Check out the ArtJournal Stimulus Project over here at D'Blogala. It's a series of PDF and interactive discussions on artjournaling done online. D'Blogala does a series of prompts that i like very much so I suspect this online course would be well worth the $15 being charged,
I've been working in the 100% recycled journal for a few days now. I've filled a few pages,but I've been working it in my usual manner of actually working on 4 or 5 pages at a time and working ahead and cleaning my brushed out on future pages. It's a style that works well for me in thicker journals and less well with journals that are jotter thick. The beauty of this journal is that I'm not overly concerned with using up the pages, they aren't precious to me in any way say like, fabriano or stonehenge even.
That being said I've found tha the gesso is a pain in my arse. Pure and simply it didn't adhere overly well to the super slick and glossy pages of the Nat Geo mag i used to make my pages. The culprit as I've found it- hte brush I for application. I used a watercolor brush (an old one, calm down) and it put on a very thin layer that dried fast, which was my goal. I should have gone for better coverage and covered fewer pages. the pages that I applied a thick coat have less of an issue with scraping and weird behavior. the thin pages the gesso scrapes off, which can lead to some very cool antiquing effects but wasn't what Iwas really looking for.
Don't get me wrong I love this journal, but I had to learn how to use it.
Follow the link to flickr and tell ThirdPersonPossesive what to do with all the cardstock strips she's got.
I've been working on this idea of some 100% recycled sketchbooks. I've been fascinated for some time with the idea of gesso'd pages made of newspaper or magazines. I first experimented with this idea back in 1999, I gesso'd a hundred or so pages of newspaper and drew on them. I have no idea where those pages went or what ever happened to them. All I know is that I love to draw on gesso, especially when it's on top of chunky paper. The rougher the paper the more i like it. So why would I want to experiment with gesso on magazine apges? Color and pattern. It takes away the fear of the precious white page, the empty the making of the first mark.
The first mark is there just whited out with gesso. I used a thin layer of gesso to cover up the words and images from a national geographic special magazine. I snagged 3 copies from the trash, chopped and stitched it up into a 3.5×5 inch book that is just a hair over 1 inch thick. The binding is a standard button hole style binding. I fouled up the spine a tad, but the spine is made of a recyled tyvek envelope that I had recieved somethign in. The book is about 98% recycled. The book board inside is not recycled and the thread is of course new material, but the rest all recycled.
I digress. I went through the book with brush and gesso and put a thin layer of gesso over images and words. I lightened pages that were too dark to write on. My first intent was to draw in this book with a ultr fine point sharpie or pigma pen. The pages are so slick that thegesso adhere'd well but will still scratch off, which leads to more ideas but wasn't what I had planned on. My initial goal was to use this as a sketchbook and journal. Sketching is easier in this book than writing. Mainly due to that issue witht he gesso scratching off.
I intended for this to be somethign of a prototype of sorts. I wanted to do a limited edition with pre-gessoed pages BUT it took so long to gesso up the 300 pages (all day) that I'd have to charge an exhorbitant amount to sell these and recoup any profits. Anyway, I'm in love with the size and chunkiness of the book and I've been using it a little bit here and there. I am going to make a few one of a kind versions of the book. BUt be aware you'll see some more sketches on here than you have in the past.
kinda creepy but kinda nice, makes me uneasy but I keep looking. By Carlos Baonza on flickr
Sometimes I find a art and craft bog that embodies all that I want to be in a blog. You know, great content, great writing and way cool shite scoured from all over the internet. It's rare that I find such a super cool blog. But I have, and via Twitter no less. It was through twitter that I stumbled upon DudeCraft. Sure the name might scare some shy chicks out there, worried (esp coming from me) that it's all about greasy motors and industrial design. But I swear DudeCraft is all about really cool crafts, I've yet to see any greasy motors (I know I know I love my greaasy motors and I'm all female) and lots of really cool links. So head over to dudecraft it's got my stamp of approval and follow the site on twitter.
I used to do this when I was in college. I was terrified my roommate would read my rambling adolescent drivel so I wrote first in green in one direction, Then in red in another, blue in another and finally in black. I'd end up with a terrifically cool but totally illegible page of my thoughts. ONce I got my own room I stopped doing it. I can't find that journal though, it's got to be boxed up in my Dad's barn somewhere. I've got to get some of my crap out of there.
I think it would be cool to do this in various colors of sharpie then go over it with gesso or white acrylic to see what would lift into the paint… Could be cool
There is a great blog over here called Notebook Stories.They do reviews of notebooks, find great artists and doodlers as well as notebook addicts. Great stuff. I should see if they will review some of my notebooks…
Anyway it's a great blog and everyone should go over and check it out.
Anyone who has a facebook and/ or a twitter account and/ or an etsy or artfire account, login and tweet or facebook one item not your own today. Find a cool new item or an old favorite and tell everyone.
Etsy's new facebook link is subtle, you need to heart an item to be able to facebook it from within the page. On Artfire all you need to do is click the tweet this link on the left hand side of the items page. Super easy either way. Show some love for your fellow etsy and artfire people.
Celebrate the freedom to make and buy Handmade items!
Tweet and Facebook the call to Celebrate the freedom for handmade!
I've set up a page on Facebook, you can find it here. I link to my new items and put up some pictures. All good stuff. I also have been experimenting with some online contests. Follow me on Facebook to find out more.
What I really want to write about today is Etsy's new Facebook feature in which when you heart an item a link pops up under the "heart this link" that says "facebook this item." Very, very cool.You have a chance at link an item for your friends to see, it could be a neat way of telling friends "hint hint I'd like this in large for my birthday" or it could just be a fantastic way of linking to an item so lots of people can see it.
I read on the forum (I know I know, I hate taht plce but can't resist a link to it from twitter) that a lot of people were looking at this as spam for their facebook account. In a way I suppose if you abuse it, it is, BUT I look at it form a customer's perspective and not a seller's perspective, as in "How cool is it that I can link to all these awesome items?" Etsy should have rolled this out to buyers and not so much sellers. It hink that etsy sellers are an easy sold to target. Let's face it the buyers spend less time on the site than we do, they might spend hours browsing the items but they aren't listing items and don't have the same involvement on a day to day basis that sellers do.
What I'm saying is this: wicked cool feature but not so much for sellers, email that stuff out to the buyers etsy and yo've got something cool on your hands. It would b nice if you set it up so we could send a link to Twitter in the same breath. I tweet way more than I facebook.*
SO if you are a buyer on etsy or even a seller, go on there and heart a few items today and put them up on your facebook for the world to see. Sellers get your friends to SIGN UP for etsy today and start linking to items!
*artfire has a tweet this item link on the left side of each items page, pops up with a micro url and some text already in it, I'd love it if they did a facebook link too. It's super easy to use.