"Go to Your Studio and Make Stuff" Fred Babb

Friday, January 27, 2017

Altered Rolodex Fun


I'm trying my hand at making altered rolodex cards.  What's a rolodex card you ask?  Yup, I know - this will date me considerably, haha.  Before computers, before cellphones, to keep track of contacts and their information, they'd be written or typed on a card set in a circular (or flat) holder that you could flip through.  Hence the notches at the bottom of the card.

Anyway, this is my first few altered cards that I've made and I have to say, I think I'm addicted!  I've been a bit conservative with my collages, but I feel like branching out and getting a bit more adventurous now that I've figured out how to go about it.  Those notches are definitely a little difficult to maneuver around.


This is the back side of the card above.  (It's true - I'm terrible with straight lines!)  The pretty toile paper above is some giftwrap that I had left over.  


This one I made as a little thank you to my art friend that inspired me to create these.  She was so generous to send me blank cards to get started!  There's apparently a device to cut out card blanks from cardstock that I'll be looking into.  Otherwise, you can maybe find an old rolodex set at a thrift store or maybe online.  

The hearts are cut from a gelli print that I did awhile ago.  I love being able to use up scraps of pretty paper.


This is the flip side. I really don't have a theme or even think about what these collages mean.  It's just stuff I have around that I like to use up.  I guess that's part of my creative process - seeing things emerge as I go.  

I apologize for the light glares on these phone shots.  My work table is tile and cleans up like a dream, but I'm finding that it glares quite easily.  I can fix that though in the future, no problem.

I painted the background with acrylics, used a marbled paper that I did with the shaving cream technique (older post) and some cutouts from magazines and a beautiful stamp one of my friends from England sent me.


Used an old book page for the background and some antiquing ink to age it a little.  I seal all of these with a matte sealant just in case the ink might come off on anything.  I'm not quite sure that it's necessary as I use permanent, waterproof inks, but I like the feel of it after it's been sealed as well.  


This is the other side of the above card.  It's also the bottom half of the image of the lady I used on the other side.  I don't know - why not, ha!  I added the rose because the title could be for either.  I'm not sure my antiquing was all that effective.  Does it look like it's just dirty?  

Well, it's always fun to try new things, especially when I discover them to be fun and a rewarding experience.  I hope you're trying new things too!  


Wednesday, January 18, 2017

ATC Swap


Here's a couple of ATC (Artist Trading Cards) that I made for a recent art swap.

The theme was Sealed with a Kiss, and the one requirement was to have "kissy lips" somewhere on the ATC.  Well, I guess mine doesn't really apply very well to the theme.  But, when I sat down to create - this is what came out. 

I use a lot of tribal imagery in my paintings.  I've always been interested in different cultures.  

I made these on a heavy watercolor paper.  Used a marbling technique for the backgrounds and finished up with stickers for the lips and acrylic paints.  These are 2.5 x 3.5 inches in size.