Saturday, October 9, 2010

Vintage Goodness

Hi There Blogging Friends! Recently; I joined Mary Green's 'Collage Coterie' On-Line Class and was delighted to be introduced to a new friend. Our first lesson was to create a torn paper background then brush "GESSO" over it to create an aged look.

I had seen Gesso being referred to during other instructions but I used to just ignore it and use white folk art paint instead.

However; this time I felt it was time to discover this "new friend" and I am glad I did.

Below is my first attempt at the lesson; I used a paper mache tag then; covered it with my torn papers and brushed them over with Gesso. I love the way the Gesso gave the background a bit of a "spooky" look. The second part of the lesson was to work with appropriate image sizes for the piece of art so; I chose this sweet little girl who is heading off to bed with her favourite toy. I think her daddy is saying "Good Night and God Bless" and she has turned to acknowledge him. Or....maybe a ghostly figure whispered that!!!


My second attempt was also on a paper mache tag. This lesson wasn't so much about using the Gesso; it was about adding charcoal smudged edges to the images to make them stand out more.

I had worked on my tag and all was well.....but then.......I accidentally slopped a blob of Gesso onto my Bride's dress...oh dear.....I tried to remove it but it got worse.....I wiped a hole in the paper image!

So; after a bit of wondering what to do I grabbed a good dose of my new friend "Gesso" in a brush and completely covered the bride's dress then; I swirled a pattern all over with a pin. A few dots of Gesso on the bridal veil and the image was saved. You see; Gesso allows you to sculp a little....why didn't I go buy this fabulous product before ???

I am so looking forward to doing more of Mary's course to discover more new friends.

This love of the mixed media vintage look; which includes paper, fabric, stamping, chalks and inks is running through my veins at the moment....I can't get enough of it!

I love surfing the net to see what everyone is doing and recently I came across a gorgeous blog; Cape Cod Rambling Rose, which is operated by a very nice lady by the name of Louise. I fell instantly in love with a piece of Louise's work; so I purchased it from her Etsy shop. It is just so nice to see other people's work up close and I love Louise's book of fabric, lace and paper.




Louise also sent me these divine antique 'Cabinet Cards' . What a joy it is to see these up close....I haven't seen anything like them here in Australia...have you?



All this vintage inspiration got me very excited this past week, so my dear friend Sue and I went "op" shopping to seek out vintage finds.

This is what we brought home.....



beautiful cut-out work...



delightful cotton hand towels...


and "lotsa" lace and damask cloths...mmmmm they are nice!

All have been washed and ironed and are ready for me to make something special out of them.

Do tell....what is your latest vintage love?


10 comments:

  1. Wow, Judith, this work is beautiful. I have always wondered what role gesso played so this was interesting. Love the way the bride was saved.

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  2. Lovely to find a new craft...glad you found a way to save your beautiful tag...my favourite vintage items...crinoline ladies, embroideries & lace plus the wonderment of a bygone era.
    Jane.

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  3. Hello Judith...so nice to meet you! Thank you for the lovely comment you left me. Your blog is wonderful...I love your tags! I never really knew what gesso was but want to try it out after seeing the lovely sheen it has given your tags! So happy I stopped by!

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  4. Judith I love those tags just beautiful !

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  5. I love the way your tags turned out. I love old photos as well. Thank you for visiting my blog. Hope you have a wonderfully blessed weekend.

    -Danielle

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  6. How lovely Judith, and what a great save! My vintage love is still linens - anything hand-embroidered, including quilts. I also love vintage artwork, especially from the 20's through the 50's. Like from children's books. I have a bunch saved that I'd like to turn into quilts!

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  7. I'm not into vintage..yet.. but I've seen lots of examples of craft using Gesso but have been a bit afraid to try it. I'm inspired to 'have a go' after reading your experience and thanks for putting in your problem as it's nice to know others muck things up sometimes too and how they fixed them ;).

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  8. Oh wow, I love what you've been up to. Your tags and photos with the gesso are amazing.. how clever to fix the wedding dress that way. Just purely inspirational. Also loving your vintage finds...of course!!!

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  9. Hi Judith,
    love your collage coterie tags!! Very beautiful.
    Isn't the class fun? Thanks for stopping by.
    Oh, I just love lace,Cabinet cards - just to name a few.
    Have a lovely Sunday.
    Hugs,
    Marie

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  10. Just popping by to say that those cabinet cards are not so rare - we've got over 150 of them in our family tree folio - my sister is working out who is who - often you can see the same jewellery worn between generations and facial features to link who is who.
    They are a wonderful find

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