Tales from Studio Mailbox

June Creative Daily Action

For June's daily creative 15 minute exercise, I went back to art cards...and man did it feel good!  I was seriously happy to glue and sew, stamp, emboss, punch and doodle while watching the month's work accumulate as I secured the cards with clothespins to my drying line day after day.   

The only thing I really did differently than at the begining of the year was that I tried to do a little "more" in the short time I allow myself to get the exercise completed.  I simply tried not to think, let go and throw something fun together.

Round Framed Frinchies

When I presented the genius concept of How to Make a Frinchie, I really thought mixed media would never be the same again.  I expected a profound impact on the inchie world, the immediate coordination of swaps throughout mail art groups everywhere and maybe even cries for a Frinch Fest.  Secretly inside I hoped I had frinched up your lives.

Umm, I don't think any of thses things have happened.  But maybe, just maybe it will happen when I reveal this amazing concept:  the inner line of the frinchie frame does not need to be sqaure...it can be round!!

Simply use a round punch instead of a square punch when making your initial frinch holes and "whaa laah."  You've got a whole new look.  A circle inside of a square, the perfect marriage of two elementary shapes.

Now I realize this is earth shattering, but try to get yourself under control and just go make some!

Square Melons

Just as my disappointment from the end of the white asparagus season felt bottomless, I stumbled across these! 

At first I was distressed at the thought of underpaid field workers turning melons at extremely precise intervals until a deep conversation among friends convinced me these are probably just growing in some kind of transparent breathable cubes.

Stuff like this renews my faith in the endless possibilities of the universe.

TJ on MJ

I was in London when the King of Pop died.  I was grateful to be in a place where the news was being covered in English.  A memorial banner of sorts was spread out on the ground near Embankment, and some less than kind words were being scrawled on it.  (I liked the masked bandit sketch here but don't know what the message is written across the mask.  Anybody?) 

This post isn't for opening a discussion about Michael Jackson's moral character.  However I would like to take this opportunity to suggest the possibility of assuming the best about him.  I'm sad that we live in a world where not only do we often assume the WORST of people, we actually like doing it. 

In a strictly creative sense, MJ was an amazing artist.  So today while his funeral service takes place, I just want to think back to when I cried my eyes out on my bus ride to school when I heard his hair had caught  fire while filming his Pepsi commercial.  I always loved his hair, especially the old photos of him as a child that have his afro backlit which made it glow.  At one time he was just an ordinary little boy with extraordinary talent. Maybe we should all wear a sparkly glove on one hand today, even if it's only for a few minutes and nobody sees...

Arty Bicycles

Is anybody else hypnotized by department store window dressing? 

Well look at the bicycle craziness I discovered while walking the streets of London...and just when I was thinking of throwing out that giant bag of seashells sitting in the world's biggest cupboard.

And to think I dislike my mountain bike because it's orange.  Who would've thought the problem is that it just needs MORE orange!

Sorry it's too late to inspire you for your 4th of July parades...but maybe we should just go alter our bikes anyway.

Pretzel Sighting 16

Nearly three years in Germany and look what's been in my grocer's freezer all this time!!  A home baking kit full of frozen twisty goodness, complete with a rock salt packet for custom sprinkling. 

The packaging is what gets me of course... I want to enjoy fresh pretzels in an alpine setting too, although in reality I'd settle for someone just coming to clean my scary oven. 

Stamping Rose Petals

Just in case you don't feel like sewing your rose petals, you could glue them down and just stamp over them instead. 

I was suprised how well the petals took the ink and how the stamped image somehow brought out the veins inside the petals. 

The longevity of this one REALLY interests me... I wonder what this will look like over time.  Wouldn't it be cool to have a time-lapse video of this changing and disintegrating over the course of a year?  I'd contact National Geographic but somehow I doubt they'll find this riveting.  I actually almost bore myself with my wierd thoughts.  Have you fallen asleep yet?  If not, go glue down some flower petals and let's compare notes in a year OK?

Sewing Rose Petals

Maybe it's because my uncle who was a gardner just died.  Maybe it's because I have a bathtub full of rose petals.  Maybe it's my strange new obsession to sew through stuff.

In any case, I've discovered that if you want to sew rose petals to paper it's better to wait a day after glueing them down before you start sewing. 

I used a standard glue stick to hold the petals in place but when I tried to immediately sew on them (like I would paper-to-paper), the velvety petals just disintigrated beneath my machine's presser foot.  I tried different presser foots (or is it presser feet?) as well as different rose petals in assorted sizes and thicknesses.

Some strange part of me actually likes the mushed out smashy abstract petals.  But when you look at the ones on the turquoise card there is no comparison. If you want your petals to remain intact, it's best to wait for the glue (and petal) to dry at least a day before sewing.

What I'm wondering now is how these cards will look in a year.  Crumbly, brittle and faded I'm guessing.  I'm also wondering if they will stay pink if I mount the card in an album away from light.  Or will they mold and destroy other artwork in the album?  Let's investigate...somebody remind me to revisit this in a year!

Frinchies

Having ordered various punches, all claiming to be "approximately" one inch square, I have discovered a fun way to frame your inchies, thus creating a new phenomenon: the Frinchie!!

 In order to create these you need two different square-hole punches.  One needs to be exactly one-inch square and the other needs to be a few millimeters smaller.

Begin by taking a strip of scrap card stock and punching a couple of holes with the smaller punch.  (Make sure these are at least an inch-and-a-half- apart.  You need extra room around the small hole to punch the exact one-inch square).

  Next take your one-inch punch and eyeball it over your already-punched smaller square.  I do this by flipping the punch tool over so I am working with it upside down.  It takes a couple tries before you start getting "frames" that are even on all four sides.  Don't give up!

 Now that you've got some frames, you can start adhering them to your inchies.  In reality, since there is so little space to work with in a one-inch square, you need to create an inchie with framing in mind - placing your words and images more centrally in the square to avoid losing the artwork under the "frame."

Here, I have used two different "smaller" punches to make these frames.  If you look close, you see the ones on the left are thicker frames than the ones on the right.

Please leave me some comments and links if you decide to make Frinchies of your own.  I would love to see what you come up with, framing your one-inch masterpieces!