Bandana technique production mode

Dear Reader, I've been in production mode now for several days on these pages for the BookArtz technique book page swap. Every time I check the database, someone else has added their name! Since the closing day for sign up isn't until the 15th, no telling how many will join. Oy!


But never mind, I do enjoy making these. First I paint, and while that's drying I stamp some already painted pages, and while that's drying I outline. Or doodle.

You can use a couple different types of pens. Since the Inksentials (from Ranger) pen wasn't readily available, I started with a paint pen by DecoColor. It has an extra fine point which I like very much. You definitely want an extra fine or fine point pen for this! And DO NOT get a Marvy pen, boy they can make a big mess. Here's a hint for paint pens - always start them on a separate sheet of paper. I mean every time you start using them, not just the first time! Nasty little surprises are just SO unwelcome!

The Inksentials pen is just a gel pen, and it's nice, although it doesn't smell as nice as the paint pen. Both make a nice line and dot though. So either. My personal preference is the extra fine point.

I did start getting a little bored just doing the white doodles, so then I started adding some color doodles too. Would this strictly still be bandana technique? Who cares? So then, maybe the image doesn't have to be black either. And I definitely think that one should try drawing an image in black and then using the white doodles with the drawn image.

While you are doing these over and over you can think of lots of ways to change up the technique. And maybe what to cook for supper and a few other things not completely related...

But watch out! If you mind wanders too much, sloppiness happens! And everyone knows "NEATNESS COUNTS!".

On these last two pics, you can see two sizes of pen point. The fine point in the color, and the white is extra fine. It's about twice the size. For some reason the A.C. Moore only had white in the extra fine.

If you aren't already signed up, go directly to the BookArtz yahoo group and sign up! This promises to be a really great reference for altered book techniques!

Love this technique!

This is so much fun to do! I was up late last night working on these for the Book Artz technique book page swap. As best I can tell, this technique was developed by Robin Beam. It shows up all over if you google it.

There are three parts to it. Background color or colors, a black image, and white doodling. Robin used Ranger inks for the background. Another artist used colored card stock. These pages started with acrylic paint thinned with glazing liquid. Thinning the acrylic colors makes them transparent so that you can layer them. The more glazing liquid, the more transparent. One of my favorite things to do in altered books and journal pages.

The images are cheapo foam stamps which had nice thick images, but not too cluttered. You could use any images you want, but you want to have space to doodle, cause that's the part that makes it really cool!

And then the mostest FUN part - doodling! Use a white pen. Everybody seems to have a different favorite white pen. There is a white pen from Ranger, but that wasn't in my local store so I got a white extra fine point paint pen. It works great! Smells good too? Am I getting high from that? hehehe

Hope y'all like 'em!

Script It! BookMooch Journal Project

Green ink and Buddhist wisdom for my spread in Script It. The whole collaborative art project thing, assisted by the internet, has got to be one of the best trends our this time. Did it start with Artist Trading Cards? Probably not, but that's where it first came to my attention. Since then I've tried to do as many as time permits. Love sharing my art. Love having other people's art. Recently I sent out a journal in the BookMooch Journal project. Will it return to me? When? You never know.

I've had this journal a little longer than you're supposed to, but it took some time to decide whether to use fonts in Word, or try to do some myself. Finally just used some of my favorite fonts. Attached a glassine envelope to put in one of my beeswax tags with my personal info on it. And a piece of hand painted cloth. Since colorful fibers and fabric are part of my vocabulary, they had to be included!

Hope you are having a colorful day, dear friends!

Picked up my tiles!!

Some tiles for the risers. Made at the Armory Art Center. Using Georgie's glazes. This are B-mix clay, bisque fired to 6. Gel medium was painted on, allowed to dry. While they're drying make some more tiles! When they're dry, wipe with wet sponge. Clay wipes off except where the gel medium dried.

It took 4 semesters to get here. I had given up because the last kilm full prior to these, EVERY ONE CRACKED! And then, these. Well, I'll be going back and trying some more.

These will probably be on the kitchen risers where I can see them frequently.

Book Mooch Journal Project

Do you belong to Book Mooch? Do you know about the journal project? It's a collaborative art project. You get a journal, write or create a page, and then pass it on. You can find out more here. I've participated in a couple journals so far. And now here are a couple new ones that I'm going to add.


The first one is "Juicy Women". It can be any woman that you think lives a JUICY life.

Doodles are so much fun, and nearly all my journal pages have doodles, so I thought it would be fun to collect lots of different doodles. So doodle away!

Pink favorites swap

As soon as Sue said "Pink" for the next favorites swap, I've been tossing stuff in a bag. There were plenty of pink beads and buttons for two bags! There is some ribbon, some lace, small pieces of paper, lots of fabric, some pink iron on appliques, some little self stick faux gems, some fiber on a clothespin (isn't that a nice way to keep it?, who started that? Nice idea), a couple beeswax collage tags (one with my name and info), a couple napkins (which are really cool in beeswax collage, but peel away the back layer).

You know, I really didn't think I had all that much pink stuff since it really isn't one of my colors. Or maybe it's something that occassionally gets pushed up into the conscious realm.

Here are my latest journal pages:

Have you read about the Pickens plan yet? Check it out using the new badge at the top right.

Colors of Summer

Some of the things that are blooming now in my backyard. The corner out the kitchen window is so pretty now. The arbor is overgrown with jasmine, the alamandas bloom in profusion. The hibiscus bloom, and sometimes I get to see them before the iguanas eat them. We have quite a lot of iguanas this year, since we are on a canal and have trees (mostly palms, but one gumbo limbo) for them to live in. They like trees, but they love hisbiscus. Yummy! Apparently they don't care much for the alamanda, and it's not surprising they don't eat the bouganvilla. The bouganvilla have gotten quite wild, and we should probably cut them back.

We are lucky that the rains have started, we had a dreadful winter/spring drought and everything turned quite brown. But now even the staghorns are green. The good thing about the drought and the water restrictions was that our water bill went down a lot. Boy, watering the lawn uses a lot of water! Who knew? Well, now it would be hard to go back to watering more than once a week. We'll plant less things that need a lot of water from now on. Lesson learned.

Dear readers, hope you will enjoy a warm July 4th with your family and loved ones.