FADED PAISLEY Studio

PAPER SCRAPS

March 21, 2014March 21, 2014Jane Milligan Arbeiter1 Comment

This is a silly one. I made an envelope from this leftover piece of red and white card stock, and then thought I needed to make a card that would coordinate. I played around with other small pieces of scraps, but didn’t really like the look of abstract shapes I was getting. Then I thought this would make a great dress fabric, so I cut a neckline, glued the scrap to the card and drew in this woman with a micron pen. Added a little light watercolor for skin tone and cheeks. It’s a bit rough, but I like it, and now I have a card to send someone!

CELEBRATE Card

March 10, 2014March 10, 2014Jane Milligan ArbeiterLeave a comment

The design of this card started with an old letter and a photo I took of dried stems in my winter garden. Atop these collaged images, I digitally added green and blue circles to the composition to give it more color and movement. Suitable for birthday or any time there’s a reason to CELEBRATE!

MAKING YOUR OWN BOOKS

March 7, 2014April 5, 2014Jane Milligan ArbeiterLeave a comment

I’ve been working on making some small books this past week and thought I’d show how I made one from an ice cream box. The orange book will be a sketchbook for me and I gave the turquoise one to my daughter for a travel journal. I want to give credit to Sea Lemon who has some great DIY tutorials on You Tube. Check her out!

So here’s what you’ll need:

sheets of paper ice cream box ruler pencil bone folder clamps Exacto knife PVA glue (or Elmers) hot glue gun

Carefully take the box apart at the seam. In my case, the seam was on the left, so I opened it, trimmed it down a bit, then re-glued it. Trim off the flaps on the box so you’re left with something that looks like the cover of a book.

Notice the width of the book spine. That will determine the number of sheets of paper needed to fill the book. Measure and cut your paper to the same height and width of the closed ice cream box/book. When all pages are cut to size, tamp them down along a long side to even the sheets, then clamp them together on the short sides. These pages make up the text block, ready to be glued. Brush a coat of glue along the long edge of the text block. Keep the clamps on and let the glue dry. Repeat the application of glue 2-3 more times, letting each coat dry before adding the next. If you have a book press, insert the text block and let glue dry. I don’t have a press, so I put the pages under some heavy books to weight it. Be sure the glue has dried, leaving it overnight, if possible. Plug in the glue gun and while it’s warming up, get a ruler, the bone folder and the book cover. Measure 1/4″ to the left of the cover’s spine and score from top to bottom with the bone folder. Do the same to the right of the spine. Fold a crease along the score marks. This will enable the cover to open easily once the pages are in the book. Now run a bead of hot glue down the spine of the cover. Place the glued side of the text block into the spine, making sure to line it up with the top and bottom of the cover.

Press and hold the text block to help the glue adhere. Once the hot glue is set, take some PVA glue and brush a coat on the 1/4″ section that was creased along the spine on the front of the cover. In the photo below I clamped the pages together to keep them out of the way. Press the end sheet down to the cover with the bone folder. Repeat on the back cover. Place the book under the weights once more to let the glue set up. That’s it! Admire your new book.

WINTER BEACH

Aside February 10, 2014Jane Milligan ArbeiterLeave a comment

As I was heading to the supermarket on Sunday morning, I had a sudden thought to take a drive over to the beach. I needed some fresh air and a walk seemed like a good idea. It was cold, sunny and so still. Really quite nice. I headed out toward the lighthouse with my camera and took some shots of the dunes and the boardwalk that leads to the lighthouse. The beach dunes just glistened from the bright morning sun.

COLLAGE : Made in Havana Cuba

February 5, 2014Jane Milligan ArbeiterLeave a comment

Since we’re snowed in (again!) I took advantage and made a day of it in my art room. I painted some boards to use as backgrounds for future collages and put together this little work. The photo is one I’ve been holding onto for a long time. I don’t even remember where it came from, but more than likely it was part of a collection of cabinet cards I got at a flea market. So, little bits of paper, the label from a box of Cuban cigars, some tissue paper, and there you have it! Oh and, after scanning it into the computer, I added a few shapes digitally as well. Just experimenting.