“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” -Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island Yesterday I shared a little background into my art journey. I had actually intended just to blog about this tag project, but before I knew it, the post was something else entirely. Thus, today's post is all about the tags, my latest art project. In my search for art instruction I actually came across a lot of tag art done by others. For me a tag seemed like a safe canvas. They are neither too big nor too expensive to worry about. If a tag doesn't turn out to my liking, I've lost really nothing. For me a tag became just a fun little experiment to try. Why mixed media? As the name implies, one can use all manner of supplies or found objects to create a piece of art. I love mixed media because it removes to pressure of having to know how to paint or draw something realistically if at all. Mixed media usually has lots of yummy layers of things that come together to create the finished project, and I love all that textural goodness. One day this past year, around the holiday season, I found myself at Cost Plus World Market. On my way to the check-out counter, I spied two packages of purse sized tissues. I bought them specifically for art. I went home and immediately opened them and separated out the sheets so I had just the one thin layer of the ply with the print on it, making it sort of like tissue paper. Using Mod Podge or Gel Medium, I adhered each print to a plain white shipping tag. Once the tags were dry, I trimmed the excess tissue off and covered each tag with a thin layer of gesso. Once the gesso was dry, and several weeks had passed (I just got inspirationally stuck here for a while-it happens!) I used Distress Ink and other inks, to add some color. I then stamped on the tags using Archival inks and rubber stamps with texture and script for added interest. Then I distressed the sides of the tag with this paper distresser tool by Tim Holz. Using Archival ink I went around the edges of the tag to give it more definition. I then gathered some collage items (in this case, scrapbook papers) to decorate each tag with. I again distressed the edges of the focal point on each tag and inked the edges as well. I played around with placement until finally settling on what you see here. I used Mod Podge or gel medium to adhere the pieces in place. While the mod poge was drying, I worked on the ribbons of each tag, using Tim Holz Crinkle Ribbon . After cutting the ribbon to the desired length, I stamped two different colors of Distress ink onto my craft mat. spritzed them with water and randomly scrunched the ribbon into the inks to dye them. I repeated the process for the red and green tag using red and green distress inks. I dried the ribbon with my heat tool before adding them to my tag. Red and green kinda make brown, so my red is a little muted . but I still like it. Lastly I flipped through some old books until I found some words to add text to my tags to personalize them and give them a little more meaning to me. You could also type out and print any phrases or words you want. Overall I am quite pleased with the final results. The fun part is seeing where the inspiration took me, as I started out with no plan whatsoever. I find it fascinating how something comes together seemingly on its own and I am always grateful for that. If you play with art supplies, what kinds of things do you enjoy creating?
all artwork by me, Lynda Byrnes-Copyright 2016.
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