Rag Pillow Reveal!

Several posts ago, I blogged about a project we had begun in Art Studio to make rag pillows from t-shirt strips (see Rag Pillows on a Rainy Day).  Well at long last, and after about 6 t-shirts worth of strips, I have finished it!  Woo hoo!

Check out the finished product sitting pretty with other flirty pillows.  I had a ball stuffing it full of colorful patterned tee strips and matching it to my guest room. (This is totally different than matching a painting to your sofa----I promise.) My friendly little pillow is now happily ensconced on my window seat....that is until I make my bed and take a follow up pic.

It was fun and easy to make and I often worked on it while I was watching Alcatraz, Castle, Glee, Vampire Diaries, or any other treat.  Here's a close up of the materials. All recycled--- even the back which I did in a cheery black polka dot.  Try one yourself, or better yet, grab a teenager and get them started!

Neat Ninja Assemblage

Who doesn't love the cute ninjas that run around in one of Gmails' email themes?  Well, in one of our recent Art Studios, I challenged the girls to create an assemblage as a sketchbook assignment.  (see "Collage is not just for Ransom Notes").  Enter Nikki and the Ninjas.





She has recreated a ninja painting at a low table.  Love the way she used a page of writing for the face, and cool paper for under the Ninja hood.  Love the pop of red!
















To complete the page, she used other Ninja pics, cut outs from magazines and flyers, and then finished it off with complementary prismacolor markers.  This side represents his work life.

The left side of the page, below, is full of his romantic escapades.  She snagged some fun pics with his lady and continued the theme across.  Love the overall effect and the color palette.

Overall, charming and very creative.  Just what entries in a sketchbook ought to be.  Think how much fun she will have coming across these pages for years to come.

Rag Pillows On a Rainy Day

This week in Art Studio, we are going to take a run at rag pillows.  With the mounds of scraps in my studio from Echo Sweaters, I have tons of material.  So, in advance of my students, I decided to try a smidgen of the concept yesterday (see the end of my entry called "Collage is not just for ransom notes") and it appeared to work pretty well!

First, here's the picture of what inspired me in the first place.  It's a fun find from Pinterest----in great beach colors.  I was a bit concerned about not only the size, and the suggested t-shirt backing, so I've opted to try a throw pillow face instead.  (After I finish, I can face the underside into the fluff of the pillow and protect it.) Maybe a rag rug next if this goes well!

In brainstorming with my friend Pam, we thought of different backings that might give us a bit more strength and linear guide.  We wanted something with a tad more structure, that would be easier to handle and thread the t-shirt remnants through.  We couldn't find plastic canvas (used for yarn projects) with wide enough holes, and it was too hard to enlarge them.  We needed a cross between a miniature silt fence and irrigation plastic--without the nasty plastic feel.  So, when nothing emerged as the perfect dream base, I went with cross stitch canvas in Ivory- size 11.  It has the grid and it was relatively easy to cut slits into it as needed.

I selected a smattering of t-shirt remnants from the studio that would work well in our orange bedroom. (It has a black and cream toile spread with a few red accents in the room.) After cutting my canvas to a 15" x 15" area to allow me to have pillow edges to sew, I bound them with blue masking tape so they wouldn't ravel.  Then the strip making began--- cutting them roughly 1.5" wide by 6" long.  No need for perfection here.  By cutting slits about 1/2" long and about 2/3" apart, I had plenty of holes.  The first two rows came out well, but I can tell this is going to take a very long time. Perhaps the students will make 8" x 8" pillows.  Anyway, I am encouraged by the fluff that emerges from just two rows!  Here's the beginning of the pillow!

Collage is Not Just for Ransom Notes

I saw this great ad for a show at a museum in London (with the title above) and decided it was going to be our Art Studio sketchbook assignment for this week.  My students are busily working, but I finished first and wanted to share my finished page.

My assemblage is about my journey through art. I have used scans of my Beetle art pieces as the cars driving along the road and some great road package tape as the boundaries.  It was really great fun picking out all the different papers- cutting them into squares- attaching them and filling in with prismacolors. (In fact, I think I would love a quilt made out of these patterns and colors.)  It would also have been fun to make the entire background then attach 1 or 3 major figures or themes.  Hint: Nikki is playing with Ninjas from the Ninja Gmail background- can't wait to see how it comes out.)











From the beginning to the end (where you reach my newest Twitter avatar), you can see many fun mediums (symbolized by the papers/colors), twists and turns into new directions (shown by the road)-  always bounded by the tape, which are my guard rails.  It was fun and frothy and therapeutic.  Who doesn't like to color?









Coming next?  I'll share the other collages when finished, but this week, we are moving on to t-shirt rag pillows.  A great way to upcycle old tshirts and to create a really fun piece for your bed. I got the idea from a tshirt rag rug tutorial I found on Pinterest.  I'll share our inspiration with pics of what we make. To give you a clue, here's a preview of our trial rows.  Color, color, color!!

Holy Innocents' "A Heart for the Arts"

A wonderful event is about to happen here in Atlanta.  Holy Innocents' Episcopal School is presenting "A Heart for the Arts-Celebrating the Style of Giving" on  February 24, 2012. It's a great fundraiser for the school and should showcase some really fun art.  Along with a number of artists and artisans, I will be participating, and wanted to share some of my art that will be there:

This piece is called "Corset" and is made with pattern pieces, archival paper, tea stained cheese cloth and oil crayon.  All on gallery wrapped board- 12" x 24" x 3".

Corset has a companion piece called "Camisole"- same size and same medium.
 

(There are two other pieces- Hat and Purse- for those looking for great 10"  x 10" pieces)















In the same vein, there is Tea Stained Dress No. 3, a framed piece measuring 16" x 20" before the frame.

 Slightly more zippy is another piece, Blue Bug 2, that will hopefully vroom, vroom right out of there! (12" x 24" on gallery wrapped board)

And finally, in case anyone has spring fever, you will also find "Festivity" (124" x 24" on gallery wrap canvas)


Can't wait for the show next week.  With a little luck and alot of work, hopefully this great school will have an amazing event. For more information, http://www.hies.org/artandfashionshow

Valentine's Day is Almost Here!

Well, the art studio session with the girls was great!  They were so creative, and inspired me to do a few more Valentine's for those boys in my life, as well as some more friends.  So, thought I'd play show and tell and display a few more.

 For my son, the golfer who loves lime green and black



























For my friend, the little fashionista, who loves black and cream with a pop of color

For my life-time sweetie who loves orange---even in pansies


















For my dad who loves blue and is also a fashionista


This week, we are drawing eyes in the studio.  Stay tuned---I'll post the best later this week.

Handmade Valentines Rock!

It's hard to escape the fact that Valentine's is fast approaching.  The myriad of red, pink and white in nearly every window is a lovely reminder to get busy.  So, we did.  In my first afternoon "art studio" get together with my daughter and her friend, we are going to make handmade Valentines for friends and family.  Had to try it out first---and loved not only the making of them, but the result.

I began with a package of 8 over-sized white tags from Michaels for......$1.  They even have matching envelopes.  Love it!  Zipped to my computer, found the perfect quotes from quotegarden.com, and printed them onto one side of the tag. I did this by testing the position on a piece of regular copy paper, then taping the tag lightly over where the message printed and sending it through again. (I have one message for friends, one for Nikki, one for my son, husband, etc.)  Here is one of them.












So, then the fun began.  Scooting up to my studio,  I trolled through my flat files of paper to find just the right combination of colors for my friends.  Before adding hearts or circles, I used double sided permanent tape to cover the non-message side entirely with a fun paper, so that it would be the background for my little tag "canvas".  Using the same double sided tape (no mess, no fuss) , I added various hearts, circles, etc. that I cut out until I had the look I wanted.

Once done, I re-punched the hole at the top. (You could reinforce it with the little donuts, but I wasn't near anything but the edible kind.)  Next, I added my ribbon to allow the tag to hang or to double as a bookmark.  Selecting from my button bins, I also looked for a complimentary button.  With a quick shimmy to the sewing machine, I attached the button on top of the ribbon so that it would not come loose.

Voila------a Valentine as individual as the people who will get them. Though they don't come with fun-dip, a smarty or sweet tarts, or even chocolate, they will hopefully remind my Valentines of how much they mean to me each day of the year.

Art therapy rocks!!!!