Busy This Week Being ATC Swap Host

Here is what I have been up to: hosting an ATC swap. A swap I was hosting is coming to an end. I was busy in this last week updating my spreadsheet with list of participants in the swap. I was emailing people who were late or very close to the deadline with sending in their ATCs. Once I firmed up the last minute drop-outs, I was ready to swap out the ATCs. Only two were late, and they were just one mailing day late.

Sunday night after the kids went to bed I spread out all the envelopes on the floor and looked everything over. It was the first time I looked at all of them as a whole.

Monday night after the kids went to bed I again spread out all the envelopes and ATCs and swapped them out. I realized I hadn't labeled the backs of the ATCs that I made, nor had I scanned them. Darn.

Tuesday I made the backs for my own ATCs. I scanned my ATCs also.

I made one ATC for each participant and I was able to then keep the equivalent of one ATC from each participant. I glued the backs to the ATCs. I also gathered the special cards that I made which have the date and the name of the swap on them. Later I added one of my own ATCs to each swap and the other card that I made. I also wrote a little note to each person thanking them for participating in the swap. After a final check, I sealed each envelope. (I just realized I didn't do a double-check to make sure that I didn't swap a card to its creator, darn!)

Using our digital kitchen scale I weighed each envelope and noted the weight. I then went on the Internet to check postage rates for each envelope on the USPS website. One came up short and two came out exactly right. I had to add my own postage to the one that was short. I will have the post office recheck those three packages just in case my scale is a bit off from the post office's scale. I am trying to avoid paying extra money out of my pocket to make up for not-enough postage sent by the participant.

I have three swaps to be sent to other countries, so those will necessitate a trip to the post office as well.

Last night after the kids went to bed I sat down and looked at the goodies that some of the participants sent me. As a gift some participants sent me little gifts such as cancelled postage stamps, scraps of interesting paper, embellishments, and other ephemera. The international participants also had to send me ephemera in lieu of the postage that I have to pay out of my pocket to send the package to them. It was interesting and fun to get some papers from other countries. I hope to use these things to make some ATCs. I am itching to make ATCs but just haven't had the time!

The plan for today is to go to the post office, post to the chat list that the swap was sent out, and then to relax!

I also now have yet more scans of my own ATCs that I have to reconfigure in Photoshop before I can upload them to this blog or to the chat list photo albums. I also have some left over ATCs of my own that I can trade privately with other people.

The most fun thing about hosting a swap is seeing lots of other people's ATCs and being able to not just view them on the Internet, but to hold them in my hands and look at them closely. From experience I can tell you that sometimes things looks better in real life then on a scan.

This was a 5/5 swap, so they send in 5 ATCs and they get back 5 ATCs. The benefit to me is that I get to pick my most favorite ATCs to keep so long as I make one for each person. One thing that was interesting was that I was choosing the printed messages that I liked the best and then realized that I had three ATCs from three different people with the same message on them! I then re-swapped them around so that I didn't have three nearly idential messages.

The ATCs varied greatly in style and method. There were some very creative ideas and I learned one new technique as a result of hosting this swap (using clear ultra thick embossing enamel as a top coat which I blogged about last week).

I hope the participants are as happy with this swap as I am!

Technorati Tags: ATC, artist trading cards, ATC Swap, affirmations.

Thrift Shop Finds, Almost Ready for Beeswax Collage

I have been itching to try beeswax collage. I already own a book which outlines the directions; it is Claudine Hellmuth’s “Collage Discovery Workshop”. The things needed to do it are beeswax, a heating device that stays warm while in use (not a microwave, not a stovetop), and an iron with a flat bottom or a quilting iron.

Not following the directions, I once tried doing this by microwaving the wax. It didn’t work because the wax cooled too fast and I just could not do the work fast enough. (Later I read that the beeswax can actually explode and catch on fire in the microwave! I won’t be doing that again!)

Last week I went to thrift shops in search of a certain board game (Life) that my boys were asking for. I didn’t find it in a thrift shop but I did find a used electric skillet for $4.99, which I can use for the beeswax collage. (I had seen a product in the craft store that can be used for beeswax or UTEE heating and the retail on that was $34.95, yikes!)

(I still need an old iron with no holes in the bottom or a quilting iron.)

If you want to learn more about beeswax collage, read Claudine Hellmuth’s book. You may also find some information on the Internet. There is also a Yahoo Group! on the subject of beeswax collage which features a files section with information, plus the usual chat.

One other thing I found in one thrift shop was sewing patterns. Some artists use them as the background for collage. I found a whole basket full for 25 cents each. I limited myself to four patterns. I made sure to check the patterns looking for ones on the thin brown tissue paper. Since the patterns were old I was happy to find the papers in different shades of brown. Some of the others for sale were on thick white paper (which is not what I was looking for). Hooray!

Thrift shops are hit or miss. In that thrift shop, I had never seen sewing patterns before, but all of a sudden they had about 30. They also had lots of fabric for sale on that day for $1 per piece (some were a yard or more). I also saw about eight dolls for sale, the type that crafters use, for $1 each. Some looked to be from the 1970s. Since I was low on cash and had my kids in tow, I just left without further pondering those items. My mind was already churning with ideas about altering the dolls and using the fabric. I figured I have enough supplies here to do stuff with and given the low cash situation I should just get the heck out of there, and fast, so I did.



Technorati Tags: beeswax collage, Claudine Hellmuth, thrift shop, altered art, collage.

ATCs with me as a Poppet (TM)

Here are the five ATCs that I made for a "Meet the Author" swap which was to feature a photo of ourselves on the ATC. Since I was reading Claudine Hellmuth's book "Collage Discovery Workshop: Beyond the Unexpected" in which she teaches her Poppet (tm) style of collage, I decided to make myself into a Poppet (tm).

I should state that some of these photos are up to three years old. I have a different hair style now and some of these photos are not flattering at all. I was using old photos that I had on hand already rather than making yet another project out of taking a new digital photo of myself, having it printed off at a store, etc. The reason that I didn't make a black and white photocopy of my photo to use for the ATC is that I feared my home photocopier would make inferior copies and because that printer is an ink jet and I didn't know if the ink would get wrecked.

Other than the first one I don't like the way the arms came out.






The technique for making Poppet (tm) collages is outlined step-by-step in Claudine Hellmuth's book "Collage Discovery Workshop: Beyond the Unexpected".



Technorati Tags: artist trading card, ATC, Poppet, Claudine Hellmuth.

Carol Duvall Show with Claudine Hellmuth

I was surprised to see Claudine Hellmuth on a Carol Duvall Show that aired yesterday (episode CDS-1916). TiVo recorded it for me and I was happy to find it sitting in my ‘now playing’ list last night. In this episode, Hellmuth demonstrated “photocopy printmaking collage”. This process is also taught in her book “Collage Discovery Workshop: Beyond the Unexpected” (which I own, enjoy, and have been using).



Here is the link to this episode's Carol Duvall show Internet archive. You can read the steps in the process and see color photographs of the steps, as well.

I was tempted to try this technique a few weeks ago after reading the directions in the book. I visited A.C. Moore and two Michael’s craft shops and could not find gum Arabic (a necessary ingredient for this process) in the fine art aisle where other products made by this company are sold (maybe they were sold out). So, I have not tried this process yet. I hope to try it in the future, though!

Technorati Tags:Claudine Hellmuth, Carol Duvall, collage, printmaking.

My ATC: Sunday Picnic

The title of this ATC is "Sunday Picnic". This was made for a swap called "found photos". The swap hostess sent me some antique photos and I had to use an original photo in each ATC.

I decided to work on this lady but it proved to be so challenging that it gave me creative block.

Originally cropped the large photo one way and started the ATC but I didn't like it I decided to crop it down further. Rather than cutting it with straight lines I decided to use my tag shaped die cutter.

I liked the oak trees and the views of the park and the picnic table too much to crop them out and just use a close up of this lady.

Since this lady is at a park with a picnic table in the background, it seemed to me perhaps she was on a Sunday picnic. I also thought she was posing a bit such as perhaps she is posing for her lover.

I noticed her dress looks like a warm weather dress. I noticed that the trees were bare. I guessed this was a warm October day.

I used an Elizabeth Brownd rubber stamp to put images on the background paper which is handmade paper from India which I purchased at the craft shop. That paper has flecks of plant material in it, which may be hard to see on this scan. Perhaps you can see the brown leaf on the left side of the ATC? The browns in the ATC inspired the edging color which is rubber stamp ink.

I hand wrote on the card "October 20th, Picnic at the Park with S." on the upper corner, to try to explain that the ATC is memorializing an event (which I made up in my head).

I ended up liking the ATC in the end. Finishing up this ATC held me up with sending in the swap. This ATC took nearly a month to finish due to repeated creative block.

Technorati Tags: artist trading card, ATC, photography.

Excited to Receive Issue 3 of Art and Life Zine in Yesterday’s Mail

I was thrilled to receive the third issue of Art and Life magazine in yesterday's mail. I received this subscription as a Christmas gift from my husband.

I have been reading bits here and there as I can squeeze it in between other things I am doing.

What I love about this magazine, published by Teesha Moore, is that it focuses on creativity in general and has an 'anything goes' attitude. I find reading this zine very inspirational in that it makes me want to go make some art.

Technorati Tags: Art and Life, Teesha Moore, art zine, creativity, alternative art.

UTEE as Top Coat on ATCs

I am hosting an artist trading card (ATC) swap right now. I received a set of ATCs with a top coating which I had never seen before. It was clear and thick and had a kind of raindrop or smooth bumpy texture (it is kind of hard to explain it). After corresponding with the artist I found out it was Suze Weinberg’s UTEE, which is an abbreviation for Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel. The coating on these ATCs was a clear color and it was bumpy. I was told that one layer of UTEE was put on top of the ATCs.

I was at Michael’s this weekend with a 40% off coupon in hand and bought a large bottle of UTEE (regular retail $11.99).

Last night I tested it out on some finished ATCs that I had made that I thought were lacking something. It worked great! I love this finish as it makes the cards sturdier and makes them seem somehow more finished.

The other things that are needed are the Ranger ink pad (clear color) to use to adhere the embossing granules to, and a heat gun such as is used with embossing. I already owned the other two things bought previously with more of the 40% off coupons!

I put a layer on top of an ATC that I made with a base of watercolor paper and watercolor paint that was rubber stamped upon. I also put a coat on an ATC that I made which was collage of a tourist map of the city of Boston. That ATC was very ‘new’ looking and seemed lacking in something. The top coat of the heavy UTEE finishes off the ATC nicely.

Today my older son (aged 8) used the heat gun and did a top coat of UTEE on another of my ATCs and he had fun with it.

UTEE is my new favorite thing!

You can read more about some uses for UTEE, here.

Technorati Tags: artist trading card, ATC, UTEE, rubber stamp.

My ATC: The Patriarch

This ATC is called "The Patriarch". This was made in December 2005 for a "found photos' themed swap. The hostess sent me a bunch of antique photographs and we had to use an original photo as part of the ATC.

I thought that the elderly man sitting in the chair looked like the King of the family so I named this artist trading card "The Patriarch". He really seems to be in control of the family. Based on their body language, I am guessing that the woman is his daughter and the other man is her husband.

The background is made from an old Mechanix Illustrated magazine from the 1950s which is advertising jobs for men. I chose that intentionally as it represented men, men's careers and money making opportunities as the family's bread winners. I liked the color of the paper, due to the oxidation and the acid content of the paper. I used Claudine Hellmuth's masking tape technique as outlined in her book "Collage Discovery Workshop", combined with my choice to tear strips of the paper and to randomly glue them to the background card.

The text is rubber stamped. I wanted to be sure that my message that this man was the patriarch of the family was expressed to the viewer and final owner of the ATC.

I thought the ATC needed some other element to decorate it, but had to be careful about my choice. I needed something masculine. I decided to look through some buttons I own, because I thought an object with dimension would be better than another flat paper element. The star is a button which I bought in an inexpensive button assortment pack from the craft store. I cut the back off of it so it would lie more flatly and used Golden Acrylic Gel Medium Regular as the adhesive. I chose the star for three reasons: the color was right for the ATCs color scheme, the color is masculine, and because the star represents power and authority. The man who I call the patriarch is the ‘star of the family’. I thought it was a perfect addition to the ATC.

At that point the edges of the ATC looked bare. So, I finished the ATC by dragging the edges across a black ink stamp pad. Looking back, I now realize I could have also cropped the whole ATC down to a smaller size and mounted it upon a black background, so that the magazine ad background would have looked like a mat around a framed picture.

I like the simple color scheme of the grey tones, the beige colored paper and the black ink.

Technorati Tags: artist trading card, ATC, photography.

My Collage: Dada Inspired

This is a collage that I made. The style was inspired by a Dada collage which I saw in a book about the history of collage. Unfortunately I didn't note the title of the original work before I returned the book to the library.

What I was imitating was the use of blocks and geometric shapes. I mimicked the use of solid blocks of color. I changed it to be tones of color that I personally favored. Unlike the original I wanted to use some handmade papers from India which I purchased from the craft store.

Like the Dada collage I used bits of newspaper and other ephemera. The newspaper was from the 1940s and was something my grandmother had saved. The letter was my relatives letter. I loved the handwriting, the stamps, and the way the cancellation mark flows across the paper, so I decided to use that large part of it rather than tearing out just the stamps or using just part of the address. There is also a new paint chip sample piece. There is a cash register receipt from May 10, 1964 which my grandmother saved. There is also a tag from a linen towel from the early 1970s which my grandmother received as a gift but had never used. What I liked about the vintage ephemera was the color of the paper, I love the way the color of the paper changed as it aged. I also like the different fonts of the letters.

The size of this is 9 x 12 inches. I plan to frame this and hang it on my wall because I really like it.

Canoe Trip: A Bleach Altered Photo

This was a regular color photo which was taken in the early 1980s.

I decided to experiment to see what would happen if the photo was left for a longer period of time, in the bleach and water solution.

As I have said before, you can watch the edges of the photo to see how much of the photo's color emulsion layers are being eroded by the bleach solution. This photo has quite a wide white border on it, which is just the white background paper.

You can see that all of the top blue emulsion is gone because not a trace of the blue is left in the photo.

Some of the second layer of red emulsion is also gone.

The pine trees in the background were green, originally. When the blue layer went off, they change to red. Since most of the red layer is gone from this photo, the trees are turning yellow.

The yellow streaking going across the canoe cannot be controlled. It just happens.

The strange red or pinkish colored mottled look near the bottom was caused by the photo being very wet and laying flat to dry while still very wet. What happened was when I laid the paper down to dry, the puddle was there. There must have been some chemical changes still occuring because more red emulsion lifted off the photo as it laid to dry. The red emulsion puddled there and since I didn't wipe it off, it dried in that way.

I learned through this process that if I don't want that effect to possibly happen there are a couple of things that I could do to stop it. One is to do two clear water baths, as I outlined earlier, but I later realized that perhaps the reader may assume was a typographic error on my part. It was not a mistake. Another thing that can be done is to change the first water bath frequently as the more it is used, the more bleach ends up in the water and the less that first bath will do to completely stop the process. Something else I tried was that after removing it from the second water bath, I rinsed it under a running faucet. Lastly, I shook the photo to try to get all the water off of the surface.

I also once tried blotting the front of the photo with a dry paper towel but found that sometimes doing that alters the photo further, by making color changes in the emulsion in the textured shapes that are in the paper towel. If you don't want a pattern put into the surface of the photo, don't do this. Then again if you want to press shapes into the photo, that could be an intentional thing to do.

Once I tried to speed the rinsing process by wiping my finger across the front of the photo while it was submerged in the clear water bath. I found out that the friction of my finger actually wiped away more of the emulsion, further altering the photo. What it did was wipe away the coloring of the image that was there down to all yellow and sometimes down to the base white color, erasing the image completely. This could be another thing to experiment with as it is possible to basically erase sections of the original image if you wanted to.

In this process everything happens quickly and little is truly under control. I don't feel in control of the process but mostly the faciliator of it and I never know what the final result will be. The finished result is not seen until the photo is completely dry.

Butterfly on Flower: A Photo Altered with Bleach

This photo of a butterfly on a flower in the garden of my former home was altered using the bleach and water process.

I removed the photo from the solution just before all of the blue layer of emulsion was gone. I wanted to see what the photo would look like if I allowed some of the blue layer to remain. I also wanted the butterfly to still have some color to it.

This was in the solution for a very short time, perhaps 15 seconds. The bleach has removed some of the blue layer but not all of it. Note also that this allows some of the green yucca leaves in the background to still appear to have green tones. You can see some accurate purple tones in the flowers in the lower left hand corner (this is the lavender/lavendula plant). You can see some mottled blue colors in the upper left area of the photo which 'just happened'.

The liatris flower which the butterfly is on remains white as it was in reality.

You can see that the edges of this photo retain the photographic image right up to the edge. This is because I removed it from the solution before the edges were bleached out.

Note that since the bleach did not affect the yellow layer very much, the yellow daylily blossom retains some of the a realistic pastel tone rather than morphing into that other, more shocking yellow tone. (See my other photos for examples of what I mean by that.)

Technorati Tags: altered imagery, altered photo, photography.

Altered Photos of Flowers

Here is a photo that I altered with the bleach process. This is a photo that I took, of my organic flower garden at our last home.

I removed this from the bleach and water solution after the blue layer was gone. You can see that the red layer and the yellow layer of the emulsion is still there.

The yellow color is very bright and quite shocking if your eyes prefer pastel tones or the vintage look of sepia tones.

Technorati Tags: altered imagery, altered photo, photography.

Contemplation: An Altered Photo

Here is a photo which I altered during my first bleach photo experiment.

Step 1: I cut the corners with a die cutter, to round them off.

Step 2: Immersed in warm water and bleach solution (approximately 5:1 ratio)until I saw the edges turning white, then removed and...

Step 3: Immersed in cold water solution, allowed to soak for about 30 seconds, then removed and...

Step 4: Immersed in cold water solution, allowed to soak for about 30 seconds.

Step 5: Removed and shook off excess water.

Step 6: Laid flat on paper towel to dry overnight.

I removed this photo from the water right before all the blue emulsion was off. The sky was foggy and grey, and the lake water was dark grey, so there was no blue to be removed from those, but you CAN see a little blue left in the skirt.

I could not control the way the photo was altered, such as having no control over the parts which are yellow near the bottom. The parts that are in the bleach solution longer get bleached out faster. I think that what happened with this was I put the photo into the bleach/water bath bottom side in first then got the rest of it submerged. If you want a more uniform look you will have to try to dunk it under the surface as fast as possible, all at the same time (if that is possible). If you casually plunk it in the water and leave it so that part of it is dry and floating on the top while the rest is in the solution then the photo will be greatly affected (less uniform in appearance).

One really fun part of altering photos with bleach is that you never know exactly what will happen during the process.

I like the fact that the only blue left in the photo is the skirt. Most of the colors of this photo are the yellow and red tones. Note that the edges are completely bleached out to the color white, which means that all of the photo's emulsion has been removed and what you see is actually the white background paper.

If you want the photo to have the edges all look like this, then you should cut the photo to its' final size before you bleach it. In other words if you like the effect on the edge having that white border effect, but you want the photo's finished size to be smaller, crop and cut the photo to size first, then do the bleach altering.

An example is if you want the corners to have a different edge than they have originally, do the cropping before you alter it.

I wonder what the effect would look like if one of the fancy design die cutters were used on it?

Technorati Tags: altered imagery, altered photo, photography.

Had Enough of Pointed Party Hats

This weekend I took a 40% off coupon to Michael's craft store to buy a copy of Somerset Studios magazine, March/April 2006 issue. (The magazine costs $8 per issue! By using the 40% coupon it is less expensive than buying a subscription.)

I am only part-way through the magazine. I have a challenge for the publishers.

Can get do one issue that does not show any pointed party hats affixed to vintage or even modern pictures? Is that possible?!?

I am seriously considering writing them a short note with that challenge.

The more I see pointed party hats the more I hope that the fad ends. It was whimsical at first but when everyone is doing it, it becomes commonplace and is no longer funny.

I predict that some day people will look back on some of those altered faces and think, "Why was that done? I don't get it."

Finished ATC Series: Vintage Boy's Toys

I had some fun making some ATCs this week.

I had taken some money that I received for Christmas and purchased some new, unmounted rubber stamps from a small rubber stamp making company who runs an eBay store. The brand of the rubber stamps is Mars Tokyo/ Adorned Surface/ Hissy Fit and I blogged about them in the past, here. You can see images of the stamps in that blog entry.

I had never used the stamps until this week, for this project. These stamps are great! They are high quality unmounted rubber stamps. My boys also love them.

The other day my older son and I woke up before my younger son. My son asked if he could do some rubbers stamping with me.

I took out a large sheet of watercolor paper which I had put some left over watercolor paint onto about a week ago. The color was a medium blue.

Using various dark shades of ink, I randomly applied rubber stamp images of vintage boy's toys all over the page. Some of the inks were pigment dye so they had to dry overnight.

The next day I randomly cut the paper into ATC-sized pieces. It was interesting to see what each ATC had on it. Some did have blank areas on it, that needed filling.

Today I spent about 15 minutes filling in the blank areas with the smaller sized toy stamps. While I did that both of my sons were using the stamps on white sheets of paper.

After I make the backs for them they will be ready for trading. Once I removed ones which didn't have good imprints, there are 17 left.

This is the second time that I have tried making a sheet of art and randomly cutting it into ATCs. This is fun!

I would like to add that although it may seem that I slapped this together, I can assure you that this took some time and thought. I didn't just go crazy and stamp in a messy manner. When I create individual designs which are detailed collages or are mixed-media, I can easily spend 45-60 minutes on each ATC. These didn't take that long, I estimate I spent about 2.5 hours making them, not including set up and clean up time. I guess 17 ATCs in 2.5 hours is pretty fast compared to 1 hour for one.

Okay, signing off now to go make the backs and to scan them.

Technorati Tags: ATCs, artist trading cards, rubber stamps.

Altered Book Article in a Local Newspaper

Today a local newspaper had a front page story about altered books. The focus was on their use in 6th & 7th grade public school classroom in a town called Sherman. The newspaper that ran the article is called Danbury News Times. Danbury is a city in Connecticut, United States. Here is the link to the online article.

The teacher had the students transform the old books into AB’s that ‘had a message’ plus had an aesthetic value.

I think it is great that altered books are being made in the classroom. It is a different way to express what a person has to say. The only thing I will add is that not all altered books have to have such strong messages nor do they have to all be ‘politically correct’ as the topics in the article are. Altered books can just be nice to look at or have less serious or outright humorous themes. However, I can understand that the teacher would ask the students to come up with a message or theme to get their creative juices flowing and/or to justify to the school that this is a worthwhile project.

Tried Altering Photographs with Bleach

Two nights ago I squeezed in a bit of art making. I experimented by altering photographs with bleach. I did this for about 20 minutes then laid the wet photos to dry overnight. I had a lot of fun doing this. My husband thought I was nuts. My friend arrived while I was doing this, and when I explained what I was doing this is her response, "And WHY are you doing this??". I replied, "for fun". I think she also thinks I am nuts.

I was busy all day yesterday and unable to play at making art until just before bed. I decided to make some ATCs. I intended to use the bleached photos. My older son joined me and made one very detailed ATC using collaged pieces of his favorite movie's toy product labels.

I experimented with adding color to the bleached photos using colored pencil and watercolor. I didn't love any of the results.

I then decided to bleach more photos. I looked through a stack of old photos and chose some to alter. This time I was altering someone else's photos that I got from Freecycle. That is a story for another day.

I worked at fixing up my Photoshop program. I have not had time, though, to test it to see if it is working or not. Once it is, I will upload some scans of my ATCs and the bleached photos.

Later when I have more time I will blog about the bleach method that I used. I used my own process but the inspiration and idea to do it came from a book that I am reading called "The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery" by Karen Michel. I have been reading a few pages a day before bed and skimming through the photographs for inspiration. This book is full of inspiration and ideas!

I Miss Making Art

Since I mailed out three ATC swaps on February 24th, I have not played at making art.

I have been busy doing stuff, going to meetings, homeschooling my kids, and cleaning the house. I was so busy with that stuff that I didn't have any desire to make art.

Now I have the itch again to get back to it.

We were watching the movie "Phantom of the Opera" last night (again) and the visuals are so gorgeous that I was thinking about making a series of ATCs with a Phantom of the Opera theme. I am pondering hosting an ATC swap with this theme. I don't quite know if I can make art that is as beautiful as what I am imagining in my head.

Also on my 'to do' list is to take the scans of the ATCs that I mailed out and to post them on this blog. I am having a problem with Photoshop right now that prevents me from converting the scanned images to nice little files for uploading.

Weird Coincidence Beeswax Collage & Claudine Hellmuth

I tried beeswax collage once and it failed. I was going by memory on the directions and I was not using a quilting iron or a melting pot (which is why it failed).

Last night I was thinking I should try beeswax collage again. I was inspired by some photos that a person on a chat list shared with the chat group which showed some of her first time artwork which were two beeswax collages. Then I was inspired by a person who was brand new to ATCs who made lovely pirate themed beeswax collage ATCs.

On one chat list a person asked about the technique to use and someone responded "go read Claudine Hellmuth's book titled Collage Discovery Workshop".

I own that book but hadn't looked at it in a while. So to make a long story short last night I took the book with me to bed and read the chapters about beeswax collage. I immediately began wondering when I could get my hands on a quilting iron and a melting pot so I could start creating.

I then turned the TV on to see what TiVo had for us to choose from to watch on television. There were two Carol Duvall shows that recorded yesterday. The first show I turned on gave a preview of a beeswax collage technique! I then recognized some of the collages on display as being Claudine Hellmuths (before Carol Duvall announced that the guest was Claudine Hellmuth).

The Carol Duvall show has a website hosted on HGTV which shows all the projects demonstrated on the show. Directions for every project are given in detailed text and accompanied by step-by-step photographs. Here is the link to the show with Claudine Hellmuth and beeswax collage. It is episode CDS-1756.

I can't wait to try doing beeswax collage with 'the right technique'.

beeswax collage, Carol Duvall, Claudine Hellmuth.