ATCs

I belong to a small international ATC swapping group.  

Each player takes it in turn to be hostess, and to set the theme for that month.  Some of the themes are challenging, and it's always interesting to see how everybody interprets the theme.

These are a few of the ATCs I've made for that group this year.

The first ATC is a textile ATC, made by sewing all sorts of snippets of fabric and fibre to a pelmet vilene base, zigzagging around the edge, and hand embroidering and beading.

The ATC below was my first attempt at the theme of 'A Clear Layer'. I created a fleur-de-lys stamp by drawing on fun foam, and stamped it with a kaleidoscope inkpad. I had masked the fleur-de-lys itself, and then I sponged that shape in purple. I stamped over the fleur-de-lys with a texture stamp and gold ink.  So far so good, and lots of subtle texture and colour, all pastel and way out of my normal colour palette.

I decided the clear layer should be clear sticky backed plastic.  I snipped some angelina fibres, and scattered them over the ATC before sticking down the plastic.  And then I realised the plastic stopped all the subtle texturing I'd done being visible. Harumph. It just looked really ordinary.

I decided to try and improve things. I drew round the fleur-de-lys shape with a bronze Viva perle pen, and used a white one for the rest of the design.  

I left it a few hours.  

I drew dots around the edge.  

I left it a few hours.  

I drew dots in the middle. 

It was better, but I still wasn't happy.  I ditched it.

Clear layer 2nd attempt.  I took some cardstock, and made a background by smearing some Distress ink onto a craft sheet, spritzing with water, and 'smooching' the card through the ink.  This makes a lovely unpredictable background which is very useful for ATCs. Once I had my background, I created a digital collage in Photoshop, in similar colours to my background. I had some clear digital letters (Tangie Designs)so added the word at the bottom. Once printed onto my background, I stamped the flower, and smeared a trace of Stickles around. I then printed the text and butterfly design (Tangie Designs) onto inkjet acetate, and added it to the ATC using brads. I am much happier with this.

Zettiology ATC.  I'm not a huge fan of zetti, although I see things which other people have done and which I quite like. I did once take part in a huge journal pages swap, which was kind of zetti and which I enjoyed, but mostly it doesn't come naturally to me.

I was very fortunate, because my friend Chrissy took the time and trouble to send me a birthday card, and the card she sent was a zetti design.  I liked her design, so created a small adapted version in this ATC. The black background has been embossed in an embossing folder, and the 'body parts' are all shrink plastic.  The rest of the design elements are hand drawn with a white pen.

Photoshop brushes

Photoshop brushes are just like rubber stamps.
You create your collage, then stamp on it.
You can choose the colour of your 'ink'
from a massive palette.
On the above collage,
the 'stamping' is the tan 'explosion' at the bottom right.
I am still having fun but must also play
with paper and inks soon....

Where will it all end?

I must stop playing, but it is compulsive....
I was just looking through my photolibrary as
I have just been given an external hard drive
to save all my images onto,
and the idea for this collage just arrived...

Yes, I'm like a child with a new toy!!!

I'm not sure I really know what I am doing,
but it is getting easier with each collage.
It is such fun to put together elements of the
photographs I have been taking over the last
few months - my subconscious must have known
I would need the images sooner or later!

Most of the images in the collage
above are of Cardiff, just the milestone
and the lady were imported from elsewhere!

This one is more ghostly, and the images more
varied in terms of their original locations.
I am learning about layer opacity, colour changes,
and changing the size and position of images.

More digital dabbles (edited 21 Jan)

I think I'm starting to enjoy this!!

The collage above has 8 layers,
all created from photographs
I have taken during the last 3 years.

Today (21 Jan) I have found out about textures
and have edited the above image to include
some rain in a semi transparent layer - it
just gives the piece more depth.
I also brought the 'buttons' at the bottom forward.

This one only has 5 layers,
again all from my own photographs,
but some of the photographs are of
other people's artwork

I took the photograph of the
mask - made out of recycled drinks
cans (how clever) at an exhibition
a couple of years ago,
and changed the colours before
collaging it onto an old Cypriot wall!!!

Funny how the time just disappears
when you're playing digitally,
it's like digital work has it's own timewarp...

Digital dabbling

My New Year's Resolution was to learn a little more about Photoshop Elements. I have seen some of the amazing things Zeborah does and have wanted to learn how for a long time, but have not been able to motivate myself to spend the time do so. I have tried once or twice but got frustrated and gave up. So, I bought myself 2 books this week - Photoshop Elements 3 for Dummies, and Teach Yourself Visually Photoshop Elements 3.


Today I sat down with the books and computer for an hour and created the digital collage above. It was very easy once I got started and began to understand how things work. The background is an old postcard that I have completely changed the colour from pale blue and pink to much darker colours and also given a texture to. The girl came from another image, all I did was sharpen her up a little, and the flower came from a photograph I took last year, and I have just altered the colour.


And then I adjusted some colours and textures for each element, and it became a different piece entirely (not that I particularly like this version, but it is an illustration of how different the same images can look with a few changes).

I know lots of you out there know how to do this, and can do much more complex and beautiful pieces than this one, but I am quite excited by my first digital collage!