It's down to the wire...

...and today is the day our home is listed.  What does this mean?  Well, the house is clean, tidy, staged and ready to show, so I've got some studio time now - hurray!

I had a call this week from a local group who were looking for ideas for small table centres to use at a tea where the theme would be the four R's - i.e.  reduce, reuse, recycle and repurpose.  Here's what I came up with:

This abused miniature dictionary is just the perfect size (4 1/2" x 3") to sport a book sheet
rosette and tendril. Both book sheets are covered with  paint mop-up dryer sheets for
additional colour.

Here a soup can takes on a new shape and purpose, graced with another paint mop-up item - a piece of
cheesecloth.  The flower is made from leftover collage papers; on one side the centre is a beer bottle
cap topped with a stray button, while the other is a pair of twisted pipe cleaners which continues
on to form the stem.

A closer look at the beer bottle cap/button centre.

😏

The reverse centre is the twisted pipe cleaner.

Now since I used a flower I had on hand, the second item is not completely repurposed, but I'm sure that the pipe cleaners could be replaced with wire clippings from any shop (Had John not been in the process of clearing his, I'm sure he would have helped with that.  😏 )

So I'm looking for YOUR take on a small table centre utilizing repurposed items.  What do you suggest?  What have you done in the past?  What can you do right now.  Tell me in the comments below, and I'd LOVE it if you gave me a link to see.  All you ArtRockStars out there surely have some more fun options! 

You've had your sneak...

...peek, and the Material Change show is open now.  Maybe you'd like to see some teaser vignettes as a second appetiser before the main course show?

Darcy Wanuk's 'Green Scene' reconstructed work on the back left is dynamite, right?  It's two sweaters combined and accented with handmade buttons.  The Vintage Lime shirt on the right is actually two shirts and some of  'Grandma's closet lace'.  The 'Fire From the Centre' occasional table in front is my contribution to this grouping, and Bart Bjorkman's (Puffin Design) Grain Scoop Lamp is on the bottom right.

Here's Bart's Snare Drum Lamp, The Impossible Clock (a co-conspiracy by Bart and I),  my 'Squaring the Circle IV' above, and Darcy's 'Like a Rhinestone Cowgirl...' denim jacket on the right.  What wedded bliss!

Alison Bjorkman's (Puffin Design)  'Fat Bottomed Girl Swivel Chair' is dynamite, especially next to the 'Lineberry Railway Luggage Cart' concrete-topped coffee table by Bart.  Above is my 'Glimpsing Autumn' repurposed tabletop mirror, Bart's 'Handmade Metal Funnel Lamp', and Darcy's glorious shaggy sweater the right.

Here's an array of Darcy's deconstructed/reconstructed jackets from her Denim Series I, ready for trying on at the Puffin Design mirror.

You were no doubt wondering whether those dryer sheet curtains ever got finished.  I'm amazed to tell you they did, and here's the proof.  I'll do a post about them soon, but don't they look terrific with 

Bart's Bistro Table (love that industrial base topped with the decorative concrete)?  Alison created those 'Graffiti Bistro High Stools', and the 'Red Crab Trap Lamp' above is Bart's.  My 'Muse on Fire' vase and 'Who Let the Genie Out?' mini bottle are currently behaving themselves on the table.

And yes, that's my totally crazy 'Ukulele Gone Wild' hanging next to Darcy's  'Denim Romance' jacket...those pale pink silk accents are beautifully subtle (jacket, not ukulele - it wouldn't know subtle if kicked in the teeth with it).  My 'Good Fortune' journal is on the table, with 'Eileen's Flower' just behind it.

The 'Industrial Chic Coffee Table' by Alison and Bart is a favourite of mine, and the 'Coffee Lamp' next to it is a knockout.  Alison just recently completed the 'Tub Chair' - the wrapped metal back on it is just amazing to see.  On the coffee table are my 'Pick Up a Six Pack' coasters, 'Who Needs Gucci?' cocktail boot, and 'Midlife Crisis' book sculpture.  On the wall behind the table is a coffee bag burlap hanging called Retired.  I used a host of too-well-used teaching tools and leftover goodies to create this piece.

Please take the time to stop and see the Material Change show at Centre 64 in Kimberley.  Details are on the poster, and we'd love to see you at the artist opening this Saturday, June 10 between 2-4 pm.

Here's a sneak peek...

... for you.  And trust me, it's really sneaky because they're closeups of some pieces I've been working on over the past while months.

This one is part of a book sculpture called Expat from Arcturus.  It's created from a science fiction anthology, and every time I look at it I giggle (how very mature, right?).

If you've never seen a rosette made from a dryer sheet, this piece could remedy that.  Who Let the Genie Out? is a tiny altered bottle.

You know I have a thing for shoes, so when I found a cocktail boot in a thrift shop, Who Needs Gucci? was born.

 Another book sculpture, this one is Midlife Crisis...so organic-looking considering it's made of something nobody wants!

Do you know what those little medallions on top of wine bottles are?  They're part of a supply called wine bottle shrink capsules, and yes, I had to google that.  They're really fun to use in mixed media when they're part of something called Squaring the Circle V.

Distressed toys call to me - always - so how could I pass up a Ukulele Gone Wild?  I think this piece would be a great addition to a child's room!

This is all in aid of an upcoming show at Centre 64 called Material Change.  The brainchild of Darcy Wanuk, an extraordinary textile artist, all work in the show features upcycled, repurposed items. From the fabulous design stylings of Alison and Bart Bjorkman at Puffin Design to Darcy's deconstructed/reconstructed clothing and my crazy mixed media incorporating all sorts of items that were headed for the landfill, it's an amazing array of new from old.

While the show is running from June 6 to July 1, we'd love you to join us for the opening reception on Saturday, June 10 from 2 - 4 pm.  Meet the artists, and be amazed!

Nothing big...

...happened in the studio this week.  In fact, it has been quite the contrary.  Teeny, tiny, mini has been the fun, as I created a small book from fragments of mono-printed paper, salvaged stamps, a whack of double-sided tape and a scrap of ribbon.

Disclaimer:  As always, I've no idea what I'm doing, so any information and/or technique you gain here is totally concocted from my addled brain.  This, of course, means that it has nothing to do with the proper way of creating a book, or any kind of reality whatsoever.  In addition, you should know that no mono-prints, stamps or ribbon were harmed in the process (well, apart from the one I put upside down and had to tear out).

The book style is accordion, and all scraps were 3" x 5", folded in half.  Since the prints had been created as demos in mono-print classes, there was no telling what might show up, front or back.

I used double-sided tape to affix half of one scrap to half of the other, creating a looooooooooooooong accordion line.

When assembled it's not even as long as a tube of paint.  The cover, a tri-fold so that the last page could be affixed to the centre back, is a painted dryer sheet spray glued to bond paper - more scraps. Delicious, no?

'Homage to Snail Mail' © Win Dinn

Fitting comfortably in the palm, at 2.75" x 3" x .5", it  holds thirty-three pages, thirty-nine stamps, and so much print and stamp loveliness I was drooling a little as I put it together.

The stamps themselves are truly beautiful, and remind me what a pleasure it is to receive these tiny bits of art in the mail.

I'm especially enamoured of the wildlife series.

This coffee pot stamp on a background of coffee- flavoured  coloured paper made me smile.

The day lily, centre, reminds me of a painting that Alice Saltiel gifted me some time ago - luscious!

Who can resist red and white?

 The pansy on the left reminds me of my mom - it was her favourite flower.

Doesn't the queen look regal in pink?

There seems to be a royal theme going on here.

The snake stamps below are amazing - embossed, they are slick, slippery and definitely back-crawling.

I was intrigued by the orange stamp in the centre.  Anybody know what it's all about?

The stamp from the Netherlands came to me from my friend Gerda in an art swap - love it!

I still have a bag full of stamps and scraps  realms of  demo prints. . . I wonder how they'll get used. Perhaps there will be another tiny book in my future?