I didn't do absolutely nothing while I was sick

I went through an old popcorn tin I keep some memorabilia in and found a treasure. Not only did I find my Dad's old Army shirt, turned vest, I used to wear during my punk days all safety pinned up. I also found a book of my old poetry. As I read through, it occurred to me how bad it was. It was really awful, to be quite honest. I wrote poetry from my mid teens to my mid twenties, as a cathartic exercise. I had a lot of problems back then, so writing poetry was a necessary release, since I did not have access to a therapist or many friends who were understanding enough to stick around after they knew what I was really going through emotionally. I don't necessarily want to hold on to all of that. After inspecting the journal itself, I saw it would be perfect to alter. I tore out half the pages and went straight to work making backgrounds. My main goal was to cover up that old poetry, so I dragged out the garbage I have been saving and started gluing away.

Inside the front cover, I tore part of a drop cloth I had covered with paint into pieces and glued them in.

Then, I proceeded to glue in pages of the wrappers of things I have frequent contact with: Halls, tea, granola bars, the insert from an old Jane's Addiction CD, hot cereal, art supplies, you name it, I covered the pages with it. Yesterday evening, I did another round of gelatin prints and pasted a bunch of those in, as well. Nothing was safe. The combination of using items that may have been in a landfill somewhere and covering up those years of pain was very cathartic. I am not forgetting the lessons I learned but I can choose to not keep these monuments to my emotional pain around as a shrine. It is good to let go.

An exercise from the Altered Background e-course on http://gulfspritesartjournal.ning.com. This is Christy Sobolewski's site. This particular class is free, and I would highly recommend it. There are even more interesting ones that you have to pay for that I have my eye on when I am employed again.

Christy Sobolewski had a video somewhere about using stamps to cover a page. This may have been from her Altered backgrounds class, too. This is my favorite stamp, an eye. I just made a big, ill-advised impulse purchase from JoAnn's that includes a few more stamps, so I can't wait to do this technique with them!

Tea bag and Halls packaging. Gee, can you tell I have been sick?

Packaging from granola bars and more. I like the mirrored look, though I'll be darned if I know how to deal with it later.

Cleaned food packaging.

Fancy patterned tape from Daiso, the Japanese dollar store I love so much.

Another Altered backgrounds exercise. I wasn't crazy about the other one, but I LOVE this one. Who would have thought security envelopes were so pretty?

These two pages are gelatin prints on wax paper that was used until I couldn't use them anymore. I love these!

Gelatin prints on a slick, green paper insert that was between two sheets of alphabet stencils. 

I am now a handful of pages away from getting all the pages covered, and I have some ideas brewing about how to move along in the process with this journal. I feel like I am getting to the point where I am willing to move beyond the comfort of doing general backgrounds. I am at a good place and I  will be happy to see where the rest of this journal takes me.

Now, as for the gelatin prints, this round was not nearly as successful as the last, but I have some pages I am particularly fond of. It is a lucky thing for my pocketbook that JoAnn's does not have Gelli Arts Printing Plates for purchase online, because I would have snapped one up. I did, however take full advantage of their outrageous sale on scrapbooking/stamping/fine arts/jewelry making supplies. Lots of 40% off items and many more 25% off. And to top it off, if you spent over $40, shipping was free. I saved over $50, which tells you how much I spent. <blush> This online excursion is starting to get me up to speed on my crafting supplies: Cling and clear stamps, as well as acrylic plates for printing, Staz On ink pad, Acrylic inks in a few colors, Several 6"x6" Crafter's Workshop templates that I can use in more printmaking and more, a new self healing mat (!!),  circle and edge rounding stamps, Distress Stains in a few colors, Walnut ink crystals, some Gelatos, die cut flourishes, a matstack that was on clearance, and a couple of packages of gem drops to embellish handmade journals. It is going to be very exciting to get this package. I looked at glimmer mists and wow! $7.99?! No wonder people are making their own. I have a little shopping list for when I go back to Daiso. I think I will be able to pick up some spray bottles and possibly some eyeshadow powder that can stand in for micah powder (since that is what the pearly colors are). I may even have something that I can use (metallic Lumiere paints), so all I have to do is get the spray bottles. I have paint and glue. I also want to make some regular color misters for fast stenciling.

I guess I will leave you with more gelatin prints. You will notice I did a lot of prints ripped out pages from a Japanese Buddhist text and index cards. The index cards curled really bad, so I will need to straighten them out, but they look pretty neat.  I did some on junk mail, too, and it wasn't all successful. I think it would be advisable to cover up anything too bold or big with a thin layer of an opaque paint. I thought I might get an interesting look with the text showing. Not so much, sadly.

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

I have been sick for over a week with a terrible cold. For whatever reason, for me, having a cold affects me like having the flu. Today, for the first time in I don't know how long, I checked my blog stats. To my great surprise, a whole bunch of people came by. I wanted to take a moment to  thank everyone for visiting. I am sorry there hasn't been any new content for a while, but I do intend to start posting regularly again very soon. I am still feeling a little icky off and it will probably take a little time to get back in the swing of things.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of signs around my neighborhood.

The hand is pointing at the entrance to the Pike Place market parking garage.

A spot in Belltown with a patch of nice bright neon signs. The Frontier Room has excellent happy hour, if you find yourself in Seattle.

Awesome sign outside an engagement ring store.

On the side of the building of the engagement ring store.

Top Pot Doughnuts. It is reportedly one of the best shops in the country. Lucky for me, their doughnuts are so greasy, I quickly regret having eaten one. I don't have them often, but they are pretty darn tasty.

This restaurant has a 4 ft tall, excellent mosaic statue of a rooster at one of the windows. A must see.

A local bank.

As you can see, Seattle is home to some great signs. There are many that have been recycled or repurposed from signs from a bygone era when advertisements and signs had far more character than they do today. Many businesses in Seattle want to keep that local character alive. Like my mother, I love old signs. This makes for many more scouting trips with my camera on nice days when I am not under the weather. I love living in this city, despite the passive aggressive attitudes, crazy weather, and lack of craft stores within a reasonable bus trip. It is a small sacrifice to have to order online or make a day trip out of going to Michaels. I hope the place where you live provides you with as much  inspiration as Seattle does me.

Another finished journal page

Hooray! I finished another journal page. That makes me very happy. A couple of days ago, I went on a cheap spending spree. I stopped off on my way back from a job interview and went to a Dollar Tree and Goodwill. I almost did major damage at the Dollar Tree. It is so easy to just throw items in your cart, not thinking. Before you know it, there is $80 worth of cheap crap in your cart. Luckily, I caught myself and weeded out all the things I actually needed and carefully chose several things I wanted. I came out with an alphabet sticker sheet, many glue sticks, a package of raffle tickets, a couple of pouffy holographic gift toppers and some large beads I think would be cool as an embellishment for books, a glass cutting board I think might be tempered glass so I can try cutting stencil on it with the versa tool, and a cheapo set of watercolors. Afterwards, I went to Goodwill. The last time I went to a regular Goodwill(as opposed to the pay by the pound one) was in the late 1990s. At that point they were starting to charge higher and higher prices for things, especially clothes. I am not sure they understand the point of a thrift store was to sell cheap to people. It is supposed to be a place people who are strapped for cash can go to get an outfit or more. The cheapest clothes I saw there sold for $5.99, and that was a scarf. Now, something is definitely rotten when one can pay roughly the same amount of money for clothes at a WalMart.

Okay, rant over. I wasn't there for clothes. I was actually hoping for books I could alter. They had no books. No books at a Goodwill down the street from a university? I don't think there is any hope for them. I went digging through the housewares and misc. stuff section, and I hit pay dirt. There were a bunch of scrapbooking materials that were being sold for much less than you would find them new. I got a book of 12"x12" scrapbook paper, all photos, for a few dollars. They were one sided and many I am not sure what I would do with, but there were 100 sheets, with enough of them that were quite useful, that I picked it up. Then, to carry on the theme of alphabets, I found a package of alphabet stickers and a set of stencil sheets of upper and lower case letters (along with numbers) in a slightly fancy font. I believe I paid only a dollar or two for each. There was a Fiskars Zig Zag edger for a couple of dollars. Love it! I really want the deckle edge, but I can't really be picky. Zig zag is cool, too. I can simulated rick rack. What's not to like about that? I am thinking the last thing I bought there was a really beautiful memo pad. It is 1 1/2 inches thick, which silver mirror-like edges. It is set into a black book that simulates tooled leather with fancy flourishes. The front of the book doubles as a frame. It was only a few dollars, so I couldn't pass it up. It was just so darn pretty. I know I can do something with it, but I would hate to mess up that beautiful edge. I'll just enjoy it for now.

It has been a dramatic week for me. I lined up three job interviews, if you include the interview I have tomorrow. I feel like I might be on the verge of getting a job. The job I thought I wanted the most seems to be playing second fiddle to an admin job at a real estate company. I think I did really well there and it isn't so darn far from where I live. there are places to go to lunch, and it is across the street from the Space needle. Who could beat being able to sketch at the Seattle Center during your lunch break? That makes up for the lack of convenient espresso stands I can just run to on a quick break. And the people I talked to there were very friendly. The library is in a nice little neighborhood, but the only places to eat, save a convenient store, are too far to walk and there is only one bus that goes through...every half an hour. Not ideal.

So what else has been going on? I found out a childhood friend will be up here this coming week. I am so excited to see her! I am stressing a little that I might get a job and not be able to do anything with her after being unemployed for 6 months and 6 years of failed attempts for her to come up to see me. I guess if the worst thing that could happen is I get a job, that is just fine with me. I did some shopping for cheap stuff, which is one of my favorite things. I get a thrill out of getting a bargain, almost as much as getting something of good quality I have been waiting to buy. On the negative front, starting this weekend, suddenly, the smoke from my downstairs neighbor is seeping up through to my apartment, leaving conditions intolerable. I am extremely sensitive to cigarette smoke. My eyes, sinuses, and throat have been burning. And my poor asthmatic cat has picked up on his wheezing, to boot. My landlord is really accommodating, but the maintenance guy can't get over to seal the side of the apartment we think the cigarette smoke is coming from. In the meantime, I bought a cheap air purifier out of desperation. It doesn't seem to be doing much, but I am guessing I will need to give it at least a night to see if it helps. With that purchase, I bought another set of cheap watercolor paints. So begins the journal portion of this post.

I played around with the Dollar Tree watercolors. They were not very easy to work with, but they had nice color. Unfortunately, when they dried the surface was like sandpaper. I tried doodling with a Sharpie and it tore it apart in moments. Not good. I botched that page pretty good, so I will not be including a photo. Now, the other page, the one I experimented with the Loew Cornell Simply Art watercolor set of 36 colors was much better. I still destroyed a Sharpie, but not until I was pretty much finished with the page. It dried much smoother, and some of the colors are very vibrant. Actually, most of them are. Most of them dry and look softer, but they are still respectably pigmented. The pink is amazing.  So are most of the yellows.

Here is the beautiful little set of watercolors. Seeing all of those colors under little clear bubbles makes me so happy!

And the journal page. I played around with most of the colors, settling on a swirly pattern. I also flicked and dripped paint on the page. When it was mostly dry, I traced the speckles and circles on the page with a fine tipped Sharpie. The surface of the watercolor paper is very fibrous and erodes the tip of the Sharpie. If I did this page over, I would probably use a gel roller pen instead of one with a felt tip. Lesson learned. I decided I should put a word on it, even though I am starting to think phrases and words on my pages are not necessarily my style, even though I can appreciate it in others' work. The page looked a bit chaotic, like a storm. So, I pulled out those adhesive backed letters from Goodwill and stuck the word, "storm" on the side of the page I kind of wanted to cover up. That was where I started painting and obviously didn't have a sense of what I was going to do at that point. So, it doesn't really go with the rest of the page. After adhering the letters, I dotted them and made shadows with a silver Sharpie. I dated it , too, but I don't think it can be seen in the photo. All in all, I really like it. I didn't even realize until the letters were on it that it looks like a hurricane. Fitting.

You used paint from where???!!!!

Stencil mania continues and gelatin printing is AWESOME!

I had quite the busy weekend making a mess and cutting stuff up. I am apparently on a mission to make a massive stencil/mask library because I did several this weekend. I also ruined a couple by trying to reinforce them with glue thinned with water. Whatever you do, if you make stencils out of paper of whatever thickness, water is not your friend. Just let them degrade as they naturally will over time or reinforce with take. No watered down anything!

My small disaster led me to remake one of the masks using a transparency because it was awesome enough to have a permanent-ish version.  That mask and one other I made today are my own versions of some stencil masks I have seen online that I thought were pretty cool. I also made some garden variety stencils, which I am not including in this post, since it will be so image heavy.

I made a stencil of a mouth, then added to it to make this image. I am so happy with the result! I thought for sure the teeth would come out looking like this person needed braces badly.

Yesterday, I got a wild hair and decided I needed to try gelatin printing. I had a bunch of unflavored gelatin when I fooled myself into thinking I was going to make marshmallows from scratch. That was 2 years ago. I probably will make marshmallows some day, just no time soon, so might as well use what I have, right? I found out you can cut up the gelatin, heat in the microwave until melted, and pour into the tray again. I was fearing it would be a one off, so my reason not to play with my Jell-o was removed. The recipe is this:

2 packets of gelatin per cup of water
a drop of tea tree oil, bleach, vinegar, or other anti-mold agent

You will want to use a container that is rectangular, with deep sides. At least as deep as a cookie sheet. I used a covered rectangular Pyrex baking pan, kind of like a lasagna pan only half the size. It was roughly 8"x10."  When it is in the fridge, you want it to stay covered, so I thought a container with a lid would be better than plastic wrap, since that can leave indentations. You will want to pour water in the vessel of your choice, cup by cup, to check how much gelatin you will need. You want the gelatin plate to be between 1/2" and 3/4." My container used 4 cups, so I needed 8 packets of gelatin.  You want to bloom the gelatin in cold water first. That means you will sprinkle the gelatin in part of the water you will be using, mixing, and letting it absorb water while the rest of the water you need comes to a boil. I kept seeing 1 1/2 cups of cold water in all the recipes I found. I used 2 cups and it didn't seem to affect the outcome. If you add the gelatin to hot water, it will clump and will affect your prints. When the water comes to a boil, add the remaining water to your mixture, along with the optional anti-mold agent of your choice, and stir well until everything is completely dissolved. Carefully pour this into your pan, then skim off bubbles with a piece of paper. A torn sheet of newspaper was what everyone else used, but I don't have any.  I had luck with a section I tore off an unwanted catalog. Carefully, place tray in fridge, or leave on counter if it is cool and you have the space, until gelatin is quite firm. I will wait until the next day next time. It did pretty well after 5-6 hours, but I cracked the plate when taking it out of the pan.  I am hoping that extra time will reduce the chances.

That leads me to the final step, taking the gelatin plate out of the mold. You have to be very careful. You actually don't have to remove it at all, but you should if you plan on ever using the container for food again. Ideally, the pan would be one you will not use again, but I think I am safe with the glass and thoroughly washing the plate before putting it back in the pan.  I will eventually purchase another one and this container will be craft specific.

Rather than trying to explain how to prepare to print, in my long winded, confusing way, I am going to refer you to a great instructional video on YouTube by Linda Germain.  She has a bunch of great videos on gelatin printing on her channel.  As for the printing itself, the best video I have seen is one by the incomparable Christy Sobolewski. Gelatin printing and printing with the Gelli Arts printing plate is exactly the same. A gelatin plate is just more delicate and prone to cracking. It is also not meant to be used long term, although I have read boards where people have been using the same one for several weeks. But compared to the other videos I have seen, Christy had the best results.  

One thing to remember is to never, never, ever dispose of your gelatin in the sink, even if you have a food processor. It can act like cement and cause a world of trouble for your pipes. And now for the fun part, my results. For being my first time, most came out pretty neat. I had long paper, so what you will see is my trying to contain the design to one side, for the most part. I will probably fold many of these sheets in half and make a journal from them. I was amazed at how some of the prints you disliked the most can become your favorites when it is printed over repeatedly.

This was my favorite. It began as the one I liked least.

Homemade stencils, part 2

I had another go at a couple of the stencils I made. I stenciled black paint on my mat with the stencil slightly offset from the original. The leaf pattern wasn't much to write home about. It was neat, but offsetting it didn't do anything for it. Now, my nerve cell-looking stencil, that was awesome. So, I decided to play with it further, with Inktense pencils, white paint pen, and a technical pen.  I think I am done.

I make another stencil traced from another sketch I did years ago, this time of a woman's face. Unfortunately, I did the stenciling of the leaves somewhat over her image, but you see enough to get the point. I think it turned out pretty well, too.

I think I have a ways to go before I am all stenciled out.  It has been a distraction this week, but I plan to get back to my journal this weekend.

Adventures with a dying self healing cutting mat

Today, I spent a lot of time cutting two very elaborate mask/stencils out of transparency sheets. I learned one important thing about me I need to change. I press super hard with the craft knife, way harder than I should. I caught myself several times, but not enough to keep my hand from cramping up. I also reminded myself how badly I need to get a new larger sized cutting mat. It is now more of a self destructing, rather than self healing mat. You can barely see the lines in the center and there is this nasty dust that is crumbling off of it. I guess it is one more thing I need to purchase when I am in a job again. I am also coveting the Gelli printing plate, but I can do the same thing with gelatin for now.

So, back to the mask/stencils. The one at the far right is similar to one Christy Sobolewski of Art Geeks did in this video. If you have never heard of her, or of Art Geeks, I highly recommend taking a look at Christy's channel, as well as Rhomany's on YouTube. The videos are long, but they are highly informative and inspiring. I only just subscribed and become a member of Art Geeks, so I haven't yet become active in the community or started any of their journal prompts officially, although I guess that I guess that is not entirely true, since their last mid-week prompt was making your own stencils. Ha! I am looking forward to when they officially start their Sunday/Wednesday prompt thing again. But back to the stencils, this is my "Christy wannabe" mask. I made it out of a piece of junk mail.


The one in the center, of leaves is one I have seen all over YouTube, so I found a good image of it, printed it, and copied it onto transparency with a Sharpie, so I could recreate it. I would SO rather purchase it, but I dropped a whole bunch of money I shouldn't have been spending at all on art supplies. It is relatively inexpensive, but I cannot seem to find it in the states. I am interested in a bunch of the products in that line, so when I  am in the proper financial situation, I will purchase a bunch and show them off to you then.


The one on the left is my absolute favorite.  I traced it from an old sketchbook. It is one of my all time favorite sketches. It reminds me of nerve cells. I made a neat painting with dimensional fabric paint of it that ended up going to a friend when I moved, but it didn't really capture my sketch properly. I have high hopes for the mask.

These were sprayed with strong coffee. It is a fine start to a new splatter sheet.

I, of course, made some mistakes along the way, a/k/a things others can learn from.

• I already said this, but it bears repeating: Do not press hard if you would like to use that hand again. Tendonitis is awful. I had a bad case of it as a file clerk at my last job that took 2 or so months to work itself out.  Cut enough stencils with a death grip and you will share that fate.
• I would have preferred that I used paint on my first practice run. I plan to use it on my second run and let it dry on the stencil, to help strengthen it. I won't do that every time, however. I think these two designs had so many thin areas that they could use a little reinforcement. 
• Speaking of reinforcement. Rhomany made a great suggestion, which I ignored in my haste. If you make your stencils (or stamps) out of cardboard, brush with watered down glue to seal them and extend their life.
• I would advise using a newer, much sharper blade/better mat than mine for small curves. That was where I had the most difficulty. I am not sure which was the biggest problem. I suspect it was the mat, since I changed the blade before beginning this project.
• Above all, be careful when you are cutting out the designs. No, I did not hurt myself this time. I snagged a couple of spots on the leaves. I lost one detail altogether and another thin area was torn when I yanked on the cut piece to remove it. Be delicate and twist them off gently, using your blade to help you along, if necessary. This is especially important when you have a lace like or intricate design.

I hope you play along and make your own stencils. I plan to make many, many more, of my own design in the near future. I have even entertained the idea of making it a challenge, like 1 stencil a day for a month. Maybe in the near future I will do that. Stay tuned.

And here are a couple of bonus photos of my cat, Sid Vicious, enjoying a rare sunny, winter day in Seattle.

Too stealthy for the paparazzi. I have a hard time capturing something this close without him moving.

The whites are all blown out, but it gives a great impression of the brightness of the sun coming in. Plus , you can see his cute little pink toe pads!

Homemade Stamps and Paulo Coehlo

New Year's Eve was spent cutting fun foam into various shapes and gluing them on corrugated cardboard to make stamps. Can you tell how much of a homebody I am? I didn't even watch the ball drop or anything. When the clock struck midnight, everything erupted outside my apartment. People screaming and fireworks going off. I was hoping I could see the fireworks that come off the top of the Space Needle every year, but nope. There is a giant condo that blocks it all. If it were shorter, we would have a wonderful view from the hallway in my apartment building.  I could only see the occasional puff of smoke and glow of light coming from the fireworks. Oh well. If we could see the Space Needle, my rent would probably be $400 more each month.

The View of the Space Needle from two block away, parallel to the needle.

This afternoon, I decided to play with the stamps I made last night. They were completely dry, so I wouldn't ruin them. After gessoing a bunch of pages in a couple of old books, I had a go. I even cut a lime in half that was past its prime and stamped with that on some scrap paper.

When I stamped on the pages in my book, I got to thinking about a movie I watched this weekend, Veronika Decides to Die. It was a wonderful movie about a woman who tried to kill herself only to be revived. She wakes up in a mental institution, learning the the overdose she took caused such severe heart damage, she would die in the near future. I know, it doesn't sound like an uplifting movie, but it is.  Not to give away anything, but point of the book was that knowing you could die at any moment makes you want to go out and actually live the way you were always scared to before. I now have a strong urge to read the book, by Paulo Coelho. I have had difficulty reading over the past decade or so. I think my migraines did something to my vision that interrupts my being able to focus on a page. I used to be a voracious reader, now not so much. It makes me sad. I am loading the book on my Kindle and I am going to give it a go. My migraines are not as frequent as they were, cross my fingers, and being able to enlarge the print is helpful. Now, I just need to get back into the habit. Two books per month to start: one fiction, 1 nonfiction. I will get back into it this year!

But back to Mr. Coehlo. There was a great quote from the movie, that I really hope is also in the book: "These days most people have replaced almost all their emotions with fear, and everyone has dreams, but only a few realize them - makes cowards of us all." It felt like the right one for the page.

I used everything in this page: my beloved Inktense pencils, acrylic craft paint, Pan Pastels, a white paint pen, a technical pen, and cheap watercolor from Daiso The green was craft paint and the red orange was watercolors. I did a little filling in of holes with yellow pastel.

Speaking of cheap supplies from Daiso, I finally gave the clear stamps a try. I stamped them all on the back of a large index card. They look awesome! I am going to enjoy these. It makes me want to get more, but I really do have to control myself. I noticed one thing. The first time I took them off the plastic, they were incredibly difficult try pry off. After that, they are a breeze. Is this normal? Or is this just part of the cheap quality?