Wednesday 27 August 2008

Box of happiness



I made this little box for my friend who got married. It's a tin cigar box, which I aged with sand paper, acrylics and inks. Inside I attached altered playing cards and little bingo buttons. The letters form a word ONNI which means either happiness or luck in Finnish. Luck is needed in the game of love, but happiness is a state of mind that we all should pursue.

Tuesday 19 August 2008

TMTA: Rendezvous with...


I've had a long brake from making ATC's, but now I'm finally back in business. This week's TMTA challenge was very much fun... I immidiately thought of James Dean. That's a man I'd like to meet! But of course, I can only do that by watching his movies.

Sunday 17 August 2008

Minty


There's a large bush of Green Mint on my balcony. It has grown enormously during the summer and it makes cute flowers too. I've infused the leaves and made many pots of delicious mint tea. I have cherry tomatoes growing too, but they look a bit stunted, so no picture of them this time.

Friday 15 August 2008

Playing with playing cards


I bought a cheap pack of cards for experimental purposes. First I tried the very easy packing tape transfer technique. Here you can find a clear tutorial on that. I used pictures of a man and a woman from an old magazine. I think newer magazines with better printing quality and paper will give better transfer results. But I like everything old and scruffy.

The old magazine paper was so thin and fragile that I couldn't scrub it all off without harming the images. Especially in the woman's face you can see some paper pulp left. But when
I glued the finished transfers on the playing cards using glossy acrylic medium, it also made the images more clear.


Since I like everything to be a bit worn out, I sanded the cards to give them matte surface. Then I made them look dirty with inks and acrylic paints.

Monday 11 August 2008

Getting colder ...need a scarf


I'm knitting a scarf called Autumn Morning. Doesn't it sound poetic? And very current too, the weather is getting colder and summer is definitely over. The pattern is from Ulla. My piece in the picture doesn't look so good yet. I chose quite thin knitting needles, so the lace pattern doesn't show properly because it's so tight. I hope it'll get better after blocking when it's finished. The yarn is Gjestal Maija. Yellow is a bit untypical color choice for me, but for some reason I'm loving this ochra tone right now.

Saturday 2 August 2008

Beeswax collages



I've been meaning to try this for a while, and now I finally did. I used other adhesives too, so these weren't pure wax collages. The wax is only used on the surface and to adhere the lace. This takes some practise... the hot liquid wax solidifies very fast when spreading it with a brush. A heatgun or a quilting iron would be super useful tools to prevent the instant cooling, and the iron would make the surface nice and even.

I left the woman figures without a wax layer, so they would have more contrast and pop out from the more blurred, waxed background.


My few tools for the project: white beeswax pellets (I used double boiler to melt them) and a brush (it got ruined, from now on it's a wax brush only), the surface is a stretched 15 x 15cm canvas.