March 2012 Meeting - Kennedy Heights Art Center

As usual, we invite you to check out our Events Page to see what we will be doing this year.  We have many exciting things planned for 2012 and hope that those of you viewing this page will click on the Events button above to see if there is anything that we are planning that looks exciting to you.  If so, please email me at katieskaracters@yahoo.com.  I check this mailbox several times a week and will respond as quickly as possible. 

Show and Tell

We start with Anne Huddleston who brought a selection of her Twirly Tails dragons.  Some of them wear eyeglasses and some can hold money in their mouths.  They are all quite adorable and have great personalities.

On the left you will see 

Robbie Porter's newest fairy. She does intensive sewing machine embellishing on the wings and skirt (leaves).

Robbie also made "Celeste", which is a free pattern you can find on Dollmaker's Journey.  Look below to the Feb 2012 blog to see another version of this interesting pattern.

Robbie made a cloth journal to hold small ATC's, art quilts and Zentangles.  The journal is filled with clear page protectors, in which she will store small, flat works-of-art.  Both Robbie and Carol Lang are members of a local contemporary quilt group, (CQAFA), in which this project was born.  Carol's version of this project can be seen in the February 2012 blog entry below.

Isn't Carole Staples new piece marvelous?  She used a polymer clay face from Cody Goodin along with scrapbook papers, an armature made from a clothes hanger, and various "steampunk" style items to accessorize this amazing piece.  For those of you who know her work, Carole is showing a great willingness to step outside her comfort zone and try new things. 

 Again, Carole has used polymer clay faces, and made cloth bodies which she covered in paper clay.  After painting the body, it reminds me of leather.  She uses her signature style to dress these little ladies!

Make It/Take It Challenge Winners

We thank Liz Marten for thinking of us as she works to recover from a back injury to design one of two Make It/Take It projects for 2012.  Using covered buttons we have left over from previous projects, she made a darling little flower person who can serve as a pin doll, or be sewn onto a cloth headband.  This is a very timely (and fashionable) item for 2012. 

We also thank Holly Alder for her entry - a cloth doll that can be made into a necklace or pin.  This original piece was inspired by Sherrill Kahn's painted projects. We felt it would be advisable to have a second MI/TI project for the September Sharonville show since many of the same guests visit both shows.  This will give them an opportunity to walk away with a seond art project created at our table.  Thanks to both ladies for these wonderful ideas.

ATC/ACEO Challenge

Kathy Garnar made three wonderful cloth ATC's for this challenge.  Here we have a cloth face ATC which has been embellished with various fabrics.  The red ATC has a 3-D body with a button head (which looks like a Greek coin). 

Below, Kathy made the black and white ATC with feathers and beads...simple yet elegant.  Well done Kathy!

Carole Staples also found a pattern on line for ATC envelopes that will allow a 3-D ATC to be slipped inside.  I'm sorry that I cannot remember the website from which she found this piece.  I suggest trying to search on ATC envelope patterns to see what you can find. 

On the right, Carole made 3D ATC's consisting of handdrawn faces on top of cards covered by very interesting fabrics.  I hope you can tell that the faces are raised up off of the card, allowing for interesting shadows. 

 
 On the left you see one of Carole's completed ATC envelopes and her third and final ATC.  Aren't they wonderful?

Even though the challenge is over, we would be happy to have latecomers make ATC's at future meetings.

 Katie Storer made several ATC's - using black cardstock painted with metallic watercolor paints.  On the left, you see the back of the card, which has been bordered with a Zentangle pattern.  Katie will fill in her personal information as a "signature" for her piece.  Please note, many artists adhere their business cards instead of designing both sides of their cards.  Either is quite acceptable.

 
This frame shows two watercolor ATC's painted with techniques learned from Dion Dior in a Derwent Inktense watercolor pencil class that is currently being taught on-line through Joggles.com.  Katie finds watercolor pencils a natural companion to Zentangling and is having a great time with this class.  To see the backs of these ATC's, please check out her blog on Saturday, March 24th.  She will have more work from this class posted by that date.  The link is:  katieskaracters.blogspot.com

Guild members, if you did not get your February meeting notes via email, please let Katie know so that she can send them to you.  Thanks and we hope to see all of you, and any interested guests at our April meeting.   

Events

Remember to click on the Events button above to see all our exciting plans for 2012.  Our latest adventures are listed below on this page...including some enticing images.  Enjoy!

February 2012

Hello everyone!  It has been a long time since our last post.  I now have help with the Guild minutes, so I hope the delays will  be a thing of the past.  I hope all is well in your part of the world.  The midwest was tortured by tornadoes yesterday and ran rampant around over and under the Greater Cincinnati area.  I hope the artistic creations below help calm damaged nerves and replace scenes of horror with smiles of delight.

February 2012 Meeting

Stephen Rausch
First up - We are overjoyed to welcome Stephen Rausch back into the Guild.  We beat him up pretty badly year before last and it took sometime for him to recover.  We promise to be gentle this year and help him learn how to say "no" when it come time to volunteer for projects - LOL.  His newest doll is amazing - as usual.  Enjoy!

Stephen Rausch signed the top of the wooden stand with a gold pen.  The stand was then given a high-gloss protective coat.  A very elegant finish to a graceful work-of-art.

Elizabeth Marten

Our beloved Liz Marten suffered a fall recently.  Stiff and sore she still attended today's meeting (you can see her in the above photo behind Stephen's figurative sculpture).  While spending a few days in bed recovering from her accident, she remembered that she had some clothespins that had been cut and were ready for dressing.  Please note that the arms have been made from a clothespin that was cut in half.  Very cleverly done!  Here are a couple examples:

Show and Tell

I apologize in advance if I've gotten names in the wrong order for the figurative art below.  I will correct quickly if I have, in fact, listed the following items in an incorrect order. 

Holly Alder

Holly Alder has made a delightful cloth doll.  I'm sorry I do not know the pattern name, although I think it was mentioned in the meeting.  Sue has detailed her little lady very nicely.  A strand of pearls, a "diamond" nose ring along with a saucy ensemble make this a very stylish little lady.

Sue is a new doll maker and asked us several questions about this piece.  I'm using this space to remind everyone to check out our scheduled Events for this year - which you can reach by clicking on the "Events" button at the top of this page.  We are starting a cloth doll class at the March meeting for those of you new to doll making where we hope to pick up many more excellent doll making tips from Liz Marten and all members of the group.

Holly Alder

Holly Alder created a lovely piece of mixed media figurative art from air dry clay.  The arms are moveable and this photo does not show the sweetness of her little face.  I think the striped leggings are just the right touch for this piece!

Holly also created a delightful piece that we plan on using for our Make It and Take It next year meeting.  There is no doubt in any of our minds that the attendees of this meeting will be very happy with her creation.  What is it?  Ahhhh, you will have to wait until it is unveiled.

Carol Lang

Carol brought in several delightful items. To the right you will see one of two pancake style dolls that Carol then adorned with an amazing amount of beading, metal flowers, sequence and dragonflies.  The beading around the seams must have taken hours to complete.  Very well done!

Her second item (below shows a couple pages from a fabric  book that she made with her quilting group.  The pages have little pockets in them to hold the tags that she collects while working on this challenge.  She suggested that we may want to do a book like this to hold our Artist Trading Cards or Art Card Editions and Originals Challenge.  (Remember - this challenge is due to be unveiled at the March 2012 meeting!)

The colorful piece below was also made by Carol Lang - who has been extremely busy since we last saw her!  I envy her productivity - I haven't been nearly so creative myself.  Well done Carol.  I love this piece - she brings a smile to my face.

Helpful hints to keep the rest of us being creative....

Keep a list of projects in progress and exactly what needs to be done next.  Then, when you get bored working on one project, make a note where you are in the project and what needs to be done next.  Tidy away that project (so that your tools and supplies are available for something else).  Once this is done, check over your list - and pick a project that sounds more interesting.  Pull it out at GET BUSY!

Doll by Carol Lang

Since we started with Stephen Rausch, we also want to end with him this month.  A big congratulations go out to him on his recent cover and article in Doll Collector Magazine, January 2012 edition.  Alas, this edition has already been removed from the shelves, but I bet you could purchase a copy from the publisher.