Final Chapter: ICE 2010 and the Copeland Collection

Artist: Susan Mabray Gnaedinger (USA)

My collages from the International Collage Exchange are here! The arrival of the collages means that the final piece of this years exchange has fallen into place. For me it started with the 'chain reaction' series back in September of last year. What an awesome journey of discovery that was! It's also incredibly satisfying to complete a whole series of 13 collages and to be pleased with the outcome of each one. They all reflected me and what I wanted to say and it's a real bonus to be able to look at them and see that 99% of the materials used are recycled and didn't end up in the landfill. Dale Copeland sorts all the collages and 1 collage becomes part of an exhibition which is both 'real' and online. I was fortunate enough to sell my collage this year and that brings it's own sense of satisfaction of course! That brings me to now! The final ICE post for the 2010 exchange.  I did put together a slide show of all the collage I received but blogger is telling me it is an unsupported file format. I'm not sure why but I will try again tomorrow and see if it's just a temporary blip. You can see one of the collages I got above. Dale really does do a fantastic job trying to match up artists that have similar elements in there work. I received a lot of collages containing stitch work this year or collages of similar themes. Great work Dale!

I purchase Dale Copelands book "The Copeland Collection' and that also arrived with my collages. The book is bound by Dale and features about 100 of the many collages she has in her own personal ICE collection. I photographed a few of my favorite pages from the book which is available from Dale if your interested in obtaining your own copy.

Last but not least is a the 'Mad for Colours' swap hosted by LaWendula, who just so happened to be my partner in this months exchange. Here's what she sent me...

My parcel also included some of her wonderfully soft and colourful homespun wool! Lucky me:)

Thanks to all of you who have popped by recently, I have every intention on dropping by your blogs very soon!

Handmade Mini Book

This months paper swap theme is 'mini books' and I was partnered up with Amelia Critchlow of 101 Bird Tales. Thanks LaWendula (of Woven Letters) for all that you do to organise these monthly swaps! My linky thing isn't working right now so I will have to come back with the links!

Here's the book I made...

The cover is made from recycled papers glued together with a watery mix of PVA, stained with some coffee and then sealed with a sheet or 2 of sewing pattern paper. I'd forgotten how much I love pattern paper! The colour, the markings, the texture, the quick drying time and the fact that it's recycled!

There are 20 pages in this book which are made up from old book pages like the ones shown and blank pages which my partner can use if she wants too.

The page above is made from a paper big and features a tradtional Maori Tiki and the Kiwi. I knew I'd saved this bag for a good reason! I also added a small board book to my parcel for my partner to alter and it's all on it's way to the UK today.

Using some more of my 'layer' paper I made these 16 inchies for a yahoo group swap. I'm pretty happy with the results and I love the layer paper which was inspired by Debrina's fabric paper. I wanted to make fabric paper but didn't have any muslin so I came up with a different version to suit the same purpose!

That's all from me folks! Hope your all well and enjoying the new season! 

Misc.ICE # 10, Crazy Swap, Vegetable Dyes...

Misc. Miscellaneous. A word to describe a mixed bunch of things that don't neatly fit into one catergory. It's been a miscellaneous kind of week.This blog post certainly is. ICE, Natural Dying, Paper swaps, Paper -making. A miscellaneous collection of things that describe my art. I ramble.It's been a rambling kind of week.So many things have happened here lately that have really sucked my creative time up, my time when I connect with myself and with nature.How did that happen?Well, I know how..but why? I don't know. It just did. Now I feel all dried up, ideas without motivation to carry them out. The TO DO list getting longer and time just tick, tick, ticking away. I finally realise that my art is connected to my emotions and that one does not thrive without the other being totally in tune...I realise that by allowing situtations to affect my emotions I also allow them to affect my art. I said in my last post that 'quietly in the chaos' I had made progress with an ICE collage and that there'd been some exciting Pulpy happenings.The latter is still in progress, I am expecting Alicia's book to arrive any day now and I've just posted on Lisa J's to Debrina. Round 2! I can't wait.

ICE 2010 collage # 9

Series: Chain Reaction

Title: Urban Suburban

Owl book image, handmade paper from Danit, handmade paper dyed with onion skins (mine) painted paper scrap, old bridge pad paper, thread.

Above is my 9th ICE collage.. it should've  taken 1 or 2 good days has taken me about 10! It's been completed in small steps and stolen moments! They're precious moments arn't they? The difference between progress and standing still, the difference perhaps between being alive and simply living? Sounds dramatic I know, but as I said- it's been one of those weeks!

I don't quite connect with this piece the way I did with some of the other collages, I think it's because the main image is not mine. It does express what I wanted it too though, the crossing over of urban and suburban. Wild birds in well populated areas, still free but modified to suit their new environment. This is the chain reaction created by human's moving in and taken over their habitat. We either force them to move out or force them to move in.  Ever noticed how many sea gulls live a long way inland? How many predator bird species dwell in cities? How fuzzy the line between urban and suburban has become. A bird can build a nest without leaving a negative impact on the space in which it has chosen, why too don't most of us?

I think my vege dye experiments are a result of this awareness. An effort to keep my own footprint on this earth down. I'm also curious about the cause and effect created by different plant sources. Red cabbage makes a beautiful, deep violet colour until you add fabric to it. The fabric is much paler. I would have thought that the violet would overpower the white but they seem to have met each other in the middle. It's completely different to mixing paint when one teaspoon of violet would have a big impact on 4 or 5 times that amount of white.

The paper is of course, hand made. I saw the resulting colour from the cabbage and cloth experiment and didn't want the same shade of paper so I decided to add a really strong brew of tea (about 7 tea bags to 250 ml of hot water) and tip it in. The resulting dye was black with a slight hint of purple. The colour when the pulp was added was a really exciting shade of stone grey. The result when dry? Light grey! My hands while mixing the pulp? A strangely coloured tea and cabbage smelling mess! haha. Good thing I was outside. The cabbage smell took a while to go...

Below: Crazy Swap items from Carla in Canada...

Isn't it amazing how 2 artists who've never met could send each other such similar things?

My partner also sent me some lovely, lovely vintage postcards (1926) and a vintage valentines card...they have real messgages on them and deserve their own post...so their own post they will get!

LaWendula of Woven Letters organised a crazy paper swap. Participants had to be brave and sign up for the swap without knowing what we'd be swapping...a fun kinda crazy! The top 2 pics of the 4 below show what I sent my partner (who is dosn't have her own blog..sorry) and the bottom 2 show what I recieved. I am very happy and will make very good use of it all. Thanks Carla and LaWendula!

Paper Swap # 3

Paper Swap # 3. Cards theme. Hosted by Lawendula of Woven Letters.

I decided to alter 3 playing cards for my swap partner "Moon Mama" Jen. I used paper from very old bridge scoring pads, painted paper scrap and thread to alter the cards and put them together with...

A library issue card and pocket, a Tiki playing card, Lord of the Rings playing card, some vintage ciggerette cards, a few mini playing cards and some old bridge scoring sheets. They'll be sent off tomorrow and this time I will be careful not to pack them parcel thickness instead of letter rate! Lesson learnt;)

These cards are late but as my partner and I both had technical issues  neither of us have posted yet. Word from 'the wise' if you send emails with the term 'swap partner' in the subject line the spam filter will give it an entirely different meaning! Haha!. Better late than never:)