before sewing, I added a ribbon or yarn to each of them. Put it between the layers, on the inside. Pin each end, and the middle if you need to in order to keep it from getting stitched into a seam by mistake as you stitch around the rest of the heart. You can see the ends of my ribbons s...

Take one well-rusted object: Wrap it in a cloth that has been saturated with white vinegar and let it sit overnight: Unwrap the cloth and hang it to finish drying. Iron when dry: I'll figure out a project to use this for later! Happy rusting :-) Copyright 2008 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

I love to use my digital images in physical work! I never have to worry about copyright issues. I know that my images can be as mundane or as bizarre as the situation calls for. But mostly, after spending a lot of time at the computer, I like to step away and get my hands dirty, so to speak! For this little art quilt collage, you’ll need to gather up some items, including the fabrics and interfacing that you want to use, the printed out image, some embellishments, and the tools: a cutting board and rotary cutter (or scissors), an iron, awl, hammer, eyelet setter, needles and threads, wire cutters, and chain nose pliers. Here are the steps that I already took to create the digital image that I’m using for this project. 1. Print out the image that you wish to use on Ink jet T-shirt transfer paper. Cut it to size. 2. Cut out the interfacing (I used Timtex for this piece, a very heavy and stiff fabric), and cut your front fabric 4 inches longer and wider. Center the fabric on the front o...