"You Can't Always Be Pretty" Paper Doll

Paper doll with Dina Wakley stamp head

The head of this doll had been sitting around in my doll part box for months...maybe years. Of the set of four Dina Wakley heads that I purchased at the Ink Pad, it was the one that I used the least. There were two problems: the expression looked really sad, and when I stamped it onto yellow cardstock, the face image came out sketchy and uneven. Last night I challenged myself to use up some items that had been hanging around the doll box and make a new piece out of them.

The dress/body had been cut from a stamping experiment that was unsuccessful. It was blurry, and the splashed on paint didn't work with the purple ink and light green cardstock. I dressed it up a little with some punched out flowers, and attached them with mini brads. The legs are from a 1960s "go-go girl" paper doll, and I added a curlicue stamp to the bottom of the legs to give a look of boots. The arms are from a Victorian child paper doll, and are a little too short and fat to go with the long thin legs, but since people often have their limbs out of proportion, it seemed okay.

The "fix" for the face was easy, and I should have thought of it ages ago--I simply went over the sketchy parts and darkened it with a marker. The arms got a partial stencil to simulate a "sleeve" of tattoos. The doll seems to say, "I am not beautiful, I am unique and interesting." She looks like an urban hipster intellectual who shops in thrift stores and spends her money--instead of on clothes--on books...and probably art supplies. She is the anti-fashion doll, and is a reminder that it is okay to be serious and that you don't always have to be perky and smiling.


Wondering About Life and the Road Not Taken

 

"Wondering" journal page with words added

The recent holidays were kind of a dry spell artistically. My few journal pages that I had time for looked blah. Looked safe. Looked okay. But they lacked the spark, the feeling that you get in a creative moment, or creative streak, when you feel inspired, when you try new things, when experiments work beautifully and even the messes are kind of good.

A few new supplies from The Ink Pad were just what I needed to kick-start my 2016 art journaling. Some Julie Fei-Fan Balzer stamps caught my eye, so they came home with me. A stamp of eyes from a famous painting spoke to me, and they too came home. Some paint, some stamp pads and a new white signo pen, and I was revved up and ready to experiment.

I started by testing the stamps on brown paper bags to see how they looked, and rotating them to form patterns--well, I am, at heart, a textile designer so making repeating patterns is second nature. The Balzer stamps are kind of like what I would carve if I had time, a big studio, and an undamaged shoulder. And of course skill at detailed carving...which I kind of don't have.

I ended up with 4 or 5 new pages in my journal. On the last page, I combined a stamp of the eyes, and added part of a Jane Davenport stencil for the rest of the face. I pulled out my watercolors and randomly added color. At the bottom, I used leftover strips of painted deli paper and some of the experiments with the new Balzer stamps, along with some recycled washi tape (from an envelope).

"Wondering" before the words were added

I thought I was done, but the page seemed to be missing something. The next day I added words that came to me as I looked at the page. It made me wonder what my life would have been like if, at any point, I had taken an different fork in the road. I realized that I probably would have ended up at the same place. Art, and wanting to be an artist--more than  anything--drove me. New York was like a magnet, and I couldn't imaging living anywhere else. I couldn't live with myself if I had never tried to be an artist, and never come to New York.

Probably some details would have been different. I might have gone to a different college. I might have taken different classes, had different teachers, different friends. But the big things I needed to do, the big life lessons that needed to be learned and experience...I am guessing would have been the same. We don't get a do over in life. In art, sometimes. The beauty of doing digital design is that you can save something, duplicate it, and then experiment of the copy. If you don't like it, you can delete it. Life has no command Z. Journaling is more like life--you can paste over, repaint, cut out something you don't like, even cut up the whole design. But you still never get back to the blank page exactly as it was. It stops some people from experimenting. Sometimes it stops me, but when something is really important, when an idea is really driving me, I work through the fear of failure and push ahead.


New stamps that sparked my creativity

Hope But Anticipate Journal Collage

 

This journal page started with the idea of experimenting with transparency--while at the Ink Pad, I saw some a big pad of gorgeous, preprinted transparent paper by a very well-known mixed media artist with his own line of supplies. I mulled over the idea of buying it, but being frugal, decided to print my own. And after all, why use somebody else's designs when I have a computer full of my own designs and collaged images that I created in Photoshop?

 

So, I found some similar paper, cut it to size, and printed a few sheets on my laser color printer. It came out beautiful and printed easily. Today, I dared cut it up and experiment. I tried two different journal pages.

• I loved the sheerness of the semi-transparent paper
• I didn't love the lack of stickability...I tried matte medium and also my favorite glue stick. With the matte medium, it buckled and didn't stick very well. With the glue stick, it stuck a little better. I placed the experiment (covered with waxed paper) under a heavy cast iron pot and will see soon what a little time and pressure does to it.

On the piece above, I recycled a hideous painting I did recently as lunch-hour therapy. By laying a section of partially painted deli paper over the watercolor and adhering it with matte medium, I was able to keep some of the underneath image, yet partially mask the ugly parts. After it dried, I then added some of the new transparent paper--the stripe of vintage French script and the butterfly. Next, I put a lacey stamp and a Julie Fei-Fan Balzer stamp made from one of her woodcuts. At the top I used a strip of newsprint from the New York Times.

 

Reflecting what is going on in both my life and in the world, and probably inspired by the butterfly image, the words "hope for the best, anticipate the worst" came into my head, so I wrote the words on the page freehand with markers.

Balzer Junkie and Junque Journals at the Ink Pad

A couple weeks ago I took a class at the Ink Pad with Julie Fei Fan Balzer. What a dynamo! With some people, I kind of wonder how they got so well known or why they have a big following. Or why they have a line of products on the market.

 After taking a class with Julie, the answer is: because she deserves it. She is really funny, really talented, and a very good teacher. I am now officially a "Julie Junkie."

We made "Junque Journals"...it took all day, but is usually a two-day class, so she packed a lot of info into one lesson.

I couldn't resist buying a couple of her new stamp designs, which I used in this little piece above, which I will soon be adding to my junque journal.

The thing that kept me, for many years, from doing journal pages was the blank white page. Or the expensive blank white watercolor paper. I felt like I had to do something deserving of the high quality paper or the beautifully bound journal.

So, it was very freeing to make a journal out of junk. We used paper that was lying around our "stash", unfinished paintings, designs that weren't quite right, and quite a few file folders. Yup, those manila ones that are in every office. Here's a few photos of the journal I made...I must confess, I don't love the cover. But that's okay. I will probably be more apt to use it than one that is beautiful. I do love the ribbon though. I went minimalistic and used some Artistcellar stencils on a plain black gessoed background.

 



Random Instinctive Journal Collage

Some days, I have an idea of a design or art piece that I want to work on. When I am doing work for my Artistcellar.com Friday blogposts, I have to remember to stop myself and take a few shots as things develop so I can write about the stages of development and choices I make.

Other days I just want to go with my instincts and do some random collage work in my journal, without stopping to think about it or document the process. On this page that I made a few days ago, I just grabbed some papers and magazine photos, rummaged through my boxes of ephemera, and started gluing. I used the method I learned this summer in Kelly Kilmer's class at the Ink Pad.

The background is a vintage ad for Corona typewriters, compliments of Susan Morgan Hoth, who has an Esty shop called LaVogue where she sells vintage items. She was kind enough to send me a bunch of imperfect pages that were not in condition to sell, but perfect for collage.

The polka-dot washi tape came on a package from another artist, and I saved it for a rainy day. I wrote words with a sharpie that came to me as I was working on the page. The high-fashion polka dot coat made me think of individuality and speaking your mind, either through words or through art, in contrast to the shy woman in the kimono. I stamped a Chinese word, fortunate, with black ink and added a few words with a white signo pen.

More Quirky ATC Dolls

In the quest to use up more of my scraps before buying any more art supplies (who am I kidding? I went to the Ink Pad last weekend and got some new supplies...but only things that I use all the time and had run out of...and maybe a new product or two...) I have been making art from my boxes of paper scraps. I have a giant box under my worktable and a couple more in my art supply cubbies, so the scraps of scraps are either being used up or thrown away.

I used to be addicted to making arty paper dolls. I used a lot of vintage paper doll parts, combined with a basic template. Now that I have discovered a new twist--the ATC paper doll, I am having more fun than ever.

This quirky paper doll uses a leftover ATC made with with Artistcellar stencils that was a little bit imperfect, newsprint arms, legs from a free vintage Graphics Fairy paper doll, Graphics Fairy wings and hat, and an original face. The face was doodled during a phone conversation a few years ago...she is kind of my alter ego, who I call "Esme". She is the opposite of the inner-critic...more of an inner cheerleader, and her face shows up in various pieces of artwork.

The second doll has a face that started with a Dina Wakely stamp, purchased at the Ink Pad. I added Derwent watercolor blocks for color. the arms and legs are vintage advertising and newsprint, and the boots are a free downloadable image from Dover Books. The ATC body is a semi-reject ATC from a music themed trade, which used lyrics from one of my old favorite songs, Woodstock, made famous by Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and written by Joni Mitchell.

The really cool thing is that the ATC dolls fold up into a little 2.5" x 3.5" package, which makes them easy to store and mail to friends of all ages.

Priming the Well of Creativity After 26 Years

I was long overdue for a new art challenge--26 years overdue. The last formal course I took was a night course at FIT right before my daughter Amanda was born. Not that I stopped creating--I constantly draw, paint, collage, make fiber art pieces and mixed media work--but I hadn't done an in-person course in such a long time.

Last weekend I took a course at The Ink Pad--well it was really at the Westbeth building, but sponsored by the Ink Pad. I took a course from Kelly Kilmer and learned how to make an accordion journal from scratch, including using an awl to poke holes and waxed linen thread to hold the book together.

After the book was constructed, we did some journaling. Her collage technique and my new journal really has fanned my creative flame. Well, after 26 years, it's about time I took a course.

I also picked up some Dina Wakley stamps and tried them out on a paper doll. I was really happy with the results. I was in a rut using either my own hand drawn and painted faces, Graphics Fairy vintage images, or old photos.

Here is my finished doll, which uses my own printmaking work, painted newsprint, Graphics Fairy shoes, some hands I found online, washi tape, a painted Dina Wakely head, and a snippet of a photoshop collage.

I am also working in my new journal. Somehow having a journal that isn't "precious", one that I am not afraid to mess up, makes it easier. I have several beautiful journals that are just too pretty to mess up, so they sit empty. Maybe messing them up will be next on my agenda.

Here is my new, handmade journal, with just the first page. I snapped a shot after I finished making it. The cover is an olive rice paper. It is smallish--8.5" x 5.5"--but each of the five signatures have about 10 pages.

Vintage Typewriter Tag & Ransom Note with Eric Hoffer Quote

On a recent visit to  http://www.theinkpadnyc.com/ the Ink Pad, I splurged on a great stamp of a vintage typewriter. It spoke to me for several reasons: it is a striking graphic image, I work as a both a writer and graphic designer, and I am also married to a long-time newspaper reporter/editor/publisher. It also reminded me of a really cute photo of my daughter, Amanda, when she was about three. She is sitting in Dad's office chair poised at the manual typewriter, and it is clear that she inherited the writing gene.

I tried the stamp two ways: as a tag and as the centerpiece to a ransom note. I inked the stamp with a black Stazon pad for both pieces. I love the contrast and simplicity of it on the yellow tags that I found at my neighborhood http://www.jampaper.com/ Jam Paper. A little checkered ribbon, and the tag was done.

I have been working on pieces in the Ransom Note style, so it seemed like a good idea to put a typewriter stamp in the center, surrounded by some words on the border. I chose a quote by the philosopher Eric Hoffer: "Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength." Living in a city that is famous for its rude people, it struck a bell...not that I really feel that people in New York are exceptionally rude as a rule, but it seems to be a mecca for extremes on both sides of the aisle.

Do I love this little piece of artwork? Not really...the print of the typewriter is a little uneven, the newsprint in the background of the border doesn't add the oomph I had hoped for, and the spots of color in the letters fights the crispness of the black and white.

What I DID learn from this little piece is that I don't have to make a masterpiece every time. I can learn from mistakes and I can redo pieces if I feel like it. I am a Virgo, so I am always striving for perfection and seldom achieving it, and I have to tell myself that it is okay to not be great, okay to make mistakes, okay if a piece doesn't turn out the way I envision, and that it is the process of doing art--especially collage--that is healing in itself.