Monday, November 12, 2012

Laughter is the best medicine

"The Blue Bottle" - Tiny Book Art Charm, by Kia Dallons

This was a really neat swap! - A coming together of a wonderful bunch of artists to raise money for Beads of Courage, a support program for children with cancer. We each contributed an Art Charm on the theme of laughter. ( The exact book featured in this post is the one in the auction, FYI.  )  

 Check out the auction!
Goes live Nov 12, 2012  - 3:00 pm, EST!

Here is the listing for this book! 

We are also doing a "blog hop", so I will list the other artist's blogs at the end of this post, for those who would like to see what everyone else did as well. There are some seriously talented people in this group!

The inspiration for my charm is a favorite camp song about a magical blue bottle which holds the ingredients for a summer day. Do you want to read it?!    

The Blue Bottle / I have a little present here for you, inside this tiny bottle so very small and blue. / But don't you dare uncork it, or everything will get away. / Thought you might like your own summer's day. / Now she who is a-reading me, and is looking at my side, might be kind of interested at what lies inside...?  /  Holds one breath of a butterfly, one ray from the sun... / ...and lots and lots of laughter from little children's fun! / But don't you dare uncork it, or everything will get away. Thought you might like your own /  summer's day! / Put it on away. 

The text was done in Business Card Composer, and ported over to Photoshop for the page layout. Printed, and then free-hand illustrated with Crayola pencils. Don't laugh! I was lucky to have found the few I did. ( Where are my good colored pencils? ) I had to raid my son's art box. Thankfully, he had the colors I needed. 
Pages, before separating. Printed text, freehand illustrated with colored pencils.  

Book Construction

Each of the glueing stages was allowed to completely dry before going on to the next stage. I use tons of clothespins to hold things in place while they dry. The pages are glued back to back, using a glue stick.
Fold
Glue the pages back to back, and trim the end flaps.
Jacket: I used Aileen's Brush On Tacky Glue, both to hold it together, and to coat the exterior to give it a nice, slick, protective veneer. 

Jacket: cardboard, paper, ribbon, glue. 
Interior: Glue page flaps to jacket, cover with lovely heavy-weight paper. 
Ribbon: Glue it on, leaving a long tail.
Ribbon: Fold it back and glue it to itself. Trim the tail if it's too long.
Ribbon: Tuck tail under and glue. Add clasp! 
The clasp, and all the findings are my copper wirework. 
"The Blue Bottle" - Tiny Book Art Charm, by Kia Dallons
All the tiny bottles. Each one is different. I had fun making them, and experimenting. 
Tiny Bottles - Lampwork glass, copper wirework and cherrywood "corks", by Kia Dallons. 



Auction Site



Contributing Artist's Blogs











Denielle Hagerman http://somebeadsandotherthings.com  







Jennifer Cameron http://wp.me/p1xIa0-wn















Natalie McKenna http://www.grubbi.co.uk/ 



Robin Koza http://www.robinkoza.com  









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Sunday, November 11, 2012

"Small Rituals" - Tiny Book ArtCharm

"Small Rituals" was also made for the Amulets and Talismans swap. I couldn't resist the theme, and signed up twice!
"Small Rituals" - Tiny Book ArtCharms, by Kia Dallons

The cover is made from paper bag "leather" ( crumpled grocery bag stained with watercolors ). I had a whole different idea for the interior...  a neat little box with a little magical object ( I hadn't decided what yet )  displayed in it, but after I used up all my matching paper making the parts, the boxes turned out too big for the jackets.   Change of plans...  Hand sketches, each page to represent each stage of a ritual.  It was an idea that I had kept brushing off because it felt so personal, but I guess some things have a way of manifesting themselves.

"Small Rituals" - by Kia Dallons
They read: Ground, Open, Invite, Intent, Bless, Release, Thank, Nourish.


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Felted Evil Eyes

These ArtCharms were made for an Amulets and Talismans themed swap. These are my take on an "Evil Eye".

Felted Evil Eye ArtCharms, by Kia Dallons
These Evil Eye ArtCharms were made from vintage craft felt, and hand stitched to snug up around my lampwork glass "pupils".
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Green / Yellow / Gold Art Charm swap


My contribution to the Green, Yellow and Gold color theme swap. The photo doesn't really show how cool these turned out. 
Green/Yellow/Gold ArtCharms, by Kia Dallons
The green wirework bezels hold epoxy-coated, celaphane wrapping paper discs. A dome of Diamond Glaze gives them depth and makes the celaphane look magically opalescent. Seed bead dangles add motion. I want to make myself a whole necklace of them!
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Tigers and Leopards, Oh MY!

The theme of this swap was "Wild Thing" These are lampwork glass beads that I made to resemble tiger and leopard markings.  Didn't Alex had fun with the photo staging?!

Tiger and Leopard ArtCharms - Lampwork glass by Kia Dallons


Tiger and Leopard ArtCharms - Lampwork glass by Kia Dallons

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What have you been up to all summer?

I can't believe I haven't posted since April. I suppose it marked the beginning of the summer, when *things got seriously busy*.  I also fell and messed myself up for a while, so I haven't been able to get out to the glass shop. What I did do, was finally open my ArtFire store!

Kia Dallons Studio

I'm still getting my act together, and will be listing more soon, but please check it out. I welcome any feedback, and suggestions as I'm just figuring out their system. Yes, the Tiny Books are going in next!

That said, I have done a couple more Tiny Books since I last posted. "Small Rituals" was made for a "Talismins" themed swap, and "The Blue Bottle I'll post about in full later, after that swap is complete. It is for a group that is doing a fundraiser for Beads of Courage, which also includes a "blog hop". I'm not sure what that is about, but I figure I better get on the stick, and post some stuff, eh. I also have a few misc. artsstuffs to put up too...   but really, I spent most of the summer trying my first real garden, wildcrafting, and canning, drying, picklng, and otherwise preserving everything I could gets my hands on.

I just started a new blog detailing those adventures.  : )   Not much there yet, but lots to come! If you really want to know what I've been up to, you'll have to look there!

And, with no further ado...   Arkadia Wildcraft & Kitchen


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Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Falling Leaves Bracelet

A couple of weeks ago I got to take a class from Dana James, and learn her "Falling Leaves" design. The class was a lot of fun, and Dana sure knows her stuff! I finally finished this up the other day.  : )
Falling Leaves Bracelet
It's all copper, hand-made by me out of .22 gage wire, with little white and cranberry colored stone beads...  I forget what they are. The chain is the same one I made for my tutorial. I expect the copper will patina to match the beads very nicely by Autumn, when I will want to wear it.
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