Category Archives: gpp crusade

gpp street team: back to back

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i had made some backgrounds recently, spraying with various glimmer mists and some stencils (here: felt flower borders)
from my walk on monday i had brought some umbels and made some photographs with these on the backgrounds (more to come in a later post – when i will have more time…)

now when i read about the new crusade i thought i could perfectly use these backgrounds…
printed it out twice (about a-5-size).

on the first copy i started taking the umbel as a base to write… then i took a pink neocolor II and wrote some more text over the page.
stamped the circles (paperbag studios) and lines (gpp), then the insect image on vellum and fixed it on the page with staples and green masking tape (teared at both sides). i LOVE these masking tapes!!
added the faux postage pic and a cancellation stamp. an old text strip in light blue was glued on and edged with neocolor II. another neocolor II for edging the whole page – done!

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on the second copy i started stenciling a black crow with an inkpad and a sponge. some stamps added on background. found some weed pictures which i printed in small rows on old ledger paper. glued on air mail label – plus cancellation stamp.
again final edging of everything with neocolor II in according colors. seems i can´t live without them;)

which one do you like better??
are they really different?? seems it´s hard for me to step outside my comfort zone;)
anyway, thanks michelle for the challenge. might do more…

gpp crusade… dark side

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(click to see all contributions)
time is running short for this challenge…
but this theme actually fits my mood…
when butterflies turn black…
chose to make the background with black *vivid* dye ink instead of black gesso. stamping with purple and white (to give shadows); neocolor II and oil pastels for edging

crusade no. 31

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michelle ward has challenged to a new theme: “make it your own”!!
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i love the definitions she brings up:
when you make it your own, it´s art
when you follow directions, it´s craft
“When you follow directions, as you would a recipe, or copy a project from a magazine – that is craft. Personalizing, interpreting, processing through your own filters, is art.”
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i´ve done a lot of crafting in my younger years… knitting, cross-stitching, silk painting… mostly “by recipes” —
it was only when i came to collaging (via detecting the tool of rubber stamps) that i got a totally new feeling – that feeling of freedom in creating…
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when i start to make a journal page, an altered book spread etc. the first thing is making a background of my own… though i have gathered a lot of wonderful scrapbook papers, i mostly end up with painting/dying my own papers – most of the time in vibrant colors. i just can´t create in brown (though i often admire how others can!). it´s also hard for me to create in black/white! i always have my fingers at vivid colors (often with complementary accents) in the shortest of times..
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like many of us i´m a collector. of almost everything! (michelle speaks of the wonderful collage sheets out there… great vintage faces etc… i have bought quite some of them – but… i started to give them away, i feel they are “not me”… and – as she said – i´m often bored by the over-usage of them; they lost their freshness…)
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in the piece above you can see some things i always collected: f.e. postal stamps. i have tons of them (and i mean: tons!!). too many actually, so often i don´t find what i´m searching for;))
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another hoarded element: old book pages… (fine, if in foreign languages or the old german style of letters) – on lazy days i just dye heaps of pages in various colors to have some dry & ready for every occasion… here: to print on some text
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and i was always drawn to film strips; i´m happy i didn´t throw away the rolls which happend to turn out black (got light in the camera…).
here i used one as a base for printed muybridge pictures (another all-time-favorite!)
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this piece was made in january/february… the year was young and i wanted to make something with a “positive twist”…
started with the dancing woman in two sizes (company: moon rose)… i remembered the dancing woman from eadweard muybridge, which is very similar to that stamp… wanted to enforce the feeling of that “pictures in motion” by adding them to a film strip…
the words came along by themselves (yes, recalled from my brain database;)) – of course one of my numerous alphas had to be involved…
found by chance these postal stamps (the bloom seems to repeat the hand position of the woman: click to enlarge, so you might see it)…
some more stamping of details & done!

journaling

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michelle ward prompts us this month to handwrite in our journals (“cat got your tongue?”)…
actually the only journal i handwrite in is the one about my health i started last december before i had to go to hospital… i prepared the backgrounds, took some stamps, pictures etc with me and had the luck to be in a single bed room, so i could journal there, too… (well, limited stuff compared with home, but it was ok)

as said, the journal is about my health. i suffer from ulcerative colitis/crohn disease for two decades now and have hard times alternating with better ones. but you can keep it short: the harder times are *d*mn s*h*t* – literally (as the title means, written in german on the cover…)

actually i hesitated to show it on my blog. i kept it private so far (and most of the pages will not be published). but then i thought, as my intro spread says:


… and i decided to show some spreads:
i had my handcarved alpha with me and seems i prefer to sum up the text of a page in one or two words…

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for hiding details (thoughts that should not be seen at first sight) i made little envelopes. text is at the back of the small cards inside and hides well:

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here i blurred the text i wanted to keep private…
i love the ttv pictures i´m always hunting for in the internet

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think positive… sometimes easier said than done; but i try…
the “think pink” stamp is custom made.

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it was about two weeks before christmas when i went into the hospital. i had taken a pic of a snowy park with me to write about christmas feelings… guess what: one day i woke up, blended by the sun and the sight from my room was exactly like that (without the fir) – fresh snow in the park outside…
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i had prepared the journal with silk paints, which worked wonderfully!! i have quite some remains of these paints from my long-ago-time of silk painting… before throwing them out i thought to give it a try… they give a nice shimmer. only thing to consider: let them dry thoroughly, they might be sticky otherwise!
stamping done with brilliance pads.
a biro and a white gel pen were all i had with me for writing…

step-by-step: gesso spidercard

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michelle wants the street team to play with gesso this month…
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i made some of these cobweb-backgrounds at our stamp retreat 3 weeks ago. spiderweb (tim holtz) stamped with gesso, let dry, sprayed with glimmer mist.

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giant spider (green eyed goblin; not sure if still in business) stamped with black brilliance (my favorite black stamppad, actually)
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glued on two postal stamps
cancellation stamps by ma vinci
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smeared on green fluid acrylic (brand: golden) and some gesso.
wanted the spider to be visible, so overstamped it again.
i liked how the fluid acrylic colored the gesso-stamped spiderweb at some points.
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a little sandpaper treatment, some smearing again, the airmail label,
done!
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auf unserem stempelwochenende in bad aibling war eine der gezeigten techniken das stempeln mit gesso (auch thema diesen monat bei michelle ward´s street team). ich hatte mir ein paar karten vorbereitet, auf denen ich das spinnennetz (tim holtz) mit gesso gestempelt habe und nach dem trocknen glimmer mist aufgesprüht habe.
dann lagen die karten erstmal bis heute… die bearbeitungsschritte seht ihr oben: abwechselnd stempeln, briefmarken aufkleben, drüber schmieren mit acrylic fluid (grün, von golden) und gesso, zum schluss noch ein bisschen mit sandpapier schmirgeln und luftpost-aufkleber drauf. die spinne hab ich zwei mal gestempelt, weil sie zwischendurch beim farbe auftragen fast ganz verschwunden war.

eraser carvings – crusade no. 18

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als michelle das thema für märz vorgab (“cut it out”), dachte ich: super!! aber irgendwie zerrinnt mir der monat unter den fingern und ich hab noch nix zuwege gebracht… (hab leider auch nur alte platten, bei denen ich mir nicht sicher bin, ob sie noch gut funktionieren; aber ich krieg auch meinen hintern einfach nicht hingesetzt…)
deshalb dachte ich mir, ich zeige erstmal ein paar alte werke, “zurück zu den wurzeln”, sozusagen…
die waren 1996 und als erstes musste natürlich ein alphabet her:
when i read michelle´s new theme (“cut it out”) i thought: super!! but somehow the month rushes by and i haven´t made a single cut so far… (i only have old carving plates and i´m not sure they still press well… but actually: i can´t get my ass sat down;))
so i decided i would first make a post about my first carvings, sort of “back to the roots”…
that was 1996 and one of my first carvings was an alphabet & numbers:
man beginnt dann ja sehr schnell alles unter dem aspekt der schnitzbarkeit zu betrachten;) hier z.b. tiere, die auf einer latzhose meiner (damals kleinen) jungs waren:
soon i started looking at everything with the eyes of a carver;) here you see some animals i copied from my kids´ clothings:
und natürlich sind die lieblingskünstler immer sehr ergiebig:
and of course a great source were some favorite artists:

die fledermaus ist von niki de saint-phalle
bat from niki de saint-phalle
keith haring, of course
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diese postkarte ist eine kombination von 2 stempeln (tiger + hintergrundblatt, das in verschiedenen farben gestempelt wurde) und einer folien-schablone (für den orangen teil des tigergesichtes):
this postcard is a combination of 2 stamps (tiger + leave in the background, stamped in various colors) and a transparency-stencil (for the orange part of the tigerface):


aber man kann statt der schablone auch einen zweiten stempel machen, wie hier am beispiel der katze zu sehen:
but you can also make a second stamp instead of a stencil, as you see with this cat-sample:

für heute reichts damit… ich hab massen von selbstgeschnitzten und vielleicht mag ich ja nochmal einen post dazu machen… spätestens wenn ich wieder mal was neues geschnitzt habe, versprochen!:))
enough for today… i have a lot of erasercarved stamps and maybe i will be in the mood to make another post… at least when i do something new, i promise to show you:))

aber für jetzt wünsche ich euch erst mal FROHE OSTERN…
but for now i wish you all a HAPPY / HOPPY EASTER…

und nicht vergessen:
and don´t forget:

my muse LitArta

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one of my muses is the one i call LitArta…
i´m definitely often inspired by literature – books, poems, songs…
so i think LitArta is constantly lurking and adjusting a moment she can hit me with her ideas…

that might be catching up with poe´s raven… with the speech of chief seattle… with shakespeare´s witches in macbeth… (you name it… click through my picturetrail and you get more samples than i can list here).

now last friday again she watched me in the bookstore – doing my favorite thing: digging in the modern antique books, which are sold to reduced prices.
and she directed me to a wonderful book i had never seen before:

eine meiner musen heißt LitArta…
ich bezieht meine inspirationen sehr oft aus der literatur – seien es bücher, gedichte, songtexte…
ich hab das gefühl, LitArta lauert andauernd, um einen augenblick abzupassen und mich mit ihren ideen zu überfallen…

das mag sein mit poe´s rabengedicht… mit der rede des häuptlings seattle… mit shakespeares hexen aus macbeth (das sind nur ein paar der beispiele… in meiner picturetrail findet sich noch mehr davon).

letzten freitag (vorgestern) nun verfolgte sie mich wieder in den buchladen – wo ich einer meiner lieblingsbeschäftigungen nachging: dem stöbern im modernen antiquariat. da gibts tolle bücher ja manchmal nachgeschmissen… und sie dirigierte mich zielstrebig zu einem wundervollen buch, das ich nie zuvor gesehen hatte:

The Dodo and Mauritius Island: Imaginary Encounters. a beautiful book (european publishers award for photography 2004!), obviously soon being discontinued.

it was sold at an incredibly low price and they had 2 books left.
you guessed it: i had to buy them both. – one for keeping (it´s just too beautiful) and one for slaughtering. and making my alterations with the cut-outs.

so that´s what i came up so far:

der dodo auf mauritius. ausgezeichnet mit dem european publishers award for photography 2004… und jetzt wohl ein auslaufmodell.

es wurde unglaublich günstig verkauft und sie hatten noch 2 bücher.
erraten: ich musste beide kaufen. – eins zum behalten (es ist einfach zu schön) und eins zum ausschlachten. um meine collagen mit den ausgeschnittenen teilen zu machen.

das ist bisher entstanden:

and it will go on (by the perforation you see this will become a book/-let). NO WONDER i´m sitting here on a pile of UFOs, if LitArta always deviates me…!!! it´s not my fault!!! you see?? i´m helplessly at the mercy of LitArta.
i hope she will never leave me:))

aaah, before i forget… the muses are theme of this month´s gpp crusade # 14! go and check out more people´s muses!

und es wird weiter gehen (sieht man an der lochung: es soll ein buch oder zumindest ein büchlein werden).
KEIN WUNDER dass ich hier auf einem haufen unvollendeter sachen sitze, wenn mich LitArta ständig vom weg abbringt…!!! es ist nicht meine schuld, ja?!? ich bin LitArta hilflos ausgeliefert.
ich hoffe, sie wird mir immer treu bleiben:))

bevor ich es vergesse: “musen” sind das thema des monats bei der gpp crusade #14! dort erfahrt ihr noch mehr über die musen anderer leute!

crush on card decks / faible für karten

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hard times for my credit card these days… i had another sale to take advantage of – skybluepink is always good for some stuff you always needed…
did i ever mention i have a crush on card decks? (so i´m gonna post this for gpp crusade #12) i can hardly resist!! here are some of my order i got today. must count the decks one day and let you know how many i have (a huge box is filled with them…).
some of my favorites are tarot cards from monolith… check them out if you love gothic!
and of course hunting at fleamarkets is great for that passion, too!

so, falls ich diesen monat von trocken brot leben muss (was mir jetzt nicht direkt schaden würde *g*), liegt es daran, dass ich einigen angeboten nicht widerstehen konnte, die in letzter zeit reichlich in meiner mailbox landeten. unter anderem musste auch mal dringend wieder eine bestellung bei skybluepink sein… heute eingetroffen. die haben ja so tollen kleinkram, und immer wieder finde ich dort kartenspiele, die ich dringend brauche. hab ich schon mal erwähnt, dass ich da total drauf abfahre? (deswegen poste ich sie jetzt mal nachträglich für die gpp crusade #12) ich weiß gar nicht, wie viele kartenspiele ich habe, bei gelegenheit zähle ich sie mal, es sind jedenfalls eine große schachtel voll. und immer wieder findet sich was neues…

ein paar sehr schöne gruslige tarotkarten habe ich übrigens von monolith. und auch auf flohmärkten findet sich immer wieder mal was.

pumpkinizer

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i had some playtime this morning and halloween is approaching fast. so what did i do? pumpkinize my portrait;))
i like it, i think i look younger on the pumpkin than in reality;) – though the photo is only few months old, hehe. the orange gives good light;))

wanna give it a try, too? find the tool here: http://www.glassgiant.com/pumpkinizer/
and spread the word via gpp-crusade. i would love to get a link to your pumpkin face:)))

sonntag morgens spiel ich mich mal gerne… und da halloween ja quasi schon vor der tür steht, wollte ich mal meinen persönlichen kürbiskopf haben…
ich finde, er kommt ganz gut raus, ich schau jünger aus als in echt *g*, obwohl das foto relativ neu ist. gutes licht halt;))

wer es auch gerne probieren möchte, hier ist der link:
http://www.glassgiant.com/pumpkinizer/
ich schicks auch mal an die gpp-crusade und hoffe, einige links zu eueren eigenen kürbisgesichtern zu bekommen:)))

ab spread “who is counting the souls”

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this is a spread in the book i will name the “graveyard book”, one of the series of my “death” ab´s.

i´m going to label it for michelle´s gpp street team crusade no. 13. (theme is “gothic”)

happy first anniversary to the street team! – if it wouldn´t exist, it should be invented:)!!

if you are interested in my whole ongoing projekt i´m doing

about death altered books, click here

und das hier ist eine doppelseite für mein “friedhof”-buch, eins aus der serie meiner “todes”-ab´s.
damit möchte ich mich auch an michelle´s gpp street team crusade no. 13 (thema: “gothic”) beteiligen.
dem street team einen herzlichen geburtstagsgruß! eine tolle sache – die man erfinden müsste, wenn es sie nicht schon gäbe:)!!