Go Make Something » How-To Instructions

Boudoir Trays

Lisa Vollrath — Sun, 01 Aug 1999 23:46:14 +0000

This article was originally written in August, 1999 for the miniatures site at About.com, when my camera and photography skills were a bit primitive.

My favorite thing about working with miniatures is the way they force you to look at common objects in new ways. I rummaged through my jewelry making and sewing supplies to find all the pieces and parts to put together some small accessory trays suitable for a mini dressing table or boudoir.

Here’s the big pile of junk I assembled for this project. I raided my button drawer, as well as my beads and jewelry findings. Now let’s see what we can put together.

Tray #1

For this tray, I used a cameo backing as the base. I wanted a mirrored tray, so I used a small piece of aluminum foil on the center section of the base. This was glued in place with a thin layer of glue stick, making sure I kept the foil nice and flat. The bottles were made from crystal and filigree beads. The crystal bottle in front has a small gold bead on top, held in place with a sequin pin and a little glue. The low flat container on the left is a gold bead, with a small crystal held in place on top with another sequin pin and glue. The hatpins and holder are head pins trimmed with tiny seed beads and pearls, held by another gold filigree bead which acts as the hatpin holder. Everything on these trays is glued securely in place with E6000.

Tray #2

This is another brooch backing for the tray, available at most craft stores in the jewelry making department. Aluminum foil is used for mirror in the bottom of the tray. All the bottles are made from silver or crystal beads, with smaller beads and pins used as the bottle tops. Hatpins are made by sliding a beads onto a regular dressmaker pins, and gluing them against the heads.

OK, you get the drift. This one is made using a large flat button as the tray, and a small filigree button as the powder box. Beads make the perfume bottle and hatpin holder, and head pins are the hat pins.

To bring this back around to mixed-media work, I’m thinking of making a couple of these for some small shrines. Perhaps it’s time to merge my mini-making skills with some of my assemblage pieces.

What Is Iris Folding?

Lisa Vollrath — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 22:58:58 +0000

Iris folding is a technique that originated in Holland. Color coordinated strips of folded paper are taped into place over a pattern, creating a spiralling design that resembles the iris of an eye or camera. Originally, Dutch crafters would cut their strips from envelopes with patterned interiors, but now it is common to use lightweight papers including those used for origami to create iris folded designs.

The basic supplies you need to get started are minimal, and mostly made up of items paper crafters have in their stash: cardstock, lightweight papers, a paper trimmer or ruler, scissors, tape, and a pattern.

Want to give iris folding a try? Click here for the pattern and instructions for the simple design shown on this page.

Serendipity Squares

Lisa Vollrath — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 01:07:06 +0000

With the cost of good paper constantly on the rise, I feel compelled to save every little scrap leftover from my projects. After a flurry of activity, that pile of leftovers grows into a mountain. What the heck do you do with a mountain of paper scraps? Make serendipity squares!

This is what the back right corner of my work table looked like this morning. Yikes! Somewhere under all this paper fallout is a set of stacking file trays, but you’d never know it now. I’ve got to clean this pile up. Since I’d rather do just about anything rather than clean, I’ll clean a little, then play a little, alternating until both the pile and the squares are done.

First, I pull out all the big pieces of cardstock. Wow, look at all this stuff! These will make great backgrounds for my squares. I pile these together, and set them aside.

Next, I start piling the little pieces by color or theme. Today’s sorting is definitely by color: naturals toward the back, blue and green down front, and a piles of reds and black and white over to the right.

Once I’ve sorted, I grab a glue stick, one pile of scraps, and a piece from that solid cardstock pile, and go to work. I tear random pieces of scraps, and glue them down, covering the background paper completely. The glue has to dry before I can move on to the next step, so it’s either time for a little more cleaning, or I can move on to another pile of scraps and do the same collage process to set up another set of squares.

Along with the big pile of scraps, I’ve usually got some dirty stamps waiting to be cleaned. I’ve seen people do this part of the process different ways, but for me, it works best to do a layer of stamping with dye ink and a background stamp of some type, to help tie all the different pieces of paper together. Here, I’ve chosen a postcard stamp, and some blue Fresco ink, and stamped all over my scrap collage.

Next, some shine. I grabbed an Asian text stamp and some silver Brilliance ink, and stamped here and there, then threw some pewter embossing powder on it. Unlike the previous layer of stamping, which completely covered all the papers, this one just sort of fills in some visual empty spots.

My collage used lots of solid papers, so here’s one more layer of stamping and embossing, this time with a big rose leaf stamp.

The last step is cutting. I cut both one inch and inch and a half squares from this piece. The smaller squares are great to decorate standard quarter sized cards. Big squares are good to throw in an altered book layout, or onto a deco page.

Since I had a blue deco laying on my work table, I went ahead and used this set of squares on a page. These are the larger sized squares, as they were cut. Sometimes, I’ll mount each square on a slightly larger square of solid cardstock, or edge the squares with embossing ink applied direct to paper, and a little embossing powder.

This is what my scrap pile looks like now. Much better! I knew those file trays were under there somewhere. Now I’m ready to start my next round of projects, and another mountain of scraps.

Throw Away Collage

Lisa Vollrath — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 01:08:27 +0000

Like many artists, I fall into habits when I’m working. I’ll find myself grabbing the same colors of paint or paper, or the same rubber stamp, even though the selection laying around in my studio is pretty diverse. What’s a girl to do when she finds herself headed for a creative rut? One of my solutions is to do some throw-away collage.

Fellow artist and all around fun girl Jane Dickinson of Art By The Yard introduced me to this concept a while back, and it’s been great for forcing me to look at things with fresh eyes. There’s no big investment involved here: just a pile of junk mail, which is plentiful at my house, and a glue stick. Pens and paints are optional, and I tend to do most of my throw-aways without them.

The goal is to create a collage from the pile of trash in front of you. Don’t think too much, don’t plan—just dive in and start gluing. One of the tricks I’ve learned is to hold each piece of junk upside-down, to see its colors and shapes rather than its message. I also give myself additional challenges, such as having to use a stamp I haven’t tried yet, or a paper punch that’s been hanging around unused, which is how the stars in this collage were born.

I keep a small, portable throw-away collage journal, which travels with me anytime I go on a trip. Hotel rooms are a wonderful place to do throw-away collage. I’ve also done throw-away postcards, and sent them to other like-minded artists. No matter where I work, or in what size, I always come away from the collage with a fresh perspective, looking at my materials in a whole new way.

Go grab today’s mail and make some throw-aways of your own!

Lemon Juice Burning

Lisa Vollrath — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 02:26:02 +0000

Materials:
Paper
Lemon or lime juice
Plastic container
Paintbrush
Sponge
Heat gun
Tile

How to do it:
(Click on the images for an enlarged picture of each step)

Tear the edges of your paper for a ragged effect. Pour a little lemon juice into a plastic container, and brush or sponge around outer edge of paper. Juice might also be splattered or sponged across the full sheet—try a couple of practice sheets to see what happens.

Place juicy paper on a piece of tile. Begin heating with heat gun. Keep gun moving slowly. Paper will begin to brown in places that have been painted with juice.

Continue heating juice until paper has browned to your satisfaction.

An example of a finished book layout using juice burned papers.

What Is An Altered Book?

Lisa Vollrath — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 02:38:08 +0000

About a year ago, a coworker mentioned that she was joining in an altered book project. I had never heard the term before. “What is an altered book?” I asked. By the end of the day, here is what I’d learned:

An altered book is an art object created from an existing book that has been transformed through painting, collage, rubber stamping, tearing, cutting, or any creative means. The artist altering the book may choose a theme or topic that she wishes to explore, or simply begin creating within the book’s pages with no theme or unifying factor at all. The goal is to create an object of self-expression rather than a functional work.

The materials and techniques used to create altered books are as varied as the artists themselves. All types of papers, collage materials, paints, rubber stamps, inks, chalks, fabrics and imagery can be incorporated into an altered book layout. Each new altered book artist begins with the skills she brings with her. Scrapbookers might start by using pieces of patterned paper, punches, and journaling. Quilters might start with fabrics and sewn page embellishments. Digital artists might collage their imagery and add dimensional elements. The techniques used are unlimited, and the sharing of those techniques within the altered book community is often achieved by group projects or round robins. Soon, the quilters are collaging with fabrics and papers, the painters are sewing pages together, and the scrapbookers are learning to watercolor. The expansion of each artist’s range of creative techniques is enthusiastically encouraged.

For more information on altered books:

The AlteredBooks group at Yahoo is the largest online community dedicated to book altering. Thousands of members around the world share techniques, answer questions and organize round robins. This is a great place to start.

I also have large galleries of my altered book work, sorted by year and project, posted on my personal web site, LisaVollrath.com.

Cutting Niches

Lisa Vollrath — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 02:41:22 +0000

Materials:

A book
A cutting surface (I use a piece of scrap plywood)
A metal or metal-edged ruler
A sturdy utility knife
Sharp blades for your knife
A pencil
Tacky glue
Weights or heavy books
Plastic wrap or plastic sheeting
Masking tape
A rough idea of what’s going into the niche

How to do it:
(Click on the images for an enlarged picture of each step)

Open your book to the page where your niche will go. Cut a piece of plastic wrap or sheeting that will cover and protect the pages prior to the niche. Wrap those pages with the plastic and wrap the plastic with tape to hold it in place. (Don’t tape the pages of your book!)

Decide how many pages you will use for the niche, and open your book to the last page you will use. If you want to use a couple of pages to back your niche, don’t forget to figure these in and include them in the pages that will remain uncut. As you did with the front of the book, wrap all the pages behind your niche in plastic, and tape the plastic to hold. You should now have a protected front and back of your book, and a bunch of pages free that you’re going to do bad things to.

Run a bead of tacky glue around the outside edge of your free pages. Just hold them in a loose clump and squeeze the bottle right onto the page edges. Then take your finger and rub the glue along the edges, covering them completely. Don’t worry if they don’t seem to be sticking to each other yet.

Close your book and place it on a flat surface. Weight it with whatever you’ve got—I use two big dictionaries. Leave your book to dry over night.

When your book is dry, open it gently. You may have to work a bit at getting your pages free of the plastic. Once the pages are free, you’ll have a protected front and back of your book, and one solid block of pages waiting for you to cut them.

If you have an object you’d like to place in your niche, place it on the book and choose a position. In this case, my niche is getting a lovely plastic snake, which will require an oddly shaped niche. I just placed the snake on the book and drew around it, then cleaned up my lines with a ruler.

Slide your cutting surface into your book to protect those pages you don’t want to cut. Using a metal or metal-edged ruler and a utility knife with sharp blades, cut your niche. Do several swipes along a single line, going deeper each time. I usually do one light cut to establish my line, a second one, and then remove the ruler and do all the rest of the cuts along that line. When you think you’re down deep enough, move to the next line and repeat, working your way around the niche. On the last cut, it’s helpful if your ruler is being pressed onto the niche to hold the pieces in place. Remove the interior pieces gently. If they’re not cut far enough, don’t tear them—just use your knife to cut again until they come loose. Keep clearing away layers until you have a nice neat hole.

Place your object in the niche one more time to be sure it’s the right size. Remove the object and run a bead of tacky glue around the cut page edges on the inside of your niche. Smear the glue with your finger just like you did along the outer edge of the book. Close the book and weight it. Let it dry over night.

This is how my finished book page looked. Since each page is unique, what I did to finish this out may vary from what you have in mind. Here’s what I did:

First, I painted the interior edges of the niche with a dark acrylic paint. When that was dry, I glued an old map behind the niche, and then glued my niche pages down to the finished pages behind them. I toned the map and sides with some colored glaze. When all that was dry, I glued my snake in place.

Want your niche to hold something loose like herbs or petals? Leave the top page of the niche loose from the rest, or cut a decorative paper the same size as your page, with a hole where your niche is. Fill your niche, then cover it with nylon tulle (that’s bridal netting, available at most fabric stores and Wal-Mart). I seal my edges with a wide bead of tacky glue so none of the stuff in the niche leaks out. Cover the tulle with your loose page or decorative paper.

Matchbox Pocket Shrines

Lisa Vollrath — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 15:06:05 +0000

One of my favorite small projects is making matchbox pocket shrines. These tiny treasures are simple and inexpensive to make, but with some thought, can offer a big message in a small package.

At left is a row of dream shrines I made for a swap on Nervousness. Since matchboxes generally come in packages of 10, I usually do five or ten of one design at a time. The extras always seem to find homes eventually.

I started by emptying the matchboxes of their contents, and separating the tray from the cover. The trays were painted with acrylics, using as dry a brush as I could manage, to minimize warping. I used royal blue and white, not very well mixed together, to create a cloud effect.

While the trays were drying, I worked on the covers. I cut a strip of lightweight paper slightly wider than the tray, and the full length of the paper. I applied glue stick to each surface of the matchbox, and simply wrapped the paper around. If the matchbox has dark cover art, it very often shows through lightweight papers, so I just wrap a second time around. Once the glue dried, I trimmed the excess paper away with a craft knife, leaving a nice clean edge.

The covers of these shrines were stamped with silver pigment ink, and embossed with iridescent powder.

Inside each shrine, I made little full moon faces using one of my favorite techniques. I have a collection of little metal charms, which make great casting molds. I simply pressed some Creative PaperClay into the charms and let it dry. The clay contracts slightly when it dries, and the little faces just fall right out. They were painted with an iridescent glaze, and I added eye detail with a fine point marker.

Once all the pieces and parts were dry, I assembled the shrine. The tassle is simply a piece of metallic embroidery floss, which I ran through the bottom of the tray with a heavy needle. Acrylic star beads and a touch of polyester batting went inside the tray, along with a moon face.

The same technique described above was used to make this Asian shrine. I painted the trays red, and wrapped the cover with red handmade paper, then added a piece of Asian text paper, some gold leaf and a peace stamp. The interior of the shrine contains a small photo of a geisha and a fortune, which were printed on my inkjet, a Chinese coin, and a gold bead with pieces of straw sticking out of it to create a sort of minimalistic arrangement. The tassle is black rayon embroidery floss. I did a set of ten of these, each containing a different photo and fortune.

Spirella Basics

Lisa Vollrath — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 15:21:20 +0000

A couple of months ago, I came across a term I’d never heard before: spirella. “What’s a spirella?” I asked. After three minutes of trying to explain it with words, my friend finally held one up for me to see—so, I’m doing the same thing for you. The image at left contains a spirella worked in light green thread on dark green cardstock. I tucked a little rubber stamped face in the center opening to dress it up a little, but that spiral thread work is a spirella. Wasn’t that easy?

Below are the basic instructions to make any spirella. You’ll find patterns on this site for circle and oval templates, but the instructions remain the same no matter which pattern you choose.

To work a spirella, you’ll need a template pattern. Print one from the links above, or draw your own. (Or, a tip from a friend: use a scalloped mega-punch or die-cut as your template.) A good spirella template has notches to hold the threads in place, and can be any shape.

I print my templates on plain paper, and mount them to cardstock using a glue stick.

Cut out the template. Make the cuts for the notches straight and crisp.

For my green spirella, I used bright green craft thread, which is very much like perl cotton for those of you into needle arts. Any thread can be used, although I’ve had the best success with threads that are smooth rather than textured, and lightweight rather than bulky. Attach the end of your thread to the back side of the template with tape—I used masking tape here so you could see what I was doing, but clear tape will work just as well.

Bring the thread to the front side of the template through one of the notches. Choose a notch on the other side of the template, and wrap the thread through it. The closer the notch is to straight across the template, the smaller your center hole will be. I chose one notch over from straight across, for a small hole. Experiment with using different spacing, and you’ll see what I mean.

OK, this is the really easy part: just wrap your threads back and forth, from one side of the template to the other. I moved clockwise, and wrapped through every notch. Here, you can see what the spirella looks like after wrapping through four notches

Just keep working your way around the circle. At some point, you’ll notice that some notches are getting two pieces of thread in them, while others are still empty. This is not a mistake! All your notches will eventually have two pieces of thread through them. Don’t ask why this works out—it just does.

All the way around the circle, with two threads in each notch. What a lovely spirella—and it’s almost complete!

Flip your spirella over, and anchor your thread with another piece of tape. Trim your threads, and you’re ready to apply your design to the front of a card, a scrapbook page…

…or in my case, an altered book layout.

Spirella Pattern #1 – Circle

Lisa Vollrath — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 15:41:57 +0000

For the spirella shown at left, I used lavender mulberry paper, a circle template (below) printed on cardstock, and purple metallic embroidery floss. Complete basic spirella instructions can be found here.