Tag Archive for 'paper'

Day Ten - Banner Flag Notepad

Published
by
robayre
on August 16, 2010
in General Update, Projects and life
. 1 Comment

Once again, I’m really stoked about the project I came up with for today for day 10 of the “create something every day in August” challenge.

I was at work and thinking about how we print notepads for customers occasionally. I immediately decided to create some as a new paper product for my Etsy shop, but it took me a bit more time to come up with a design for them. At first I was just going to look through my old artwork and use a cropped thumbnail as an image on each sheet. Then I got the idea to make a banner flag notepad and was just so excited to get home and start working on it. I actually made little banners, photographed them, photoshop-ed them, designed them on the computer, printed them out, cut them down and padded them, all this evening. I want to make tons of them. I’d actually love to get some professionally printed and padded, but I don’t know if they would be successful enough to sell. This is a dilemma I often have. I have the constant passion to design and create, but lack the exposure and/or buying demand for the things I make.

I made four pads all together (two different images, and lined and unlined), just to test the water. I’m so excited to offer them in my Etsy shop, there’s one pad there now. I’ll post more tomorrow.

Tiny Paper Bunting Tutorial

Published
by
robayre
on June 19, 2010
in General Update
. 3 Comments

It seems that bunting and banner flags have become very trendy. I think it’s because you can’t help but be happy when you see them.

Check out these amazing necklaces on Etsy

 
by seller Scoutholiday                by seller stripeymonkey

Happy now, right?

Earlier this year you might recall my mini flag tutorial from here. Now I’m back with another quick bunting tutorial. If you thought that other one was quick and simple, don’t blink. The results are so sweet that I don’t want you to miss out. These flag garlands are even smaller yet, and we all know things get even cuter when miniaturized.

Materials:
diamond paper punch
paper (scratch paper, junk mail, magazines, patterned or colored papers, etc.)
glue stick
string

Step one: punch

Step two: fold them in half

Step three: glue

Voila! Mini bunting that can go anywhere. Hang it with magnets on your fridge or with thumbtacks on your bulletin board. Hang it across the top of your imac, or just above your monitor at work to make you happy. Hang it across a picture frame like I did here. If I had a car I’d be tempted to drape one across the length of the rear view mirror ;)

Have fun getting your bunting on!

New Paper Wrapped/Coiled Rings

Published
by
robayre
on March 22, 2010
in etsy and shop update
. 1 Comment

I’ve added 4 new paper wrapped spiral/stratum rings to my Etsy shop, click on the images to take you to their listing.
I am in love with the one above. It’s made from a world map.

And this one is made from a road map. I think they are so beautiful from afar, and if you look up close you can see that it actually map pages.

 

I also made these two, an orange and a pink ring. They are equally stunning. I just love the details.

some collages

Published
by
robayre
on March 8, 2010
in General Update and My Artwork
. 2 Comments

  

Just a couple collages I did recently. The left has a “postage stamp” I painted in watercolors, and the right one contains the CMYK color samples we printed at my work years ago and have provided miles and miles of material for my collage work.

Welcome March!

Published
by
robayre
on March 1, 2010
in General Update, My Artwork, etsy and shop update
. 2 Comments

 The countdown to spring is on! 19 days left. If the rest of those 19 days are as nice as today was, this should be a breeze. The snow was all melty and I was able to drive around with my window rolled down half way.

Today was one of my days where I have to go in to work at 2 a.m. so I had the daylight to myself. I got a lot done. Grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc., etc. I also finally got around to listing the rings I made last month for Thing-a-Day.

  

The circle Paper Wrapped Spiral Stratum Rings are a new offering for my shop. I love the pendants that I make like this so much that I had to make some as rings as well. Dare I say, these rings are even more beautiful than the pendants?

Other rings that have been added are more collage based, similar to other rings that have been in my shop previously. I love this abstract piece above. It is very much like something I could see myself wearing all the time.

Here is a ring dedicated to my love of Polaroid. When I was in college I used to incorporate a lot of the polaroid shape into my artwork, printmaking primarily. This was about 10 years ago now and before Polaroid was becoming extinct, so I don’t think my teacher understood or appreciated it very much.  It warms my heart now to see the Polaroid image in so much artwork nowadays. Each time I see it, it’s like me sticking out my tongue and giving a big raspberry to that teacher and saying “See, other people get it, why couldn’t you?”

 

And finally, here is the last ring. Picture it as a whisper of the spring to come. It looks like the underside of a leaf, but it’s actually a real leaf skeleton, with a green cardstock paper visible from behind, all encased and preserved in resin.

Day Twenty-Four - On rings and how we spent our evening yesterday

Published
by
robayre
on February 24, 2010
in General Update, My Artwork, Projects and life
. 2 Comments

Today I received some new ring blanks I purchased recently. I was very excited to make some paper wrapped spiral rings, like the pendants I’ve made and had success with before. They will take about 24 hours to harden and then if everything goes well, I’ll be adding them to my Etsy shop.

Once they were all assembled, I was so thrilled with the circle ones that I almost gasped at how beautiful they were.

Onto last night. (Mim and Rachel, you might want to brace yourself)

(picture by roll_initiative on flickr)

My brother, sister and I went to go see Neil Gaiman speak at a nearby high school.  If you are not familiar with Neil, he is the author of Stardust and Coraline, as well as many other books, graphic novels, his blog and even twitter. I love seeing and hearing creative people talk. It always inspires me to much that I just want to rush home to my studio and start working madly at my own art. Listening to him talk filled my inspiration well.

He first read from Stardust (which I read some years ago) and then Anansi Boys (which I want to read now after hearing him). Then he did a Q&A with the audience. I just want to share a couple things from last night.

(Let me preface this by saying that it might not have really played out like this, but it sure sounded like it to me)
Audience Member: What is your favorite thing?
Neil Gaiman: What is my favorite thing or theme?
AM: Thing
NG: I’d have to say my favorite thing is Amanda Palmer
Audience: Erupts, goes wild
AM: Actually, I said theme
NG: Oh, I really liked that question, what’s your favorite thing
hehe, I just found a twitter referencing it :)

He spoke of how, growing up, people like to do things until they are informed by others that they can’t do those things. It’s a topic close to my heart. One of my favorite quotes is “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Pablo Picasso. Neil shared an anecdote that each child is born with the ability to be a tight rope walker, and it isn’t until people tell them that they can’t, they wouldn’t be able to do it.

I could have listened to Q&A with him forever. Girls, now I can understand your crushes. Plus, I just read he’s a bee keeper. sigh.

Day Twenty-Two - CD and Fabric Paper

Published
by
robayre
on February 22, 2010
in Fun, My Artwork and Projects
. 3 Comments

Today for Thing-A-Day I finished a mix CD I’ve been working on, tweaking and refining for a long time. I burned the first copy and listened to it to make sure there were no skips and the music all flowed properly from song to song. I am still brainstorming for ideas on the album artwork. I sat down at my drawing table to begin working on the artwork when I remembered a post I saw earlier today.

I saw this tutorial post on iHanna’s blog about making fabric paper and it seemed like fun.

The first one I made I really liked, but then I wanted to “tint” it and added some acrylic paints and I wasn’t thrilled with the outcome. That is more than a light tint, wouldn’t you say? I wanted it to be light yellow with “barely there” touches of green and orange, and instead it became red and green. Go figure.

I had fun though, so I decided to do another one. This one (all the more “white” images above) I left alone. I chose more neutral colored paper bits and I think I might come back over it later with a very watered down wash of white.

What will I end up doing with these? Who knows, but I thought I might scan them in and do some digital work over it for the album artwork.

I was featured…

Published
by
robayre
on February 16, 2010
in Cool Links, Coverage, General Update and etsy
. 1 Comment

on the blog CreatureComfortsBlog with my white on white Paper Wrapped Spiral Pendant. It’s a collection of work that was inspired by her brother’s drawing. What a wonderful article to be included in because I am in love OBSESSED with childrens’ artwork.

Check it out, and others like it at my Etsy shop!

Day four - Collage

Published
by
robayre
on February 4, 2010
in My Artwork and Projects
. 1 Comment

Day four from Thing-a-Day.

Today I did these 4 quick collages, in my sketchbook, which will be used later for painting references.

-Robyn

My previous Thing-a-day 2010 posts: Day One, Day Two, Day Three,

Recycled Kusadama Paper Ornament

Published
by
robayre
on December 2, 2009
in General Update and Projects
. 7 Comments

Recycled Kusadama Ornament, originally uploaded by robayre.

Tonight Matt and I sat down to make our annual Christmas ornament. And eeep, if last year’s ornament was too big to hang on a tree well, check out this year’s (the larger of the two). My original vision last year was to make a whole bunch of these and cover a tree with them and white Christmas lights.

I followed this 2 stage pattern. Make sure you have lots of time, it takes about 3 hours with two people working at it. AND we use translucent double faced tape. I can’t imagine how long it would take if you used glue like the instruction say. This year I followed the directions for size and the instructions call for 60 7 inch square pieces of paper. It wasn’t until afterward I reread my post from last year and saw that I stated I used 4 inch square papers. Basically this year’s ornament is equal to a good sized globe in diameter.

Once again I cut apart an old art magazine with a good weight, luster and variety of colors. Next year I hope I return to this post and read it before creating the third ornament. Robyn, cut the paper down to 3 inch squares please. Not that it will make the process any faster, but perhaps one year we might actually make an ornament that can fit on the tree.

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