Kaleidoscopic Curiosities

soldering advice?

Recently a reader asked the following question, and I've no idea what to recommend. How about you?

"I've been bitten by the soldering bug! But my finished charms smell yucky. How do I get rid of that, since no one would want to smell this way if they were wearing it? Did I do something wrong?"

What could it be? Cheap or old solder? Exceedingly high temps? Bad flux? We're open for suggestions...

inexplicable confluence of my primary passions

bookmark contest: the winners!

At last, the winners are revealed! When I announced this contest I only planned to have one winner, but I liked all the entries so much, it was difficult to narrow it down...so I'll be sending bountiful collage pack prizes to three lucky artists this time. Yay! And remember, EVERYONE who entered the contest gets an envelope filled with choice tidbits from my vast assortment of paper scraps, because you're all winners in my book. :)

I love Donna Koepp's two-sided bookmark. It's well thought out and beautifully executed. Thanks for sharing your artistry, Donna!

.

.

(Okay, now everybody scroll down -- one, two, three, GO!)

.

.

.

.

Are you still with me? Sheesh, it's easy to write these blog entries but formatting them to appear onscreen properly takes forever -- and obviously I am nowhere near mastering this skill! :) But I digress.

Brigit Pitcairn's contest entry (left) consists of paper and fabric scraps stitched onto what I think is a laminated storebought bookmark. I love its unbridled enthusiasm, applaud the use of fabric, and couldn't help thinking I've seen those girls somewhere before (like, maybe, three or posts ago!)... Thank you for this gorgeous contest entry, Brigit!

This scan of Michele Horner's bookmark (right) does not even begin to capture its beauty. It's lushly layered, adorned with gold accents, and it features a wonderful Anais Nin quote: "There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." Thank you for taking the leap to share your artwork with us, Michele, I love it!

And thanks again to everyone who takes that leap and sends their artwork to ARTitude Zine. I consider it a great honor that you choose to entrust me with the responsibility of showcasing your artistic creations, and I appreciate everyone's ongoing support, I really do!

On that note, there's still time to send in art for the Autumn issue (the original deadline was the 7th but I can accept scans as late as the 14th). The theme of this issue is "Shall We Dance?" but artwork on all topics and in all media is always welcome. Thanks!!

bookmark contest: more favorites

I think there's something really joyful about this bookmark made by Erin McLaughlin (far left). It's not only cute -- it's clever, sturdy and perfectly functional, with its red "X" dangling from a book in progress. And Aggie Smith's metal bookmark (near left) is like jewelry for a novel!

Here are some of the book recommendations that were sent in with the contest entries:

Live Your Best Life by the editors of O Magazine; The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (mentioned in soooo many entries!); The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd; Angels And Demons by Dan Brown; Shaman, Healer, Sage by Alverto Villoldo; The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (another overwhelming favorite, apparently!); The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (read it, loved it but it's too heavy to read in bed); The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (a runner-up, in terms of popularity). More tomorrow!

bookmark contest: some of my favorites

I'll save the winners (yes, winnerS!) for another post, but today I'd like to share a few more of the lovely bookmarks that were submitted to my contest in celebration of the Library issue.

I was surprised by how many wonderful little works of art poured in! Simple ones, complex ones. Cardstock ones, fabric ones, metal ones. Ones with amusing quotes, ones with beautiful imagery, and one with its very own teeny tiny hardcover book no bigger than a postage stamp.

I wish I had time to scan them all but, alas, I am only able to choose a handful of favorites to share here. These bookmarks were created by Sandee Hyde (left), Ellen Skagerberg (center) and Marilyn Damschen (right). Marilyn's includes the classic quote, "Outside of a dog, books are a woman's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."  :) Thanks for participating, ladies!

More tomorrow, I promise.

cavalcade o' bookmarks!

To celebrate the "Library" theme of the Summer issue of ARTitude Zine, we held a bookmark contest. Naturally I dreamed it up after the zine itself went to press (d'oh!!), so I announced it in the June e-newsletter I email to my mailing list. I wasn't sure how many people actually read the thing (I know it gets caught in an awful lot of spam filters, unfortunately) but it must reach a decent number of readers because I got a BUNCH of contest entries! I'll be announcing the winner soon, so stay tuned.

Today's featured entry is by Ann Emerson. It's a perfect marriage of text and image; in case you can't make it out in the scan, the little tag behind the blushing beauty says "A book lover never goes to bed alone!" Thanks for your beautiful entry, Ann!

The other, more swap-like component of the contest was that the bookmarks were to be accompanied by a list of three favorite books and a SASE. Right now I'm compiling the recommendations into a long and fascinating list that will be sent to all participants, and I'll fill the SASEs with collage scraps from my personal stash to reinvigorate creative powers that may be waning in the summer's heat.

If you entered the contest, watch for your swap return in the mail next week!

I never promised you a rose garden

I did, however, promise one to the next Creative Underground collaborative project! This one is a summery garland for which we were to make ornaments, with a garden theme. And unlike the other CU swaps I've played in, for this one I have NO idea what the finished project will be like. But here's my little piece of it: dozens of colorful garden angels (you can't really tell in this group shot, but the leaves are the wings). Sweet, huh?

Each flower is a fairly simple ruffled ribbon rose but instead of the usual folded rosebud center I cut little faces out of a cute cotton print, and stitched and stuffed them to form flattish button-like centers. I secured each puffy little face to a small piece of crinoline, then twirled the gathered ribbon around it and tacked it in place along with the ribbon leaves. I took a few tiny tacking stitches around the underside of the face wherever it seemed like a good idea, too, and added lengths of hanging ribbon last (not shown in this photo).

They turned out almost exactly how I envisioned them in my head, which is pretty remarkable since I made them up as I went along and the whole project was full of little trade-offs. Sure, I could have saved tons of time if I'd used cute little face buttons, but that would have cost a lot more money than the quarter yard of cotton print and a handful of fiberfill... All the right elements fell into place at just the right time. Don't you love when that happens?!

Making three dozen of these cuties was more than I bargained for -- I perfected the design around Angel #8 and after that it was a long slog to the finish line. Lucky thing they turned out so darn cute! How could I hold a grudge against those little girls?

For the upcoming Autumn issue of ARTitude Zine Brenda Marks has written a piece about how to make multiples without losing your mind, and at her suggestion I tried to keep things interesting by varying what I could: using different colors and lengths of ribbon. I also set little goals for myself to make it a game: How many faces could I cut, stitch, stuff and secure in an hour? (answer: ten if I'm paying attention, six if I'm distracted by what's on tv)