'WOYWW - 05/30/12 Starting H. Potter Art Journal!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

I've been tidying up my art studio - amongst other things. Now I'm back for a hot minute.

For WOYWW this week, I'm continuing to play in a new art journal. It's a blank book with a Harry Potter cover. I've always been fascinated by owls and have a small collection of owl sculptures. So I couldn't resist this blank book when I found it!

New Art Journal 'Harry Potter' -

 with checklists for next steps.

Usually, I  to put a sticky note on each journal so that

I can instantly know where I should begin.

Also it feelsl great to check off a step!

I've already torn out pages as a first step. So tonight I laminated multiple pages together using YES! Paste -  with a flexible plastic putty knife from the hardware store. (The edges were cut down with Tim Holtz 'Tonic' scissors, so that the putty knife can fit into the YES! Paste jar.) After interleaving each page woth wax paper, I put the art journal under a heavy iron while the pages dry. Next step will be to 'under journal' (from Pam Carriker) with pencils and crayons to create some resists before aplying acrylic glazes.

I really enjoy starting the prep  workfor a new art journal. The pages are pristine and possiblities for the future artwork seem unlimited!

Do you work in art journals? What are your first prep steps? Do you laminate pages?

Thanks for stopping by. Would love for you to comment on this post - or any of my other posts. Please stop by often - a new Giveaway will be coming late summer to celebrate 100 Followers!

See more artist studios here at WOYWW.

Peace,
LuLu

'WOYWW 2/2/11 - Laminatin' Heaven Inside / Snowtorious Outside!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

Outside, here in Chicago, it's the Snowtorious B.I.G. Blizzard of 2011. But inside it's warm and comfy where I'm finishing up a little project to organize my future art projects. (We are so blessed to still have heat and power.).

The challenge was gathering supplies every time a new project is started. I was always neglecting to take something out - and then I was scrambling for something before medium or paint got too dry to manipulate.

So I decided that a supplies list was in order - a permanent list to use every time I start working on a project, including a written goal of what I want to accomplish during the art session. This way I can stay focused, be more efficient, effective and hopefully, more productive. Up until now, most of my art sessions have been random and serendipitous. I'd just work on whatever caught my fancy. Or experiment with whatever technique I'd just read about.

 Left to right: Golden Interference acrylic paint
(in a travel shampoo bottle with
 dabber applicator top), Xyron 510 refill,
YES! paste,

Permanent Supplies List, Xyron 510

You can see the laminated Supplies List just peeking out from under the right edge of the  Xyron 510 refill.

To make the list, I picked a sheet of Strathmore Bristol paper from my stash that was used as an experiment for calligraphy practice. It also had gold glitter all over it. I picked this Bristol paper because it's like thick cardstock. Then I covered it with some tinted gesso, and let that dry. I added a glaze from my stash I'd concocted with Golden Interference acrylic paint. Then I cut the paper in half from top to bottom and adhered the two pieces back to back with Xyron 510 permanent adhesive.

Next, I stuck a small double-sided tab in between the sheets at the top. It has one of my initials on each side. I adhered the tabs using my little Xyron 'X' sticker maker.

Then, I hand printed the list using a Sakura Glaze pen and printed the title with the calligraphy tip of a Copic pen. At first, I was going to type my list into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, but changed my mind. I decided that a hand printed list would be much prettier to look at for the next few years...

After the inks dried, I switched out the Xyron 510 perm adhesive refill for the Xyron 510 laminating refill. Then laminated the list. This was the first time I did any laminating with the Xyron. Not sure I did it 100% correctly, but it came out great for my purposes.

By the way, I also re-organized my workstation again before I started this project. My goals were to get as much stuff off my table as possible and to only have 1 current project on the table - in addition to my regular essential tools. I'm still working towards these goals, but getting a lot closer!

Here is a peek at more WOYWW artist desks.

Thanks for stopping by - and I'd love for you to become a follower while you're here. Just click the Follow button at the top of the page (if you're logged into www.blogspot.com.)

Peace,
LuLu