A very Victorian Christmas

Over on the Paper With a Past Facebook page, I've been counting down to Christmas with daily posts of Victorian cards from my collection. It suddenly dawned on me that the images ought to be posted here, too, for those not on Facebook. Enjoy …

MERRY CHRISTMAS. The final card.
Published by Boston's Louis Prang in 1881.

Zig-Zag papers, a guitar and ...

Papers, Scissors, Soft Rock (2012)
antique trade card (Columbus, Ohio, guitar company, 1892) and illustration
(The Delineator); vintage record sleeve (Columbia), illustrations
(Lothar Meggendorfer's International Circus, Kestrel Books, 1979; 
Victorian Fashion Paper Dolls, 1977)  and sheet music (Chappell & Co., 1936); 
found paper;  ink, watercolor, marker; 5.5" x 11.5" on acid-free mat board.
Price: $125 (matted, unframed, available in November)  

A while back, I said the "Scissors, Paper, Rock" series would continue, and it has. "Papers, Scissors, Soft Rock" - cue the groan - takes the work in a new direction. I'm having fun with it, so look for three to four additional collages.

This one happened purely by accident when I remembered a package of Zig-Zag papers I found one morning while walking to the studio. Honestly. Then I recalled a Victorian trade card with a guitar, and, things took off from there.

I wanted Daphne onstage and found the curtains in a vintage pop-up book that my friend Shirley Tenhover sent to me. As it turned out, I  had a copy of the book in my collection but wasn't ready to sacrifice it ... yet.

The background - a vintage record sleeve - came via our basement, where I'm rummaging through the vinyl for more material for the rest of the collages.  

Score at Covington's 4th Sunday Antiques Show

I woke up early this morning - well, 8:30 a.m. is early to me - drank some coffee, then, headed across the river to Covington's historic MainStrasse for its monthly antiques show. I hadn't been to any show in ages and since this one is small, I knew it would be manageable both in terms of my stamina and my pocketbook.

I usually don't find much here, but there's always that off chance. The vendors were fewer than I remember seeing in past years even though there was a decent crowd.

I was striking out until ... hitting a booth with boxes and boxes of paper. None of it organized. So the digging began. At this point, I look for specific things that will be used in collages. I've learned to become focused as my stash, er, archive - has grown. Too much stuff is crippling.

The digging paid off, first with a marvelous batch of 18 Arm & Hammer bird trade cards. Some are in awful shape, and that made them all the more appealing. After snapping up those tiny treasures, I spotted some Victorian flower scraps and oversized trade cards, multiple copies of a baking cookbooklet (not copyrighted!), a few cabinet card photographs of men (for a series I'm about to begin for a November exhibit) and other odds and ends.

So, it was well worth the time and I spent a mere $9. Score!

 

I'm back out on a limb

Out On a Limb: Wings of Song (2012)
mixed-media collage: antique engraving (Chatterbox, 1879) and trade card
(Singer Sewing Machine Co., American Songbird series, 1898-1922);
vintage sheet music (Harold Flammer Inc., 1938); recycled catalogs and tissue paper;
ink, watercolor, marker, fluid chalk; acrylic sealer and acrylic varnish.
6" x 6" inches. On hardwood panel - ready to hang. Price: $85.
(SOLD)

This is the first of five new Out On a Limb collages created to hang in the 5th Street Gallery during July, when the World Choir Games hit Cincinnati. The five each feature one of the "American Song Bird" trade cards I've used a few times before.

There were 16 cards in the series of color lithographs (chromolithographs, if you want to get technical) issued by the Singer Sewing Machine Company. The original watercolors were painted by J.L. (John Livsey) Ridgway, a scientific illustrator who specialized in ornithological and paleontological art. Of course, since these were trade cards, the backs were used not only to provide more info about the bird on the front but to tout the latest Singer products, too.

These collages continue the pairing of color and black & white images, usually of the same bird. In this case, chats. I combed my music bins and found a remarkable number of  bird songs. I tried to use music in each collage but when it came to the final two, well, you'll have to wait to and see.

Comic rollerskaters

 

I landed this group of four Victorian images in a box filled to the top with fantastic trade cards. But there was a problem: the bottom of the box had gotten wet, so some cards were stuck together and a few - luckily, just a few - were damaged beyond repair. I managed to separate the ones stuck together with minimal damage, because the book store owner who sold them - who was upfront about the water - clued me in on how to do it: submerse them in water and let them sit for a while. I know, it's counterintuitive. But it works. These inks are permanent, and trade card paper generally is thick and sturdy.

After some research, I discovered that a blank white band on the bottom of the cards had been trimmed and that these were part of a set of 14 stock cards. That is, cards left blank on the bottom and on the back so that they could be ordered by any business to advertise. These were printed by Clay & Richmond of Buffalo, N.Y., but you'll find plenty examples of the same cards printed by other printers - as well as other roller skating cards - at tradecards.com.

I'm not sure how I'll use these yet. But love the image of the two girls. The first roller derby queens?