Tales from Studio Mailbox

Quickest Baby Gift in the Midwest

I thought I'd pop in and share the quickest and easiest baby gift I've made in a long time. 

You know those MDF letters they sell in the craft store?  Well with a few stencils and some fast drying alcohol inks, you can whip up something in only a few hours.

And those drips and runs down the edges? Don't worry, they're the best part! 

Once the ink is dry just be sure and go in and detail around the edges of the colors with your favorite permanent pens and it will look so cool...

Something fun for the baby's room that they might never grow out of!

Voila:

Easter Sewing Pattern Sale

Hey gang!  I hope you're cloaked in craftiness for the upcoming weekend.  I wanted to let you know about my girlfriend Heather's amazing deal hosted by Gigi's Petals for the next three days.  If you love sewing kid's stuff, I thought you might appreciate this:

Click here to be redirected to grocery store, tea party and princess party patterns on sale now for $6.50.

As most of you know, I've been out of the US for nearly a decade.  I cannot tell you how deeply sad I was to discover that our retail stores now sell pre-stuffed plastic eggs in various cartoon characters for the traditional easter egg hunt.  What a shocker for me to realize that apparently we can't fill our own hollow plastic eggs anymore, and instead just buy them already done for us.

Heather's patterns make me smile thinking about the moms who might be sneaking in a few handmade treasures into baskets among the Barbie and Spongebob crap. 

(This is not a post intended to hit any moms out there with the shame train.  Just for the record, my kid is getting all kinds of plastic stuff this year and sadly not one homemade gift.  His eggs are shrink wrapped with lighting McQueen decals and probably filled with treats made entirely from high fructose corn syrup.  Yet with this confession, I am going to try harder next year).

Maybe if every morning this year that I made scrambled eggs I could blow-out the shells and have something like this in my yard next year:  a traditional German Easter Egg tree, decorated with real eggs painted by children and hung with string.  Now that's something to make a farmer smile!

TJ's Restraining Order

Michelle Ward's 61st Crusade is about restraint. It was sad for me to discover that there's going to be a Crusade hiatus, despite the fact that I haven't been very active since moving from Germany. 

There was no way I was going to let this one slide, so I went into my closet and found my chipboard journal, which I call my "Ward Boards."  I started thinking about a lot of things... like how restraint is also thought of as "breathing room."  Leave it to Michelle to find an exercise that's fitting and clever and meaningful!

I started thinking about words I came up with at the beginning of 2012 that ironically all started with "re."  Reinvention, redefine, real, results, re-organization, refresh, resourceful, regular exercise.  I was so burned out from blogging and our international move, I can't believe I hadn't thought of "restraint!" 

So I was happy for this chance to try and make something a little more simple, a little more muted, a little more calm.  It wasn't easy!  I had to paint over the whole board when my initial attempt was way too bright and zippy.  I'm happy with the result though, and it's a perfect "last" page to my journal. 

There's still room in the middle of my little book to go and rediscover past exercises I wasn't a part of.  All of it is still out there.  I sometimes wonder if there are others like myself who would go back and work through all of that together.  We could revisit what we missed!  I didn't become a part of the Street Team until the Crusades were already in the 40's... imagine how much there is still out there to do...

For now, a big thanks to Michelle for bringing the creative community together, month after month for years.  Personally, I'm so grateful to all the cool people and sites I've discovered through the challenges I was a small part of.  I'm going to go cherish plugging away through her comments and visiting all the other participants this round, knowing it will be awhile before it happens again. 

Today I went back and looked at the months I could find that I played along.  It was so much fun!  Feel free to take a walk down my crusader lane:

C40 - I started Crusading

C41 - Grids

C42 - Strip Tease

C43/C44 - Scraping & Text Messaging

C45 - Back-to-Back

C46 - Hanging it Up

C47 - Evidence Box

C48 - Been There, Done That

C49 - Forensic Self Portrait

C51 - Home Sweet Home

C53 - Mad Scientist

C56 - Beliefs

Print Reduction Postcards

A few weeks ago I announced that I was joining in iHanna's 2012 postcard swap.  I'll take you through the process I used to make my entries, something fun and completely new to me, linoleum print reduction!

Although the finished product looks rather simple, this was a long intensive labor of love with many days of drying time between each application of color.

First I began with a block of linoleum that was already mounted onto wood that is exactly print height.  (In Germany the linoleum is unmounted).

Next I took cardboard boxes and cut them down exactly to the size of the print block. 

I sketched out the rough outline of my design.

After carving away everything except what I wanted to print, I went to the print house and inked up the block with my background color, white.

Next I set my block into the Showcard or "Poster" press.  This machine is basically a glorified rolling pin.  It has one cylinder with a handle that can be moved to adjust the pressure.  You manually set each piece of paper or card over the block that you have manually inked with a brayer and then you roll the cylinder over the job.

All the cards were printed in the run.

The cards were left on racks to dry and I came home and started carving away the same block, getting it ready for the second color, red. 

After a few days of drying time, I took my block back and inked it up again.  I printed the entire run of cards with the second color.  Everything I had carved away from the block remained white this time, and everything left on the block changed to red...

At this point I hated the "shading" under her neck!  It came out looking like a slasher film...

There was nothing to do but let all the cards dry and hope that with my third color, things would improve.

I set the 2-color cards out on racks to dry, cleaned up, and came home to carve away the final changes to the block. 

My last color was black.  I had no idea how much to carve away.  How much makes definition and how much makes drama?  Once it's carved away it's gone and there's no going back...

A few days later I went to print all the cards for the third time.   As you can see there was very little left of the printing block at this point.

Here are dry cards "before" applying the black:

And below: Wet, freshly printed cards with the 3rd and final color, black.  I had hoped the slasher look would disappear, but instead it just looks like older blood to me!  That's OK because I understand what creality is...

Not bad for my first time reduction printing!  I'm already contemplating more projects with this old and clever technique. 

*Special thanks to my friend Goog over at Journey of a Mermaid who helped me with the first run of color and all the awesome photography!  It was her idea to try printing the cards on both the FRONT and the back of the cereal boxes.  I love you g'friend..!  xx

For those of you in the swap who like my cards or want to follow my creative journey, please visit the Studio Mailbox Facebook Page, for more regular TJ news and info.

Guess TJ's Master Mentor for a Prize

I'm popping in to announce that I was lucky enough to be included in Seth Apter's 5th edition of the Artist Pulse!

Seth asked artists; 'If you could take a class from one artist from anytime in history, including the present, who would it be and why?'

Leave a comment here guessing who I chose to be my Master Mentor before popping over to the link above to read the answer.  I'll be super impressed if somebody can identify mine!  But don't worry, you don't have to guess correctly to be entered in a drawing to win a tiny mail art prize pack!

Here's wishing everybody an arty Sunday,
xx tj

Hanna's 2012 Postcard Swap

Those of you who've been with me for years know that iLove iHanna.

So I had to pop in here to announce that I just discovered that she's come out with a 2012 handmade postcard swap!

I participated in 2010 and in 2011, (remember those cards?) so even though I've stopped my interatctions with nearly everything out in the blog-o-sphere, I'm not passing on this one.

This year Hanna has decided to ask for a small fee to participate, and I nearly sat up and cheered when I read it.  This girl has put in so much organizational administration over the years to bring the community a high quality swap, connecting artists throughout the world.  I'm so happy to see that it's grown into something this big.  As artists we all struggle with just how much work we can be expected to do for free, and I'm happy for her.

If you love handmade postcards, pop on over to Hanna's and sign up.  Maybe you'll get one of mine, or one from many of the other talented artists out there who are sure to be making amazing mail art!  This one is a fun one, so c'mon and join in!

Fun Guest Posts to Share

Hey everybody!  I've just returned from a short trip to Germany.  And although I've got some stuff to share, I first need to report that I've had some cool guest posts published over at The Sewing Loft.

The first one shared directions for a basic macrame friendship bracelet which I learned to make WAY back in my girl scout days.  These are a quick and easy idea for a rainy day or last minute gift.

The second post I wrote uses the same general technique, but instead uses the basic macrame knot to cover wire hangers.

For those of you not familiar with Heather, she ran the coolest series of "KISS" posts on her site last month which are projects that promise to "Keep It Super Simple." Get it?  So have a visit over there if you're looking for some fantastic sewing inspiration, and tell her TJ sent ya!  *SWAK*

TJ comes for a long line of old yarn-covered hanger makers.

Be warned, they're so cool your guests will steal them!

Making Art Making Friends Making Arty Friends

The craziest thing has happened since I've stopped blogging.

I met an art friend.  IN REAL LIFE.

We've been having a lot of fun, and I'm getting introduced to all kinds of products on the US market that that probably would have otherwise eluded and bewildered me.  (Here's a post she wrote about sharing her pan pastels if you want to see us dorking out)!

Last week she let me play with her homemade alcohol inks.  I've never used any kind of alcohol ink, so I had no idea how cool they were.  And get this:  all she did was pull apart a Sharpie and marinate the little ink pad in rubbing alcohol which she funneled into a mini spray bottle!!  Genius!

Since meeting Goog, I've completely changed the way I work in my Moleskins.  Before I was kind of picky and boring.  I used Moleskins as my lab documentation.  Moleys were my decompression zone where I made my lists and jotted down ideas for later.  And although they're still not where I'm going to do a lot of "pretty work" I am slopping more and more stuff in there and not really caring if stuff bleeds through, sticks together or runs all over the edges of other pages. Too much anyway.

There are many days where I miss everybody in the blog-o-sphere, but I can't help but notice that since I've stepped away from my computer, I've stepped more into my life. 

I've painted my nails.  I've dyed my hair red, I've gotten a library card.  I've got some potential jobs cooking on the side.  I'm networking. I'm doing some private mail swaps without all the hoopla of a big public one.

What I miss most is visiting friend's blogs and keeping up with what everybody is doing.  I hope that soon I can find a way to hop around occasionally so I don't lose track of everyone. 

Beginning February, I start my first class at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.  I'll be back to share that adventure... but until then, keep on crack-a-lackin!  xx tj

All that work with Goog required a LUNCH BREAK...

Happy New Year

Here's to 2012, whatever it may bring.  Just having a little fun here, love you guys!!  xx tj

Ghost of Pretzels Future

Since I've stopped blogging regularily, I've been thinking a lot about how to move forward with everything I've built up over here. 

And although I know I cannot continue to post as I have in the past, I do hope to do a few fun things in the upcoming year to celebrate the twisted form. 

So for those of you who've stuck with me, thank you!  I suppose it's not easy to change from a committed relationship to an open and undefined one.  I'm feeling like a creepy boyfriend who only calls late at night for some booty.

Rest assured that I'm right here and will let you know where and when and how I'm ready to begin again.

Here's wishing you a fantastic, happy and healthy new year full of creativity.  Wherever you are on your journey, I hope you're twisting!

*An ATC made from one of my last German bakery bags repurposed along with scraps of drawer lining from my German kitchen cupboard!