Paper Bag Printing: Exhibits III and G

More experimental printing onto recycled paper bags. See the original post for background info. This time around, torn edges add to the intrigue. The "exhibit" stamps are from a bag of old stamps from a law court.

Close-up of Exhibit III

Close-up of Exhibit G

Paper Bag Printing: The Ball

A recent work printed onto a recycled Trader Joe's grocery bag.

Cut used paper bag into 8.5 x 11 sheets

Click on image to see larger version

Detail from "Live by the Ball"

Experimenting with Printing and Paper #1

Just how much can my printer handle? How does the possibility of printing onto different papers/backgrounds/textures affect decisions regarding the foreground composition? Let's see.

"Bird Brain" - Collage printed onto vintage encyclopedia page (click on image to see larger version)

Detail from "Bird Brain"

Detail from "Bird Brain"

Detail from "Bird Brain"

Antimacancer: Soothing Lavender Whatnots

One of my favorite words is "antimacassar," the lace doilies used to cover the head and arm areas of chairs, originally invented to prevent gentlemen's hair oil (the Macassar oil) from staining the upholstery. The little whatnots below are a play on that word, and they have been dubbed "antimacancers." If you have friends or loved ones undergoing chemotherapy or radiation, you know how dismal those trips to a drab, chemical-smelling clinic environment can be. The solution? Give them a sniff of a summer garden to bring with them.

These little antimancancers are stuffed with freshly harvested and dried lavender. They can be pinned to a shirt or tucked under a pillow.

Freshly harvested lavender, drying out for a day or two.

This one and the one below can also be strung from a ribbon and hung around the neck

The more elaborate set of antimacancers that follow are made from bits and pieces of old handkerchiefs and broken jewelry.

This one incorporates a collages text/bird image ironed onto a vintage handkerchief scrap

Geek Chic: QR Code Patches

First they swept Japan, then Europe, and now you see them everywhere in America. QR Codes use two-dimensional image codes to form a link between print media and the Web. It's a point-and-shoot way of obtaining information, phone numbers, text messages, and Web links by pointing your mobile phone at the code image and having the phone software decode the image and take the appropriate action.

What started as a marketing technique has been used here as a sort of anti-marketing technique. In many thrift stores you will spot otherwise attractive and well made shirts that are permanently marred by heavy duty marketing embroidery—usually on or above the pocket and in some cases on the sleeve. They're often priced even more cheaply than other thrift shirts because, after all, who wants to sport the logo of some defunct dot.com company on their clothing?

Two thrift shirts, about $2 each

The problem: heavy embroidery company logos stitched onto the shirts

The solution? Go to the following URL on the Web—http://www.qrstuff.com/—one among many that generates a QR code for free from any text, URL, phone number, or Google map location you enter. Download the codes, open the images in graphic software (e.g., Photoshop) and resize the image to whatever dimensions suit your project. Remember to reverse the image first, and then print it out onto photo transfer paper. Iron the image onto cloth, then use the cloth to create a patch to cover those unsightly logos.

The QR codes read "eat the rich." You might want to make a notation about what the code says right on the transfer paper so you can keep track of your patches.

The attractively mysterious geek chic results

Lost and Found Number Two: Found

The second in a two-part series of lost-and-found wall charms. See Lost and Found Number One for the back story, or the Tin Can Frames Tutorial for instructions on making your own wall charms.

Materials: Tin can lid; pop-top soda can tabs; broken jewelry; scraps of beautiful hand-penned writing found in a parking lot.

Lost and Found Number One: Lost

This is the first of a two-part piece called "Lost and Found." Both pieces are designed to be wall charms (click to see a tutorial on making your own wall charms). Both feature found scraps of a piece of paper beautifully hand-penned with an unfamiliar Asian language that I found in a parking lot.

Materials include: tin can lid; pop-top tabs; rusted painted tin disk found on the railroad tracks; fragment of auto tail light picked up on the street; little heart charm with original 25-cent price tag picked up at a flea market.

Curiosity Cabinet

The first museums in the European tradition were curiosity cabinets filled with all manner of strange and wonderful things. Here the concept is taken one tweak beyond—the diminutive cabinet itself is a little curious.