Transparency Play

My transparency play is going well. I bought some roof flashing this afternoon at the local Home Depot. 25 yards for $10.75. I could have gotten less for less money, but I liked the width of this. In addition to making ATCs out of it, I'm going to make a few 4x4s out of it, too, so I went with the slightly wider version. I've cut out four ATCs and one 3.5 x 3.5, and still have tons left, of course. B'Orange thought it was great fun. He loves scissors and sharp things and anything dangerous to him. You'd think after the sewing machine incident he'd learn, but not so much.

I "painted" all my cut outs with alcohol inks -- Meadow, Eggplant and Butterscotch and the Gold mixative. I wish I'd had Pearl instead of Gold, but I've spent enough money on this project! I'm not buying more alcohol inks, too! The backgrounds turned out really nice. The first time I've ever been happy with alcohol inks. I think that before I was trying to do too large a surface at a time. I think they really work best on small surfaces, so you can cover the surface before the applicator dries out. I wish I had a scanner, so I could show you the backgrounds (I use my father-in-law's scanner to post scans); they really did turn out well for a freshman effort.

Then I cut out the details from my homemade transparencies (I'm still getting a kick out of that!) and Xyron'd the small ones to the ATC and to the 3.5 x 3.5. I don't know how I'm going to get the larger image on the ATC as it won't fit in my Xyron. I have the Xyron 150 and have been thinking about buying the Xyron 500. In fact, I'm thinking about putting my clothes on and going to Wal-Mart and getting it! The only problem is that I've taken out my plate and my partial, and I don't really want to go out with them, so I'll probably wait until tomorrow night. I also need to go to Collective Journey and buy a piece of cream colored card stock to print my words on. I just bought a piece and can't imagine what I've used it for, so there should be a piece around here somewhere, but I can't find it.

I'm eager to get my cards done, as this is for the Halloween Swap on the TheLatestTrendsinMixedMediaArts Yahoo Group. The catch was that everyone had to use the same image in some way. I decided that this would be a good excuse to use some new techniques. Everything I'm doing is totally new to me -- working on metal, working with alcohol inks, working with transparencies. I'm pretty satisfied with the results so far.

The 3.5 x 3.5 will be bordered by a piece of black cardstock and turned into a 4x4. I'll add fibers to it and enter it into the lottery at the Altered_stArt Yahoo Group. I'm just now starting to participate in swaps, lotteries, and mingles. It's interesting, rising creatively to the occasion. I don't always have it in me to create "on demand", but I'm trying to grow as an artist, and that's one of the things I need to work on.