The Seamstress – Alterations – Art Journal Spread

I am working on a couple of art journal spreads so I thought I would upload photos to show the process as I work on it.  Very much a WIP!UPDATED: FINISHED!

The Project

I am using additional pages for my large Dylusions journal.  These come in a pack with buff, kraft and black pages and some tape to fix them into your journal.  I wanted to work on them separately before I affixed them to the journal.  These first two pages have been gessoed and then I used some of Finnabair’s Carte Postale tissue paper, selecting the parts of the design I wanted to use in the journal, and stuck them down with Distress Collage paste.

Then I used Paper Texture Paste with the Swirly Florals stencil on this spread. This might be my favourite stencil atm. Here’s a close up of what the paper paste looks like when it is dry – it really is awesome stuff!

I applied some of Finnabair’s Liquid Acrylics in Violet and Avocado Green, spraying it with water and letting it run down the page.

Time Passes and You Should Never Forget Those Pages You Stuck In A Book For Later

Like the other set of pages, this was started in June and then set aside while I worked on other projects and until it was ready to tell me what it wanted to be.  And it turns out, it wanted to be this…

The Seamstress | Alterations | Altered

I swear I did not see that coming – did you?  A lot of things happened between the start and finish of this spread, so when I sat down and looked at it again (after some weeks) I had already been making many different elements for no reason whatsoever, but perhaps subconsciously so, and when I pulled out this spread again, I could only see The Seamstress staring back at me.

Zigzag Stitching In The Sewing Room

I did a lot of zigzag stitching around these pages, and then added some sewing icon stamps from Stamperia, stamping in Black Soot, Ground Espresso and Vintage Photo Archival inks.

I added the mannequin, bobbin and buttons diecuts from the Tim Holtz Sewing Room Bigz die, using calico and linen fabrics for the “dummy” and chipboard for the rest, winding black thread around the bobbin.  Then I used the Finnabair words you need photo of the two ladies sewing because I liked the sentiment – every person is a different kind of artist.

The Naming

I wanted to call her The Seamstress, which she clearly is, but I had found this little chipboard piece that I thought would make the perfect plaque but it was too small to fit “seamstress” or “alterations” on, so I settled for “Altered”.  Yes I could have just made a wider piece but I liked this one and wanted to use it up as it is actually the leftover piece from a frame I cut out for something else, so I wanted to use it up. It did cross my mind to handwrite something on it and that would definitely have given me enough room but I didn’t trust my handwriting not to mess it up.

The purple flowers you see are the ones I recently made from the tattered florals bigz die and some cardboard.  I thought these purples ones matched perfectly with this spread even though when I made the flowers, I wasn’t thinking about using them on this spread – funny how that happens isn’t it?

 

PROJECT RECIPE:
White gesso
Finnabair tissue paper – Carte Postale
Swirly Florals stencil
Acrylic Fluid Medium
Liquid Acrylics – violet, avocado green
Dylusions journal and extra pages pack
Distress Collage Medium
Black Thread for stitching
Finnabair stamps
Stamperia Atelier stamps
Chipboard
Distress Archival Vintage Photo
Tim Holtz Sewing Room Bigz die
Calico and linen fabrics
Finnabair Impasto paint – linen, snow white
Metallique paints – unicorn hair
handmade paper flowers (see other post)
Finnabair Words you need stickers
Prima Salvage District Collection Kit letters
Black and white paint