Three Different Ways to Print With Bubbles

Bubble printing is messing fun. You can use colored inks, tempera paints, acrylic paints, or food coloring. If you are doing this activity with children, I suggest you use food coloring. Just in case they inhale instead of exhale, the solution will taste nasty, but won't kill them.

For all three methods you will need: shallow containers (I used yogurt containers. One for each color), water, dish soap, and your colorant (paint, ink, food coloring) and plastic drinking straws. One for each color. If more than one person is playing, each person gets their own set of straws. Watercolor or Mixed Media paper. You may also want to cover your work surface with newspaper or plastic trash bag.

If you are doing this activity with children, use a pin to punch a hole or two halfway up the straw. Hopefully, this will prevent any liquid getting to the mouth end of the straw if inhaled instead of exhaled. Again, food coloring would work best for the kidlets.

In each cup mix a tablespoon of soap with a couple of tablespoons of color. I didn't measure anything just eyeballed.

Add a half cup of water to each cup. You may need more water, soap, and colors depending how big your containers are.

Method 1: Printing with the Foam

Gently blow bubbles into the cup. Try not to blow the bubbles too far over the rim. Gently press your paper onto the bubbles. The bubbles will leave an imprint.

Your mileage may vary, but I used acrylic paint and found the color didn't really come up into the foam.

 I had to add a lot more color. I suspect the paint was too heavy for the solution.

Many years ago, I had better luck using colored ink or food coloring.

Method 2: Printing with a Single Bubble

If you hold the straw upright in the bubble/paint solution and then put your finger over the top of the straw, capillary action will draw a bit of the solution into the straw. Move your straw over the paper and release you finger. A drop of liquid will fall on the paper. You can also use a cleaned out eye or medicine dropper or pipette. You just need a little drop.

Insert the straw into the drop and blow gently. You should get a bubble.

When the bubble pops, it will leave an impression behind.

Method 3: Star Burst Effect

If you hold the straw upright in the bubble/paint solution and then put your finger over the top of the straw, capillary action will draw a bit of the solution into the straw. Move your straw over the paper and release you finger. A drop of liquid will fall on the paper. You can also use a cleaned out eye or medicine dropper or pipette. You just need a little drop.

This time instead of blowing across the drop, place your straw over the drop. You may need to stand up. Then give a quick puff. The color should scatter in a star burst or fireworks effect.

You can use your creations as collage fodder or as a background.

Book of Marks - Last Pages Reveal

The last page spread

On the left, Ascemic writing

On the right: "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." - Anais Nin

If I had thought about this ahead of time, I would have waited to punch the hole so the button would have appeared in the opening.

Books of Marks - Centerfold Reveal

The centerfold page has a flap or short page on the right.

Left page with Ascemic writing

The right flap page. "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Albert Einstein

The centerfold with the flap open

The middle page. "The best way to know life is to love many things." - Vincent van Gogh

Oops. It's a good thing this book isn't comprised of text on consecutive pages as I forgot to add collage to the flap. So now the decision. Does every surface have to have collage on it? Or can the background of the page be enjoyed as the main event? Decisions, decisions.

Book of Marks - Next Spread Reveal

The spread with left flap

Close up of left flap: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" - Leonardo DaVinci

Under the flap, middle, and right hand pages.

Jacqueline showed a slide presentation  and one of the slides she had was a pie chart of the Creative Process: from the yellow slice clockwise: Inspiration, Work, Binge Eating, Creative Napping, Internet Surfing

Another interpretation of the Creative Process: 

1. This is awesome

2. This is tricky

3. This is 🤬

4. I am 🤬

5. This might be Ok

6. This is awesome.

Jacqueline was saying many people give up at number 4, and a true artist will push through until they reach number 6,

On the right hand page, another example of Ascemic writing. I did the Ascemic writing on Canson Vellum, it's like tracing paper only heavier. Having the printed quotes and writing on the vellum took the fear out of writing on the actual book pages.

The Book of Marks - Inside Front Cover and First Page Reveal

The book structure is based on Teesha Moore's Amazing Journal  It measures approximately 8 in. x 10 in. Moore's book uses one sheet of Fabrianon Artistico paper. The paper used during Jacqueline Sullivan's Book of Marks class was one sheet of Strathmore 400 140 lb. watercolor paper.

This is what you see when you first open the book.

The inside cover has a flap. There are several pages with flaps which makes the book interactive. Though if you don't like these short pages, you can always tear them off. Here and there we punched holes in the book for a peek-a-boo effect.

Under the flap, I glued a strip of the black paper with white marks and wrote the title of the class and dates with a white Gelly Roll pen. I left the inside cover blank as I'm undecided whether to fill all the surfaces. If you look at a commercially printed book, the inside cover is usually blank

Jaqueline suggested the subject matter of the book be about art. In the handouts she had given us quotes about art from artists, writers. We were free to chose our own subject, but I liked a lot of the quotes so decided make the book about art. I printed the quotes out on some colored paper that matched the colors in the book.

Besides the quotes, we could also fill the book with collage and Ascemic writing. Collage is a bit out of the box for me. It's hard to know whether there are too many bits or not enough. Does it look pleasing or like the cat barfed on the floor?

 From Jacqueline's notes about ascemic writing, "Ascemic writing is a wordless form of writing. The word ascemic means "having no specific semantic content", or "without the smallest unit of meaning." With the non-specifity of asemic writing there comes a vacuum of meaning which is left for the reader to fill in and interpret. All of this is similar to the way one would deduce meaning from an abstract work of art."

Jacqueline had 4 ways of doing ascemic writing. One was a word per line which would also make the writing/printing very legible. I chose this method for the first quote I used which is the definition of Kung Fu. "Kung Fu is any discipline or skill achieved through hard work and practice." (Kung Fu is not restricted to the Martial Arts. Pretty much anything we do art, craft, baking, practicing medicine, law, music, is Kung Fu.) 

When I studied Martial Arts, the color red was reserved for the Masters (5th degree and up Black Belt). So I used a cardinal stamp to reflect this. As it turns out, purple and blue are two of the lower rank belt colors in the karate system I practiced.

Book of Marks - Last Two Pages Reveal

The last two pages

The left side with collage and Ascemic writing

The right side. "We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are." - Anais Nin

If I had waited until the button was sewn to the flap, I could have punched the hole so the button would be centered in the square. Oh, well. It goes with the Ascemic writing on the opposite page.

Whatcha Doin?

Vincent is helping me sort through some papers and stuff to be used as collage fodder for the Book of Marks class tomorrow.

Whatcha doin?

T Stands for Ink in a Teacup

A surprise piece of Happy Mail from Finnbadger. Ink in a starry night teacup with a solar eclipse stamp. Isn't it purrfect?

Loos like going through the cancellator or the sorting machines a couple of spots tore on the envelope or as I thought of them cat scratches.

Finn reminded me to warm the stamp over a lightbulb to see it change. All the lightbulbs in the house have been changed to LED bulbs which do not give off heat so I had to use the heat from my hand. Behind the umbra appears the moon and the corona of the eclipse. So cool! Even the cancellation mark is perfect like waves of solar radiation, and handled with care by post office personnel as there are no magic marker marks to mar the stamp.

Finn likes to make his own envelopes. In his note, he said he knew I was eyeing the cat literature envelopes. He was so right. 😺

Inside, he included a collage, a silver moon (the scanner wasn't happy with the shiny, silver paper) rising above or sinking below ocean waves. Or mountains.

Thank you so much, Finn, the envelope was a delightful surprise and as you said in your note, "perfect for you and the spirit of Ink."

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Stream of Consciousness

Paper Ornament Exchange

A. sent me a link for a paper ornament exchange she thought I might like to participate. At first I thought I'd make paper cranes. In order to mail them relatively flat, I'd have to send directions to finish the folding. Not sure how people feel about some assembly required.

Hunting around the interwebs for inspiration, I came across ornament templates at Better Homes and Garden  I had double sided Christmas paper in the scrap chest. A bit of glitter, metallic thread, and voilà. The exchange only needed 3 ornaments and these were simple and quick to do.

There's still time to play if you want. Three ornaments are to be mailed to the host by 28. November 2016. All the details can be found at Ornament Exchange

He Loves Me, Face 6

This page had a graphic of an old-fashioned faucet handle. It looked like a flower. I photocopied the image, traced it onto two bits of scrapbook paper, and cut them out. Instant posey.

Sharpie pen, watercolor pencils

My Influence Map

Found the idea for this creative exercise from my colleague and influencer, Andy Fish. An influence map is a bit like a vision board, but instead of showing where you are going, it shows where you came from, and what or who inspires the art you make.

You can fill your map with anything you want, books, movies, artwork. Whatever your little heart desires. I made my own layout using Paint Shop Pro. I wanted to limit the number of images I used because there would be too many, and the image would be so huge it would take days to download. Each image I used represents more than one influencer.

The influence map isn't limited to artists. You can use it to show what inspired you to become a(n) [insert your profession here].  You can find the influence map template here. If you don't have a program that allows you to manipulate photo images, you can use free, online, image sites to make a collage. Try Photovisi or Fotor.

Have you ever made an influence map?

Graceful Envelope from Start to Finish - Part 2

In past years, I've sometimes made my own envelope. Usually, I find a blank envelope the size I want to use in the makings for greeting card box. That's what I did this time around. The back of the envelope isn't judged.

I cut a scrap of better quality paper, whatever my hand finds in the scrap box. I used a piece of Arches 90 lb hot press, watercolor paper which when the design is completed I will glue to the front of the envelope. I use this method because 1.) greeting card envelopes are not usually made from high quality paper, and 2.) the fear factor is taken away because if I make a mistake, I won't blow the envelope. I can always cut another sheet of paper for the front of the envelope.

To address envelopes, I always use an acrylic ink either Ziller or F. W. The acrylic ink won't run if the envelope is delivered on a rainy day or the postal carrier has sweaty hands. (-;

I wanted to paint a textured background for this design using gouache, an opaque watercolor, and plastic wrap. Laying scrunched up plastic wrap over the wet paint creates interesting crystal like patterns when the paint dries. When the paint dried, I used black or blue ink to see which showed up and which I liked better. The gouache background was too bold so I decided regular watercolors would give a more subtle background.

Rather than paint a school bus, I decided to draw, color, and cut the bus out. The cut out would give the envelope some depth and whimsy.

The Friday Five

Last Friday, The Kennegeeks  made the annual pilgrimage to the Museum of Science, Boston. We decided to go before The Young One returned to college, Himself had to go back to his classroom, and The Eldest had to return to her job at the lab. We picked a good day as Christmas vacation was over, and the kids were back in school. It was too early in the season for field trips, so the museum wasn't crowded. We didn't have much of a wait to purchase tickets so we felt as if we had the place to ourselves.

1. The Eldest wanted to see the new planetarium show about Moons. The planetarium shows are always exciting, but the new camera made the show spectacular. You almost felt as if you were on the surface of the Earth's moon, or hopping from one moon of Saturn to another.

2. The Young One wanted to see the 3D film Flying Monsters. We donned our 3D glasses and traveled back in time to soar with the pterosaurs. The Young One analyzed the quality of the animation.

3. Because there were no lines, we were able to take a nice break in the Butterfly Garden. Himself was the one who noticed a Blue Morpho butterfly hanging out on the window. If you moved a couple of steps to the right, the butterfly looked as if it was climbing the Prudential Tower. I wrote about the butterfly terrorizing the Back Bay the other day.

4. We saw the Shipwreck! Pirates and Treasures exhibit. Learned how treasure and artifacts are collected from a wreck. Saw lots of gold and silver coins, and pottery and bottles without so much as a crack or chip. There were tales of famous pirates, a robotic arm to try your hand at gathering treasure, and a wind tube so you could feel hurricane force winds.

5. We stopped by to see Sue, the lovely, life-size T-Rex model. It was a chilly day so museum staff had wrapped Sue in a long red and white scarf. Outside her permanent exhibit, we happily fed quarters and pennies into the machine to emboss the penny with dinosaur images. The disclaimer on the machine said it was not illegal to deface legal tender, and was a lot safer than placing pennies on the subway tracks which The Brother and I did as kids. Thanks to Fraue for teaching The Young One about the penny machines when she took us to visit the Minnesota Zoo almost 7 years ago. We decided the next trip, we need to bring more pennies and a boatload of quarters to hit all the machines outside of the big exhibits.

The only disappointing part of the trip was we didn't have time to see my favorite exhibit, the lightning show with the singing Tesla coil. Oh well, next trip.

NaNoJouMo - 10

The Eldest told me she needed cupcakes to take to a function. I thought of the tons of goodies I had made for school bake sales, Girl Scout functions, school parties, and I didn't have to bake any more! No more rushing to get baked items frosted and packed while leaving the oven on.

The Eldest baked her cupcakes while I was paying bills in the kitchen. She pulled the last batch out of the oven, set them on the cooling rack, and made a beeline to her room.

"Is the oven supposed to be on?", I shouted.

I heard a scream and then a wail. "OHMYGAWD, I'm turning into you!"

NaNoJouMo - Day 7

Playing catch up, a page to celebrate the Nor'Easter. Mixed media collage. I did a similar page last year for a mixed media class recycling your own artwork. I even used the paper towels I used to blot soupy spots on the previous journal pages.  I'm happier with this incarnation.

"Dear God, If it must snow, can it snow chocolate instead?"