Marbling Fun Part 2

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Last weekend when Portland was experiencing such beautiful weather, Keri Piehl and myself got together for another round of marbling.  Now that I knew what images marbled well, I wanted another shot at it.

It was a beautiful day so we were out in the driveway enjoying the sunshine and a bit of wind, which made for some interesting natural marbling at times.  The wind eventually died down and it was just lovely.

I remembered my camera this time so I took photos during the various stages of the marbling process.  Here is a picture of the marbling setup.  These were inks that Keri had procured from a free box, which piqued her interest in marbling in the first place.  Since she then she had bought better quality inks from SCRAP and we realized these were not as good:

If you click on my Free Box the Magazine blog, you can see the saga of these inks.
As you may notice Keri made her own combs with rulers or frame pieces and attached straight pins to them.

First, you need to decide what you want to marble and the sky is pretty much the limit.

Second, you need to prep your paper with an agar solution so that the ink doesn't slide off the paper when you rinse it off.  Some inks and paper don't need this prepping, but I can't tell you anymore about that.

Keri prepping her papers.

Before shot of a 1958 newspaper ad I am planning to marble.

Another 1958 ad, I am really into vintage images.

Next you drop in the colors you want to use into some sort of seaweed solution.  This is what the ink settles on and what you use for marbling.  Since I use all of Keri's materials, I don't really have any details on this.  If you want more info, I am sure there are plenty of internet tutorials for you and, of course, lots of books.  I'm just giving you a general sketch.

I am going to make a flower pattern in this one.

After the you have a good amount of ink on the seaweed solution, you then run your combs through.  This is what "marbles" the paper or whatever you are marbling.  You can experiment with various styles and designs.

You then lay the paper on top and tap it a bit to get any air bubbles out.  You slide the paper off along one end and you then rinse the paper to pull off any ink.

After that you hang it up to dry.  We used a clothes or sock drier for this purpose.

When it is dry, you are done and you have some beautiful marbled paper for wrapping or display, envelope making, whatever you want.

I also did some smaller ones for covering light switch plates.

These were really cool.  They came from a book that was falling apart that I found in a free box.  I love the images of the various chess moves.  I am going to use them for light switch covers as well.  More info and images of the book on my free box blog.

Happy Marbling!

Zora's 3rd Birthday!!!

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My good friends who live in Boston have an adorable daughter named Zora.  I actually haven't seen her since she was one, so I doubt she would know who I am, but I have seen videos of her and she is very cute. 

I sent her a couple of presents this year.  One was a laurel or fairy crown that I found pre-made in the floral section at SCRAP ~ score!  The other item is this adorable vintage hanky apron that I found at an estate sale, however, it is handmade and it seems pretty simple to make.  I do think she will have to grow into it, though.

Zora opened her present today since it is her birthday and her Mom recorded it and sent it to me.  I thought it was so cute that I would send it out to the rest of the world.

http://youtu.be/X9-Gr-MEsQg

Happy Vernal Equinox!

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I was leaving yoga today and Lisa Mae, the owner of the studio, told me about this image she had seen on the internet about a farmer who was denied the right to build a barn for some reason for his horses, so he built this super awesome structure instead.  Apparently there were no laws against building a giant table and chairs.

This conversation came up because I was talking about various upcycle crafts, namely the clip-on earring magnets that I recently made, and she happened to think of this.

I was laughing so hard when I heard the story, party because it just sounded awesome and partly because it instantly reminded me of a dream I had last night where the neighbor had made and installed these three giant (as tall as the trees) black bulls with accents of red glitter on that little strip between the sidewalk and street.  In my dream I had thought they were really cool.  What a strange world :)  I love it.

I did a little research on this installation and I would like to mention that the table and chairs not only provided shade for the horses, but was used to advertise the farmer's business.  Here are a couple of quotes I found.

Three horses try to hide from the rain under an oversized table and chair in a pasture near Doellstaedt, eastern Germany. The huge garden furniture was installed by a local wood merchant to promote his products.

Horses stand in the shadows of a gigantic table and two chairs during heavy summer heat in Doellstaedt near Erfurt, eastern Germany, on Friday, July 6, 2004. Wood dealer Jens Braun built the unusual furniture as a protection for his horses.

Anyway, I hope this inspires you to seize the spring and do something creative!!!

Vintage Clip-on Earring Magnets

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This is my new favorite project.  I had tons of clip-ons saved because I love the way they look, but I had no idea what to do with them.  I used to clip them in my hair for a little added bling. 

I came upon this idea a few weeks ago and instantly loved it.  I have successfully converted all of my clip-ons to magnets and I am going to sell them in pack of three at my vintage space at House of Vintage on SE 34th and Hawthorne.

Enjoy ~

Marbling Fun

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My super talented crafty friend just so happens to be a master marbler and by that I mean she will marble anything and make it look cool.

She had an issue of a 1918 newspaper that she was marbling and framing.  They are so cool.  Here is a picture I took this past summer of her with a couple of her pieces:

This is another piece of hers that they are selling at SCRAP that I love.

So today I decided to try my hand at marbling.  I went over to Keri's house and marbled 14 pieces that were from a  June 1958 Oregonian, which was was super fun to look through and read.  I love old newspapers and magazines, especially the ads.  They are so funny and marvelous.  I was kind of sad about breaking it up, but it was for the sake of art.
Here are six pieces I was able to bring home.  The rest are drying in Keri's garage, I will keep you posted:

Rose Parade Princesses Touring Gardens

Above:  I marbled this one for the majorettes in the upper left-hand corner since I used to be a majorette for Ellensburg High School's marching band starting when I was in 6th grade.  I was the only person in town that knew how to twirl the baton thanks to my mom.  I did win the auxiliary award for the Ellensburg Rodeo Parade my senior year, which was pretty cool.  Maybe I will give this one to my mom.

I love this one with the little girl in her bathing suit; adorable.

As I have learned from Keri you can pretty much marble anything, which is pretty handy because marbling can be used for a lot of things.  One of the most obvious is for unique, one-of-a-kind wrapping paper.
I also saw a recent blog post from Design Sponge that had a DIY project on making marbled napkin ring holders, which was pretty easy.  You just cut a paper towel tube into smaller pieces to make the rings and then adhere your marbled paper to the outside and they look super cool.

Happy Marbling!

Happy Spring!

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I know the vernal equinox is not until March 10th, but it's been feeling a lot like spring here in Portland, Oregon.  Portland is great because its spring usually comes a month before other places that are still cold and covered with snow.

I decided to spruce up my bicycle a bit to celebrate.  All the commuting over the winter wears a bit on the decor, so once it starts to get nice out, that's when I do a little touching up.

Hoop Frames

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I have seen quite a few blogs and various diy projects making use of embroidery hoops as frames.

This past summer Brandon's mom, Deann, gave me this adorable vintage embroidery that had not been finished.

I found a handful of hoops at an estate sale on Friday and thought this would be the perfect way to display the embroidered piece.  I love it!