Karen's Muse and Musings

Altered Hankie Swap

Recently I wrote about participating in an altered hankie swap. Seven of us started with a vintage hankie, added our own alterations, and each person adds something else, until eventually we get our own back, but totally altered. This month I had Darya's. She decided not to use a vintage hankie, which might be delicate, but instead used a man's handkerchief. Here is what she did to it.

I cut a heart from a piece of a vintage quilt (a gift from my friend, Cat) and sewed it on by hand with pearl cotton. Then I sewed on old buttons and added blue french knots to bring out the tiny blue flowers in the fabric. This is what I will send to the next player in the swap.

How to Paint with Coffee

Don't be afraid of the white surface. Just put some paint, uh, coffee on it!

 

Spread the coffee out a bit.

I forgot to tell you that before you begin, have a cherry popsicle to relax you.

  

It's important to load just the right amount of coffee onto the brush!

I like to hold the brush at a 45-degree angle.

Oops! Every good artist makes a mess now and then.

Mmm, my painting is starting to look kind of like a doggy or maybe my Dub-dad.

Ghostly Trees

 

Mermaids are done, so I'm back to painting trees. These tags are a little different from the alcohol ink tags I did last week. As I was thinking about Halloween, I remembered the banners I made last year, and how I used pages from old encyclopedias for the background. To learn about the process, read what I wrote last year here. When choosing images from the encyclopedias, I have discovered that poets and musicians make the best ghosts. I wonder why that is.

Mermaids

As promised, here are my mermaid skinny pages for my friend, Cat. I thought I would have them done sooner, but my first set is in the trash ... uh ... I mean the prototype file. I found two poems that inspired these pages, but I had the hardest time finding a way to incorporate the poems until I decided to put the poems in the tails! You can't read the entire poem in the tail, but you can get the idea. Here's the poem that inspired the page above.

Who would be
A mermaid fair,
Singing alone,
Combing her hair
Under the sea,
In a golden curl
With a comb of pearl,
On a throne?
I would be a mermaid fair;
I would sing to myself the whole of the day;
With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair;
And still as I comb I would sing and say,
"Who is it loves me? who loves not me?"
      - Lord Alfred Tennyson, The Mermaid

 

The second one is darker because of this poem:

A mermaid found a swimming lad,
Picked him for her own,
Pressed her body to his body,
Laughed; and plunging down
Forgot in cruel happiness
That even lovers drown.
     - William Butler Yeats

Isn't that sad? I love it though. It's been haunting me for days.

You probably recognize the top parts of the mermaids as paintings by John William Waterhouse, an English Pre-Raphaelite painter who lived from 1849 to 1917.

More Spookiness

It's been a busy birthday week around here with grandson Bobby's 2nd and my ##th. (I'll never tell!) Still, I couldn't wait to get back up into my studio and paint some more spooky trees. I've done eight so far, but now I have to pull myself away and do my skinny page for the month. The theme is mermaids which is scary for me — much scarier than these trees — but I've been searching for quotes or poems for inspiration. Hopefully in a day or two, I'll have a couple of mermaid pages to show you.

Spooky Trees

Okay, it's time for a change of pace. Still in the tag mode, but I'm off in a different direction. (For a while. I still have plenty of watercolor paper prepped with coffee by Bobby. I wonder what his preschool teacher thinks when she gives him paint, and he asks for coffee!)

Here's the story behind these tags. Yesterday I went for an inspiration visit to "my" rubber stamp store, Rubber Stamp Fantasy here in Marietta, and I dsaw some really cute Halloween cards. They were stamped on paper printed with trees and other designs. Well, I love to paint trees, so I came home and did my own version. First, I used Tim Holtz's Adirondack Alcohol Inks in Butterscotch and Terra Cotta with just a touch of Espresso on coated, glossy cardstock. Then I stamped the script with VersaFine Vintage Sepia Ink. Since this was a coated cardstock, I dried it really well with my heatgun. Next step was the fun part — painting the trees with Golden Fluid Acrylic in Carbon Black. I didn't sketch them out or anything — just jumped in and started painting. [Author's note: having a glass of wine really helps this process along.]

On my first tag (not shown — I did a total of three) I stamped some birds on the bottom right, but it was too heavy and TOO black. I decided just stamping one word was enough because it let the background shine through and didn't compete with my trees. All right, I'll show you the bad one. Here it is.

Well, it's not totally a waste. I might use it in something, but I think the tags without the birds are much better. Warren just called, and he's on his way home. Guess I'd better cook something!

September Is Ovarian Cancer Month

Over a year ago, I joined in with almost 100 other artists to collaborate on an art doll to raise money for ovarian cancer research. Each of us made a charm or decorated a man's tie, and Jan Brown put together a gorgeous almost life-size doll that was raffled off. Later my friend Aileen Roberts created a beautiful and inspiring book about the project, and, once again, all the proceeds from the sale of the book go to ovarian cancer research. I purchased the paperback version, and I treasure it, but I wish I had bought the hardback version. You can see the book — inside and out — and find out how to buy it here on Aileen's blog. It would make a loving and meaningful gift for someone special or for yourself. After all, you're pretty special!

Labor of Love

I so enjoy making new things that look old — things with a sense of mystery that seem to tell a story. I felt that way when I finished this tag. I wish you could see it in person. The buttons at the bottom are pretty special. Half-round and faceted, from one angle they look black, from another angle they look like copper. The stamp that frames the young woman (a PaperWhimsy image) is one of my all-time favorites from Stampers Anonymous. I use it all the time. If you look closely at my artwork, you'll often see bits and pieces of it. It's a great one to tear or cut up for collage — there's a strip of it at the bottom of this tag. I used the entire stamped image in the card below.

I have gotten a lot of mileage out of that pink and green stamped background I made a while back. (See it here.) This is the third card I've made with it, and I think I have enough for two more cards. I find it time-saving to make backgrounds in large sheets so I have it ready to go when I'm ready to make a card.

I hope everyone is enjoying Labor Day.

Immortal Love

Several of my tags are now for sale at my Etsy shop. Check it out!

More of the same and something different

I had a very frustrating time with the internet yesterday. I typed this post, but before I could publish it, my connection went down. It was like that all day long — one moment mail and browser were working, the next moment they were not. So, I'll try again today. Above is another tag I made. I just love that button at the center of the flower. I have collected some interesting old buttons over the last few years, and I always enjoy sorting through them.

I'm practically swimming in tags here in my studio now, having made about 25 so far. My plan is to list some on Etsy over the next couple of days and see how they do. I believe they would make the perfect touch on any gift.

Now for the something different. I'm participating in an altered antique hankie round robin. I've never heard of this being done before, and I thought it would be unique and fun. Someone gave me an old hanky a couple of years ago, so I pulled it out. It has unusual coloring — pale blue with red and pink crocheted lace edging.

Here is what I added.

I sewed on a piece of French text, sewed a PaperWhimsy transparency over that, and added decorative stitching and a tag with a button. This seems to happen to me all the time, but, honestly, I chose the  text randomly, but when I looked at it I saw the word femme, which I knew meant woman. (I know just enough French to be dangerous and get into some embarrassing situations in Paris.) The text reads "Jamais je n'ai si bien compris l'effrayante supériorité de la femme". I e-mailed a friend who knows French much better than I do and asked her to translate. It means something like "I have never understood too well the frightening superiority of the woman." I thought that was interesting, but I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Here's a close-up of my addition.

Now it's off to the next participant, the first of six who will add their own alteration/embellishment to the handkerchief before it comes home to me. I think it will have an interesting journey. I'll keep you posted.