bottle cap project

I had another "imagining" about the bottle cap project ....

.... I imagined a South American workshop/shed with artisans pounding out and embossing all sorts of tin.

Turning one persons trash into treasure.

The sort of thing made with humble hands and then sold in upscale boutiques in America.

That part of the story is yucky to me.

I'm certain the humble hands only hold pennies in return for their work.

I embossed a blackened piece of tin,

lightly sanded it and then filled in the crevices with yellow paint.

A technique I also used for THIS project.

I have humble hands too ....

... but I'm an American who doesn't need to do this in order to eat.

It's a strange world we live in.

round

I've been trying to get myself "un-stuck" creatively.

Some people call on a "muse."

This is what I think: there are seasons and you gotta work with it.

I've knitted a sweater for my little girl, thrown 2 birthday parties, made 2 "from scratch" cakes, painted a bedroom, gotten the kids back into a school routine, started writing in my journal again .... definitely a very productive time .... just not any art stuff.

Today I'm turning to Mixed Media Monday (one of my favorite weekly challenge blogs).

It's definitely NOT Monday .... but I was inspired by their prompt.

In fact the inspiration came to me in the middle of the night - usually my inspiration time - it's very much like simply having a dream.

I imagined myself:

Assembling all of my collected "street and sidewalk" bottle caps from the summer.

Hammering them nice and flat.

Piercing holes in the edges to thread wire through and connect them.

And then .... I don't know what.

It will be an ongoing project.

What knitters fondly call WIP's (works in progress).

A little bit at a time - in the midst of life.

It's that kind of a season right now and I gotta work with it :)

15 bottle caps collected this summer

Found here in Washington and in Eastern Australia

This one is my favorite.

Just wondering if the beer was any good ....

Almost Done Sign

It's a good thing I take this down about once a week to add something to it .... today I found quite a bit of sawdust piling up behind it .... carpenter ants? Eeeeew! Something to report to the Husband I guess.

Today I added "A Story," the theme over at Mixed Media Monday this week. As always, my stories tend to involve colors, children, home and flowers.

I think I have room for one more dangly bit .... and I envision miniature animals - ducks and hedgehogs - marching across the top of the board. It's fun to have a project that gets added to over time. It's rather a chronicle of my spring and early summer .....

For all of the previous posts regarding the making of my "Welcome and Peace" sign, click HERE.

Mixed Media Monday (On Wednesday)

I think this sign will be done soon :)

I've been adding to it a little bit at a time with the creative prompts over at Mixed Media Monday. This week's prompt was "numbers."

I did a little research on Prime Numbers for another project (see farther below). The numbers strung up here are what I'm calling the childhood primes. All the prime number ages of childhood. So many of the friends we welcome to our door are children - so I thought this would fit perfectly on my "welcome and peace" sign.

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And then I have a brother turning 47 this year. When I originally made this little 2X4 I found out what a special kind of prime number 47 is.

I added the word descriptors of "47" that I found in wikipedia as a strung up addition.

He's a really smart guy - so I think he'll appreciate it - in a geeky kind of way ;)

Altered People

Today's Mixed Media Challenge is to make "altered people." I hope this fits the challenge today. I guess you could call this a blockhead. It's a one inch block with an inchie face on it. I gave her flowers for her hair and she now sits atop my peace sign.

I found her pretty face in a magazine and the flowers come from old silk flowers I've taken apart for just such purposes as this.

For the ongoing progress of this project click HERE for the previous posts.

Helping Hands

I've been adding bit by bit to my "Welcome and Peace" sign using MMM's weekly themes. This week's theme is "helping hands." I was nearly stumped and then I thought of "hearts and hands" ... a recurring personal theme in my life ... and then I thought of the cast aside box of Barbies we have. I used the arms from a "Kelly" doll and made the heart with foil sheeting and used hot glue to get it all stuck together and onto the sign. Using old doll arms is a little "edgy" for me - doll parts seem macabre to me - but I thought this looked like a heart ready for a hug.

MMM themes used so far: dots, easter, mermaids, beach, a significant word, and helping hands.

To see the progress week by week, click HERE.

Inspirational Words

This week's addition to my Mixed Media Monday project is "Inspirational Words."

I already had "Welcome and Peace," which inspires me - but I thought I'd add the word "Friend" to that. Not to clarify who I would welcome and wish peace to - but to remind those I love that: 

You are Welcome

I Wish You Peace

and I'm Glad You Are My Friend.

The MMM themes applied so far are: dots, Easter (egg shells), mermaids, beach, and inspirational words. For today I stamped on metal sheeting and embossed it with a stylus.

At The Beach

tissue transfer technique

Using tissue paper and decoupage medium is a simple and easy way to transfer a stamped image to any surface. I've done this with great results on wood and on rocks. All I do is stamp my image with a permanent ink (like StazOn) onto a thin white piece of tissue paper. Then I smooth a thin layer of acrylic medium onto my surface and smooth another thin layer over the tissue. It's easy to gently tear the edges of the image to fit the object while the tissue is still wet with the decoupage medium.

.... these are 2 examples ....

I've added a new dangly bit to my peace sign in progress for Mixed Media Monday. Today's theme is "at the beach."

Illustrated Seashell

I made this little illustrated seashell for my addition this week in my ongoing Mixed Media Monday project. This week's theme is mermaids - and I made the mermaid twinchie a couple of days ago for Art Creations Friday - but it just didn't seem to fit style-wise. So I doodled a little mermaid of my own on the inside of a worn down seashell.

My wood board has a bunch of old nail holes in it - just perfect for threading dangly things. I'll probably keep adding dangly elements until it feels done. I wonder what next week will be for MMM?

 

Let's see, so far it's been:

dots

easter

mermaids

Eggshells as an art material

We enjoyed egg salad sandwiches last night - and I couldn't bear to toss the beautiful shells :)

I envisioned the eggshells on my ongoing Mixed Media Monday piece as a great material for some mosaic texture to go with the dots. It gave me some very lovely decompression time with a very quiet house and a simple but colorful task and after an afternoon of right brain total saturation I feel ready to face the rest of the week .....

I think this piece is turning into a "peace sign"of sorts for my front porch. I'll do more next week using next week's prompt "mermaids." Hmmmm the gears are already turning .....

For previous posts concerning this evolving project click HERE

Stripes and Dots

This is an old board from my "old board collection." I like to chip away the old paint and sand what's left. I scattered dots all over the bare wood parts that were left after chipping and sanding. My husband thinks it looks like aboriginal art :) ....... Actually it's just a base for something more. In fact, I think I'll use Mixed Media Monday prompts (this week is polka dots and/or stripes) to add new layers to this work in progress.  Next week's prompt is "Easter stuff" like rabbits, eggs, etc. Hmmmm the challenge is on.....