Ok, so I am doing a lot of thinking and looking at the moment, and having marvellous, but fleeting ideas about things I want to try (depending on which website I'm currently viewing), so I'm making a list, so that the possibility of things actually happening in reality rather than being interesting mind experiments are increased. Well, maybe not, but we shall see. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I think I shall do some follow up posts with links & interesting stuff as I get to things.
[BTW, talking of mind experiments, does anyone else get excited about ideas when viewing other artists sites, immediately investigate the techniques involved by going on a little web ramble, rehearse said techniques mentally while doing so (assuming you don't go off on a tangential sub-ramble) and then come away feeling like you have actually acquired the technique, bought the materials needed (for a very good price on ebay, naturally), received your parcel from your favourite postman - (you know, the one that always wears shorts, whatever the season or weather), opened said parcel and investigated your new booty, having sent your family out on some time consuming errand that will give you some undisturbed booty time - (do I mean that, or is booty time something different?!), created some fabulous objet, had an itinerant gallery owner knock on your door to enquire whether by chance you have any fabulous objets for sale, sold the fabulous objet for an obscene amount of money, resigned from your day job, and moved to Patagonia to spend the rest of your days in a palace with a room for every craft you can imagine and no one to tell you to tidy up. Anyone? Maybe it's just me then. ;-)]
1. Find out more about glue.
I regularly use PVA, gluesticks with my hot glue gun (stick 'em up, haha!), Pritt & superglue. (ooooo - ever had one of those moments when the word you've just written is correct, but just looks weird? Having one now a propos of glue - glue - glue - glue - just doesn't look right!) Anyway, where was I? In looking at sites and blogs involving altered books (more of which later) I realise that there's a whole world of adhesive out there that I really don't know much about. Some are attractive to me simply because of their name - eg; ModPodge - I don't know what it does, but I simply MUST have something on my shelf that goes by that name (it won't always be on the shelf, sometimes I shall hold it up against my cheek and whisper "aaah, modpoge, lovely, lovely modpodge). Others may offer answers to ideas I've had previously about hardening pieces of crochet, yarn and fabric for use in jewellery and sculptural pieces. Anyhow, I did come across a great blog yesterday while I was webrambling (wambling? no?) that was all about glue, but I forgot to bookmark it, or blog by mail or write it down or do anything sensible like that, so I may have to try to retrace my steps.
2. Create some ATC's both in textile and watercolour/mixed media, for trading with friends here AND getting involved in online swaps and challenges in general.
Nothing more to say on this one really, though I have some ideas to use the shrunken clingfilm parcels technique I played with a couple of years ago (see pics) to produce these, as well as needlefelted & painted versions.
I very much like the idea of swapping, and receiving all sorts of exciting packages through my letter box,a nd I also like the idea of involving myself with some of the myriad daily/weekly/monthly challenges going on out there - not just for ATC's but needlfelting, watercolour - anything really - I just need to get myself a bit more organised and discover an extra 22 hours per day.
3. Start commenting on other peoples blogs, because you're allowed to have an opinion and express it, Amanda.
Yeah - a tricky one for me - not being a natural party girl, I always feel a bit awkward butting into other people's conversations (that's how commenting on other folk's blogs tends to feel to me), BUT I must be brave and just do it - it must be such a comfort to see other folk out there just doing their stuff, "bloggin it" mostly for no reason other than they just want to share it. Having other people comment on your ideas and work must be like having someone knock on your front door just to say how much they like your daffs, or wanting to know exactly how you manage to get the best from your brassicas. Any way my April resolution is to comment freely when moved to do so and to try to be moved to do so at leat once a day.
4. Investigate Altered Books further and do some experimenting.
I've known about altered books for sometime, but I've never really investigated them to any extent and so haven't really understood what they're about. I've done a little bit of research now and have more of a handle on it, but have yet to "hear" the tune I want to play on them. It seems to me that altered books really should have something to do with the actual content of the book you are using, and not just have the book be a convenient prebound carrier for completely unrelated ideas that completely obliterate the original page content. [before I get hate mail from altered bookologists, I'm not saying that ALL altered books are necessarily like that].
