Entre Acte - Star Book - March 30

Several months ago, a guild member offered free magazines - I took them all and have been enjoying them VERY much. One project just captivated me...A Star Book. It was featured in Expression magazine in March 2002.
The instructions for cutting and assembling the signatures were very clear. I used sea and sand colors in mine, as well as seaside vacation themes in the pages.

Most of the stamping was done with "Versamark" ink. It is clear and leaves an image several shades darker than whatever background it is applied to. The title is printed on a transparency, run through a Xyron machine, applied gold leaf flakes to the sticky side and then applied it to the cover which is a hand made marbled paper.

Its hard to see the backgrounds in the photos, cause they are subtle. The tags use stamps of quotes, masked and then background stamped.

On page 3 I made a shaker with a map of a coastline and a mix of green and blue mini beads and a few blue star sequins.

Since the backs of the outer layer are not visible, I was able to use brads and eyelets freely.

The crab is mounted on a spiral so it bounces around when the book is open.



The fishes page is my favorite...I don't know why, it just really appeals to me.

The last page feature a "slide" of two women from ...I'd guess the 40's. It reminded me of me and my sister and the trip we are taking together. I like the word "souvenir"...to come again.

Between Journals - The Mermaids - March 23

At our March Fiber Arts meeting several people were wearing these art doll pins that they had made at the Federation Conference. Oooo, I wanted one. I needed polymer-clay faces. So, I signed up for a class at Stamp Antonio and bought a push mold for the faces.

In the class, we made a box. Mine melted in the oven cause it was too hot, but - it looked really neat, like lava or some burnt artifact. But, most important to me, I was able to make a slew of little faces without having to purchase a toaster oven and a pasta machine. So - back to the dolls.

I tried to make a pattern and cut it out of felt - but it didn't work so well. Back to the store, this time for a "Shapelets" art doll template, which I changed just a bit by making a fish tail. While looking on the web, I figured out that I should make the tail straight with some wire in it and curve it later.

At the guild meeting, one of the members was giving away sequins and a whole jar of them were shades of green! I also dropped in on the local "Antiques Mall" and found a little box of pierced shells (among $25 worth of other chatchkies) I used some loom-waste silk threads for the hair.

So far...$4 worth of felt...$12.75 for push mold...$3.00 for pin backs...$25 for the class... $25 worth of "antique" crap = $69.75 for doll #1.

But I also wanted a pin for my sister Connie so we could match on vacation, and I knew I could improve. Mermaid #2 got BOOBIES. I needle-felted a great rack onto her and what a difference! I also held the curve of the tail with a sewn dart. I didn't buy any more stuff - so the dolls are now costing about $35 each in materials.

They were surprisingly quick to make up. The longest time was spent sewing on sequins and beads to the tail. Each doll took me a full day.

But we are gonna be zoomin around the boardwalk with our mermaid pins!

Brigitte's Journal - Paris. March 21, 2006

Brigette's journal arrived on March 11. Her theme is Paris, which holds special memories for me since I spent my early childhood there. It took ALOT of pondering and trial runs to get to what I wanted to say about Paris.

I chose the tomb of Abelard and Heloise-the famous lovers. I've always wanted to be in Paris as an adult and in love - but I've lost that chance and Abelard and Heloise also embody for me that loss. I printed a postcard of the tomb on water-color paper. Then I actually watercolored over the printing - that worked really well! I noticed that once again I used a difuse blue-sky background. Guess its not out of my system yet.