Things My Grandmother Taught me

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? A bout of pneumonia (brought on by allergies) and preparing for classes at Letters of Joy and Bellevue Art & Frame, and Clay Camp with the Northwest Polymer Guild kinda took up my time, and I have some catching up to do!

The grandmother of the title is, of course, Bam Bam. I know I've mentioned that I lived with Aunt Quail and Bam Bam several times while I was growing up, including my last semester of High School. So I had many opportunities to observe--and collect, if only in my memory--her wit and charm, and her wisdom.

She was fond of quoting aphorisms, lines of poetry and plays, and of making her own observations. There were three she repeated often; one was a quote from Shakepeare's King Lear, one was her own creation, and one was an old Chinese proverb.

"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child," King Lear says of his daughter Cordelia, who is the only one of his three daughters who loves him and wants him to live long and prosper. Bam Bam quoted this at me whenever she felt I was not toeing whatever line she had in mind. Often I hadn't a clue what line was not being toed. And when I did have a clue, half the time I had no idea why that particular line needed toeing. But that was Bam Bam: an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in whatever aspect of her fascinating self she chose to reveal.

"T'was greed killed the yellow snake that tried to eat the sun," Bam Bam would say, whenever she felt someone was trying to take too much of what she considered our common heritage, be it money, political clout, or property. The Chinese proverb appeared in a footnote of a book I was reading--I don't remember the book now--which I had found in the bookcase. She had apparently read the same book.

"Fear is the enemy," she would tell me, inclining her head wisely. She was writing a book about John Wesley at the time. He was the founder of Methodism. I don't know why she was writing about him, or what happened to her manuscript. It may be among her papers in the Bancroft Library at the University of California. Anyhow, Bam Bam went on to tell me that most of the baser emotions like hate, anger, and bigotry are founded in fear, and if one could be rid of fear, things would be a lot better. She was thinking of using "Fear is the Enemy" as the title of her book. I have always remembered her telling me that, and the older I get, the more obvious it becomes. In the words of FDR, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

A year or two ago I was looking through a bookcase in the downstairs "library" and came across The New English Bible New Testament published by Oxford Cambridge. I was going to refile it next to the Septuagint, thinking they might be related, and flipped it open. Inside the cover was the pencilled inscription in Bam Bam's unmistakeable handwriting, "From Anthea 1965." Further investigation revealed the book to be a "dummy," a book made to test the size and binding of the finished book, but with limited text. This dummy included everything up to the first page of the introduction, and after that the pages were blank. Bam Bam used these pages as a sort of journal of wit and wisdom, writing, beginning in 1966, some of her more observant thoughts.

"Boredom is ingratitude to God."
"All mental disturbance is caused by concentration on Self."
"Craziness is selfishness to the N-th power."
"Only the childless truly value children."
"Only the pure know passion."

"Alcohol before 60 is not needed. Afterwards it is a new life,"

Bam Bam was very moral, and a devout Episcopalian. She made some notes at the very back of the book, observations about Jesus, which she titled "Human attributes of Christ." They seem to be the distillation of much thought on the subject.

"Need of friends
'Sought after dinner guest.'
The bitter psychology of forgiving enemies, thereby disarming them of their implements of destruction and rendering them powerless to possess you.
Lilies--Love of beauty
need of necessities of life for all classes. Loaves and fishes.
appreciation of craftsmanship and quality. 'Casting lots for his garment'
Anger for righteousness--money lenders in temple"

There is also a poetic discussion of Yeats, apparently copied into the book from something she wrote in 1962; more aphorisms; and  the beginning of what appears to be a screen play pitch. And two essays on her meanness--about her behavior on two occasions, things  she felt guilty about her whole life. Some of the items were written when she first had the book, but there is an entry dated 1990. And there is no clue of the date of the last entry.

Until next time--Nan

I Confess! It's True!

I have Paper Lust. I admit it. I can't help it, and no 12-step program will cure it, I'm afraid. Not that I would ever try.

So,  you can just imagine the elation I felt when my friend Brooke, who owns The Urban Scrapbooker in Edmonds, asked me to be on her Creative Team. I mean, she has the BEST paper! Not to mention all the other good stuff!

So when I said yes, Brooke handed me a couple of projects to get started on. In spite of allergies that turned into pneumonia, I managed to finish one project, A Graphic 45 film box and book. We decided that the Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue line would be the paper to choose, with suitable embellishments, of course.

You can see the Graphic 45 line here: http://www.g45papers.com/

I started out by gluing a circle of paper to the top and bottom of the film box, using Golden Soft Get as the glue. I fastened a large knobby brad to the center of the top circle before sticking it down. For the bottom, I used four of the smaller knobby brads as feet. I had to think about how I was going to attach them; I could have used a chisel and made a slot, but then I would have had filing and sanding to do. So in the end I clipped the legs back, flattened the brad, and stuck them on with Soft Gel.

Top on the Left, Bottom on the Right

In case you are unfamiliar with the wonderful properties and myriad uses of Golden gels, mediums and paints, you can learn all about them here: http://www.goldenpaints.com/

The book inside the tin was heavy kraft paper, and I thought about using it as is and sticking various elements and cutouts down on the pages, But I wanted to show off the paper, so I traced around a page to make a template and used that to cut out various papers to cover the kraft pages. For variety, I used the box label as a template and made a few circles with that--like the ones on the top and bottom of the box.

First Page with Attached Flap

I cut out parts of a sheet of paper to make a flap to use as journaling. I envisioned the book as a mini photo album, and so I left room for photos on the pages as I made them. The word came from the same sheet as the flap parts.

Another Page, and the Inside Cover on the Left

I made an accordion book from one of the papers that had images of animals and birds on a background that looked like old book paper. It was a natural--and I covered it with an old book cover pictured on another sheet of paper, and made a spine and back from still other paper. Once I had the little book, I had to do something with it, of course. So I attached it with ribbon. To do this, I determined how much ribbon needed to be stuck down, by tying it around the book and marking where the book edges were. I glued the ribbon down with Soft Gel, and while it was drying I cut out the two circles for the box lining. I made slots in the blue piece to pull the ribbon through, and stuck the paper down with the gel. Then I added the ring of orange paper.

Once I got going, it was just a matter of picking and sticking--that is, choosing which of my page covers to use where, and what to embellish them with. Lots of choices, but my favorite embellishments came from the sheet of faux stamps. Love those!

Another Flap for Journaling

The flaps were stuck down with tape from Scor-It. It is very strong and very thin double sticky, and it has lots of uses, like making washi tape, and receiving glitter. I also used Ranger's new glue stick for some things, especially where I didn't want the wetness of the gel.

The Little Book Open on the Left, and the Cover of the Main Book on the Right.

For the cover of the book, I glued down a circle of paper, and an inner circle on top of that. I had originally gessoed the cover, but didn't like what I did with that, so I just covered it up! Used the Soft Gel for that. I had some metal flowers and brads that I painted with Ranger's new Vintaj Patinas; you can see them here: http://www.rangerink.com/  I cut out the woman's profile and put an orange metal flower with a yellow center in her hair, and stuck her down.

Close Up of Cover Girl

I was running out of paper, so I got out my small stack of Tropical Travelogue and made a few more circles to use inside the tin bottom.

Inside Bottom of Box, Left; Inside Top of Box, Right

If you look hard, you can see another metal flower painted with Vintaj Patina in the box bottom.

Here are the inside pages with the photos added. I downloaded pictures from the internet and sized them all to be two inches for the largest dimension. I used clear photo corners to attach them

Inside the Book, First Three Pages

Pages Three, Four, and Five

Pages Four, Five and Six

For the backs of the pages, I cut strips from scraps of the various papers in Tropical Travelogue and stuck them onto double sticky sheets I had in my stash. Then I stuck them onto the kraft pages. I trimmed everything that needed it.

Backs of Pages and Cover

All that was left to do was add some embellishments to the box lid. I cut out some tags from the papers and tied them to the knob. The orange ribbon was too thick, so I stuck it down with Scor-It tape and put a strip of the faux postage over the ends so they couldn't come loose. You can't see it in any of the pictures, but I stuck some of the orange ribbon to the outside rim of the box top with Scor-It tape; I used lime green ribbon with orange stitching around the outside of the bottom. I also have a tab of the green ribbon embedded in the cover of the book, so it can pull out easily.

Closed Box

This was so much fun to do! I hope it inspires some of Brooke's customers to try it themselves! I had thought of several things to do, like distressing the papers and other cool techniques, but I decided I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. Nothing difficult at all!

Thanks to Brooke, Graphic 45 and Jim, the Gentleman Crafter, who is an inspiration to us all!

And thanks to you, for looking! ---Nan

Ah, I heart my Vagabond!

Today I am getting ready to teach a class in Dreamweaver stencils. Find them at http://www.dreamweaverstencils.com/ . Now, those of you who know about stencils, know that trying to deboss some of them by hand is tedious and gets your hand very tired. But if you have a Vagabond (an electric die-cutting machine you can see in action here:  http://sizzixblog.blogspot.com/ ), it's breeze! All you need to do is make a stack of stencil, paper, and soft pad between the cutting plates on your platform, and push a button to run it through.

How easy is that?

Gotta run--almost time to go to class!

Nan

It Never Rains But It Pours

Things were getting pretty slow in the way of projects and classes to teach, but business has really picked up lately! Got three classes at Bellevue Art and Frame, one at Art Works, and if they all go I will be a hard-working Art Bee. And I have been asked to be on the creative team at Urban Scrapbooker (thanks, Brooke!) and that will be fun too.

Have been languishing with an allergy attack, so I won't be saying much about the book I am posting today. It was made for one of Brooke's contests, and though it didn't win, it was a lot of fun to make. I started with a kit from LYB with acrylic covers, and made extra pages. Most of the regular pages I added were gessoed on both sides before I worked on them.

Outside Cover

The contest kit was made up from Little Yellow Bicycle's Twig collection from last year, papers and embellishments. I carved a couple of stamps for it, and added lots of ribbons.

First Page. The Leaf Ribbon is Hand Dyed to go with the Book Colors

Next Page: It Was Under an Acetate Page

The Rosette Was Made With a Tim Holtz Die; the Birds are Hand Carved Stamps

Love That Translucent Paper

What's Underneath

On the Left It Says "Once You've paid for it, it's free" and on the  Right, "Don't Abandon the Good In Search of the Perfect."

Lots Of Inspirational Words On the Left; "Create" on the Right

There is a Small Notebook on the Left Page; The Right Says "Make a Mark Every Day."

A Tag on the Left; On the Right, "It is the Property of True Genius to Disturb All Settled Ideas," a Quote From Corita

Another Notebook, Left, and a Pocket, Right

When The Green Envelope Is Flipped, the Hands Sort of Hold It

Like This. The Right Page Says :Fear No Art."

The Left Says "Good Stuff," and Has a Pocket; the Right Says "Let Your Ideas Fly Free;" the Bird and Cage are Made With a Tim Holtz Die.

The Page Under the Acrylic Cover

And the Book is Closed

That's all for now! Nan

Sometimes I Just Get Carried Away

I've been reading a book on how we create--the science behind creativity. It's called Imagine: How Creativity Works, by Jonah Lehrer. (His website is http://www.jonahlehrer.com/ ) I had gotten some hype about the book from a couple of lists I belong to, and I was curious to see what all the fuss is about. Creativity has been on my mind a lot these days; one of my good friends has been bemoaning her lack of it, meanwhile being creative about a problem in her life--she just wasn't making ART and saw that as not being creative. Lehrer's book is a look at how creativity works in the brain, and it is written in a handy accessible narrative style so it makes an enjoyable read as well as an informative one.

I am fond of saying, in accordance with the standard Left-Brain-Right-Brain definition of what in our brain controls what, that I am always in my right mind. Apparently, though, one needs both halves to do any thinking about anything. Throw in the Prefrontal Cortex and you are on your way to being creative, if you just go along with what your brain is doing. But please--don't take my word for it--read the book!

"Cabinet of Curiosities" using stuff from Deviant Scrap

Now my biggest fault in being creative is that there are too many choices pulling at me--should I write a poem? Should I paint something? Collage? Sew? Work on a novel? I am constantly being pulled this way and that, each shiny new thing attracting my attention. Right now I am loving digital art, playing with art journals, making liquid polymer skins, and putting earrings together to sell at the Northwest Polymer Guild's Artisan Gift Show this year. All--or should I say each--of these requires a certain amount of creative thinking, though this kind of decision-making is not earth shaking in its consequences. I don't think I will ever invent Scotch Tape (after all, it's been done) or the Post-it Note, or anything as useful as a Swiffer (all these are talked about in Lehrer's book). I might--though it isn't highly likely--write a poem as game-changing as Bob Dylan's "Rolling Stone," but I only have about twenty-five years or so left to do it, and my Poetic Muse is busy elsewhere right now. What I really have to think about is my upcoming classes and demonstrations, the first of which is next Saturday. So what am I doing? Writing this blog, and posting my digital art to it.

"Woman Escaping Her Stereotype" using Deviant Scrap and other images

These two pieces of digital art are made with the copy of Photoshop CS6 Beta that I downloaded a couple of days ago. I have been a Photoshop user since forever, and am still finding new things to do with it. Some of the new things in CS6 Beta are fun to experiment with. But the old standbys of layers, masks and blending modes are still the big guns in my arsenal. I heart Photoshop! (And that iconic phrase is in Imagine too!)

That's all for now--Nan

Some More Poems from the Past

I'm feeling sorry for Greece right now--such a lovely, hospitable, proud people, facing who knows what for a future. Will their precious heritage be sold to the highest bidder? I sure hope not. I'm not likely to visit Greece again in my lifetime, but I have very fond and pleasant memories from my visits there over the years. My pictures from Greece are all on slides, mostly put away in binders, but one of these days I'll have to dig some out and scan them for the blog. But for now I will have to illustrate my poems with other things.

Collage with leaves and transfer

At Delphi, 1971

When we had climbed,

stumbling on the loose pebbles,

struggling up the high steps,

the long path to the place

where his Pythian priestess sat

dispensing the future suitably

in ambiguous hexameters,

there was nothing for us to see

but weathered memories.

Our guide unequivocally announced

the irrefutable fact:

APOLLO IS DEAD

I found it was not so.

I knew why I had climbed:

to hear, still echoing

across these sacred stones

the music of his golden lyre.

Collage with transfers.

Clytemnestra Speaks her Mind

Beetlehusk I

who was once iridescent, expectant of life

stood in my robe of soft folds of love

enveloping, caressing,

waited to be drawn into the net

of a bride's veil, a prized catch

to grace some royal house.

Treasure of the House of Atreus

you came in gleaming gold,

Agamemnon, Marshaller of Men

to court my sister, Helen. She,

daughter of Zeus or Tyndareus

went home to Sparta with your brother

while I, of no less age and worth,

followed the greater King to Mycenae.

You, like that warrior-laden horse,

were beautiful and strong to look upon,

but full of sharp and deadly little things

to strike the color from my folded wings.

Without complaint I bore all that was

to be borne.

Then, wretched day at Aulis!

the fairest flower of your house

I watched you pluck

and dash against the altar of expediency;

and in my grief and rage I swore

if you lived through your stupid war

a second sacrifice.

Ten years now I've waited wrapped

in the hard shell of hate

keeping your kingdom's keys

winding, spinning, weaving,

bringing honor to your throne,

dishonor to your bed,

preparing for the day of your return.

Now, come, in gleaming gold,

step out into this blood-red trap I've laid:

step out, march forth

into the thick enveloping folds

of my vengeance.

Let me hack this lump of vengeance out

with a two-edged sword:

One edge for her who never shall return

and one for me who never was.

You shall feel the sharp edge

of my beetle mouth, caught in my jaws;

for this have I waited expectant of death

and I shall not let go.

Digital collage; texture from my photos and scans,
clip art from Dover, colored in

Menelaus Tells the Truth About the Trojan War

The poets say we went to war

spent ten years on a foreign shore

because some cockamamie kid

ran off with my wife.

That's my Helen, over there,

the pretty one with yellow hair

throwing weft threads on her loom

quite content with life.

She insists it was a hoax,

says she visited some folks

in Egypt, pure as driven snow

avoiding all the strife.

Her royal hosts will surely claim

that she alone and blameless came

to them, and took no part at all

in her supposed rape.

My friend, what difference does it make?

My honor's never been at stake

when gods take part and interfere

with history's true shape.

We monarchs didn't go for her--

we marched away because we were

young and strong and brave and ready

to play at war, escape

the mundane and the nine-to-five, 

because it made us feel alive.

The glory of the battle won

excitement and comraderie--

that's why we went!

Our names and deeds from hearth to tent,

in triumph sung, we laugh and cheer.

We weren't the ones who had to die.

That's all for now---Nan

Indulging My Passion Last Weekend

Lest you get too excited, I hasten to tell you that last weekend my passion consisted of a workshop in pop-ups with book artist and paper maker Shawn Sheehy. Of course I had to take this workshop--I collect pop up books and have dabbled from time to time in making cards and two minute books with pop ups in them. So here was my chance to learn from a master. Here is a link to Shawn's web site, where you will find Wonderful Things.

http://www.shawnsheehy.com

I warmed up for the workshop by entering another of those contests at Urban Scrapbooking in Edmonds, where you get a kit of papers and embellishments and make whatever you want. Incidentally, my Advent Calendar won the last contest. My only competition was a series of paper dolls, which were really cool, and made me think about my paper doll for this contest. In case you've forgotten what the Advent Calendar looked like, here is a reminder:

The paper dolls in the contest were flat, and made from the kit papers and arranged on a wall hanging. I love paper dolls (and collect those too, in a desultory way), and lately I have been collecting pantin, or jumping jack, patterns. Like the Jumpables I blogged about a couple of posts back, designed by my friend Shirley Rainman.

So I thought I would use one of those and build a costume around it, using the papers in the kit.

Victorian Pantin

I chose this one, because the color of her bodice went with the papers in the kit, and I liked her black tights. She didn't come with a body, but those are simple hourglass shapes of the appropriate size, and easy to make even without a pattern.

Bodies for Pantin Ladies

These dolls are usually made by pasting materials directly to the assembled doll, but I wanted to make something in three dimensions that would sit on a shelf, That meant I probably needed to make a cone for a skirt. And my cone would be limited by the width of my paper, which was 12 inches. It also would need to be attached to the doll somehow. I worked out a pattern on lightweight chipboard, so I could use it again if I wanted to.

Cone with Bodice Attached

I cut the colored paper using the cardboard pattern, and found I had to cut almost to the bottom of the hip on the body to get the cone to form properly. That didn't matter, as those cuts would not show when I executed my Grand Plan for the dress.

I made a second cone, minus the bodice shape, out of patterned paper, and fit it over the first cone to make an overskirt. Before I closed the cone, I cut a body shape from patterned paper, fastened the legs on with brads, and glued it to the first cone over the attached bodice. Then I put the head and the top of the bodice on top of that. Now I was ready to fit the overskirt on. Next came the arms, attached with brads at the shoulders. I made a ribbon sash to help blend the overskirt to the bodice, and used a brad in the center of the bow for a little pizzaz. The brads were painted with a coppery glitter paint, and went very well with the underskirt and the flowers on the overskirt. I made the doll a matching hat, and used Stickles to add a bit of bling to the skirt and hat. I thought her underskirt needed a little something, so I put word stickers all around the bottom, using words like "adventure" and "explore" and the like. I also added the sign she is carrying, which reads, "I just want to have fun." (Me, too!)

The Finished Paper Doll

It was a good warm-up for the next day, when the pop-up adventures began.

Here is a picture of the class, with Shawn Sheehy on the left, in the lime green shirt.

Pop Up Workshop with Shawn Sheehy

We worked from 9 AM to 4 PM each day, with an hour for lunch break. We made 16 pop-ups--each one took about an hour--and at the end bound them all into a handy reference book. My book needs a bit of touch up--I want to add titles and such--before I photograph it and post it. But here is a wee preview:

Pop Ups in Progress

And yes, it was exhausting, but so exhilarating! I am really looking forward to making lots more of these cool paper sculptures!

That's all for now--Nan