Pictures from "Transferred Secrets"

Karol's blender pen transfer looks like a
great colored pencil drawing

Last Saturday I met with Karol and Cynthia for a wonderful afternoon of playing with photo transfers. We covered three kinds of transfer: gel medium with inkjet prints, clear packing tape with laser and magazine images, and blender pen with laser images. Here are a few of their experiments:

These gel medium transfers have
the effect of tinted photos.

Cynthia's gel medium transfer figure has packing tape transfer wings.

Cynthia made use of dried teabags also to excellent effect.

Here are some of the sample transfers I made:

I did this one over a transfer that didn't work,
leaving the striated image under the paint. The
main image is a gel transfer and the text is a
packing tape transfer.

Packing tape transfers from magazine
images with a band of fabric added at the bottom.

The images of people and the old window are
packing tape transfers. I also used an old dress pattern,
rubber stamps, teabags, novelty tape, a dried flower,
and some vintage lace.

This blender pen transfer is from a laser black
and white copy, as is the image below.

There are so many ways to transfer images! I feel like I could collage forever with just these three methods, but I do enjoy many more and am always learning new ones. I love the way transfers add mystery and subtlety to my collage pieces.

Here's how to do a gel medium transfer:

I use Golden soft gel medium in semi-gloss or gloss. Coat the surface of the support where you want to put the transfer. (We found that mat board works great for experiments.)

Place the ink jet image face down into the gel and even it out. Burnish firmly for a few minutes--I like to use a plastic paint spatula, but we had great success last weekend using a credit card.

After burnishing, use light sandpaper gently on the back of the transfer to loosen the paper a little. Then spray water on the back of the transfer and gently, so gently start to peel away the backing. You will see your transferred image begin to emerge!

After the backing is off, I coat the transfer with the gel medium to seal it. The gel medium transfer is the trickiest method of the three, but when it works well it produces a lovely, ghostly image.

Altered Books from Women, Creativity, and Healing

I brought the books home in a suitcase--
just like Christmas waiting to open them!

My Winter Term PSU class, Women, Creativity, and Healing, ended a couple of weeks ago. This class was held in Salem through the Extended Campus Program. Few of the students had heard of altered books and none of them had made one before. I think some thought I was kind of nuts at first. But everyone came through with creative books that covered the subjects we discussed in class. Congratulations to all!

This student's cover was made with wadded paper
dipped in coffee and embellished with coffee beans
and foil candy wrappers.--we were all in awe!

This lovely page was done in response to our viewing art
and reading prose done by women surviving breast cancer.

(Sorry about some of the pictures being blurry!)

The students created their own special super-hera
( new female form of hero) or goddess--here we
see one student with small kids as SuperMom

Students were free to add subjects or interpret subjects
in their own ways. I can relate very well to these pages!

This student left the title of the book she altered,
while embellishing it with lush colors and textures

Sometimes just a visual is enough to say a lot...

A spirited tribute to our foremothers
(My spell check doesn't think foremothers
is a word--what's up with that?)

A unique and delightful cover

Another personal and inspiring cover

Just enough of the original cover left to say it all

This cover took form from a great quilted
piece the student had kept around for years

This is a rich Dios de los Muertos page for
our section on grief and remembrance

In two days I begin this same Women's Studies class on the PCC Rock Creek Campus. I feel so privileged to teach this class for PSU and to get to go to different locations. Each class is different, but the students all extend themselves to do some personal as well as academic work and to bond with each other in support.

I'm going to put in a plug here for Dot Hearn's blog. She is having a giveaway of Bonnie Hearn Hill's new book. Bonnie and Dot aren't blood relations--Bonnie was married to Dot's uncle for many years--but they share a passion for writing and reading. Stop by and read Dot's interview with Bonnie and enter the contest! I often find wisdom on this blog that applies to visual as well as written art, and Bonnie's interview certainly made me think and inspired me.

I loved Bonnie's book, Aries Rising. It is a young adult novel, but I was glued to it despite my having passed that age many eons ago! I look forward to the next in the Star Crossed series. And the book doesn't have any vampires or zombies! What a relief...Just good, entertaining, and thoughtful writing.

Hunting & Gathering We Go, tra la

Vintage Suitcase from The Village Merchants Store on Division

It'll be garage sale season soon, so just as a practice run, I've been doing a bit of Hunting & Gathering. I stop at the Goodwill in Salem which is just down the street from where I teach a PSU class for the Extended Campus Program. This has been a fruitful source of bargains, both sartorial and artistic. Today I went to the SE Art Walk. The most wonderful item I acquired was a pair of earrings. I stopped by Cheryl Cook's booth at Portico, where she gave me lovely earrings that she had made for me for my birthday last June. I hadn't been able to attend the annual gathering of four Birthday Girls where we exchange gifts, so she still had these. Thank you, Cheryl, for the wonderful treat!

I was just going to photograph the earrings for this post, but my camera battery ran out--later, you'll see them. I also stopped at the nearby Village Merchants second hand store, one of my favorites. I'd almost gotten out of there with nary a purchase, when I spied the above suitcase outside the store. I love old suitcases. This one was in great shape with a gorgeous pink lining with little pockets. The price was right, so now the suitcase is in the studio holding my hand made books.

Closeup of side pockets

Etsy is also a dangerous place for me to browse. I am thrilled, however, with my new shoes that I got from an etsy seller. Back in my youth in the 60's I wore a size 5 1/2 AAAA, so you can imagine that I had a terrible time finding shoes to fit me. There were so many adorable styles then that I had to do without.

Now that I wear a 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 B, I can find lots of shoes, but still love the 60's styles the most. My new shoes below had never been worn and came in their original box. The original label was on them telling me that they sold for 10.00 back in the day. Allowing for inflation, I got a good deal. They fit, and I love them! I got them from BabyHaHa, so check out her etsy shop.

Little black shoes, little black shoes...

These babies came home with me today. They are
Saks Fifth Ave. and seem hardly worn. They called to
me from the window of a vintage clothing store on Division.

A little bit of art, now...

Medici Princess Bride
Encaustic on Wood Panel
10" x 10"