eggstudio

Clear view

2010-11-15T12:38:00.000-08:00

Working on some cards for a Transparency swap.
so far this is what i've come up with

New Stuff

2010-10-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

Did a couple of new bits last week.
This little lady is on a block of wood which happened to be my new picket fence that we shortened at the bottom. Approx.5.5 x 3.5 and 1/2 inch thick.

Stand Guard (below) is an overpaint of a magazine image on thin board 7x5

Both are from photos I took with my camera then uploaded and tweaked the color on-line with a photo editing program called http://www.picnik.com/app

2010-07-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

4th of July art weekend. I love long weekends. The weather was wonderful so I made most of these while sitting on my front porch with my cats and pups.

Heart Pages

2010-06-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

I have been working on heart pages for a heart book swap. They are 4x8 so it's a bit different from other page swaps I've done before. Still need to do more but I'm getting there slowly but surely.

New family member

2010-05-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

This is Vincent we actually got him on April fools day but he is no fool.
A very clever and smart fellow is he.
He's what I would call a hybrid not a mutt, his dad was a Aussie. and his mom a Sheltie.
I think that's why he has fallen in love with Pixel.

This is his school photo.

2010-02-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

I've been working on my own little journal.
I thought about making one
even went to Hobby Lobby to look
for nice paper
then realized I had this 40% coupon,
decided I was too lazy to make one so
bought a cold press watercolor journal.

My first page ( still in progress)
is a copy of my husband and
myself. Totally going for the
American Gothic look

This really has nothing to do with my journal

but I've forgotten my flickr password, for the

life of me I can't remember it.

2010-02-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

I did these with the same technique as the starfish.
I have so much acetate it's spilling out of my art closet.

2010-01-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

What am I doing in this New Year?

Once I figure that out I'm sure it will get eaiser.

2009-11-25T07:47:00.000-08:00

I dragged out my sewing machine and did a no glue post card. It's the house one, all sewn no glue. Must say it's fun.

Yes I went MIA

2009-11-11T10:19:00.000-08:00

There have been some family tragedies and upsets lately which always causes the muse to leave and take shelter, far from the fray.

Slowly I'm stepping my foot back in the water. My first swap back was Amyfaire's found poetry.
Art is fun and therapeutic.

Birdy Cards

2009-05-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

My new stash of birdy cards. Some are for swaps some for trades. My husband suggested I do a series of hooked billed birds so the Blue Crowned Conure is my starting point. I need to do a bit of bird research before I can get to doing others.

2009-04-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at a crown.
I checked out the book
“Crowns & Tiaras: Add a Little Sparkle, Glitter & Glamour to Every Day” by Kerri Judd
A very fun book and I plan on trying my hand at this again. Who can’t use a crown?

I like to use Pixel as my model, she is a professional.
She sits real still and even poses.

Moleskin Swap

2009-04-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

For the moleskin swap at ATCforall. There are seven artist in this exchange and we have a month to work on four pages in each book. This little book was about Hearts.

Rainy Day ARt

2009-03-31T12:38:00.000-07:00

Lots of rain makes for a great art day.

Gypsy Chunky pages

2009-03-31T12:36:00.000-07:00

Books of Hope page

2009-03-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

I was invited to do a page for the "Book of Hope" that alteredmommy is combining.
The finished book is for a cancer fundraising event called "Relay for Life"

Little Bitty Journaling

2009-03-06T12:28:00.000-08:00

I am making little eight page journals. It is a single signature with a light cardboard cover. I’m working backwards with these. I do the journaling then finish the cover. This just works for me mostly because I’m messy and would get grumpy about messing up my cover. I am hand stitching these little books it’s more for practice because I want to get good at this and actually bind a bigger book. My plan is to do a little book for each month
This one is the completed February book.

Here little chicky chicky

2009-02-20T10:43:00.000-08:00

One more journal page. I've found that doing these pages is very rewarding and extremely fun. This page, which is two sided is for a cheeky little urchin with a fondness for chickens.

Hand me down bits

2009-02-16T10:24:00.000-08:00

I'm in a collage grab bag swap so I've been using bits and pieces from the envies that I have received.

It's always fun to get these little packages of odd things.

You just never know what you'll be pulling out of the bag.

Lucky Page

2009-02-13T10:07:00.000-08:00

LUCK is a four letter word...
Use It Well

Moleskine exchange

2009-02-09T13:32:00.001-08:00

I am in a Moleskine exchange at ATC's for all
Each artist picked a theme and mine is birdie related.

There are seven artist in this exchange and we have a month to work on four pages in each book. So that means I won't be seeing my little book for awhile.

It's a little intimidating to work on someone elses book, but once you get the glue and paint on it it no longer has the odd feeling.

Having fun in the New Year

2009-01-29T08:44:00.000-08:00

Well not much to say but I've been having a
good time in my art hovel again.

Front and back of a journal page.

Valentine chunky page

Random ATC's

Journal page swap

2008-12-30T09:44:00.000-08:00

So I've been working on some journal pages. approx 8.5 x 10.5 On some of them I've acutally done some personal journal work (I'm sure this is going to impress so many~ not~) and others just the normal bit of arty thought. Oh! how I wish I could letter better.
Typography is just not my thing

I've really enjoyed working on these, the bigger size has been lots of fun. I've used a thick board for my base. I painted them with acrylic before adding all the collage elements. They are two sided so while one side was drying I was off and running on a new page. Every element was outlined with a soft carbon pencil then smeared over with a highlighter. The highlighter kind of

smooshed the carbon and smeared it nicely. ~ I'm using very technical terms here so I hope you can keep up~ I used my Nexus ocher pen to scribble around all collage elements. It's very faint but just adds that little bit of depth. The bummer here is that I have used it all up and can't find a replacement. Pssttt.... on that.

These two pages have my drawings that I enlarged big because they were on the small side, nowhere near filling this kind of space. I then colorized myart with pastels I found in the back room. That's the joy of back rooms you never know what you will find.

Two new moo's

2008-12-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

These are two little moo's that I kind of kept. Acutally I really kept them not kind of.

One of my favorite words to say to anyone is "you nut" so these little fellows make me snicker alot.

Moo Cards

2008-11-04T07:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I had no idea what a moo card was till I joined a swap. So a moo card is 1 -1/8" x 2 3/4" in size. These are some moos I made.

Ok so I'm slow at this and had to do research on what a moo is and it turns out it's a big deal. Lots of folks are moo collectors and the real moo is a printed card produced in England.

You can get your own art printed on one of these little guys. And guess what I did? I went and got some printed. Whoo Hooo!!! They came in yesterday so here they are too.
The site was easy to navigate and I even found a discount code online. The site is http://www.moo.com/

The cards do not look cheap they are nice slick and crisp. Yeah, I'll be back for more.

Crow Pages

2008-10-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

I'm making Crow pages for roc's journal swap.
It's been fun but I get stuck on the journal bit.
any how they are done on water color paper, with acrylic paint and any odd bits of images or paper that i liked. Oh! and lots of doodling, my husband bought me some cool gel pens so i've been having way too much fun with them.

It's been forever

2008-10-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

It's been forever but I made a new ATC. I'm stuck in a stage where I just can't seem to work my tiny brain around an idea for a great card. I say Phssttt to that feeling.

Tile Bamboo Swap

2008-10-06T09:03:00.000-07:00

I joined the tile bamboo swap at MAW and this is what I came up with. I rummaged thru my junk box and found all sorts of odd metal bits. The best find was the rectangle metal that was once a belt it made a great frame. Large paper clips, broken jewelry and some found beads that acutally may not have been found but pilfered from my mom's stash. Anything was game and I had a great time with this swap. Even kept two for myself. I need to learn to do this more, while doing a swap make one for me.

Joys of Solder

2008-09-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

I’ve been having fun with my solder gun again. It comes in spurts and a lot of spurts happened when I received that groovy book from Mireya. I made a little domino fish necklace. It’s a smaller domino than usual I gave him a hinged body because I liked the idea of him whipping his tail about. I also did this with a mermaid which I’ve hung on my rear view mirror and I love the effect of it.

I also had the mad idea of how to display inchies that I have received from other artist. So low and behold they make great charms.

All I did was cut a piece of glass one inch and encased these little bits of delightful art and added a bit of other charms to it.
The little rinchies are made by roc, aren't they the cutest? And I have a little bottle cap charm that Tanya Mac made me.

My New Fav Book

2008-09-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I had a B'Day a while back in Aug. and I got the coolest surprise from Mireya (folks also know her as Art4mysanity) an ATC shirine, what a cool thing that is. And the way cool thing is she sent me a book from my wish list
This book is so cool. It inspired me to go play with solder again. I'll put those up later. So here is a cyber hug to you Mireya!!!! Whoo Hooo!!!

2008-07-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

What have I been doing? Oh yeah! I've been making more cards.

In the ArtTrader

2008-07-15T15:20:00.001-07:00

If you're interested. My how to solder tutorial is in the new ArtTrader magazine.
It's short and sweet with photos. Lots more wonderful articles in there as well.

Making Cards on a Holiday

2008-07-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

Just a few more bird cards. I tried doing fish but I always go back to these dang blasted birdies.

How to make a glass marble necklace

2008-06-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here is how I made it, I used clear flat glass marbles, silver tape from the hardware store and my solder kit. Which has every thing I need to solder.

Find images you like and glue to the back of the marble and trim. When dry apply the silver tape to cover the back of the marble.
Use your copper tape around the edges.

Solder like usual. If you need a tutorial on soldering go here to see how I do it. The silver tape gives it a nice back and you don't have to waste a lot of solder covering the back.

Make your chains out of 1.5 inch cut paper clips, Jumbo size. You will want to make sure your paper clips are weather proof. Drop them in water to make sure they will not rust. Connect your links with jump rings add your finished glass marbles and voila you have a necklace.

Matchbox art

2008-06-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

Ok so I've been playing with matches. It's just a average small matchbox trasformed.
I put these little guys on on ebay and I sold the boxed female, how cool is that! But that little cat I called it "a shine to a kitty soul" did not sell. I really thought that one was the cutest.

Both boxes are covered with old book pages and sealed for proctection. The boxed female I used the whole matchbox I made it into a little shadow box.The kitty I just used the inside of the box. The kitty is in a bottle cap raised from the inside and pierced painted nails all the way around the box.

Working at a library has its perks

2008-06-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

I checked out Collage Discovery Workshop by Claudine Hellmuth. Love the book it has some wonderful techniques in it. So I've tried a couple.

This one actually looks very similar to the one she did in the book. Except I had to use what I had on hand so instead of canvas I used chipboard 5x7 painted with antique white acrylic paint not gesso. Covered it with tan tissue paper not a dress pattern. The red is a laser jet print of random art lines. In the book she used clear caulk the kind you use around the tub to do the transfer. I watered down some gel medium to a glue thickness covered the tissue let that dry then slapped some more gel medium on top and while still wet I put the laser jet print on top and smoothed down. When it dried I added water to the paper so I could remove the paper back so it would just leave the red image transfer. Glued my lady and words down. Took a scraper with antique white acrylic and made those lines on the side. Then edged it with dark Old English polish and buffed some on to the whole area.

Ok so with this one, using what is on hand. It is 5x3.5 chipboard painted with antique white acrylic paint. Watered down gel medium slapped on then an old book page put on the wet surface and burnished down. I did not add any gel medium to the top yet. When dry I got some sticky packing tape and burnished it down then pulled it off. This left the other side of the book page in reverse. Color washed it with water colors stamped the green vine. Glued down the lady and words and covered the whole thing with gel medium...ok so here is the cool part from the book. Smear some Vaseline on the parts you do not want covered up by paint then paint over the whole thing. When dry the paint peels off the Vaseline and you get a real cool worn paint look. Then the Old English furniture polish around the edges I didn't have any brunt sienna paint.

There are so many more techniques to try and the other great thing is that I don't have to pay overdue fines.

Birdies

2008-06-03T15:40:00.001-07:00

I have nothing to say today but I have been making lots of birds cards lately. It must be all the twittering in the trees. I swear I'm going to start making fish.

The Family

2008-05-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

I was trying a technique from the Somerset magazine. Painting over black and white Xerox copy. This is my parents, they look real happy but that only lasted for three years. They were married in Ethiopia. I have this in my art hovel so I can ponder on it. The nice thing about my parents is that they always stayed friends so when my mom sees this she won't freak. I love how the veil turned out in this, I used tissue paper a suggestion by my husband.

Ahhh.....here is where I'm going to let you in on family secrets....We have kept this fact silent for many years, for the sake of the grand parents (they were so old fashion, the grandmother still)My father passed away at the tender age of 45 he died a very proud and nobel gay man (and I don't mean he was happy all the time). My father the research scientist, his life work to study cancer. A very talented artist and my father....Charles Gschwind... look him up... bet you can't understand anything he wrote about.

My first swap

2008-05-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have my first swap going on at atcsforall and it's Butterdogs. I'm new to hosting so I can only have 12 players. That's a good thing since I don't want to mess anything up.
It's going great, the swap is filled and I've gotten two adorable sets of Butterdoggies already. Now I need to get my own going. I've been putting off making cards for too long now.

CArd update I've fiinished up my butter dogs.

May is my month

2008-05-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

Gees....Everything is so nifty in May. At least for me. So let me tell you why.

I'm the featured artist on the atcsforall's website. How cool is that! I'm all giddy about it.

I've also been selected as one of 10 artist to have an ATC in the ACEO magazine. That one made me all a flutter.

My mother and I are having a small art show this Thursday, crossing fingers that something sells. It's going to be great to spend time with my mom. And my next high moment for the month of May is. I had a book review published in the Georgia Library Quarterly Magazine. It's all slick and pretty and my name is even spelled correct. It's all about ME!!!!!! finally

My all seeing eye

2008-05-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

While working on some swaps for charms for atcsforall and a batch of art pins for mailartworld.com I came up with this necklace for me.

It's a bit of sheet metal that was left over from the charm swap. (I was cutting out hearts) It's wrapped with the old book pages, sealed and then the other elements were added with E6000 glue. I salvaged my own bezel for the eye. It is the back of a watch. I painted and sealed the nails.

Ok so the nails..I have a postcard of a wonderful wooden fish and it has a million painted nails hammered into it. I loved those nails and always wanted to do something like that. Well this worked perfect.

I was on a roll so I made one for the art pin swap also. This one is a pin and a necklace. I plan on making more of these over the weekend.

Matal Tape Background

2008-04-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, my grandmother and I use to glue string and cardboard on wooden boxes and then cover them with tinfoil. I have some very pretty boxes from those days. She would cut and layer cardboard to make flowers and curly designs. This is the same concept.

Go to your local hard wear store and buy the metal tape that they use for duct work. NOT duck or duct tape. On the first card I glued Punchinello ribbon, covered the card with my metal tape and burnished down. It made that wonderful circle effect. I rubbed black ink over the card to bring out details. I also used the ribbon as a stencil on the face.

You can use anything you like or nothing at all. I crinkle it up because think it gives it more depth.I’ve painted on it used UTEE, glued my images right to it. Anything goes. You’re only limited by your imagination.

Wire and Tissue Paper Fairy Wings

2008-04-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Everything can use a good pair of wings

Ok, so who can’t use a set of fairy wings...I know for one I’d love to have a pair. I’d want green with blue glitter. Well here’s how I make fairy wings. You’ll need some wire, something you can bend easy. Form it into wings. You can make them fancy with curly cues or leave them plain. This set is the basic wing.

Cover tissue paper with glue and cover the wire with the tissue paper, add more glue on the outside of the tissue paper wings also. This will give it more durability and also a nice translucent look. You’ll need to hang your wings to dry usually overnight or if you’re in a hurry like I am use the hairdryer. After they are dry trim and add your glitter or what ever you want to them.

You’re ready to place. When I put wings on an image I will back the image with a thin cardstock of some kind so when I glue the wings in place you won’t see a raised area where the wing back is.

Ok that's it...go make some wings....

The shame of an art degree...

2008-04-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

Well I've been hiding, That's just it. I have been hiding the fact that I actually went to school for art. In my mind art is something you do not go to school for and I was jealous of all the ones who create such wonderful art and never attended any schooling at all. Well I did, I went to school,, my aim was to get a degree in design so I could get the dream job. And you know what I did. I got the high paying job, saw my designs in the paper. Without the degree I would never have seen it. Because no one will look at you without the degree. But the catch.... late nights... real late nights.... 4:00 o'clock calls from the printer... something's missing... the early morning bitch session... Delta's pulling because...... OH! F@3k%g Gees..... I've had enough.

Still I never did want to tell I thought It was boasting. Well, so what I went to school I paid the money. Been there done that.
Everything was advertising. Everything... and now I have branched off. I do more of the art I love, the art that got me in trouble when i was in school. The nudes that got put in the trash.. the triangle box design that the teacher said would go nowhere and now i see all the time... well I'll just tell you I'm an art student.. I've finished college. ( maybe I can't spell, so what) I'm doing what I love and I'm no longer ashamed of my degree....

Seven Deadly Vices

2008-04-26T07:58:00.001-07:00

My Demon Equivalent
I finished up the seven deadly vices for the atcsforall.com swap hosted by amyfaerie. It’s another odd circumstance that has occurred. Even before this swap came about I had found this set of art of demons, real demons well as real as you can get, meaning I did not make them up.

They have been sitting around waiting to be made in to cards but I couldn’t figure out how then BAM this swap comes along and I did a little research cause I just like doing that (little known fact, I research a lot of information for my cards and altered books there is meaning to them sometime, something only I know) ok back to what I was writing. Research came up with the fact that each vice or sin it has a demon equivalent.
For instance Greed or Avarice is Mammon and Gluttony is Beelzebub. I might be slow and everyone else knew this but I’m thrilled that I learned something. Well I decided to come up with an 8th vice for a hostess gift. I chose seduction and that demon is Astaroth. I’m kinda proud of my cards oh gees...i’m doing a Lucifer...

Mermaid Pendant

2008-04-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I made this pendant as a birthday gift for one of my trading peeps. A fab lady over in Ireland.

These pendants can get addicting at times. This one actually has 3 pieces of glass. One is over the background then 2 sandwich the mermaid. Gives it that depth perspective. The little mermaid is my own creation. I joined two elements in Photoshop.

I have been soldering for years now. I first started off using paperclips in the 80’s. Yes that sounds funny but hey they sold. I’ve been making these little glass pendants and earrings and selling them on ebay http://myworld.ebay.com/marymallon and on my etsy store http://eggstudio.etsy.com.

So far so good. Now if I can only make what other people would like and stop making everything I like. I like dark, dank and dreary but really that only goes so far....

How about paper dolls?

2008-04-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a set of cards for a swap at ATCsforall.com. It’s the seven deadly sins. My cards will the demon equivalent of the sins, but this is not about those cards, it’s just that I got on a tangent and started thinking about angels as well.

So I made a card for one of my trading buddies over there and I named her Sara Phem for seraphim’s . This might be an instance of me thinking I’m clever but not really.

I have been on a kick with covering cards with that silver metal duct tape. I love this stuff. She’s a little bit of a paper doll because I cut her dress out of decorative paper.
Odd occurrences happen to me from time to time, after doing this card and thinking of paper dolls the next day I found this great book at the library. It’s Artful Paper Dolls By Terry Taylor. It’s that power of positive thinking (now if it will only happen to me with the lottery).

So my next idea will be to make some paper dolls not the average kind, don't snicker. Shoot I might make those seven deadly demon sins into paper dolls...you just never know.

Easy Peasy Jump Rings

2008-04-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

I've seen so many mad rants about jump rings and it's understandable if you are trying to do it
the way the books tell you. Use a third hand and hold the jump ring in place. Pah..I can't hold my hand still enough or get the ring centered correct so...my step father can up with this idea. I hate that I can't say it was mine. It's not, it's his...

Cut a bit of foil in half so that it fits through the jump ring.

Attach the jump ring on to your piece. This way you don’t have to worry about it moving around or having to use a third hand. http://www.atcsforall.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2721 this is the full thread.

Loteria cards

2008-04-16T15:14:00.000-07:00

Well I had no idea what a Loteria card was so my curiosity was peeked when I saw Some wonderful little charms made by hothotgeek on the Simply soldered Pendants group on flickr. http://www.flickr.com/groups/518839@N24/

Of course I had to search them. It’s a Mexican game of chance kinda like bingo but with images. And it’s the images that are so cute. Oh! gees...I wrote cute..oh well that’s what they are. The Siren is my fav following in at a close second the penguin. Yep I said penguin. It seems there are many different little images out there and I like the penguin.

Well you know what this means...They are just begging to be cut, glued, soldered, stamped, ripped, UTEEed to death.. and of course I must .