Charms for the Good Life

My "Anything Art" bee met on Monday at Roberta Morgan's house.  Roberta is best known as a garment maker, who has won big awards in all the shows for her coats, jackets, and ensembles.  She also makes art quilts, and as a visit to her house proves, almost anything that doesn't move is fair game for her art.  I take that back...she also painted her car!


My digital camera has gone to the repair shop, since the lens will not retract.  I did not have a camera with me at the meeting, so I'm sorry I have no pictures of Roberta's painted furniture, room full of mannikins wearing her jackets, and all her other fun home decor.  It reminded me of pictures of Violette's Magic Cottage.




Our project for the day was making charms from either mat board or a precut product called Stampbord.

The stampbord has one smooth white side for a smooth, absorbent surface.  You can also scratch or etch into the surface.


Roberta provided some pages of bright collage prints for us to decoupage onto the rough side of the Stampbord.  We used Mod Podge for this.  I chose some bright birds and some vintage ladies' faces.


On the other side, we used Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks to add color.  Roberta had a whole box of these.

We dabbed a little ink onto a cotton gauze pad, dipped in a bit of alcohol, and then dabbed blobs of color onto the surface.  After that, we used some of Roberta's stamps and ink pads to add more imagery to the painted side of the tile.  I chose these funky-looking women's faces. 

When we used mat board, we worked in strips about three inches wide, and then cut them apart with a rotary cutter along the edges of the images.  Then, the charms were coated with a crystalline hard sealer product.  Roberta used Diamond Glaze,

but also showed us another product that you mix together called Envirotex.  You basically drip some of the glaze onto the surface and let if flow to the sides, watching for air bubbles.  Then you have to let it dry.  It becomes a crystal clear, hard surface.

I coated one charm at Roberta's with Diamond Glaze, and on the way home stopped at Michael's and bought a small package of Envirotex to finish the others.

Roberta drilled holes in the tops and bottoms of most of my charms with her Dremel tool, and showed us how to attach jump rings.

A very fun and creative day with artistic friends!

In other news, my new on-off switch for my Gammill finally arrived yesterday afternoon, and my personal mechanic installed it for me last night.  I seem to be back in business, so I guess I better get upstairs and get busy!