Last spread - Altered book

I worked in Carol's travel fashion book. We used paper napkins for the background. I did a collage on India fashion. I will miss this class.

Mixed Media Club Holiday Party 2008

Friends, art, gifts and pizza, what could be better than that. We all got our altered books back - the class is over after 8 months. The class enriched my art skills and I developed wonderful friendships. The spine broke from the weight of the pages in my book. I think I will leave it like that to remind me of all the lessons learned.

I made angel ornaments from old alphabet blocks and doll parts (made from 1860 - 1920) dug from the ground in Thuringia, Germany. They have dirt and rust on them - some I leave as is and some I have cleaned up a bit and painted. This has been a fun project. The angels will find their way to new homes at Christmas. This is the one that I made for the party swap.

I was luck enough to get a piece of art from Terry at the holiday party. I already hug it up in my studio. Thanks Terry!

Altered book pages

I am working in my own book this time. The theme is Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. I've done spreads on Earth and Water so the spreads I did this time were on Fire and Wind. There is no doubt about the fire but the wind I'm not so sure of. We also had a special class on niches. My niche has a water theme. We have one more class. It's been an interesting class - just about every life event you can think of has happened to one or more of us.

Altered book Hands spreads

The first spread was painted with gesso, red paint with some gold accents then black paint. Words about hands were written on the pages and scratches were made in the paint. A cutout of my hand was outlined in white paint. I added stickers and rub ons and some bling.

The next two photos are of the sign in tag. I made the hands out of clay.

The next spread used luminer paint and tyvek that has been stamped and heated. The Geisha is a painted hand - how cool is that?

Altered Book on Hands

The theme of the book I'm working on this month is Hands. The two techniques are: scrapping paint with reverse stencil and using Luminer paints on tyvek then using a heat gun on it. I missed the class so I got to go to the teacher's house to have a private lesson. Everyone's book is looking good. It will be nice to have art work from all the artists and also have a wonderful book with lots of memories when the class is over.

I'll post some photos tomorrow. I can't believe that I'm sitting in bed with my sleeping cat typing on the laptop. We installed a wireless network today so all the computers can get on the internet. No more waiting to check my mail or post to my blog! It doesn't get much better than that.

In Memory of Nancy Diamond

The Altered Book Class got together Saturday to work on Nancy's book. Nancy and her husband were killed by a drunk driver on their way home from visiting family. Her sudden loss hit the community and her friends very hard. Nancy was a beautiful, kind, loving soul that will live on in her family and friends. In the photo above Nancy is showing the artwork she did in another members book.

Nancy loved to paint cats, the theme of her book is The Cat as Art. Here are the pages I made for her book. The book will be completed and given to Nancy's grandson. If you would like to know more about this wonderful woman and her husband you can read about them at http://www.diamondmemorial.blogspot.com/ We will miss Nancy and her beautiful smile.

Travel Fashion Altered Book Pages

The theme of the book I received this month is TRAVEL FASHION. It was a challenge, the book is fragile and my pages were too heavy - they fell right out of the book. I used some book tape to secure them back in. Lesson learned - do not glue lots of pages together. The shaker window pages had card stock glued in between the pages to allow a pocket for beads and sequins. All the pages glued together made the pages pull out of the book.

Earth, Wind, Fire and Water

When I was in class, I took a picture of the cover of my Altered Book and the Earth spread I did. I didn't get a picture of this before my book went to another artist's home.

Contrary to popular belief, I can actually make a page with just a few things on it. My book has now been passed to another person. It's so much fun to see how others interpret your theme.

Altered Book Class

We had our monthly meeting in Fredericksburg, VA. Everyone showed the two spreads they completed in another persons book. What beautiful, inspiring art work. We all got new books to work in. My books theme is TRAVEL FASHION. We learned two techniques that we will be using in the book. Can't wait to try them out.

Altered book pages

I have completed my two spreads for the Altered Book class. The book I am working in this month is a dictionary. Words, letters, and numbers filled my head and I just put them on the pages. One spread has pockets and one spread uses a crumpled paper technique. I can't wait to get someone else's book next month.

Altered Book Round Robin

I'm taking a class on Altered books. This is my first experience with altered books. We are learning a few techniques each class then we are using them to create our pages. Everyone selects a theme, mine is Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. We learned about glazing and transfer techniques in the first class. The next class we will all switch books, learn new techniques and use those techniques to create pages in someone's elses book using their theme. So at the end of the class you have lots of techniques and lots of artists work. Here are some pictures of the cover, sign in page and the first spread I did on Water.