Happy Halloween!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/artsyletters
Happy Halloween!
My Etsy shop is on break Oct. 19-26 as I travel for some author school visits. I’ll be shipping out orders again the week of Oct. 31. If you’re in Beaufort, SC, find some fun spooky gifts at The Beaufort Emporium and at Nevermore Books! Mwah-ha-haaa. — Robyn

‘Tis the Season… Mwah ha ha

Happy Almost Halloween!
4X4 inch mini mixed media shadow box featuring reproduction entry from an antique Webster’s Dictionary, a delightful tiny vintage glass bat, a gorgeously gothic vintage brass stamping, and Swarovski crystals. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1098382281/mini-bat-mixed-media-with-brass-ornament?ref=shop_home_feat_2

Found Poem-Mixed Media Workshop Highlights!


What fun!  I was honored and thrilled to present a found poem-mixed media workshop here in Beaufort last week, downtown at Coastal Art Supply, just a block from my studio. We had a full table with nine folks, with lots of earnest creating and snips of scissors. (This was a more intimate version of the Found Poem Makerspace workshop I presented in Bellingham, Washington, in the fall of 2016 with a few dozen children’s poets and other brave creative souls. Revisit that link for more of the step-by-step process.)

DSC07450 group shot workshop 2018 03 p a

Our text for finding poems, also serving as our substrate (surface) were Edu-cards from the 1960s or so.  I offered a choice of “shell” or “butterfly,” with complementary vintage bookplates, postage stamps, and bits of stamped brass bling. Of course, the actual subject of the poem and visual elements were up to each artist!  That’s the fun part.  The art (made in just two hours!) was tucked into a 5X7 mat, ready to pop into a frame.

Jill made this gorgeous piece:

©Jill W.

©Jill W.

take a hike

in the spring encountering

Every roadway while

butterflies

rise in clouds

Being strong intelligent

they have 

ability

are

successful

©Jill W.

Yes!  Butterflies as strong and successful!

Jill and Sierra creating mixed media magic!

Jill and Sierra create mixed media magic!

For her collage, Jill’s daughter Sierra conjured up WONDER, from an Edu-card with text about a shell.  (I’m featuring this poem over on my author blog for Poetry Friday, too!)

©Sierra W.

©Sierra W.

WONDER

grace    beauty   perfect

strange

oriental

But, let’s stop and think.  Maybe it is

a builder

for 

ideas.

©Sierra W.

I just love that – and the cool tones and mysterious palette Sierra chose to illustrate it.

Kim Poovey reads her found poem as her mom, Karen, adds finishing touches..

Kim Poovey reads her found poem as her mom, Karen, adds finishing touches..

I was thrilled to have Kim Poovey, author and historic reenactress, join the party!  She came with her creative mother, Karen. In fact, we ended up with three mother-daughter sets – an extra fun element to our creative afternoon. Can you tell Kim is a novelist from her workshop piece below? She picked some lovely language, including “…winged creatures/fairies arising/ nightly wanderings/Luna glow….”

©Kim Poovey

©Kim Poovey

Here’s one last sample from the day – ALL of the pieces were unique and beautiful! This colorful creation is from Mikka Dutton:

©Mikka Dutton

©Mikka Dutton

I love that Mikka included the “From the Library Of” part of the bookplate(!) and followed that with some sassy introductory lines and images – “one courtly/highly prized/”hard to get”/as well…..”

I am always surprised and delighted by what folks come up with, and it’s magical to me to see individual personalities shine through the choices of words, elements, colors, and the particular combinations of all of these.

MANY thanks to all of our afternoon creators – and thank you for letting me share your work.  Thanks also for asking if I would offer another workshop sometime – I am DEFINITELY game!  :0) If you’d like me to keep your email address handy for info about future classes, toss me a line at Robyn@artsyletters.com

Magnet Making Unmasked! (Holiday How-To)


 

c star c sm

The magnets in my Etsy shop are pretty simple in design, but there are many steps and layers involved!  Here’s a peek behind the scenes of my latest line of letter magnets.

Lately I’ve been enchanted with verdigris, the gorgeous blue-green patina taken on by copper over time.  I wanted to create a background texture which suggests it. If I make mixed media backgrounds with regular art paper, I prepare it with a layer of gesso first.  For this project, I skipped that step by using Canson’s Canva-Paper, which has a linen texture and is pre-primed.

For loose “reference,” I simply brought up some Google images on my phone by typing in “verdigris.”  This is what I had finished on my drawing table a short while later:

DSC01581 c

Now, because I liked the effect and wanted to remember how I made it, I took this shot below of the supplies I used – my recipe to refer back to.  I first mixed metallic copper paint liberally with acrylic gloss medium and painted big swaths across the blank paper.  When that was dry, I started painting the blues and greens (also with liberal gloss added!), and some metallic silvery white – letting layers dry or mostly dry in-between. Unless I wanted some scrunchy texture, which I made by blotting areas with a rubber-y square made for loosening jar lids, or humble wadded-up paper towels.  Oh, and I did a dab or two with a page from an old Italian wallpaper book as well.

DSC01559 c

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I painted 2-inch by 2-inch canvas board squares with metallic copper acrylic paint (Amsterdam).  It didn’t go on as smoothly as the craft black I always use, but I just doubled up on the front sides. You can find the mini canvas panels at local arts and craft stores, or online.

DSC01611c

I always paint the backs first, and lay out everything on wax paper to inhibit sticking of stray drips.  When the paint is dry, I glue on a strong ceramic magnet.  (And my little logo piece.)  Hint:  I discovered a trick to helping the magnet “hold” while it’s curing – let it dry on a metal tray!  It will stay right on that little square board, attracted to the metal underneath. Cookie trays work, or any flat metal surface lurking about.

After these set up, I painted the back with a layer of acrylic gloss medium.Then, yep, more drying.

Then, I flipped those babies over and painted all the fronts with the copper paint.

DSC01608c

Then they had to dry.  Sigh.

When my verdigris sheet was dry, I used deckle-edged paper stamps to make 1.75-inch squares.  I usually have to find these stamps used online.  But it beats trying to cut each edge with special scissors.

DSC01600c

DSC01607c

When the magnet tops were dry, I glued on each lovely textur-y square.

DSC01618c

And, added ANOTHER layer of gloss medium on top, being sure sides were coated all the way around as well.

DSC01624c

Then – you guessed it – they had to D-R-Y.

Before I even started on all of this, though, I had rustled up some wonderful metal letters made out West by an artisan/fellow Etsian, distressed to look really old.  (The letters, not the gentleman.  Well, I assume not the gentleman.) I had bought a few alphabets’ worth a while back.  I do love the rust, but figured magnet recipients might not enjoy the powdery iron-y mess, so… acrylic gloss to the rescue again.  I painted all the backs and let the letters dry overnight on wax paper, and then painted all the fronts the next day. And let them dry!

So my letters were shiny-rusty.  (Same treatment for some small metal stars I had also purchased.)

When EVERYTHING was dry, I attached each letter to a prepared magnet and kept it flat while the glue dried.

Finally… Voilà!

DSC01811 c sm

ETSY letters verdigris smallc

To adapt this adventure for a holiday gift-giving project, you can simplify it, of course.  If working with kids, be mindful of adhesives and fumes and choose non-toxic materials.  Young creators can make letters or any designs out of cardstock, or they might enjoy clipping items from old texts or magazines to recycle.

No time to make your own?  Well, that’s why I’m here! ;0)

Feel free to peruse lots of new magnets in my Etsy shop. Go on, let them pull you in…
DSC01911c sm

Happy Thanksgiving!  This Black Friday through Cyber Monday weekend, any order of $25 or more in my Etsy shop ships FREE! :0)

Ahoy! Sea-themed artworks coming to shore…


 

sailors angle c

February winds have made for a blustery bay this week, but that hasn’t stopped visitors from coming to our fair little coastal town.  I’ve been busy conjuring up some “sea-themed” items to offer through artsyletters, especially at my kiosk over in Fordham Market. I wrote a wee bit about this in my author blog post for Poetry Friday last week.

In that post I showed the elements in progress, but above is one of the finished pieces.  These are miniatures, made from cradled wood boards into small shadow boxes.  I painted them black and covered them with acrylic gloss, then antiqued a self-leveling hanger and attached it to the back.

The featured text came directly from

    Crown Jewels
OR
Gems of Literature, Art,
and Music
BEING
Choice Selections from the Writings and Musical Productions of the Most Celebrated Authors, From the Earliest Times

compiled by Henry Davenport Northrop, D. D., and published in 1888.

It’s actually a refrain to a song, “The Tar for all Weathers,” by Charles Dibdin (1745-1814).  Lucky for me, the refrain appeared a few times, so I made three of these. (I was able to find the author’s name in three spots in the book as well.)  I’ve put two of these at Fordham and listed the third in my Etsy shop.

three sailor shadow boxes c

Here are the words:


But sailors were born for all weathers,
Great guns let it blow high or low,
Our duty keeps us to our tethers,
And where the gale drives we must go.
….

(That line, “Great guns let it blow high or low” has been rattling around in my head since I read it!)

The text is placed atop an original mini-woodcut.  I hadn’t done any printmaking in the months since my neck/nerves injury in the fall, and it felt wonderful last week to carve a block or two and roll out the ink (love that smell) and print some images! The ship’s wheel hanging above the text is hand cast from blackened pewter, from a wonderful Etsy shop specializing in antiqued brass.

Here’s another 4″ by 4″ piece with text from a different poem, “At Sea” by John Townsend Trowerbridge:

DSC04696 trowerbridge poem shadow box c

The text reads:

A heavenly trust my spirit calms,

                my soul is filled with light:

The Ocean sings his solemn psalms,

The wild winds chant: I cross my palms

                Happy as if to-night

Under the cottage roof again

I heard the soothing summer rain.

This little piece features tiny vintage watch parts – a watch hand and a wheel, as well as a lovely vintage brass decorative element.  It was described as a flying mermaid; I’m not sure, but it is some kind of fantastical winged human creature! Fortunately I was able to purchase a few of these, so they will appear in other work, too.

Finally, here is a 6″ by 6″ shadow box/mixed media piece.  Again, I made the background by creating a wave-themed woodcut, printing the black image over a block print of mottled blue and green inks.  It’s from the same book, CROWN JEWELS, and features a poem by Thomas Lovell Beddoes, “To Sea.”  (I’m including a close-up below so you can read the entire poem.)  More vintage watch parts on this one – an ornate golden watch hand from France and a tiny wheel which perfectly shows off the decorative illuminated initial “T.”  The seahorse is a vintage pin, found by an Etsy dealer in eastern Europe!

DSC04703 to sea shadow box 6 X 6 c

TO SEA close up c

Thanks for taking a look.  Wishing you smooth sailing the rest of the week and right out of winter into spring…!

Best-Laid Plans… and Messy Studio Tables!


 

messy studio table - artsyletters

I’ll explain this messy table in just a minute.  But first, a quick catch-up:

My plans last month were:  Travel to help oldest (daughter) get set up her brand new third-grade classroom, return home, travel with hubby to get youngest (son) settled in to his second year of college, return home, and work like a crazy person in my downtown studio, creating at a record pace to fill my Etsy shop and my local display at Fordham Market for the busy fall season.

Reality was:  The very night of the college move-in, what I thought was an annoying pulled muscle in the back of my shoulder (that I’d ignored for weeks) suddenly morphed into something excruciating.  Pain not only engulfed my shoulder, but my entire arm and hand as well. So began my adventure with entrapped nerves – the ones that exit  the vertebrae in the neck and pass through the Scalene muscles (the three muscles in the side of the neck).

I am beyond thankful to have found a neuromuscular massage therapist with a masters in physical therapy.  (Think part relief/part torture.)  She is slowly putting me to rights, but it’s a long healing process.  Still don’t have complete feeling in my last two fingers or full strength in my right hand; still packing myself in ice several times a day to chill in the recliner we ended up buying.  (This condition does not lend itself to much actual sleep!) Note to my artist and writer friends:  years of hunching over drawing tables and keyboards contributes to the possibility of this!  So, take frequent breaks.  Watch that posture.  Breathe.

Anyway, my therapist recently “allowed” me to work an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, if I rest with ice in between.

She even made my buy two timers – one for the studio, one for the computer. two timers

 

 

 

I’ve been SO happy to be able to make some art, and make a mess, even if it’s for short periods!  Just so happens I was trying out a technique I’d recently seen in a video by the talented and generous Seth Apter.  He had demonstrated a way to use textured wallpaper samples and gesso when working on mixed media surfaces.  This necessitated, of course, that I find a really cool book of Italian wallpaper samples on eBay and purchase it.  Yes, I did.

I’d been trying out this technique the last couple of days in my brief studio visits.  Then late today I stumbled on a Twitter link to a fun round-up Seth is doing on his blog, The Altered Page.  He’s invited artists to submit links to their own blog posts featuring their messy studio tables!  Kind of a come-as-you-are-party, rather than the polished and perfect studio pictures we all drool over in magazines.

I figured since my current project – making backgrounds for some small mixed media pieces (pix of those soon – promise!  My idea is actually turning out…), I had to knock at the blog party door even if I’m a little late today.  So there’s my messy studio table up there, and here are a couple more pictures:

working on mixed media substrates, with the help of some Italian wallpaper...!

working on mixed media substrates, with the help of some Italian wallpaper…!

Love me some gesso....

Love me some gesso….

I have plans for these....

I have plans for these….

and I can’t wait to spend LOTS of time in here, making more messes!

messy table studio vertical 2

If you love sneak peeks into working studios, be sure to check out all the great links artists have submitted to The Altered Page.  That will keep me busy in my recliner for quite a while.  And if you’d like to see more of my own studio, I posted a little “tour” a few weeks ago, here.  Thanks for coming by!

Art Break Wednesday: Columbus Day art!


 

©Robyn Hood Black

©Robyn Hood Black

Okay, so we haven’t historically had big “Columbus Day parties” in our home.  But this coming weekend, we’re celebrating both kids home for college for Fall Break over the Columbus Day holiday.  I thought it might be a fine time to share a recent mixed media piece with a Columbus connection.

The map is an original page from the Meyers Konversations-Lexicon, Vol. 7 (G), Fourth Edition, Leipzig, Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, 1887.  Genoa was the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, who penned these words in his Letter to the Sovereigns on the First Voyage, February 15-March 4, 1493 (first and rarest of printed Americana), referring to Hispaniola (today, the Dominican Republic and Haiti):

And they know neither sect nor idolatry, with the exception that all believe that the source of all power and goodness is in the sky.

This mixed media piece columbus detail 1 features various watch components and decorative metal embellishments from a variety of sources, namely antique markets and Etsy vintage shops.  A peek into how I chose to put what, where:

 

 

 

 

watch calendar numbers detailFirst, this round metal watch component with the red calendar numbers on a white background seemed perfect color-wise for the piece, and I love the suggestion of time having to do with anything historical.  I “highlighted” Columbus Piazza on the map with a small vintage silver component.

 

 

I liked the way the shape watch parts detail columbus artof these vintage watch parts seemed echoed in the shapes near them on the map, with the circle and spokes, and then the arch/ray image:

 

 

 

 

key detail columbus art

 

The shape of this old metal key seemed to suggest the shape of the docks depicted on the map.

 

 

 

And… true blue buttonI couldn’t resist adding the brass vintage “True Blue” button beside the quotation about the sky!  As far as the larger brass embellishments, I placed them at the top of the map to frame the whole image.  Notice how the “arched” piece on the right echoes the shape of the harbor at the shoreline immediately to its left.

Columbus framed

I had fun making this piece, especially working with such a lovely map in such wonderful condition.  Thanks for taking a look.  And, HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY on Monday, however you choose to celebrate it!

 (Note:  This piece is for sale and has garnered some interest at shows this fall, though it’s not currently listed in my Etsy shop.  Feel free to contact me with any questions about it. The image is approx. 9 X 11 in. ; the frame’s outer dimensions are 18 X 20.)

 

Art Break Wednesday: Just My Type


typewriting manual woodstock typewriter

My wonderful friend and author Kim Siegelson left this intriguing note on my artsyletters Facebook page last month:  “I found the coolest addition to your artsyletters set up today.”  Curiousity was killing this cat!  You see, in addition to sharing the writing life, Kim is the one I’ve turned to in past months for Etsy advice.  She has a lively vintage Etsy shop (two actually), and I love seeing what new items show up in Perfect Patina.  On my author blog in November, I shared another special gift she found for me and my appreciation for our vintage hunting adventures.

We finally met up at our SCBWI Southern Breeze Springmingle in Atlanta this past weekend, and Kim gave me my new surprise.  (Drumroll….)

typewriting manualThe Complete Second Edition of  20th Century Typewriting          

by D. D. Lessenberry and E. A. Jevon, published by South-Western Publishing Company in 1933.

I love typewriting manuals!  I have a couple others I’ve picked up in antique shops, but what makes this one stand out are the amazing illustrations of typewriters inside. (I couldn’t find a credit for these.)  Here are some more samples:

typewriter manual interior 1typewriting manual interior 2

Aren’t these great?

 

 

 

 

 

 

At art shows, one thing I’ve loved to offer is my old Underwood typewriter available for attendees to try out.  Especially kids – most have never used one before!  I make them type enough of a line to hear the magic bell…

Jessica and Wyatt try out my old typewriter, as my daughter and “assistant shopkeeper” Morgan looks on.

One of the first products I wanted to offer in my new art business last fall was some typewriter notecardstypewriter card RHB

This image was drawn with pen and ink (and some colored pencil and other media worked in as well) on paper I had painted to suggest a parchment effect.

 

In the mixed media department, I was delighted to find on Etsy a dealer from Great Britain who had parts from an old Remington typewriter for sale.  I’ve used these in a few pieces, and still have some left for future projects.  This collage I made and sold on Etsy incorporated some of these metal parts, my own typewriter image above, a vintage flash card, some vintage metal letters, and a line of exercises from another old typewriting manual that reads:

You typewriter - write it on your heart RHB

Write it on your heart that every day is the very best day in the year.”

I was delighted when a customer purchased this collage with the following note:

My husband is a “collector” of typewriters and we both love to live with our hearts so I cannot imagine anything much more appropriate for him than this framed piece.

Even more delighted when she kindly sent me a follow-up note as well:

Just wanted to tell you how much my husband LOVES the framed artwork and note cards. He opened it today and it is now placed happily on our piano. We can hardly believe how perfect the message and collage of unique items come together to match our lives.

Let me tell you, words like that fill my own heart and soul. I’ve been blessed to realize that beyond making items to sell, starting an art business has given me connections I treasure.  These might be the happy thought that my work has made someone else smile, or the special knowledge that a friend would pick up a vintage typewriter manual with dynamic black illustrations of old typewriters, and she would think of me!

Thank you, Kim.

Anyone else have fond memories of clacking away on a heavy metal typewriter (or those sleek electric ones that slid into the market)?  Do tell!