Monday, January 28, 2013

1960s-Inspired Verdigri ATCs

When artist Sonja Hagemann suggested the color theme of verdigri for the January Arts in the Cards ATC exchange, I had to look it up. Well, it is a very cool color, and a very creative prompt. Think of the Statue of Liberty or old copper pennies and you get the idea—the special green-blue that copper gets when it is weathered.

I am in the middle of a huge project—selling our house and moving to smaller quarters— so I had 17 years of accumulation to go through over the past few months. (If anyone wonders why my last blog post was December 2012, now you know why!)

As I was going through the top shelf of my bedroom closet, I found an old glass jar that at one time had some air freshener in it. The jar wasn’t very special, but the top had a pretty floral design cut in it, so I saved it.


For the verdigri cards, I used the jar top as a stencil and applied printmaking paint to watercolor paper. I quickly sprinkled rust-colored enamel powder, and zapped it with a heat gun. I used a combination of two different Lumiere paints to get the verdigris color, then gave it an aged effect with several stamps using Tim Holtz Ranger distress ink in vintage photo. I added some gold dots and gold edging, some chalk and paint here and there to intensify the aged effect. Even though I started with a cookie-cutter 60s shape, each card came out very different, yet they make a distinct group.

3 comments:

Janet Ghio said...

I love that rusty greenish color. wonderful ATC's. Are you all settled in your new place? Hope you will come back and join in with the ATC swap group at Roses.

sonja said...

Linda ,
i have a very old lamp base that is verdigris ,it has one one of those bent glass shades in yellow/green with a forrest as a skirt. your cards look marvelous and i can't wait to ad yours to my collection .best wishes for the move.
Be well, Sonja

Judy Warner said...

Hi Linda,
I have listed your blog on my own blog for a tag that I received. Hope you get some hits as a result. You are welcome to pass on if it works for you.
Judy
www.explorationsinquilting.com