michelle ward

Clever Gifts

My friend Anne gives great gifts.  Over the years I have been a lucky girl to receive some really thoughtful and clever gifts from her.  One of her talents is taking terrific photos.  We have countless photo collages from her including my wedding and my kids. 

Two years ago she gave the Christo album - very special as we not only saw the Gates exhibit at the Met in 2004, announcing the installation, but we also experienced the Gates together in February 2005.  This album has all the photos she took, and they are placed in order, of course.  My photos from that day?  Probably still on my hard drive, not a one printed out - so this indeed is a treat.

This past Christmas she gave me another album - all her photos from our visit to see Chihuly's glassworks at the New York Botanical Garden.  I blogged about our day HERE.  Again, her beautifully taken photos, all in proper order, while mine are yet to be printed.  These two albums, as well as the other framed photo sets she's given us, are treasured, and clever gifts.

If your talent is taking photos - why not share them?  It's a priceless gift.

Thanks Anne, for sharing copies of your photos with the Wards. 

It's almost the 2 year anniversary of The Gates.  A historical moment, where a man's dream came true.  Imagine - years of proposing an installation in your home town, and it's finally approved.  (Thank you Mayor Bloomberg!)  The opening day was February 12, 2005.  ART made headlines in every local paper.  I saved them all.  ART!  I was able to see The Gates twice - with and without snow.  It was an amazing experience to be in Central Park, with thousands of people from around the world, who flocked to see the Gates for the fleeting 16 days they were up.  Walking through a dream, of a man and his wife.  It was extraordinary.

The Wards met up with the Perrella's one very cold Sunday afternoon.  The plan was to meet on the steps of the Met.  We were over an hour late, and our friends were still there, waiting.  It was so exciting to walk under that first saffron hanging.  We could see them lining the park as we circled around, desperately looking for a place to park....and finally, finally, set foot in the park.  Fallon, Lynne, and I wore our Seuss-like saffron scarves. 

John Perrella spied a docent who was a stealth passer-outer of swatches.  I approached him and snagged two 2x2 squares, one for the Perrellas and one for the Wards.  (Also shown in the photo is a lanyard worn by the docents, scored from ebay).  Then a second visit to the city, with Anne.  This time there was snow on the ground.  Stunning.  Had to see the Gates with Anne, after our encounter at the Met where we learned it was really going to happen.  The last thing in the exhibit was an application to be a volunteer installer.  Now THAT would have been cool to do!  Anne, why didn't we buy those bags made of saffron fabric when we had the chance?  (None were available in Feb 2005, but there were PLENTY in June 2004!  DANG!)

I have yet to complete my Gates journal....it's about time, now that we're coming up to the 2 year anniversary, don't ya think? 

 

Laying the Welcome Mat

My very dear friend Lisa Hoffman has entered the blog world.  She has been working hard preparing for an art sale which you can read about now.  Then continue to check back with her as she adds new posts because she is a finder of good things and a maker of cool stuff and a sharer of thoughtful words.  See HERE.

Casting on Rubber

I've been asked how the casting on rubber turned out from one of the photos below - here it is.  Cool, huh? 

Audrey asked me if paper casting with a blender was the same as casting with squares of toilet paper.  Yes, it is.  You set several squares of toilet paper over your mold and use a brush with water to tap the paper down into the mold.  You can repeat with layers until you reach your desired thickness. 

The only difference with making pulp in a blender is you can get color AND you get the cool-raggedy-handmade-looking edge.  You can use this same pulp with a deckle to make paper.  I'll try to dig up some sheets I've made to show you.  I think I even have some lime green casts around here somewhere.  Lime?  Must have been a project with the kids :)

Widget Patrol!

Sweet Celine shared on her blog a new widget that I had to have.  It's called SNAP.  Did ya notice it yet?  If you mouse over any link on this site you'll get a pop-up sneak peek to home page of the link.  HOW COOL IS THAT?  Lovin' this!

EDIT:  Doesn't appear to work consistantly.  That's why I have stayed away from Widgets.

Paper Casting Revisited

"Not this again Mom", says Peter, my 16 year old, who recalls seeing the blender and related equipment out on the kitchen counter when he was eight.  Has it been that long since I casted paper?  Not sure.  It certainly was a preoccupation for months.  A few weeks ago I pulled out my stash of casts - literally hundreds.  I needed to find my sunfaces for a project I was working on. 

Since I had all this stuff out I thought I'd show you, and introduce you to paper casting if you've never done it.  Super easy.  I like to use kleenex - the almond color is hard to find but makes a lovely cast, particularly if you are going to use it plain. 

When was the last time you used your pearl ex?  Now would be a good time to pull them out and try with paper casting.  Any of the powders are lovely as a dusting on the casts - but they must be brushed onto the mold before the pulp goes in.  Much harder to dust onto the cast after, and it won't stick so well. 

I always think it's interesting to see dimensional objects in art, even better if it's an artist-made element.

Materials:  blender, small strainer, clean sponge, molds, optional: pearl ex powder and paintbrush, most of all: PATIENCE.  While preparing the cast is simple, you really, really need to let it air dry.  DO NOT try to force to cast out of the mold or you will be disappointed.  I set my molds near a heating vent and wait overnight.  When they are properly dried they will pop right out.  I call that "harvesting" my casts.  You can usually get two sets made per 24 hours.  If you want an interesting random finish on your cast you can brush the mold with pearl ex - very lightly!

Tear up the kleenex in strips and place in a blender filled with water.  Let soak a few minutes, then turn on the blender and let it grind into a slush of pulp.  Doesn't matter how much water you use so fill it up!  Next, take a small strainer and scoop up some pulp.  Once the water has mostly dripped out you can take a pinch of it and set it on your mold.   Keep scooping and pinching pulp into place until your mold surface is covered.  Take your sponge and start pressing down on the pulp to extract as much water as you can.  This also helps to get the pulp filled into deepest grooves of your mold.  When you think you have extracted as much water as you can, set the mold aside and let it dry naturally.  When the cast is completely dry it will have popped out of the mold.

On the left is a terra cotta mold that didn't work too well with casting - it had rough edges that caught the paper and didn't release cleanly.  Since I loved the image I did a little work to make my own mold that worked better.  I melted friendly plastic and inserted into terra cotta mold.  Once dry, I took the friendly plastic (lower left pic) and squished it into a slab of polymer clay.  Baked the clay, then had a new mold (middle).  You can see by these casts that I liked making partial faces.  I think they are more interesting than full face casts.  The white one had been painted with gesso.  The dark one has been spray painted.  The others are examples of almond kleenex from molds that had been dusted with copper pearl ex.  The picture at the beginning of this post shows a painted cast used on a journal page.

Below you can see various castings and their molds.  The column came from a costume jewelry pin that I made a mold with.  The wings are cast from a pre-bought mold, found in the polymer clay aisle.  The hearts are all cast from the backsides of brass charms.  The little heart with wings was created by making my own mold with polymer clay, and pressing in a heart brass charm, followed by the set of wings.  It's hard to find nice big brass charms in stores these days, but Fancifuls, Inc. always has them in stock.  Give Donna some business and stock up on some cool charms to cast paper with.  Another cool thing to cast onto:  your rubber stamps! 

Why not make some paper hearts for your handmade Valentines this year?

Show and Tell

This fall I received this very handsome piece by Cheryl Thorpe, NM.  She was participating in her first fat book swap with the theme of ravens, crows and blackbirds.  Isn't this girl generous to share one with me?  I had to wait to post until the swap was rec'd but that was November and I'm just finally getting it up here.  Thanks Cheryl, we LOVE it!

 

And how cool is this?  The Fesitval Ballet of Providence, Rhode Island requested permission to use my "nutcracker collection" image on their fundraiser mugs this season.  Stampington and I agreed they could use it, (with credit) and they remembered to send me one of these.  Cool, huh?  Thanks Ann Marie!

Four....Three....TEN

The Green Pepper Press Street Team Crusade No. 4 has been posted.  Wanna play?  Come over and see what fun we're having with monthly challenges.  Recently a friend visited the site for the first time and remarked that we're having a party over there.  It's been fun!  Winners are drawn from the list of contributors for each crusade.  It's not a competition and anyone can join in. 

Last months winner for Crusade No. 3 is Belinda Schneider.  Congrats Belinda! 

Somerset Studio is TEN years old!  Congratulations to publisher Kellene Giloff, editor Jenny Doh, and the staff at Stampington. 

They have been serving us inspiration with style for a decade.  I thank Somerset Studio for being one of the catalysts in my growth as an artist, and the foundation from which I have met and made many dear friends. 

This is a terrific issue with featured artist Carolyn Quartermaine, author of my all time favorite book "Revealed".  More great stuff from friends Lisa Hoffman, Anne Bagby, and Lynne Perrella.  You'll see me in there too!  It's been a priviledge to be in print over the years with Stampington's magazines and books, but most especially with Somerset. 

Take a bow, you're ten!  Lifting a glass in toast to you.

P.S.  The opera was fantastic!  What a wonderful experience for all of us.  A dreamy way to ring in the New Year!  Happy 2007.