Recycling Bushell's Tea Bag Box.

Recycling in art can serve many purposes such as gift giving, not wasting more paper and exercises the brain again  in a creative way.
As we don't give adult Christmas gifts these days I buy a tree decoration as a family gift, this year is the third one so it is becoming a tradition. The shape of the bird presented a small challenge and had a box in the kids art kit so stole the other one from the pantry.
The first thing to do was to take it apart  and not hard as only four spots of glued holding it together, next I laid it out flat and drew a template(these are so handy for any envelope, bag etc.) and chose pastel paper as the cover. After tracing the shape onto the paper on the inside side (could use the actual box at this stage as well  if you think you wouldn't use the same shape again) plus allowing extra all the way around for folding over.

Template.

Fold lines on the decorative paper with the extra measurements added.

                                                                                                                                                                                        

Instead of gluing the whole surface I just did the edges enough to hold it together and place small clips in required places while the glue dried.

Waiting for it to dry.

After I put it all together I used the template for the size of end cover on the top of the inside lid.

I made a nest for the bird and decorated the outside.

To hold the lid closed I hot glued two small pieces of Velcro. Each one was wrapped accordingly for reach recipient.

Bits and Pieces Make Art.

Remember I started wood carving earlier this year and here we are in November with the break up luncheon on the horizon.
Ideas keep forming which pushes me along my creative path so I 'm a happy 'camper' as the saying goes.
There's another memento finished of a cheetah from Jacaranda, two down one to go. An odd shape of about 6cmx 8cm.

A combination of carving and pyrography.

The group are holding their end of year display this weekend and the raffle is a large wall hanging made from bits and pieces left over from carving, waste ends of lengths of timber and the pieces from scroll sawing and a lovely hand carved mouse.

The backing timber was left on a table with three boxes of odds and ends in it so we could all just add to it as the mood took us as we walked past. I arrived this morning and it's sitting on an easel completed. Looks amazing and just as well I had my camera.

Finished piece.

Huon Pine with burnt design and watercolour pencil.

The mouse top right corner viewed from above.

A reindeer surrounded by odd shapes.

A jigsaw of shapes and colours.

Name a shape and its probably there with the scroll sawn pieces..

Side view to show depth of some pieces.

A swan maybe, very contemporary.

Filling in spaces.

 Texture on texture.

From Books to a Print.

Today I am so very proud of the achievements my group of five ladies have produced with their first serious printmaking effort. It was back in October I wrote about the books we were making and each had cut and printed a small lino as decoration for a page. During the process it was discussed and decided that we should, and could we create a collaboration print from each other's plates.
 I organized a day to hire the use of a very good friend's studio and press for the occasion. As usual we self catered for morning tea and afternoon tea (food being secondary to creating art) and had lunch at nearby centre.
After introductions were made, coffee/ tea consumed and conversation halted it was into some lessons on how to use the press a first for everyone.
They are very keen and willing learners which just made my job so much easier and even asked what could they do to help.
As they are dedicated scrapbook people and sewing for families their skills were honed to a degree that explaining something new was no problem at all.
Once we had it all set up I ran a sample print through on clean newspaper for pressure testing and to see how we felt about the arrangement of the six single plates. This made it so much easier to make adjustments before our final decision. Considering there was five viewpoints it went rather well with everyone happy to play with ideas.

As I came around the car to enter the studio this chap gave me the giggles but I think he was destined for a 'new home' of sorts at a later date.

One of our first arrangements.

Pre printed  pieces  after discussions re negative space and positioning with torn paper prints. Still unsure we asked my friend and another lady who arrived for a visit for their opinions. This proved to be very valuable and presented us all with different ways of pre planning a large collaboration before hand. 

So having decided on an image to everyone's agreement it was time to get out the tools to change the plates and for me to make a new registration.

The end result and we all have two prints each to play with and again each artists has different views on framing and  signing. Because they are personal prints and not editions for exhibition purposes I am not necessarily sticking to the traditional way of edition, titling and dating. We are meeting to talk about this and I will just advise and let them make their own decision.

Part of the idea to do the large print was because along the way we hadn't ever got around to signing our prints in each of the books.

Thank you ladies for this experience and for being so willing in so many ways and so much fun.

A very special thank you to the studio owner.

From Square to Round.

This is what I have been involved in the past few months. Hubby had some left over Mackay Cedar so cut three blocks off for me to play with. Decided to create some animals heads and the first is the owl and they have been promised to family members.
My very first effort carving from a 10cm square block into a round not so 10cm  size block.

The original block size with unlacquered piece.

Finished piece.

A second project while working on the owl is a carved flower from Huon Pine which is in collaboration with my friend who does beautiful pyrography to be included in a huge wall hanging. Made from timber(of course) with random sizes and types of timber bits arranged into an artful display. Interesting shapes and colours create a scene we hope pleases everyone and sparks conversations.

I will try to take photos later and post. This is what I have at present and today I burnt some shaded areas on the flower. 

These three pieces are 11x8cm and the other two are burnt with a botanic theme with hand coloured flowers but runs across both pieces which are situated under this one on the backboard.

Another book finished.

Back in July I wrote about a group of ladies meeting each week to practise a shared interest in book making. Some for personal use and others as gifts.
Yesterday I finished one for my friend who resides on Karraggara Island.

Decorated Pages.

Some pages were decorated with pieces of my own artworks, old prints, marbling and a piece from recent book just finished. There has been many pages left  for text and her own drawings.

The cover was brown paper with a piece of Japanese paper and the end covers from a drawer liner which matched in nicely with the colour scheme. 

My Book.

Book number 28 and decided to experiment with two colours in the stitching  and colour scheme used throughout the pages. This one has 23 signatures and is second to my other art journal for my ideas and projects.

Book 28.

The one underneath was made in 2008 and the cover was another experiment with fabric.

Cover for no 28.

Front cover, an old experimental print I had read about.

Marbled end cover, front.

Back cover and again an at home session.

It has been interesting to use and recycle old pieces, to work out colour combinations and for me there's always an alternative and a use for old projects, they become positives.

My next project involves timber and carving drink coasters for the end of year club display, family gifts etc. Purely by accident as hubby was cutting some Mackay Cedar and I happened to mention the size would make nice drink coasters. Then he discovered some Raintree so now have mixed colours in a set.

Mackay Cedar unvarnished.

While I am on this subject I will catch up with my carving tool kit lid .Designed, pyrographed and varnished. This was my first pyrograph project and quiet an enjoyable and relaxing experience.

One of the chaps in the craving group offered to give me the box as he had made a few and he also made the new handles for the carvers as when the kit was bought it was only supplied with a short round handle and the longer handle is better to work with. It's styled in the old fashioned pencil case with the slide on lid, brings back memories of school!

Combining two interests.

Now I had the bug to pyrograph drink coasters for my lady friends as a thank you for inviting me into their homes. So I have a set each with two coasters, one for their hubbies and one each for the ladies but there's has their own design from their books we made, a little bit more personalised. The images were lino prints(apart from the leaf as an actual leaf was used for her book print) for their books. These are burnt onto the Raintree as a lighter coloured timber..

The daisy was drawn freehand for the lino plate and I added a bit of white paint for highlights.

The feather with a highlight as well.

Palm trees.

An actual leaf print for her book.

Aussie gumnuts.

Postcard Swap.

I'm always excited to receive mail especially if it's to do with art. I entered Printbank Mackay's second postcard swap and am so pleased with my two postcards. The catalogue was a novel idea and very handy once you have e-mailed , as I have and been replied to, to look up which one's  the other artists received. I know mine are destined for my private collection.
Here are my two.

'Bobbing Along'

One of my favourite subjects in lino my preferred medium too. Thanks to Marg McArdell from N.Ireland .

'Love in the Mist'

All the way from New Zealand,a linocut and monoprint. Thanks to Maggie Dawson for producing a lovely 'ghost' image and the colours are beautiful.

I am happy to say both arrived in good condition.

From This to This.

The flower is finished and not as smooth as other pieces being produced but we move on to new projects when learning new hobbies. At the end I decided it needed some texture  somewhere in the background. Leichardt timber has been nice to carve and relatively easy to handle. The sanding is not as smooth as some pieces produced and I learnt to be softer when gouging and shaping in the beginning.
The next timber to try is Guava , a white timber with  lovely markings on the bark.