Sunday 23 September 2007

Mail Art and altered book class



What a lovely surprise arrived in the mail on Friday. This lovely package from Sharon as a thank you for visiting her blog and leaving comments on her 'Art Party' weekend. If you haven't visited Sharon's blog it's definitely worth a visit, she produces some great art.



Last Thursday night was the monthly get together of our altered book class, these are all students who have taken my altered book workshops. We meet for three hours once a month and work in our books, swap ideas and goodies and I go over the things we've covered in the workshops. Sometimes I teach them something new, as I did on Thursday, I showed them how to carve their own stamps from Ezy carve blocks.
What a fabulous group of ladies were there, Margaret, Sue, Patsy, Claudia, Nicky, Pip and Cheryl, the owner of the store. We did a swap of paper napkins and anything else we had more than we could use ourselves. The photo above is my collection that I received, including two art books that were no longer wanted by Sue, and three fabulous optical lenses from Claudia who so generously gave them to me after I'd complained in the previous class that they were hard to find.
This really is a fantastic group, so inspiring, I love seeing their enthusiasm for my recycling of anything that can be painted or glued, they never throw anything out now. Show and tell is also a fabulous part of the night too, Patsy always has so much beautiful work to show and gets us all going.
Can't wait until the next one.



This is a new metal cabinet that my brother in-law dropped off to me a couple of weeks ago. I've had to re-arrange my studio to accommodate it, but now my studio works so much better. I have three of these cabinets and the tops make great work areas, as you can image by now the drawers are almost full, it doesn't take me long to fill them.



This is the top of the cabinet, as you can see it's already well in use.



This is the collection of 'stuff' that sits on my jewellery bench top, it's ever increasing, but it's amazing how seeing things jumbled like this, helps when it comes to putting items together.

17 comments:

Steph said...

The cabinet looks more than good ! Each time I see a picture of your studio, I'm drooling ! ;)
Your altered book meetings sound fun !

lklight said...

Your studio is amazing, & I just love this pile o' stuff!

Judy said...

Nice mail art.
Nice cabinet too and all that stuff is great Ro. I have a wooden cabinet/drawers like your metal one - they are so great.

Judy Wise said...

Oh, yum yum yum, I just want to get in there and touch all that paper and those jewelry pieces; it's inspiring just looking at them. After two days of working in my studio the room is trashed however because like you I need to SEE my stuff to work and so it gets spread out everywhere. Your studio is sooo inviting.

Susan Tuttle said...

What a wonderful group!! I would have loved to learn how to make a carved stamp from you.

Your new cabinet is fabulous--all that storage!

Susan
xo

Rebecca E. Parsons/Cre8Tiva said...

oh i so covet one of these cabinets for my stencils...what a wonderful studio...missed you...happy fall...blessings, rebecca

Marie said...

Wouldn't it be fun to rummage thru all your findings - they look great! Love your storage unit too - very useful I bet!

Corrine said...

oh very nice cabinet. I once had the opportunity to buy a whole cabinet of printers drawers, I kick myself whenever I think of it, but back then I couldn't imagine needing to use all those little compartments, and it wasn't exactly cheap. Oh well. Love your studio, and I wish there was an altered book group near here.

girlgonethreadwild said...

What a great studio! Thanks for sharing a glimpse inside your creative space... oo, that metal cabinet is spectacular!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your visit on my blog.

Boy what bountifulness of colors, shapes and creativity in yours!

Unknown said...

Must say I am a bit jealous of your space!!! How wonderful to have room to spread out!

I am forever changing things up, out come the beading supplies....all of that goes back into,wherever, out comes the paper college messes...over and over.

loving the inspiration!!

Linda O'Neill said...

I love the way your work table looks, Ro. I would like all of your cabinets with drawers too...thank you very much!:) They are so expensive around here. Where did you get yours?

Maggie R said...

Oh My!!
The pile of old jewellery is so inviting... what fun to rummage through that.
Lucky you with all the space in the new cabinet.. You are right though, it doesn't take long to fill it up!
Your alterd books are wonderful, Thanks for inviting us in.
((((hugs))))
Maggie

Sue said...

Just checked your blog - and found my name mentioned in the Altered Book workshop group part! I love sharing those things - wait till next meeting!!! Unfortunately I can't throw anything out anymore - you have opened up possibilities for nearly EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been experimenting with drizzling and scraping paint, layering dictionary papers and am about to try fusion dyed collage - all ideas from Traci Bautista's book. I am having a great time "playing"- it's good to be on school holidays.
Thank you Ro for your inspiration -and thanks too to Cheryl (from Hann Made) for the opportunity to have our Altered Book "get together". How lucky are we!

Ro Bruhn said...

Thanks Sue, I'm glad you're busy creating, I look forward to seeing what you've been up to at the next
get together
Ro
xo

Artists With Artitude said...

Can I come visit and play? Tee hee! Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I love your mosaic ladies, they're really snazzy. I will be coming back often. Bravo!

belvedere beads said...

hah! who would love to have a pile of loot like that on their worktop. you must have a bit of the pirate in you to have built up such a mass of treasure...