The Grand Tour: 6

This is one of the Grand Tour pieces that took take me in a slightly new direction with the series. It depicts the women in this April 1870 Peterson's Magazine fashion plate as voyeurs - glimpsing over the rail at Alsatian peasants. The next three in the series take a similar tact. I haven't posted The Grand Tour 7, but if you take a peek at The Grand Tour 8 you'll see what I mean.

The peasants and text are from “Circling the Globe in Stories of Travel” (International Pub. Co., 1896); next to them is the faded back of a vintage Parisian postcard. You have to look hard to find the map from “New Eclectic Series Complete Geography” (American Book Co., 1846) - it's part of the border of the second dress from the left.  7.5” x 9.5” on archival mat board. {SOLD}

Pendant 3

I made another butterfly pendant as a prototype for the Deja View line mentioned the other day. Now that I figured out how to make them without trapping air bubbles between the paper and the glass, the third one should be the charm.

For this one, I recycled thin, silvery Japanese wrapping paper for the base, then, added flowers from a "Popular Educator" engraving, a piece of a U.S. geological survey map and a butterfly from a recycled postcard. I've been rummaging around for chains but haven't landed on any yet. Meantime, I'm thinking these might look cool atop collages in addition to around necks.

When the pen was mighty

I came across this cardboard sample card of Esterbrook steel pen nibs in a junk store and couldn't resist. I liked that half the nibs were gone and that some were rusting. But what sealed the deal was the bravado of the motto "Made in America by Men Who Know Pens" (indeed) and the discovery that the company was housed for its first seven decades in Camden, N.J.

Back in the day, I lived in a commune in Camden. The 19th century house sat in front of a toilet seat factory where I could watch seats float by on the assembly line from my tiny, third floor room. Although the city is rough - well, a disaster, actually - I have vivid memories of it and a kind of fondness. As I do for ink pens. I own dozens of calligraphy pens and fountain pens.

Esterbrook began as the United States Steel Pen Manufacturing Co. but was renamed for its founder, Richard Esterbrook. He was a Brit who saw a market across the pond and went after it, creating the only company in America making steel pen nibs at the time.  He died in 1896, before things really took off, and, inevitably, declined. But Esterbrook lives on as a teensy part of Berol, a British manufacturer, and on sites across the Web.

Out on a Limb: 3

In early March, I posted a similar bird collage, Out On A Limb: 2. Back then, I mentioned that it was inspired by a collage in a catalog that I figured would be a snap to make. It wasn't too difficult but I didn't really have fun making it  (or the one before it) and didn't think I'd make more. Wrong.

This one came about when I was cutting a series of Chatterbox magazine bird engravings for a new series. I liked the bird in one engraving so much that I decided to replicate it using vintage book endpaper, text from antique children's books, a recycled security envelope and an illustration from an Impressionist art exhibit catalog. 5" x 5" on archival mat board {SOLD}

The first layers

While most days end with a finished piece, not every day does. Today, for example, I spent most of my time creating first layers by gluing papers onto stretched canvases. The boxy pieces are 10" x 10" and 12" x 12" squares with the papers - vintage geological survey maps, children's books text, vintage black & white maps - wrapped around the side and underneath. The top piece of gessoed canvas needs flattening but I wanted it in the photo so I took it out of the book press.  I'm not sure yet what will top these backgrounds, but wanted to have some on hand since it always takes me more time to make them than I think it will.