Here’s what Kelly Parker sent me—she described it in her note as “a big pile of junk”:

Let’s see—a bingo card, some old pharmacy labels, a Rummikub tile, a washer, a button, a clever little paper box with a flip top, and two heavy metal plates wrapped with fibers (hey Kelly, what the heck are these, anyway?).

What would you make from these? One item? Two? Three? Which pieces go together, and which should be set aside for some other project?

A Woman of Numbers

This bag of stuff took a little sorting before the picture became clear. The first items I grouped together were these: the bingo card, the Rummikub tile, and the old pharmacy labels. The piece those items inspired really wouldn’t lend itself to my usual how-to article with step by step photos, because it’s mostly gluing once the pieces are chosen. Instead, I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk about the development of a piece, and how I used these items as a jumping-off point.

I pulled these items into their own pile because they seemed to be related. Numbers. Science. Games. Someone who is all about numbers, both at work and play. I also liked that the items were all very straight and square. Straight lines indicate order—perhaps this is a piece about someone who is very orderly and precise? Slowly I began to walk around my workroom and assemble other items in keeping with this theme. Dominoes. A ruler. Paper printed with charts and tables. A numerical printer’s block.

When developing an assemblage, I like to tell some sort of story. Very early on, I decided this piece would be called A Woman of Numbers. I chose a very serious vintage photo of a woman from the turn of the century. Perhaps she was a doctor, or a scientist. Perhaps an accountant. Perhaps a gambler. I continued to add items to the plain wood box I chose as a container. This is what I ended up with:

The story of this woman is intentionally unclear. I’ve collected items that might have been from her life. Notice how almost all of them are square and regantular, and how they’re presented to the viewer straight on, rather than at angles? This is to visually reinforce the idea of order and regularity. There’s nothing left to chance here—whoever this woman was, she was very precise.

One more thing to notice—a technique called visual leading. Basically, you take the viewer by the hand, and lead them across the piece by ordering the visual elements in a way that leads the eye down a specific path. In this piece, the trail goes from the very large BINGO in the top left, down the stairsteps created by the postage stamps, the playing card, the printers block to the red soda cap (or across the ruler, depending on how your mind works). I’ve intentionally left the woman’s photo out of this trail, so that she is discovered only after viewing the other items.

Although placement of items in assemblage pieces often seems random, there’s usually a method to the artist’s madness—look for the story, and for the trail. Sometimes, they’ve been place there intentionally. Sometimes, they just appear on their own.

Day of the Dead Pendant Box

My next group of items was the cute little box with a flip-top lid, and the big silver washer. These were just asking to be hung from a cord around my neck—but first, they needed a little spiffing up.

I decided to do a little magazine collage as a background. I found blocks of bright colors: orange, yellow, lime, fuschia and aqua. I cut the pieces into narrow strips.

The strips were applied to the box with a little matte medium.

I applied a stamp from my Day of the Dead faux postage sheet to the front of the box, and set it aside to dry.

When the box was completely dry, I gave it a coat of Diamond Glaze to seal it.

While the glaze was drying, I tore three strips of fabric in colors matching my collage strips, and braided them together.

I looped the ends of the braid through the center of the washer, and wrapped them with black decorative thread.

When the box was dry, I applied a little glue to the sides of the box, and pushed the braid into it, centering the washer below the box.

I wrapped the box with a bit of black thread, and a little silver wire threaded with a few beads. This was both decorative, and a way to make sure the braid stays attached to the box while it’s being worn.

I tore a few more strips of fabric, added some fibers, and looped the whole mess through the washer to create a tassel, wrapping below the washer with a bit of black thread.

A few beads on the tassel strands, and my pendant is finished.