As artists use unique items to embellish collages and fabric art, we become aware that more and more items we would have thrown away are suitable. 
This also falls into today’s recycling world of using older items to make new.  (Something the pioneers and those who lived through the Great Depression did as a matter of course.)
Clock and watch parts make likely items for unique art.  Save your old, unworkable ones.  Look for them at yard sales and auctions.  If that’s not enough, you even can find them at some collage and scrapbooking supply stores.
Among the watch findings are: screws, spokes, …read more

Mixed media crafting takes various forms and utilizes most any type of material. 
By scrounging family attics, second hand stores, auctions and recycling facilities, you’ll find many items you can upscale into art.
For instance:

keys
broken jewelry
old or distressed wood scraps
metal boxes
hinges
nails and screws
hardware cloth
wire
kitchen utensils
stones – colorful and dark
metal tags
cancelled stamps
belt buckles
buttons
many more
old paper and newspaper clippings
old photos

If these items don’t look old enough or fit into your theme, distress them or add dabs of rust colored paint.  You may want to spray rusted objects with a sealer to prevent further deterioration.
How have you utilized rust and relics in your mixed media …read more

What do we do with the remnants, those leftover odds and ends of fabric, paper and embellishments?  Why we create art with them! 
There are so many ways you can go with this…create something childlike, make a collage using a number of techniques, or simply arrange the items hit-and-miss on paper or fabric.
That’s just what Roben-Marie Smith  has been doing and making Remnant Journals, along with her other lovely art pieces she displays and sells on her web site.  I saw my daughter looking at them this morning, after discovering  Roben-Marie  in an Artful Blogging magazine (Spring 2008 issue).  Roben-Marie even has a video explaining …read more

My daughter and I saw some of the most delightful art at a gallery recently.  That of Patti Bradley.  What caught my attention was the use of nature’s supplies in so many of her mixed media presentations, from small postcard size to larger wall hangings.
 Patti also utilizes the colors of nature with browns, bronzes, beige, cream and white with some green.  Her work is calming and relaxing, yet, to me, eye-catching.  Most of those on display used bird images, then found items in nature…leaves, sticks, pebbles and more.
This artist doesn’t have a web site, but if you see her name on …read more

Cathie Filian:
Cathie is holding a charity dog costume & book auction. All the costumes were handmade by Cathie and featured in her book Bow Wow WOW! The proceeds benifit the Humane Society.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside has tutorials on how to make two punk rock scarves one with yarn and one with fabric, info on participating in the Good Mail Day Challenge, One Person’s Oddity and a Polaroid Postcard design, a bunch of mixed element jewelry and tips on laying a pattern out on plaid fabric.
Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy talks about …read more

The peeled paper technique can be used to create a textured area on any collage.  You’ve got to select very heavy paper for this technique: extra-heavy watercolor paper or hand made papers are generally best.  If the paper is heavy enough, you can create multiple peeled layers in each spot.  With the 300 lb watercolor paper I chose, only one peeled layer was possible without risking breaking through the backing.

Psalm 63: 6-8
On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to …read more

Quilting Arts magazine has issued a new reader challenge – for their 2011 calendar!
The new calendar will feature the theme “Flavor of the Month” and they want you to use fiber art to express your creative take on the theme.

Think about the different “flavors” you could incorporate into your art quilt or mixed media artwork.  How would you express the crispness of snow?  What about the feel of autumn – apples, falling leaves – I can think of lots of flavors that could be used!  How would  summer taste – would you go for the salty tang of the beach …read more

Interweave Press is holding a limited-time sale in their Mixed Media and Quilting supplies online shops!
You can save 15% on everything in the shops by entering the code “MM0709 “, but it’s only on until July 30th – so you’d better hurry if you want some cool fiber art goodies.
What kind of yummy supplies can you get?  How about…

100% Alpaca fiber roving pillows (in three different colorways).

Charming yo-yo pincushion patterns by Indygo Junction.

Or how about a 16 piece Shiva Paintsticks sampler?
Yummy yummy yummy…
images: Interweave Press

I’ve used bleach on stamps to discharge the dye from fabrics before, but for some reason I never got around to thinking about using it in a spray bottle and discharging that way!  This is such a simple idea, and I just love the results.

This article for Threads magazine, by Lois Ericson, shares many great tips, the materials lists, step by step instructions, and photos so that you’ll know exactly what you’re doing and so you’ll take all the proper safety precautions.  Please, be careful when working with bleach!
Image: Threads/David Coffin

Technique Tuesday!
For my page in the Altered Book group anniversary book, I decided to do a found poem.  I’ve got an old novel called My Lady of the Fog (Ralph H Barbour, 1908) and another Russian text called Selected Stories (Daniil Kharms, 1919).  Very different from each other in feel, I decided to use one of the illustrations from Kharms’s book and do a found poem using a page from Barbour’s.

Really, I couldn’t do it the other way around: I can’t read Russian!
Here’s the instructions that I wrote two years ago for using tissue paper as a guide when creating …read more