Kim Schoenberger - almost complete!

YAY! My first alphabet for 2011 is almost finished. My perspex arrived last week so I was able to start piecing it altogether, I'm just waiting on the base to complete the piece.

Sandwiched between two sheets of perspex, each letter (on 7 x 7 cm square 300gsm paper) are held together with stainless steel miniature bolt & nuts, as well as, one at each corner with spacers allowing the letters to swing within the sheets.

Then, turning it around you can see stitching and the makings clearly visible.

A close up as to see the perspex joined together with the nuts & bolts.

And Z in its own little display box living in the land of Z'topia. Lovely little base to hold it upright.

Side view - you can see the base with grooves to hold Z up and the nut & bolt at the top to hold it in place.

Then again being able to see the makings from behind.

ps. I must thank my brother Richard owner of Australian Marine Windows for supplying me with all my perspex. His schedule is so busy with installing boat screens all over the world, and yet he still manages to find the time for me!! Thanks bro'

Group photo - black & white (so far)

Hi all

I have discovered how to do mosaic photos (see my post over on my paperponderings blog) and thought I would try to make a group photo of the completed black and white and a touch of... alphabets (so far).

I have also popped all the images into a slideshow on the ride hand side bar; but part of me thought it might be nice to see them all together; so here is an attempt - enjoy!

L2R,T2B: Fiona, Barry, Lyndell, Elaine, Jenny, Anna, Liz, Heather, Laurence

Finished black and white alphabet

It has been quite some time since I posted on this blog - back in January actually. I have been creating my black and white alphabet with a little added colour from rusted metal strapping; tin sheeting - painted white; anodised aluminium from old canisters; and pop-rivets. Whilst I had done a couple more monthly sets since January I had not posted.

Fiona's email made me get a hurry on to finish the whole alphabet. Today I did manage to finish it; and also put together the 3D piece I designed to display the alphabet.

So below are images of the finished B&W alphabet.

Barry Smith © B&W alphabet

Barry Smith © Detail - B&W alphabet

The 3D piece has been created to sit on a flat surface.

Barry Smith © B&W alphabet in 3D

Barry Smith © B&W alphabet in 3D

Barry Smith © B&W alphabet in 3D

It still needs to be stabilised a little more and tape put on the ends of the wire rods so people don't cut fingers.

JGR May

I hope you're all having a good year. It really is flying by! Below are my letters for May.

I've enjoyed this technique and as always: I've learned quite a bit while creating
my alphabet. I've also enjoyed seeing what everyone else has come up with.
I think my favorite part of this technique is the unpredictable texture.
Thank you for visiting!

Suminagashi

Hi All!

Well, I haven't given up! I've been plugging away working at learning suminagashi, albiet slowly! I gave the Arches Text wove a try and initially it seemed promising but was pretty inconsistant, so I gave in and looked on YouTube for tutorials, and BINGO! I discovered exactly what I had been doing wrong! (Everything.) So I headed back to the studio and tried again, slowly with deliberation and much less ink and more surfactant... I'm using a traditional Sumi-e ink and Orvus paste (cattle shampoo) as the surfactant, so I'm not getting the really vibrant colours, but the subtler grays have really grown on me.

With my improved technique the Arches stopped working...soooo I tried my cheap and cheerful "Sho-ji" paper - it's a big roll of cheap as dirt Japanese paper that I use for rough proofing and inital sketches... but it worked AMAZING! Way better than any of the 'good' papers, western or eastern, that I tried.

Technical note: I've been trying to add photos but appearently Blogger and I aren't friends today. It keeps 'messing' with my photos. deleting and rearranging them so hopefully this posts alright!

A few samples of the dozens of sheets I've made (this really is an addictive process):

First attempt at Arches text wove...the ink 'took' more darkly (as I hoped) in the top corner but not evenly... the contrast is a little high on these images (my camera was not happy shooting the mostly white/pale gray and I had to photoshop them.)

A second, more successful sheet... but still not looking 'right'!

One of the first sheets using Sho-ji! this is totally what I was looking for!

Awesome!

I can get two roughly 15" x 12" sheets in my tank, so I've got plenty of background to work with - now I have to get to making the letters. I know what form I want the final piece to take so from here on it it should be smooth sailing! (Famous last words.)

Sorry for the long post hopefully I'll be able to show some 'real' letters next week!

Cheers,

Lee

P.S. I'm not sure why it made a huge long blank at the bottom of my original post hopefully this will fix it and not double post. So sorry!

Kim Schoenberger - JKLM

BLACK & WHITE With a touch of... ME, RED, & my focus on PLASTIC!

I seemed to be settling into my challenge I have set myself (within the ALaW challenge) on the reduction of my plastic consumption quiet nicely. Last month I found myself in a flurry of frustrations not knowing which way to turn. Ten weeks in, and my efforts are now paying off I'm starting to notice less plastic in the bin.

This months letters have been fun and in my typical way of creating I've gone deeper and deeper into my inner world. This is where the ME comes into it and the colour RED ofcourse represents the life force that pumps through my vains, sustaining, nurturing etc....

J - With a touch of... The Joker this guy was scrificed for art - I loved to play cards! So many fond memories when time just ticked by and it didn't matter. Hours with buddies, hard laughs, drinks, and bloody good fun! Yep, there would be plenty of jokes played (on each other) and told, so many big belly laughs... 300gsm paper, black printing ink applied by scraping off excess, black stitching on the treadle, joker playing card, and plasitc rim.

K - With a touch of... Being 'K' why not reflect me in some way? I have this groovy door curtain of round red & golden yellow transparent plastic (yes plastic). I stare through it every morning and day dream before getting out of bed. I also have a pair of sunglasses with red lenses that I occassional wear, for when I want to see life a little different! 300gsm paper, black printing ink scraped back with a comb, red & black stitching on the treadle, double sided tape, red transparent plastic, and plastic rim.

L - With a touch of... L is delivered on more of a serious note. I often question myself. Repeatedly on all areas in life, my up bringing was; respect your elders, do the right thing, children are not seen and not heard you get the drift... so I am forever asking myself, do I measure up? my answer always come back to "it keeps me honest!" 300gsm paper, black printing ink woodblock, red printing ink applied with a patterned rolling pin, red & black stitching on the treadle, plastic tape measure and rim.

M - With a touch of... I went all patriotic on this one. An Australia Day stick-on tattoo with melted initial seal wax dripped on - a few hidden meanings to this one! 300gsm paper, black printing ink M monoprint, red stitching on the treadle, stick-on tattoos, seal wax and plastic rim.

some new... some overdue!

Happy spring everyone!

Lettres de février - February letters - Callie

Bonjour,

Hello

Point de retard cette fois... ;)
Voici donc les deux lettres suivantes dans les alphabets colorés et "noir et blanc"...

I'm not late this time ... ;)
Here are two letters in the alphabet and colorful "black and white" ...

Bonne journée

Have a good day...

Premières lettres - First letters - Callie

Bonjour,

Je vous prie de bien vouloir accepter mes excuses pour mon retard... Je suis désolée d'être en retard, j'ai eu de la difficulté à trouver des idées puisque mes premières idées n'allaient pas trop...
Enfin... j'ai trouvé un ou deux idées...

I'm sorry for being late. I beg you to please accept my apologies for my late ... I had trouble finding ideas since my first thoughts were not too ...
Finally ... I found a couple of ideas ...

Voici le premier alphabet :
Il s'agit d'un petit concentré de majuscule "Gothique Fraktur" et des graphismes, le tout en noir, la lettre est tracée avec la plume à affiche et de la gouache noire, les graphsimes sont tracés au feutre fin, la petite touche de "rouge" est apportée par une lettre en carton, laquelle lettre forme donc un relief.

This is the first alphabet:
This is a small concentration of capital "Gothic Fraktur" and graphics, all in black, the letter is drawn with the pen displays and black gouache, the graphsimes are traced with felt pen, the touch "red"is given in a letter box, letter which therefore forms a relief.

Et voici le second alphabet :

J'ai tracé le contour de la lettre au crayon gris, on peut donc dire que c'est une lettre dessinée... mais elle est aussi calligraphiée ;) J'en ai par la suite tracé les contours avec une plume très fine et de la gouache noire. J'ai colorée l'intérieur avec des aquarelles brillantes et j'ai attendu... Je trouvais que la brillance ressortait trop peu donc j'ai peint l'extérieur de la lettre à la gouache et au pinceau fin.

This is the second alphabet:
I traced the outline of the letter in pencil, we can say that a letter is drawn ... but it is also calligraphy;) I eventually traced the outlines with a fine pen and black gouache. I colored inside with bright watercolors and waited ... I found that the apparent brightness too low so I painted the outside of the letter in gouache and brush end.

On dirait bien que c'est parti...
Looks like it's gone ...
Bonne soirée
Good evening

black and white and a touch of...

... pattern and light!

Digitally designed and generated, printed on watercolor Epson, perforated from the back.

First of all I want to say how happy I am for participating in ALAW 2011! Thank you Fiona for making it possible, and for welcoming me to such wonderful group.

I have been following the postings during the 2010 "season" and deeply admired everyone's artistic skills and expertise in calligraphy. I am humbly presenting my first few letters' attempt, created in photoshop and eventually presented upon completion in a fashion that will put to action my bookbinding/paper structuring skills.

Until next time I wish you all happy letter making and wonderful next four weeks!

Fiona's first letters

I have made a beginning and have decided to make my first alphabet the one that has 'black and white and a touch of...' for me, gold.

I am choosing to write italic letters in a nib size that should work for all letters (ascenders and descenders included) on the 7cm a 7cm paper; and then doing multiple overwriting in different nibs sizes and styles to create some texture.

Building on a trick I learned in my very first alphabet (from Noela) I am adding a square of gold foil to each page. I am then attaching the page to a larger black page and folding it and then joining each page together. You can see the process here.

I am not sure what I will do next with the joined pages - just how they will finish up is still a bit of a mystery to me!

January Letters-JGR

I hope you're all having a great year so far. I'm very excited to be involved with this wonderful challenge for the second time. My letters for 2010 were very informal, this time I'm going with a more controlled approach. My first alphabet is 'Black and White with a touch of blue texture'.

There is some randomness in my technique but overall I'm attempting a more cohesive look.

My technique is a combination of hand drawing, watercolor paint, dye and collage. Thanks for visiting, happy weekend!