Raisa's Art Journal

The journal I made for Raisa's journey

is an altered book.

For the front cover

I created a window cut out,

did some stenciling,

added fabric paper in and around the window,

added real flower petals, vintage jewelry,

metal letters, and a pressed leaf.

I made a book mark using black velvet ribbon,

and added a key for weight.

The key says 'memory'.

 When you open the altered book

you see black and white collage

with embellishments added.

If you look closely at the keyhole

you may see someone looking back at you!

The next page is collage

with black stitching around the edge.

The words say...

So many people

were shut up tight

 inside themselves

like boxes.

This photo is an example of what my collaged pages

looked like beforehand.

I have 7 sets of these in the rest of the journal

for the other artists to work on.

I glued many pages together

 to create thicker 'pages'

 throughout the altered book.

They can add pages to these if they wish

to have more than one set of pages.

I expect the journal will be quite full

and artistic when it returns to me in a year.

I know they will use their imaginations.

This shows the back of the journal.

Very simple, with some simple stenciling on it.

Now  my journal and my doll start Raisa

will be mailed tomorrow to Gail in North Carolina.

I am excited to see what Gaill will add to it all.

I am also excited to receive a doll start in the rotation.

WhooHoo....

here we go!

Yvonne

ready to mail

page 3

page 2

page 1

Journal cover.

Made from a glue mixture and tissue paper with a fabric binding.
Lots of texture in this journal. Fun to run your fingers over the pages.


Lady Sebastian ready to go on her adventure.
Her final treatment was to use a glue mixture and tissue paper with a little paint to give her a nice color and texture. Maybe one of you will give her another arm:-)
I'll be packaging Monday and mailing Monday or Tuesday.
So exciting!
I can't wait to get Robyn's doll.
Robyn, would you like to drive her over and have a visit?

Anneelaw and her journal start

Introducing Anneelaw!!



She is made from metal and glass taken from a recycled table lamp dating back to the 1970's.    The glass is clamped to the metal 'skirt' and is removable should the contributing artists wish to do so for any reason.



Above are pages one and four of the journal pages I made for her.  Tyvek and various and assorted fabric bits, fibers and whatever else came to hand. Stitched heavily with variegated thread and then ironed (under parchment) until the Tyvek melted. Notice the outline on the right of a ghostly image?

Below are pages two and three of the journal.



Bottom layer is a recycled Swiffer sheet, rust dyed. Above that is a piece of used dryer sheet dyed with blue paint. On the right is a piece that was leftover from pgs. 1 & 4, and on the left are three squares found in my 'component' box. The poem is printed on a piece of card stock which has been 'aged' with gesso and newsprint.

The poem reads as follows:

Out of the 70's
a lovely lamp grew
and waited for a home.
That home was nice
and the lamp
saw parties and teas
and quiet reading times too.
Year after year the lamp
kept the darkness away. 

Until
it was needed no longer. 

Would it be thrown away?
Discarded and forlorn? 

Why, no!
A dollmaker renewed
the lamp,
named her Anneelaw
and sent her on an adventure
to visit faraway places
and find a new 
life



The pictures above and below show the journal box I chose to use instead of a book. I absconded with an old cigar box from the garage (shhhhhh - don't tell the men!) and covered it on the outside with paper from a recycled shopping bag. The top is crumpled brown paper that has been hand stitched, painted and highlighted with gold.



I left the inside of the lid as it was and lined the inside with some more recycled shopping bag pieces.  The box will hold the journal pages and will allow for them to be nice and thick.

Lady Sebastian mummy stage

Here she is almost ready. My daughter rightly said she looks like a mummy:-)
I crafted her body over the wire skeleton using a glue mixture and pages torn from the journal.

my doll start

This is the skeletal structure for Lady Sebastian, Amateur Egyptologist. She started with a wire hanger and is resting on her journal which began as a composition book because I love the size and have them on hand. I am in the process of decoupaging everything. One goal I have for this project is to avoid buying anything new, but rather create from my stash. If you're anything like me, you have tons of fabulous supplies just waiting for a purpose. More as I go:-)
Talitha

Onoma ready to roll through the world

Onoma is looking a little rough and the travels have barely begun. Heading out on the road, hoping for a bed for awhile, some stories and bread and soup.

Soaring

Meet Raisa.....

...or the beginnings of her anyway.

This little 2.5 inch by 3.5 inch

petit point box

jumped out at me at a junk shop up in Dallas,

(and for the right price too!)

I thought....

"Wouldn't it be wonderful to use this for a doll body!"

 (This project requires a 'journal start' and a "doll start".)

This photo above shows the box open.

The possibilities for the other 6 artists are enormous!

(This photo shows the origins of Raisa.....)

I had two little angel dolls given to me.

They were in bad shape.

So I ripped the stuffed

(stuffed with what? I have no clue) 

cloth head off of one,

took the ratty hair off,

gessoed it (just one coat) 

and now it is a blank canvas

for the project artists down the road.

Below is a side view....

Now, I just want to say....

just because I used an angel head,

and a petit point box

does not mean this doll will end up "cute".

I hope it doesn't.  (hint,hint)

But, it is out of my control,

because Raisa will be heading off

to Gail in North Carolina soon,

and then on for the rest of her journey

around the U.S. and Canada.

Raisa still needs a journal to take with her.

I am in the process of creating

an altered book journal.

Photos coming soon.

 I am really trying to do something different creatively,

trying something new,

in this 2010 project.

Thanks Gail,

for asking me to be a part of it.

I wanted to share this quote

which I relate to my creativity....

"You can't cling to the old nest

and soar to the flowering branches

 at the same time."

-----Tama Kieves

Savor the Day!

YVONNE

(in Texas)

AUDACITY HEADS FOR COOLER CLIMES

My doll, Audacity, is one tough cookie. I got up this morning and she'd packed up her journal and herself and demanded I send her on to Mary Anne in Canada - almost 3 weeks early! Said NC was too damn hot and she wasn't into sweating. I tried to tell her it'd been hot up there this year, too, but she just responded, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." Says I'll be lucky if she even comes back to visit this godawful state.

So here she is, my demanding doll, Audacity.



Audacity began life as a stick, but, for God's sake, don't mention that. She ain't proud of her roots (hee hee). The stick was wrapped in batting and then paper mache-ed and collaged with magazine pages. Her head is hollow (lord, I hope she doesn't read this!), shaped from cardboard and paper mache-ed. Her chest adornment is an old, decorative piece of metal cupboard hardware. From tiny waist to the top of her head, she measures about 7 inches.

Audacity's travel journal is also paper mache with an open spine. It measures 7.5" X 4.5".



My starting journal entry:



Audacity and her travel journal, now heading from NC, USA to Ontario, CAN! Get ready MA!