Upcycling: From a Watch to a Necklace

Jewelry making is an art and craft I usually admire in others. But, I'm curious and often like a challenge.

This is an old and half-broken Swatch I have been playing with the last couple of weekends. The plastic fasteners around the face have broken off the bottom and it has not been able to be a watch for a long time. But I love the design of the face: a strong sun in the center and variously colored planets at each five minute mark. Playing with ideas to recycle and upcycle it as a necklace, I had several ideas but testing them on materials showed just how many options are available and how limited my experience and skill level is.

There was a point when I almost gave up and researched buying a "vintage" replacement of my watch; however, I could not find that design online anywhere. Besides, the history of this watch could not be duplicated--a memory of first seeing and purchasing this Swatch about 1999 in a cool shop in a nearby college town with a friend who now lives further afield. Then, I also remember being befuddled with making books until I found some bindings I liked and could actually do. 

So, I pressed onward, doing things I know how to do, with materials I know how to use. A piece of thick scrap leather, eyelets, Irish linen thread, some beads, dangles, a blank chain, and some leather cord. A bit of wire twisting and hammering. Some guess-ti-mate measurements. Some temporary openings.

And, I am very happy with the results.

Am I an expert jewelry maker now? No way. But I had fun. And I learned a lot. And I solved a problem. Doing so has given me confidence to try again. I especially like being able to bring old memories to life, to be rebirth them in another form.

Beneath the Landscape

Beneath the Landscape, 9" x 12", acrylic on paper

I have always been fascinated by archeology and ancient treasures found in the ground. Maybe it comes from visiting Pompeii at a very young age or a love of history. 

Drifting

This painting started as the basis of being part of a journal cover. It still might be. I had fun building up layers in the bottom part, creating texture with a piece of crumpled plastic. The top has a roll of brayer lines that I lightly touched up after dry with more yellow azo but I did not like the look and removed it. It retains a great texture that is lovely to touch.

Drifting, 9 x 12, acrylic on paper

Energy Dance

Energy Dance, 9 x 12, acrylic on paper

This experimental painting has bold colors and slashes of the palette knife, bringing back underlying transparent colors of purple, red, and yellow oxide. Some of the accumulated paint on the knife went right back in the middle parts of the composition.

Beach Vista from the Waves

Beach Vista from the Waves, 9 x 12, acrylic on paper

This one still has an ocean theme, but it is more realistic. I can remember, as a child, being in the Pacific Ocean and looking back at the beach. This wasn't my distinct view but it has that feel. Besides, I could not see that well without my glasses back then.

Abstract Ocean

Last month, missing painting, I got out my supplies. It always feels so good to play with paint.

Abstract Ocean. 9 x 12, acrylic on paper

Experimenting with Collagraphs

Celtic Horse
Collagraph

acrylic on computer paper
8.50” x 11”

Have you ever tried making a collagraph? It is a type of printmaking where you build up the surface, rather than subtracting (as in making a stamp). You can use any kind of firm material for the base (cardboard, mat board scraps, canvas board, etc.) with various glued down flat objects (leaves, fabric, coins, etc.). With such a range of ingredients, it can be very creative.

Long wanting to make a collagraph, I could not settle down and decide on a premeditated design so I looked on my shelves, thinking about what size to use and found an unfinished painting on Gessobord. It had been an experiment—the first time I had tried using an acrylic medium called string gel. Dipping a palette knife in the jar, I then lifted it and swirled it over a section of the rigid surface.

Now, I was curious—would it make a good collagraph? Since it already had a raised design on the surface, I wouldn’t have to wait for everything to dry overnight (or longer). Bonus--I could play now!

Trying various papers and full-body acrylic paints on hand, I first tried rolling paint on a brayer and transferring it to the raised design. It didn’t work very well, so I switched, using a brush to put paint on the hardened string gel. This yielded much better results.

Limiting myself to just three colors (blue, teal, brown), I began to see a horse’s eye, a muzzle, and then an abstract body. The swirls reminded me of Celtic knots and spirals. Cool!

I tried other variations, using Cotman 140 lb. w/c paper, inkjet translucent vellum, and beige cardstock. Surprisingly, the plain computer paper showed the most details.

Natural Beauty and Nature Book (Part One)

Gathering slate blue skies bring needed rain.




A visiting Western King bird surveys a field.



Wildflowers, not as numerous as previous years, curve around a walking trail.





Baby barn swallows stretch their beaks for food under the house eaves.



Trees begin shedding their winter barks.



Young mockingbirds squeak and squeal on the back fence, getting flying lessons.




The last of the spring flowers push up and spread before the crushing heat of the summer.




Sunsets glow in ephemeral colors before quickly fading.

All this month of May, I have witnessed the scope and grandeur of Nature. I am inspired, nourished, refreshed, uplifted, and delighted by Her presence around me.

In response, here are some mixed-media Nature samplers I created.

When I began, I listed a range of materials that might be used for the signature “pages” and how (and if!) they could be bound into a book form. Some things worked; some didn't. As a result, pages are made from watercolor paper, felt with a adhesive backing, thin cotton fabric, dark gel pen paper, various types of tulle, handmade paper I made last summer, gelatin prints on various substrates, transparencies, fabric with photo transfers, cotton mesh, vinyl, upholstery fabric, copper mesh, transparent plastic with flower designs, paint sample cards, vellum, scrapbook paper, and photo paper.

Attaching items or backing thin pages, I experimented with brads, hand sewing, staples, copper wire, glue stick, and fabric glue.

























When I began, I could not decide whether to put blank surfaces in to use as a journal but settled upon making a sampler. As I drew close to completing the signatures, I also realized more could be done by layering over the existing pages with paint, markers, colored pencils, gel pens, sewing, buttons, metal pieces, natural items, and other embellishments. So even though they have been completed and bound, in a way, these nature books can be expanded.

And isn’t that similar to Mother Nature, who is ever changing?

Experimental Journal

Acrylic gelatin print on canvas
9.75” x 11” album cover

Looking through some of my collage and journal-making books, I felt like doing something quite different. I remembered a blank “Just-the-Pieces” album I’d put together with the gelatin print cover. The pages are sturdy black cardstock, intended to hold photographs. Last year,

Andrea Platt demonstrated some wonderful drawings she did on black paper using colored pencils and gel pens and-–YES!—that’s what I decided to try!

Appropriating part of a magazine cover having a wonderful array of blues and greens, I cut and glued that to the first page and began playing with the colored pencils. It is truly amazing how the black page is so utterly different and how it becomes part of the design.

I used green, blue, and white colored pencils with some gold metallic gel pen highlights. Nothing was precise or planned but the squiggles and lines and blips were mark-making of the highest form of fun! It was very relaxing, too, just doodling in different colors and allowing the strong black background speak for itself.

Fire Dancer

Fire Dancer

9" x 12"

acrylic on paper

Back to painting this week, I was trying a technique in Mary Todd Beam’s new book The Creative Edge: Exercises to Celebrate Your Creative Self using pieces of plastic to make rock-like texture. When I tilted this first try, I immediately saw a figure, perhaps a tribal dancer wearing an elaborate animal costume, holding a flaming torch.

Right now, I am of two minds—add some more defining facial features (but I'm not confident or comfortable drawing people!) or leave it as an abstract figure.

What do you think?

Tribal Message

Tribal Message

11” x 14”

acrylic on canvas

Sometimes on a weekend, I find I can either make art or blog about art. Since I didn’t post yesterday, guess what I did?

I’m working on some experimental books. Since my last book sewing class is this week, I’d like to try something and show it around and get feedback. What’s unusual is that I’m making the pages ahead of time and then will sew them to the cover binding (leather? fabric? canvas?). There are so many options, I’m not sure I’ll finish in time!

So, here’s a painting from a few weeks ago. It might be done. It might want more.

Fabric of Memory

Those who sketch often mention that studying and then rendering a scene on paper is more beneficial for reference than taking a photograph. Recently, I had the opposite experience.

Cutting a piece of corduroy to press into my wet acrylic paint, I turned the fabric over and saw an outline strongly reminding me of an Irish site I had photographed. Two churches, the old next to the new, were both dedicated to the female Saint Gobnait. Standing in the roofless older church, I had angled my camera shots to look toward the newer chapel’s sharp turrets. Within this fabric, I saw a bulky building with a pointed steeple-like shape and I was thrown back in memory to that misty afternoon.

Debating about whether to continue or consult my photos, I couldn't ignore this challenge and decided to follow where the Muse was beckoning. I put down my trusty brayer and picked up a big brush.

Memory of St. Gobnait's

acrylic on paper

9" x 12"

After completing the basic shape and adding some green countryside, I was deep into my memory. I did not stop to glance at my photos until later. And when I did, I was almost disappointed, wondering if I needed to continue working or start another more faithful to the original site. As you can see from my photos, it is not recognizable as that place in Ireland. But in the process of painting it I connected with a fabric of my memory.

This painting might not be the best, but it meant a great deal at the time. If I had deliberately tried to match my photos, I might not have had that energized shock of memory and might have lost interest in reproducing reality.

That seemed the best part--and maybe what was what I was after in the first place. The painting stands on its own now, a short-hand for that experience, and in no way a realistic rendering. Actually, I’ve done many quick paintings that moved me, profoundly and mystically, that aren’t much to look at. In those cases, it’s something I discover in the painting experience rather than the resulting painting itself that is important.

The more personal iconography an artist uses, the more true it reflects their soul, don’t you think? That was one reason for returning to Ireland--to take photos and use them for painting reference. Ironic, then, when I didn’t even follow my own images but rather my own feelings. And that made it so powerful.

Painting Large

Untitled

14" x 20"

acrylics on paper

These two untitled acrylic paintings on paper were done entirely with a great new 2" brush I recently purchased. Intended to be a gesso brush, it felt so good and was so different than anything I'd tried before that I decided to paint with it alone. It was a very interesting experience.

Untitled

9" x 12"

acrylics on paper

Gelatin Printmaking 202

Yesterday I had another session with gelatin printmaking with another friend. Since I’d seen a recent YouTube about doing a double exposure on the same print, I was in the mood to experiment. In addition to two large jelly roll size pans, I filled two box acrylic frames with gelatin for some smaller sizes to play with.

Again, I tried a lot of different “paper” to print on. Here's one below on oriental paper.

And one on a piece of white fabric.

For the first time, I used an Ampersand panel called Claybord. The smooth clay ground picked up nuances in the paint and I was very pleased with the results. Those white shapes might be when the gelatin had broken.

Also new, I tried some canvas paper that originally came in tablet form. Nancy noticed it would throw white irregular dots onto each print and we weren’t sure why.

In addition, I used two 6” x 8” canvas boards with the intention of using them as covers for a book or art journal. They came out well, but with those interesting white spots again (see below). Nancy and I decided to call them “snow,” my husband called them “stars” and they didn’t disturb my landscapes but rather enhanced them. Perhaps it was the rough canvas grade or the gesso coating?

Once again, the best results were on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico hot press watercolor paper. It picked up all the intricate colors and textures but their cold press variety worked well, too. This size of 9” x 12” fit the large pans well and I didn’t have to cut them further.


Nancy had a great idea when I was thinking of using crumpled foil for texture. She said it might be too harsh on the delicate gelatin; why not try some tissue? After rolling out paints, again using Liquitex heavy body acrylics and Golden Fluid acrylics, I crumpled up some archival tissue and randomly laid it over the gelatin, not smoothing it down. Quickly, I removed it and placed the receiving paper on the gelatin plate. What a fantastic texture it created, especially using transparent colors!

I used more stencils this time, having cut out some basic circles, squares, ovals, and rectangles beforehand. Blue painters tape made a fine mountain range, as I had learned before in my other paintings. It lasted quite a while, sticky side down on the gelatin, and I pulled many good prints from it.




I brought out two different Celtic stencils I’d made, one from acetate, one from white card stock. Of course, the acetate created sharper images but I liked the results of the long, more imperfect card stock better. The one below is on cold press watercolor paper.



This one is on white card stock.




The most exciting stencils? Weeds from the yard that looked like wheat. I’d picked them shortly before we began and was pleased they worked so well for so long. Because of their bulk, I thought they might break the gelatin, but they didn’t.



I also used some beautiful lacey fabric Nancy brought.


Here is some Japanese white lace paper used as a stencil in the wet paint. Sometimes I removed it, sometimes I left it on.



Nancy brought letter stencils and did some innovative work with words, something I hadn’t thought to do. She also did some great geometric pieces using thin strips of paper, as well as combing the paint with different types of brushes and combs before printing. We both had a laugh whenever our brayers rolled up our flat elements while we were “inking” (spreading acrylics) across our plate. Sometimes we were able to rescue and replace our stencil element.

The larger tray of gelatin broke on Nancy first, so she tried the smaller 4” x 6” and 5” x 7” molds. When we began, she had turned them out of their acrylic box frame molds onto some plexiglass sheets. She said it was nice to not have to worry about the pan’s border (I’d left the larger gelatins in their jelly roll pans). Since I was enjoying working larger, I kept using my large tray until my gelatin finally broke, after about 6 hours! By then, I was ready to slow down and pull a few more prints before finally quitting.

Again, I learned so much. Nancy and I thought perhaps the gelatin keeps acrylic paints moist and more workable. I’ve tried some printmaking on glass but have never been pleased with the results, perhaps because acrylics dry so fast. With this process, I did get some pieces that weren't 100% wonderful but there were parts of those I can use. Instead of wild experimenting with each print, I really stuck to a theme and enjoyed how the same basic print looked on different paper, fiber, canvas, and watercolor weights. What I liked most was seeing things in the finished print I hadn’t planned. They are delightful accidents, like the “snow.” When my gelatin broke, I kept working the whole surface and that area of break now resembles a lovely bowl shape. There is enough spontaneity in this printmaking to make me really happy with the unplanned result.