Crafty Musings by Hagit

Babushka

She's a babushka, although I used the Gingercake winter caroller tutorial to make her :-)

I pieced together lots and lots of fabric scraps using free motion sewing, just like the ROD journals, but instead of making a journal, I put together a doll! This is how it all began:

I'm really happy with the outcome, and I absolutely love the process, too. I just love that I've used so many scraps (including selvedges), and I love sewing carelessly, just "driving" around with the machine, until I have a beautiful canvas I can work with.

Isn't she a beauty? :-)

Some scrapbooking

It's been a long time since I got out some paint and actually scrapbooked, so these two were lots of fun to make, just for me! Lots of paint, free hand cut elements, some felt, free writing, as I said - lots of fun!!

In this first one, the picture was taken last year, in Amsterdam, on a very windy day. We were desperately trying to take a picture of ourselves with a windmill in the background (because of the wind, there was no one around to ask to take the picture!), and kept getting very funny close-ups of ourselves, without any background:

 

And this is just a practice LO I made, where I used a picture I clipped from the newspaper. That also explains why there are journaling lines, but no journaling. :)

 

Remains of the Day

So some time ago, I registered to take Mary Ann Moss' class, Remains of the Day.

The problem with online classes is that I never get around to actually "participate" when the class is on, and many times I never get around to doing anything at all. This time, however, I just knew I had to do it! Free-motion stitching seemed like something I had to try, and I love Mary Ann's gorgeous journals, so even though it took some time, I did it!

The first thing I made was actually not a journal at all, but a pie carrier. I had seen something similar to this in a magazine some time ago, and really liked the idea, and as I joined a kitchen swap, I thought of combining Mary Ann's techniques into the carrier.

So here's the result:

 

A closer look:

And then I finally got around to making the journal itself:

I really enjoyed working with all those bits and pieces, and I loved all the free stitching.

For the inside, I made a different journal than that taught in the workshop. I printed out lined pages with some interesting quotes, and made three signatures:

 

Then sewed them into the journal spine:

And as you can see, I played around with some more free stitching inside, trying to actually draw something.

And...done!

Ceramic Tilda Dolls

My friend, Yael, fell in love with Tilda dolls, and instead of sewing them from a pattern, sculpted them from clay!

I think they're beautiful, and I love that she didn't stick to the original idea, and decided to create them her way:

For more pictures, visit Yael's blog.

It's a feature, not a bug!

Something funny happened in one of my recent altered domino workshops.
One of the participants stamped an image on her domino, and was very disappointed to learn that the ink was dry, and the image turned out somewhat blurry and light. She told everyone to watch out for that ink pad - can you imagine how embarassed the instructor (that's me!) was? :-)

But several seconds later, we all took a look at the "ruined" domino, and realized that the "dry ink" effect was beautiful! It sort of made an interesting light background. Here it is:

And then can you guess what happened? everyone was on the lookout for the dry ink! it was so funny. People started asking "who has the dry ink?" "I need the dry ink, where is it?" as if it were a desired new product, and not something to be trashed. These are a few of the dominos people made with "dry ink":

Can you see how the stamped image is light, uneven and imperfect? and doesn't it make a much interesting background than an even clear image?

This reminded me of how Celine Navarro stamps - without fear! Know what I mean? look at this, for example:

Now honestly, how many of you would have freaked out at such an imperfection? :-)
I think it's just perfect! It makes a much interesting texture, and gives her albums more character, doesn't it? Have a look at this beautiful mini here and you'll see some more "imperfect" stamping. I love it!

And this is when it becomes even more of a feature. See the shadowed alpha stamps here:

Celine explains how she does that: "To make this shadow behing each letter, you just have to stamp EACH LETTER twice without re-inking your stamp.I Use black Versafine ink, stamp one letter and then, without cleaning your stamp, stamp again but a little bit on the side, to make the shadow" - well, isn't that the "dry ink" technique again? :)

And I have several other examples, where the "imperfection" led to something very perfect.
A year ago, I sewed a diaper bag for my nephew's bed:

Because I'm only a beginner and my sewing skills really need to get better, as I turned the fabric to its right side, I realized there was a very crooked stitch, and not only that, but I had also left it open. So I sewed the lace on top, and I like the result even better! See, I wouldn't have thought of adding the lace without making that mistake.

And here's an example from my friend, Keshet, who made this frame in a recent workshop we both went to. She got too much glue on her frame, and it showed, and made her very unhappy. She then moved to cover it up with the aqua felt, and lo and behold! It looks so pretty, and much nicer than the original red-only frame! (that's her beautiful daughter in the pic :):

And this picture is from a recent altered photos workshop I gave. The same Keshet thought she had "ruined" her photo because her son, portrayed in the picture, got a smudge on his cheek. But then she looked again, and decided it makes him look like an indian, so she added feather to his hair:

Isn't it beautiful? She wouldn't have thought of adding the feather without that "mistake".

So what do you think? is imperfect the new perfect? :-)
I think those little imperfections are wonderful, and definitely interesting.
Have some examples of your own? Please tell me all about them/link in the comments section!

The Guest Book

My friend, Gali, celebrated her birthday several months ago, and I made a guest book where we all wished her our birthday greetings. I wrote about this in my Hebrew blog a long time ago, but this post reminded me that I had made something similar, and I wanted to share it here too.

I had returned from Japan a few weeks before the birthday party, where I bought a Fuji Instax camera, and I really wanted to use it in a way that would not only be for taking pictures, but taking instant pictures where you actually do need them on the spot. So I came up with the guest book.

I used an old book cover, inserted a binder mechanism, and put in some scrapbooking paper. I embellished the pages lightly with some stickers and ribbon, and created lines to write on with washi tape (another something I brought from Japan! :)):

 

See the library card on the right? I love it! It's a very old book, and that card even has columns for you to write whether or not you enjoyed the book!

This another one of the pages I prepared:

And these are the final pages, with our instant pictures and birthday greetings (view larger here):

 

And the book, closed:

I really liked the outcome, I think it was a great surprise for the birthday girl, and a great keepsake from her party, with pictures and birthday wishes.

If you have other original ideas for guest/birthday wish books or original ways of using my instax, I'd love to know! share them here, I'm going to need some more!:-)

(All pictures in this post were taken by Gali)

Inkjet Image Transfers

For this post, in Hebrew, click here.

I enjoy image transfers so much, that I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting techniques.

I also give workshops on image transfers, so I work a lot on perfecting my technique and finding versatile ways to use them. This specific technique is very simple, but I didn't think it would be a good idea to teach it as part of a hands-on workshop, as it requires printing on the spot - not too convenient. So instead, I decided to share all my experiments here.

What you'll need:

1. Transparency sheet/film - either the type used for overhead projectors or for printing, but note you are going to print on the smooth side, i.e., the "wrong" side for printing.

2. Inkjet printer.

3. Interesting image to transfer - you can use your own photos, or look for some free images here and here).

4. Paper or fabric to transfer the image to.

So here's one possible result:

 

The process is this simple:

1. Print your image on the smooth side of a transparency. You don't want the ink to set on the transparency, you want it to be very wet, so you can then "stamp" or "print" the image on your receiving paper.

2. Quickly take the printed sheet, and press it face down, on your paper or fabric:

Press it down firmly with your hand. Careful, don't burnish or fiddle too much, or it will smudge. Just press down, placing your whole hand over the picture.

3. Now just pick up the transparency, and...tada!

You've successfully transferred the image to your paper or fabric. The picture is above is a transfer onto simple printer paper.

You may have to try this out a few times before you understand how much time to wait, or which paper is best, but I did quite a few experiments, so you can learn from them too.

Here's what will happen if you don't immediately use the transparency as it is printed:

The ink will turn into heavy drops, and your transfer won't be as good. Actually, this too can be an interesting outcome, and you may want to try it too, once you've mastered the "right" way! :-)

So now I wanted to see what will happen on other receiving papers, and I tried Canson textured paper:

And an old book page:

And tissue paper (the smooth side):

And when I got tired of Maude Fealy, I started experimenting with another lady. First on Basic Grey paper with Gesso (the gesso had dried a long time ago, I painted this page many months ago), where the ink kind of "glided" over the gesso - can you see it in the picture below?

So then I transferred the same image onto regular scrapbooking paper:

And then I started experimenting with my own images. I transferred one of my wedding pictures onto fabric:

And then paper:

Not too great huh? well, the image I used was low resolution, so I decided to try a better one, and the results were actually much better:

On fabric:

On paper:

And on (the smooth side of) tissue paper:

And... that's that! Don't you love how varied and interesting the results are? I love how all the pictures have their imperfections - that adds a lot of interest to any project.

Here's a page I did in an altered book using this technique, a few years ago (view larger size here) - I transferred an anatomical image:

 

Last tip: you can use the same transparency over and over again - just wipe it with a wet cloth in between printing.

I hope you enjoy this, and do come back to comment/show me what you've done!

Altered Photos - A Workshop

Yesterday was the first time I gave this workshop, and I enjoyed it a lot. We got together in a nice shady garden, and had a blast with water, paint, gel pens and more.

I think these types of workshops are my favorite, since they're all fun and freedom without an attachment to the outcome. I think sometimes it's even better when something "goes wrong". Because then you can really feel free. Thinking that you've ruined it, you let yourself go even more, scratching, painting, stamping carelessly. And then my favorite part is watching how someone who was convinced that she'd "ruined" her picture, starts liking it!

These were the samples I made for the workshop:

 

 

And these are some of the beautiful photos altered by the women in the workshop:

 

 

 

 

Mystery of the Heart - A Skinny Fat Book

I enjoy collaborative projects, and this is probably the fifth or sixth fat book I participated in, and the first skinny fat book. What makes a fat book fat are the big embellishments, and what makes this one a skinny fat book is the fact that the pages are narrow.

I've participated in various types of books, in some, where there were many participants, we photocopied the pages, and embellished photocopies. In this book we are only 9 participants, so I decided to do it all by hand, no shortcuts.

My intention was to sew a fabric page, but somehow, as I was gathering materials, this is what came out:

Closer up:

The group shot:

As I was taking this side shot, I thought it could be nice to make a wedding/white themed fabric book:

It's no surprise that everything I'm doing now has white or tulle in it. I'm getting married in two months, so that' s one big inspiration there! ;-)

I like how the pages turned out, although I think they're a bit empty. I was thinking of adding a quote or blessing, but I thought that would really be too cheesy.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and in the meantime, here's a video of a travel themed fat book I participated in.

Blender Pen Transfer

This is a tutorial I published on my Hebrew blog last year, and I'd like to share it here as well.

Image transfers are lots of fun, you never know what the outcome will be, and you can play around with them afterward, creating interesting new images for your journal and layouts.

This is no doubt the simplest transfer. I have a few blender pens, but the only one that works for me is Chartpak blender pen.

Here's what you do:

Print your image in a laser printer (won't work for inkjet):

Put your image face down on another piece of paper/fabric:

Start painting the back of your image. As it wets, you will be able to see your image through the paper:

You can lift a little, to see how it's coming along:

And... you're done! tada! This is the transferred image:

I also tried transferring images from magazines. the only ones that worked were from "Time Out" magazine. I have no idea whether their paper is the same quality all over the world, but Time Out Tel Aviv transfers really nice images:

 

And this one is from a seventies Burda, I was impressed!

Over here I did a collage of sorts with a few transfers:

And a small piece with image transfer and stamps:

What I found out was that it is impossible to transfer quality glossy magazine images. You'd have to look for magazines with lower quality paper, for the ink to transfer.

I really enjoyed the process, and there are many possibilities: transfer on paper, fabric, wood, domino cubes, and more.

Enjoy, and let me know if you've tried it!