Oh, Happy Accident! And I Will Share, Too!

A lot of my art friends talk about “happy accidents,” but the only accidents I’d ever had were quite unhappy: foot in the paint can, spilling the water cup, cat prints on the project. Until now. What started as an accident- letting a wet baby wipe touch a recently-printed transparency- ended up with a cool fabric-like result.

I’m sure we’ve all used baby wipes or wet wipes for something artistic, besides cleaning our hands. In fact, one of my all-time favorite technique books is Bernie Berlin’s Artist Trading Card Workshop. I still pull it out from time-to-time as a reference. And, although she discusses applying liquid water color to wipes and using gel medium to “make” transparencies via transfer, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone transfer a transparency to a baby wipe (by accident or not).

My first “accidental” version, “Friends Forever,” did not pick up a lot of the image, which was a transparency printed from a photo of two porcelain doll heads I own. However, I like the very vague, faded image of the two dolls, which seems so appropriate with the words “remember” and “friends forever.”

I thought this would make a great little wall hanging in a girl’s room or a nice gift for a sister or friend (or both). I also thought I could do even better, if I “tried” the accidental procedure. This produced a nearly perfect image, and after letting the wipe dry completely, made for an almost fabric appearance or flocked feel. The result is my 5” x 5” wall-hanging “Adore,” which also has a definition of “sister” at the bottom. And, although I don’t have a sister, I’m betting I have some “art sisters” who might like to receive one of these. Here's a little how-to I will share.


Transparency/Wet Wipe Transfer Technique
5” x 5” Wall Hanging

Supplies:

5” x 5” cardboard or canvas – I used the backing of a watercolor paper pad, cut to size.
Background paper(s) or paints- I used Shabby Cottage Studio.com background papers
Vintage sheet music scraps
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo
Rub-Ons (words and swirls)- I used Classic K McKenna Decorative Rub-Ons, We R Memory Keepers Precious Metals Coppered-Out Swirls Rub-Ons and 7 Gypsies Ink Memories Texture Rub-Ons-black velvet

3/16” white eyelets and eyelet setters
15” length of coordinating ribbon
Gold- or silver-leaf pen
Burnisher/bone folder
Baby or travel wipes, wet in package
Freshly-printed transparency- I used Computer Graffix for ink jet printer
Krylon Workable Fixativ

Instructions:

Prepare surface by covering board or canvas with background papers or paints as desired. I covered both sides.
Meanwhile, print a desired photo onto transparency. Be careful not to touch or smear. Let dry flat a bit, about 30 min. If you do the transfer too soon, your colors will run into an unrecognizable mess. I also found if I did not let the transparency dry flat, the ink would run.
To make your transfer, take a wet wipe straight from package unfold and place flat over ink side of transparency. Try to place flat in one fluid motion, as any movement will smear your image. After a minute or two, press your wipe smooth over the image with a burnisher or bone folder. There is no need to scrape violently.
Gently lift up your wipe to see your transfer. Let dry completely, ink side up. You can place under a lamp or in a warm, dry spot to speed things along. This should take 2-3 hours.
When you are ready to apply your art, spray both sides of wipe lightly with fixative. I don’t know if this is necessary, but after getting a great transfer, I did not want any more Unhappy accidents!
Cut around image as desired and apply to background with a light coat of gel medium. Smooth into place. After edging torn sheet music with distress ink, apply in a pleasing pattern, also with gel medium or glue stick.
When surface is dry again, apply rub-ons as desired and edge artwork with leafing pen. When leafing ink is dry, set eyelets in top corners; string ribbon through, and knot in back.

The 4 x 4 Friday Theme is the Always Popular Miss Mona Lisa

The theme for 4 x 4 Friday http://4x4friday.wordpress.com/ is Mona Lisa, always a fun countenance to work with. Leonardo obviously thought so, and she's endured for about 500 years-pretty popular, I'd say. I rubber stamped her on a transparency and mounted that over patterned paper. I found the word "create" already in funky type and added the typewriter key stickers. You can follow the link above to see interpretations from all over the world.

This is about all the art that got done this weekend as I had to do some actual Christmas shopping. I also packed up boxes for swaps with Miss Vicky http://www.cut-it-up.com/ and Linda J for our Blythe swap. She has a wonderful blog at http://adventuresofmolli.blogspot.com/. Her Blythes, Molli and Zelda, went shopping for mine, Lilly and Maggy. More at http://bly-me.blogspot.com/.

Now back to the studio for me. I have a project due tomorrow for Shabby Cottage Studios. http://www.shabbycottagestudio.com/. Go check them out- the design team is busy making samples of something cool you can buy to alter.

P.S. Here's a weird thing: My 17-year-old cleaned his room today- sweeper, dust rag, the whole thing, even the feather duster. Is he sick? I wondered. But no, his girlfriend was there directing the show. How cute and wonderful. I was so glad she found the stray laundry behind the dresser, too! Hopefully, he won't do that again.

Chubbyville Fat Book Swap

Okay, who would name a group Chubbyville? But I am a late-comer, so who am I to say? This group includes many talented and published artists, so I am excited to receive my first pages! I am mailing off this Asian-theme 4 x 4 watercolor page (front and back shown) that includes a text transparency, postage stamps, a metal flowers, fibers and charms. I painted the random background first and embellished it with Twinkling H2Os - the greatest, sparkliest little paints ever.

The swap is for one page per month of different themes. You can bind your book whenever you want- after a year or? This swap was a piece of (cup)cake. My next swap requires 27 original pages, all 4 x 8, sent together, front and back finished. I guess I had better go into training mode.

Fairy Dreams kept me Awake

I started on these 5 artist trading cards for the ARTchix Fairy Dreams swap about 9 p.m. last night, finishing about 1 a.m. I was so excited to see how they would turn out after drying, that I woke up about 4 a.m. to check (or maybe that was when the noisy adult daughter came home).

They looked so great, but needed a little additional sealing and a few other touches. I also decided my pocket fairy needed a magic wand. So, instead of going back to bed, I have been tinkering for the last 3 hours and finally decided they were ready to photograph and upload. Mind you, the swap is not due until Oct. 15, but when inspiration strikes, who wants to shut it down? I guess it sounds like I like my results, which I do. I am always so amazed and pleasantly surprised when something turns out the way I hoped. As well, usually when I fiddle with a finished project, I end up ruining it. So, all is well and that must mean I need to work only in the wee hours.

Fairy Dreams ARTchix Swap