ICE charm

This is the first part of a multiple entry. What I am posting here is a picture of the charms I sent for the swap hosted by Amber Dawn. This was a learning experience as I chose to try new techniques. I made glass domes which did not photo well. I put two glass marbles back to back. One side has a word chosen out of the yellow pages and the other magnifies a musical note cut out from Amanda's cello sheetmusic. I want and need to practice soldering. I bought a Weller 100 in the hopes that I could improve on this skill. The blue charm is a glass round bead. I made a seed-bead fringe all the way around the bead. This for me was a no brainer and I can crank several in a sitting. The third was a bit creative in the design of the charm. I found these little wooden spools in my stash and wanted to use them. We were not to use fibers so I taught myself a simple peyote stitch to mimic thread using seed beads. I really liked doing this stitch. I will be practicing it more in the future.

What for me was a plus is that all the supplies for these charms came from my stash. I did not make a dent in my supplies. To date, I have not received my charms from this swap. I will more than likely make a necklace rather than a bracelet once I get my charms. So more will follow on this topic.

Crayon painting

There has been a request to view my crayon paintings a la Traci so here they are. These are my crayon experiments. I really like melting the crayons. I don't have a true encaustic iron, but I don't think that matters. My next experiment will be melting lipsticks. I know that somehow they will be able to be used in this sort of technique. After all they are made of wax and pigment.
The pictures are as follows--the 2 muted papers are wax on cardstock. I tried stamping on the surface of one but did not like how the image was not sharp. The more vivid picture is wax on glossy cardstock and the crayon her is a bit thick. There is also some true encaustic wax mixed with the crayon. The artwork that is stamped with staz-on black and the more muted one was stamped with another ink which I don't recall now what I used. This paper is glossy. I had more samples of artwork but it turns out they were given out without photographing.

Encrusted Mini Quilt

This is my first quilt project. The picture is not as good as the actual project. I will have to photograph rather than scan because the scanner bed does not take the whole image. This was so enjoyable for me. After having given up on embroidery, it was nice to take up a needle again. I got a new sewing machine and on Wednesday I will start on beginning quilt classes. I had no interest in quilts but seeing the new art quilts have inspired me to give this a go. It just seems that one art form leads to another.

Charm Swap

Well I am working on my charms for a new swap I'm in and am excited to be a participant. Hope I don't disappoint with what I'm doing, but I want to make so many good charms. By good I mean truly creative and artistic and to me very importantly well executed.
I am putting my link out there--something I have not done before. I thought I would keep my blog private but after reading other people's blogs I've changed my mind. Hopefully this will force me to keep up with the posting and journaling. I have wanted to do this.
In seeing my blog, you'd think I never did anything--I do create things. Perhaps not so prolifically but I do create. It's just that I make things then send them out without photographing or documenting. I suppose my joy comes in the making but having a record is great. This will have to be one of my new aspirations--to journal/blog.
These charms were posted on the charm swap web site--it felt so good to see them and there were complimentary remarks. That type of thing has made me feel confident enough to swap with others. I have been playing with the idea of putting a stash of stuff together and set up an etsy site. I would not consider selling anything before, but I'm thinking that in the future I may just do that.

Fabric Quilt Book

I've completed my first fabric book and thoroughly enjoyed the process. Fabric and paper go so well together. This book involved alot of work but it did not seem like there was so much work. Had I done more hand embroidery, I could have made this a portable project. Terri has asked for a project for a charitable auction and I'm thinking I will go with making another fabric book--just hope the project turns out well.

Haven't blogged in how long?

I just noticed that it's been so long since I posted. Where has the time gone? I've done so many artistic things since I last posted. You couldn't tell by looking here. Boy, have I been slack!!! I need to keep this up and document what I've been up to. So, here goes. I am going to start by putting in my latest project. I am taking an on-line class on making a mini quilt/fabric book and so it is a project in progress. Here is a picture of my first attempt and hopefully successful project.

Re-thinking

I thought I would not work on another altered book, but..... I started to think that the new round will start in February--by then I will probably be Jonzing for a project. I guess what I need to do is not participate in the summer months and relax about getting things done. There is no need to add pressure on myself when fun is the objective. There is just so much to do in the summer. Three hurricanes this past year was just not fun.
I don't know what theme to do. It will come to me. I've got the idea of songs and movies running around in my head. I also like the idea of Terri's art list. Vamos a ver que pasa.
Can't wait to see what my "Wonders" book ends up looking like. I don't think I'll consider it finished when it comes. I want to continue working on it since for me this is in effect a personal visual journal. I've saved so many bits and pieces of paper all these years I can see giving them a home in my book.
I'm ready to send my microscope slides off today. After that it will be on to making my Christmas cards. Who would have thought Albert would like these so much.

Happy Thanksgiving

Winding down to year's end and getting projects done so that I may concentrate on stuff I want to do. I sent off the last book due on the altered round robin. This time I don't feel like it was so much fun. Those hurricanes just kept getting in the way and power losses didn't help any. I am debating on whether or not I will participate next go around.
I sent off an altered puzzle swap today. That one was fun. It involved 12 mini works of art and basically no pressure.

Wendi Speciale Designs

Well I'm psyched. I ordered a custom rubber stamp to be made from a childhood picture of myself. The people at Wendi Speciale liked the stamp and want to add it to their line. How cool is that? I will be immortalized in a clear rubber stamp. I checked out the member gallery just now and there is my submission of an altered book page I made. How dumb that I did not send my last name. Oh well, I'll be like Michaelangelo and use only one name.

Discourged about my blog

Raquel Now an Artist

I am having trouble adding additional posts to my blog. Will I have to abandon this? I hope not.

Fat Books

My fat book finally arrived from Celine Navarro. It took forever to receive this since the pages were due to her March 1st (5 months ago)but it was well worth the wait. This was something new for me to do. The theme was childhood and we had to use some of her (Celine's) collage images. The number of interpretations is amazing and I will certainly refer to my copy to inspiration and knowledge. It's so amazingly easy to make your own books. A simply comb binder makes it all possible.
I also did learn from this that artists do not always stick to deadlines and I need to develop tolerance for this.

Happy Happy Me 

welcome

Welcome to my site. I hope to share and add to this place.