Friday, May 18, 2012

When Life Gives You Lemons...

In this case I didn't get lemons. I also didn't get the much recycled and art room staple, pop trays. Our Coca Cola distributor is now bringing these flat cardboards.  If you see me lurking around in the supermarket, I'm looking for a new source of pop trays... 
 The flat boards could have gone right into the recycling bin but I asked to hold onto a few of them. The little hamsters started cycling a little bit harder in my noggin. Make lemonade? Drink Coca Cola?
 With some cardboard, it's fairly easy to see how it will get used. This piece joined my collection of stencils.
Hello, my name is Marissa and I am addicted to stencils... Spring time is a particularly dangerous time of year as all the stores are getting their orders in from the January Craft and Hobby convention, AKA: CHA
 So enough about stencils, back to the cardboard...
When the Coca Cola guy brought me cardboard, I didn't start to drink. I made a bee line to my other vice, bookmaking. The boards were cut in half and holes punched. Depending on the size book ring used, each book can be 4 to 8 boards/pages thick.
Page one:First out, gesso, then a potato chip bag, then a security envelope and little by little I worked on this collage. A stencil was used in the background. It seems that my bag of tricks often include, gesso, stencils and sewing.
 I hope this collage tells a story.
 I went ahead and stitched along the edges of my hand. Lots of hidden meaning in most everything I used. I'll give you a chance to figure it out.
The stitching left this on the back side. The beginning of the next page.

The hand shape is something I often use in my work. It takes on more meaning with my recent hand injury and all that has come with it. I've contemplated making that the theme of this book but we'll have to see what becomes of it.
Marissa

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