Elfsisters' Art Adventure - A Big Sticky Mess - Week 6

Yup - I had way to much fun this week! I think that this whole thing is just fabulous and the more we get into the more fun I'm having. Now, since I had so much fun there are a lot of pictures - so brace yourself!

This weeks assignment was to drip something on the page,

close it, and come up with a print! 

Let's just say I really got into it :)

Layer 1

Gatoraid and Blood

Yes I said blood! I started with the bottom of my red gatoraid...

And then decided blood was a liquid and added a heart! 

Layer 2

Diet Coke

The Diet Coke didn't add much color,

but it smudged things some! 

Layer 3

Coffee

I was surprised that the coffee didn't make it darker!

I think that's when I really started having fun, 

seeing how things really interact with paper :)

Layer 4

Strawberry-banana Juice

This one was another big surprise because the juice is THICK,

but it only added a little bit more pink to the page.

So I got crazy...

Layer 5

Syrup!

Yes syrup. It dried amazingly well! But it took a full day...

I'm not done though...

Layer 6

Chocolate!

I wanted some COLOR but I was determined to stay with foods.

So I added chocolate - and its STILL not dry!

I'll be sticking a piece of wax paper in there :P

Ok I wanted to get more drawing done this week, but I didn't.

BUT this is my "secret" piece I was designing and it technically works

for both last month and this month! I have a triskele, and the writing is in Elvish!

What do you think?

Now make sure you go check out Meri's Blog to see what she did and get the assignment for this upcoming week in the Wreck This Journal! I'm reading the Hobbit and I'm hoping to get to draw some things inspired by that for our June LOTR challenge :)

Elfsisters' Art Adventure - Knots and Knumbers - Week 4

Yes, yes, yes, I know "numbers" does not have a "k" on the front but you know what? I've never understood why "knot" has a silent k so I just had to play with the words in the title today! Now to get started ...

I had a lot of fun with this assignment! I don't quite have all the numbers done, but I had a lot of fun with what I did do! As you may notice it says "Starting Here" and I didn't exactly start with the number 1. No, of course not, I started with 42! As any good Hitch Hiker knows, the number 42 is the answer to "the Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything." Now we're not sure what the question actually is, so the answer doesn't help us much, but that still means it's a very cool number!

Since I didn't start with number 1 I didn't go in order for the rest of them. In fact I would just jump around and fill in numbers as I went :D I always thought it would be fun to have a book where none of the numbers were right, now I do.

See my pretty scribble? Sometimes I messed things up. When I messed up the first one I felt a bit depressed. My pretty book was messed up! Then I realized the ridiculousness of that thought. The whole point IS to wreck this journal after all! I tend to be very down on myself about my artistic attempts because I see everything I do wrong - which is a lot. Sometimes its because I don't know what I'm doing yet, and sometimes its just because hey, I make mistakes! This reminded me, vividly, that it's ok that I make those mistakes. It's not the end of the world, and I WILL get better.

One last thing, in case your confused, those are Elvish characters :) Meri and I have been learning to write in Tolkien's Elvish so I put that in as well as English!

I have another project in progress, but this I finished! I used the design I showed in my last post and it took a lot of erasing, but I eventually got something! The ink smeared, the lines aren't flowing the way I'd like, but a month ago I wouldn't have been able to do even this much, so I'm very happy! I may try to do another rendition, a better one, if I have the time this week. However, my other project, my secret one, comes first!

To find out this week's assignments and drop off your link make sure you go visit Meri's blog. 

Name that Bracelet (LoTR) - Need Your Vote!

The Voting has Been Closed.

The Winning Name will be announced soon!

I have been overwhelmed by the response I've gotten to my request for a name for this bracelet! There were 33 suggestions total, not all of them on topic, but awesome nonetheless! I have plenty of ideas for ways I can use them :) Here's the list!


1. Old Forest Bracelet
2. Gollum
3. The Gift of Dale
4. Elf's Envy
5. Woodland Elves
6. Leaves of Lorien x2
7. Read and Willow (line from one of Tom Bombadil's songs)
8. Mirlass (jewel leaf)
9. Enchanted Wizardry
10. Emerald Eyes
11. In Touch With Greenality
12. Evergreen Eyes
13. Rosie Cotton's Promise
14. Emerald City
15. Return to Oz
16. Emerald Forest
17. Greenleaf
18. Laiqalassë - laica is green, and lassë is leaf.
19. Mirrorwind Glass
20. This bracelet belongs to Goldberry, the river daughter who lives with Tom Bombadil in the Old Forest...
"Her long yellow hair rippled down her shoulders; her gown was green; green as young reed;shot with silver like beads of dew; and her belt was gold;shaped like a chain of flag-lilies set with the pale blue-blue eyes of forget-me-nots."
She is neither elf or daughter of man, but something quite different, more earthy yet ethereal.I would name it after her.
21. Fangorn Forest
22. Arvenesque Forest
23. Green with Envy
24. Ferngully
25. Rustle of Leaves
26. Deep Heart of the Forest
27. Green Leaf Magic
28. My Green leaf Precious
29. A Dragon's Layer (or Lair)
30. Arwen
31. Rivendell
32. Dust of the Elves
33. Shire's Rebirth

Thank you everyone! Now I need your help :) Please vote (only my favorites are included) and I'll announce the name and list the bracelet on Thursday!

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Friday's Featured Artist - Meri GreenLeaf!

One of my favorite parts about being an on-line seller is that I make all sorts of wonderful friends! Susan (who goes by Meri on-line for the most part) has fast become one of those friends. We have many of the same interests and spend a lot of time talking on plurk! So it is my great pleasure to introduce her to you as this week's featured artist :) Click on any of the pictures you see below to be taken to the listing.

1.What type of art work do you do?

Name it, I probably do it. ;) I crochet, make jewelry and chainmaille, sculpt, paint (usually on fabric) and draw, make dreamcatchers, spin (and sometimes dye) yarn, and sew (handsew- I don't know how to use a sewing machine). My main one is the crochet, though; even a lot of my jewelry is crocheted. Most of what I make is fantasy-

related, but I also make things inspired by nature.

2.How did you get started doing art work?

I've always been into art; in elementary school I'd stay in at lunchtime to help in the art room, and in high school I stayed after school almost every day to work in the pottery classroom (pottery was my obsession back then, but I haven't had a chance to work in it since). I also used to make a lot of plastic jewelry when I was a kid. For the things I do now, I started crocheting about four years ago all because I wanted a Hufflepuff scarf from Harry Potter, and I haven't put down my hooks since. The rest of the art I do I've picked up in the few years since, mostly teaching myself

and winging it as I go along.

3.Do you do any other crafts?

I think I already answered this- yes, I do a lot of them. :)

4.Is there a story behind your shop name?

Both “Elfling Creations” and my Etsy shop “Elbit Enterprises” (although I may be changing that one to match at some point- I just haven't done that yet) come from the race of my alias/persona (and old roleplay character) who is a half elf/half halfling (or hobbit); I combined those races and got “Elbit” originally, but lately have switched over to using the combined “Elfling” instead. I go by “Meri Greenleaf” online (and sometimes in real life, as well); that was the name of my old roleplay character that has become my alter-ego (nope, I'm not a Legolas fangirl, just a huge fan of Mirkwood; “Thranduiliell” [the original second part of the name] would have been too hard for people to find me with. Besides, “Greenleaf” fits me well because I'm obsessed with the color green and forests).

5.What's your favorite piece in your shop right now?

Oh geez, that's a hard one! I love making everything I do! I think it may be Wynmaeg, my crocheted renaissance wench plushie.

(featured at the top of the post)

She's one of my older plushies, but I had so much fun making her and coming up with all the accessories for her outfit- and I love dressing up for the Renfaire, so it was fun getting to make a costumed doll.

But then again, my favorite could be this faerie cat, named after my own black kitty Clarabell. (featured to the right)

That doll isn't perfect (it was my first attempt at making an animal pattern), but I think it's adorable. Then again, I may be biased because it's based off my fur-baby. ;)

6.Where do you sell your work?

I'm on a few random online craft selling sites, but my two main ones are Artfire and Etsy:

http://merigreenleaf.artfire.com

http://merigreenleaf.etsy.com

My website is http://elflingcreations.com but I don't actually sell on that site; I use it to link to my other shops.

7.Do you blog?

Yup- I love blogging! My art blog is in two places- the main one is on blogger (http://merigreenleaf.blogspot.com) but I also crosspost most of the entries to my art livejournal (http://elbit-blog.livejournal.com).

8.Are you on any social networks you'd like to share?

I'm on a whole bunch, but Plurk is my favorite. :) These are the ones I use most:

http://twitter.com/MeriGreenleaf

http://www.plurk.com/MeriGreenleaf

http://www.ravelry.com/people/merigreenleaf

http://www.myspace.com/merigreenleaf

http://www.facebook.com/MeriGreenleaf

http://www.flickr.com/photos/merigreenleaf

http://merigreenleaf.deviantart.com

9.Do you watch or listen to anything while you work? If so, what?

A lot of the time when I'm working I'll listen to audiobooks (literature, mostly- I love http://librivox.org because that site has free audiobooks that are in the public domain) or comedy (usually Eddie Izzard- I love him!) on my iPod, but sometimes I'll also try to read at the same time (that one's a bit hard to do, lol) or watch tv (also distracting). When I'm listing and editing photos I'll often listen to music- usually Blackthorn, Enter the Haggis, Hanson, Spin Doctors, Jimmy Eat World, Goo Goo Dolls, and Tonic, as well as the occasional filk or video game song (yeah, my playlist is pretty eclectic). I've recently started streaming Pandora Radio, too, so I get to listen to all sorts of fun Celtic and Celtic rock bands that I hadn't heard of before. :)

10.Tell us one random fact about your self *wink*

Just one? Hmm... well, besides being an artist, my main goal in life is to become a professor of British Literature, hopefully being able to focus on the Renaissance- I have a thing for Renaissance plays. Besides art, books are my obsession.

I recently won a cartilage chain earring like the one you see above from Meri in a blog contest! Pictures will be coming soon :)