Mixed Media Botanical

5 x 7 stampboard, layered mixed media collage

Playing around with multiple layered transfers
also taught by my friend, teacher, mentor Chris Cozen at the
last Golden workshop. The vintage text was a transfer
from gel medium and the botanical overlay was yet another
gel medium transfer. The Australian postage stamp was
embedded in bead gel. Once I completed the collage
I then overlayed a digital flower image.

Busy days here and I've been amiss at visiting most
of you and I am regretful. The doldrums of the 8-5
otherwise known as the greater than 10 hour day had
a death grip on me, but today I broke free from the
shackles and begin my vacation.

My husband and I are traveling the great Northwest,
heading to Canyonlands, and Arches National Parks in
Utah, through Colorado to visit with family on up to
South Dakota for a glimpse of those giant heads carved
into a hillside (Mt. Rushmore). From there we will travel
to visit Yellowstone National Park and The Grand Tetons
and then up and over the hills to Glacier National Park in
Montana. We'll proceed heading west through the Idaho,
to Washington and Oregon for visits to the Columbia River
Gorge and Multnomah Falls, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier
We'll head back south on the scenic Hwy 1 inching our way
back to California.

This is a much needed respite. I will be taking lots of photos
to share upon our return.

Thank you all for your kindness and friendship.
May everyday be a new journey for you, filled with great hope,
good health, happiness and a grand adventure no matter how
big or small. I'll catch up with you soon.

Ciao! "The Way I See It"

Playing with Paint

Well it was another great weekend with Chris Cozen from
Golden Paints working artists program. Chris is a wonderful
mentor and an extremely talented artist. About four times a
year she travels from Pasadena, CA to our local art store
Stamping Details to demonstrate new techniques and new
Golden products.

I love to paint backgrounds that I can use for collage
and other art projects. These are a few of the
samples I painted and embossed from our class.

All papers were painted with Golden acrylics. Some papers
were embossed prior to painting and others were embossed
after paint. Some of the papers used: watercolor paper, canvas
paper, and acrylic paper.

The base paper here is black with applied layers
of Golden fluid acrylics, stamps, stencils and
texturing tools.

Check here for the working artists in your area.

More to come...with Golden's new digital mediums.
There was alot to take in and I'm still experimenting
with these products. Imagine printing on metal and
foil.

Stay tuned.. Thanks for your kind word and visits!
My other blog locale: "The Way I See It"
Thought for today:
"In confrontation between the stream and the rock, the
stream always wins, not through strength but through
persistence" -Buddha

Polymer Mosaic Mirror

I've been working on a myriad of fun projects. This one in
particular is a polymer mosaic hanging mirror. It was made
as a gift. The persons' names are actually on two of the
tiles but have been blurred out for this post to not spoil the
surprise should they visit. You can click to enlarge.



The finished piece measures 14" in diameter. The finished
clay pieces were adhered with Weldbond glue.
Most of the clay pieces have been painted with PearlEx
powdered pigments. I have also incorporated bits of
ephemera, glass beads and assorted commercial glass and
ceramic tile.


Here are some close-ups. Your embellishments should
be able to take the heat. Glass and metal are good.


Small glass seed beads in Diamond glaze are used to fill
space left over.

You can attach smaller Polymer elements with liquid Polymer
prior to baking. Here you can see the commercial tile
incorporated and also the brighter handpainted while
tiles.

I also wanted you to see this piece its beginning stage (below)
so you could see the polymer tiles before they were
embellished and baked.

Working in the round was a real challenge. I first had this
idea for a sun/mandala and then decided to incorporate a
mirror. I decided to use a vinyl record album as the base.
First I textured the album with AcrylPro tile adhesive so I
could insure the tiles would have an acceptable surface. I
then spray painted both sides with a matte silver spray paint.

The few colored tiles you see were hand painted on baked
white polymer clay. Your hand painted color will always be
more lively on the white clay than on a colored or metallic
clay. You can click on picture to enlarge.

At this stage, the clay has been rolled to about 1/8" thickness,
stamped or textured and I'm cutting pieces and trying to
decide their placement until all spots are filled. Once I have
the design in place I remove all the tile pieces and then begin
the process of painting and embellishing. The tiles are then
baked following the recommended time on the clay package.
I've used Premo and SculpeyII for this project. I also use a
thermometer in my toaster oven to determine the real
temperature. I have found that temperatures are not as true
as the dial. (I don't use my toaster oven for food once I've
used it for clay)

If you haven't seen my first polymer mosaic you can see
it posted here and here.

Thank-you for your visits and kind words!

Thought for today:
"Take care that the face that looks out from the mirror in the
morning is a pleasant face. You may not see it again during
the day, but others will"

My other blogspot: "The Way I See It"