Swallenges

LaWendula at Woven Letters continues to host a series of creative and exciting swaps and challenges (swallenges).

I participated in her Letters and Numbers swap recently and was partnered with Lay Hoon from mescrap studio in Malaysia. Here are some of the items I sent to Lay Hoon:

And I was lucky enough to receive the following treasures from Lay Hoon:

I was also part of LaWendula's Collage Box project. She filled a box with bits and pieces of paper and other art material. One by one the box was sent out to a group of people all over the world. Each person was to take 12 pieces from the box and use these to create a collage. They were then suppose to add 12 new pieces and send the box on. Clever, right? Here are the pieces that I chose from the box:

And here is the collage I made from these items:

I used only parts of the 12 pieces I chose, including a playing card which became the substrate for the collage. The only other ingredients were dye inks.

Heavens to Etsy

I want to thank every one who has visited my Etsy shop. How cool is it that we now have an infinite number of art stores that are open to us 24/7/365!

Think of this post as a flyer, slipped under your door. Or the photocopy that has been stapled to the ultility pole on Main Street. Or an insert in your Sunday papers.

I have just restocked copies of my zine based on the third edition of The Pulse, originally completed in 2008. This will be the last printing that I will sell online. You can read all about the contents here. I will add additional copies to the Etsy listing as they sell. There are only 11 copies left for purchase.

I am running very low on these brass Xs, my first set of Etsy Elements. These are sold in sets of five and I have only 1 more set of hand verdigris Xs and 2 sets in your choice of their natural brass state or with a hand distressed, darkened finish. I am going to try to hunt more down, but as of now these 3 sets are the last available.



All Xs sold out. Thank you!

My next set of Etsy elements will be listed soon. This photo is a preview of what is to come. I call them Droplets. Please check my sidebar in the coming days to see when they are available for purchase.

Four pieces from my Melt series remain. These are all original, mixed media artworks made using coffee grounds and combining a deep chocolate brown with a rich, dark blue. And hand distressed of course.

Inspire is the newest addition to my Etsy shop. Completed on watercolor paper, this green, black and white piece measures 4" x 2 3/8". Text, numbers, and symbols float above and below the surface. And bits of metallic acrylic provide a subtle sheen.

Sold. Thank you!

Click here to explore The Altered Page on Etsy.

Lost & Found

If you have been visiting my blog for awhile, you might remember my search for Anonymous from this post. It all started when I had posted about my tendency to hold on to rather then use some of my favorite art supplies. In response I received the following anonymous comment:

"I also have tons of stuff(marvelous stuff) I CAN NOT bring myself to use-papers, OLD pictures and especially embellishments(things I've bought that I swore I'd use in my altered art-yea right!). My home burned down 12-20-07 so I'm in the midst of rebuilding my stashes-can you recommend places I can get old papers like you received in your "jackpot"? I am so envious of those of you that have such extensive collections of MUST KEEPS! I'm not truly envious-jealous would be the appropriate word, but God is good I'm rebuilding my MUST HAVES AND KEEPS!"

I was really taken by this person's plight, losing her home and right before the holidays too boot! In my post, I suggested that our community get together to help Anonymous rebuild her stash of vintage papers by asking for volunteers to send me one or two sheets each that I would send to Anonymous in one package. Over 30 people offered but...Anonymous never responded to the post and I had no way to reach her.


Well, four months since that post and almost one year after the fire, I heard from Anonymous, who now I know to be Lori! She left another comment and this is what she said about my Faux Dough post:

"Seth-I LOVE them. Do you EVER have inspiration(writer's)block? Doubt it. I've wrote in before as "anonymous"-on 7/30/08-you wrote back asking for "anonymous" to write back, but something came up in my family, and I wasn't able to even go online for a few weeks. I was the person congratulating you on winning some beautiful papers and told you my home had burned down and was starting over-COMPLETELY. You wrote in your article you'd like to try to get some people to send something in(I'm paraphrasing)because you couldn't imagine something like that happening to you. Ring any bells? Anyway I'm gonna try to do the faux dough-I do have some washers! Keep sending out the coolest inspiration!!!"

Unfortunately Lori did not leave a return email address but I am hoping she is back online and will read this and email me. How great would it be for her to receive a new stash of vintage paper for the upcoming holiday season one year after the fire. So, one more time. If you are interested in participating and sending me a few pages to add to Lori's new stash, either leave a comment or email me...but please include your email address. Do not send any papers yet until I am sure that I can get Lori's information.

And Lori...let's give this one more try...please email me your contact info!!!!

Cabinet de Curiosites

The photographs from The Pulse related to artists' collections and studios made me think of Cabinets of Curiosity. Initially created in the sixteenth century, these are encyclopedic collections and displays of objects, often scientific, unusual, and exotic. I thought I would offer more photographs of both the outside of a number of my own "cabinets" and the insides housing some of the "curiosities" as initially seen in my own photographs from The Pulse.

This cabinet was found quite a number of years ago at a large outdoor flea market in NYC, which had been in an outdoor parking lot in Chelsea but has since been splintered up due to a high rise building.



This cabinet, all small drawers and brass pulls, was a lucky find at the Pier Antiques Show, a twice annual show with over 500 exhibitors held on Manhattan's west side piers.



An Ebay find, this watchmaker's cabinet was purchased filled with watch parts, watch faces, small glass vials, old labels, and a ton of other cool vintage bits and pieces.



Stored inside a series of Bisley metal cabinets are some of my art supplies including found objects and other art material...





...rubber stamps...




...distressed metal objects...



...rusty objects picked up anywhere and everywhere...




...and some favorite stones



And speaking of Cabinets of Curiosities, there is currently an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art called Wunderkammers: A Century of Curiosities. One amazing piece there was a large cabinet filled with all sorts of found objects. The artist is Mark Dion and the piece is entitled Rescue Archaeology. Fascinating.