FULL MOON #6

MAXIE

Playful altar in August.

 This month was a struggle and when at last I just decided to muck about and Maxie the fashion Robot was born.

 Several summers ago I was madly pouring resin into all kinds of molds to see what worked and what didn't. This robot was created in a ice cube tray of robots and keys. It  turned out beautifully and I have carried her around from studio to studio as I have several different locations when I work. I decided to add several washes of color one day when working on another project and I loved the purple shadows created by the paint.

Fast forward to 2013 here is my inspiration. After a bit of rooting around I saw a smaller piece I had cast of a flower shape in black which I added metal foil flakes and ta da a hat was born.

 I drilled a hole in the flower center and wired the piece together with copper wire added a jaunty scarf and there she was.. But now how to put her into the space required for August???? Think Think Think.

 I hinged together 2 small canvases to create a traveling tool box, which no traveling and well prepared robot would be without.  

 Since I was twisting the robot image out of it's traditional role I decided to take it one step further.

instead of carting tools in her tool box,  all good lady robots need a change of wardrobe now and then. 

So I decided to create more hats.

Now you will find inside her tool box are 2 tiny hats created with  cake decorating tip,crystals,watch gears,beads & more

One is called "Watch out for the redhead" and the other "Tasseled up". 

 I created background papers with alcohol inks for the inside of the tool box. As well used the inks to color the decorating tips I used for the new hat bases

I mounted the new hats in place with apoxy clay and added a slap dash of paint.  and Ta- Da Bob's my uncle

Rock on Maxie!!    I hope she brings a bit of a giggle and memories of childhood toys to Kimberly

 Cheers Peg

AUGUST FULL MOON #7 Gwen's Oracle Deck of "What If’s"

I, Gwen, took 2 calligraphy classes from Caitlin Dunden and observed that many calligraphers write on top of water colored paper.  I like using new techniques each moon and was excited to introduce watercolor and calligraphy to my contributions for Little Alters.  I would create for Marilynn only 1 card with the words “What If” and a simple, elegant border surrounding, no flourishes.  Then, I’d provide a story of what if’s that might hide behind it in the space. 

I thought it would be fast and simple to make. 

I worked every day on my calligraphy – learning to spend 1 -2 pages on just practicing letters before starting anything.   I stumbled because my body was healing, which meant lots of sleep and not enough time to create.  When I did create, nothing, I mean nothing, would come together like the vision that came to mind.   When the full moon came along with our little alters deadline, and then it went and yet still nothing would come together, I thought, “Should I give up? Should I say Sorry I’m not going to make it. And Cry Uncle?” Not finishing felt like letting Marilyn down.  Even though, there are times when it's really ok to say - I just cannot pull this together, I still felt like I was letting the whole Little Alter's team down.

I had a sense, a teeny, tiny, constant feeling to keep going. Even if all I was doing was to practice my calligraphy.  So, I would pick up the pen and write my what if’s.  If you’re familiar with Abraham Hicks, then you may have heard of the “What If” game, where you dream up your amazing life by asking “what if…” followed by stating a piece of the amazing life you dream of having.  I would like to be there, but I’m not yet in the phase of, “Oh I deserve this awesome life, so I’m dreaming it and I can really see it happen”.  I’m more at the phase of belief/dis-belief.  One my consider it, between cautious optimism and pessimism.  Before I can climb the ladder to enthusiastic belief, I need to explore the previous areas.  Sometimes, when we are low or unable to let go of fear, that means, vocalizing and acknowledging deepest fears.  Other times when we’re not so deep in the world of fear, but not quite yet wearing our rose-colored glasses, that means wondering if it could really happen.  And so, my What If’s live in that middle purgatory or middle earth.

• What if Amazing Things Happened? 
• What if he chose me? 
• What if I was loved? 
• What if I let go? (Oh my God I don’t know if I can do that!)
• What if my dreams came true? 
• What if I didn’t have to live like this? 
• What if I could? 
• What if I did?

One of the days I was writing my what if’s in hopes of creating my final alter project, I fell into deep anger and unhappiness. My What if’s landed in that dark, murky pool of fear and anger.

• What if I stopped talking? 
• What if I stopped communicating? Would anyone even care? 
• What if I didn’t try, didn’t care? 
• What if it never happened? 
• What if others stopped pressing their guilt on me? 
• What if I never made any new friends ever again?
• What if I never felt happy again?
• What if I was always angry?
• What if I hated everyone and everything?

And… that sort of helped break me.  Of course, there were lots of tears – anger, frustration, fear, sadness, loss, humiliation, confusion, and hurt.  Ok. So what if it didn’t get any better than it is right now? Ok. I’m there. And as Reba says, “When you hit rock bottom you’ve got two ways to go, straight up or sideways.”  I skittered sideways for a while. That was ok, but definitely hard.

And then, something magical happened about 4 days after the full moon. 

To continue reading, please visit the rest of the post on my blog: 

http://www.calmundertension.com/1/post/2013/08/little-alters-august-moon-my-oracle-deck-of-what-ifs.html

FULL MOON #5

I’m not sure what inspired me this month, after all the ideas and iterations that I went through!  Certainly, Gwen inspired me!  And there was that feather.  And then I found a TEENY scrap of 80 mesh brass screen from somewhere, but couldn’t find any more, so I had to go buy some more.  Luckily, I found it in a real brick and mortar store, so my ideas could progress. 

Originally, I was going to use a right-angle weave beaded heart in this month’s spot (a sweet little thing I’m still very fond of), but things evolved.  So I think what inspired me in the end was the process.  The process of evaluating my choices, listening to my aesthetic, and sensing the right and wrong and good and bad.  It was one tiny inspiration leading to another:  link, link, link.  One might ask, as my husband did, “What is it?”  I said, “It’s cute.”  Nothing more, just that I like it.

I added the little leaves because I liked the spark they provided and I had the opportunity to use them (link, link).  They are cut out of copper, primed with Daniel Smith watercolor ground, and colored with watercolor.  I used copper tabs on the back to fasten them. More experiments with color on metal; this one is fun.  Gwen gets some early play pieces! 

Nancy Strahle

AUGUST FULL MOON #4

Hi Peg,

Here my Little Alter project for August. This little guy is going to Cyn.

I thought I'd honor our owl friends with this tiny picture. I hear the owls that live in my area nearly every night....it's such a wonderful sound!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, creative August...now on to September!

 Lou

August FULL MOON #3

 As August comes to an end it brings us the Corn Moon, the Blue Moon. Of course the song, "blue Moon" has been in my head constantly. fondly, or not so fondly known as an "ear worm". Had to include the old guy in this Monty's altar for Lou. Again polymer clay, I did use a mold for the moon and dusted him with blue and silver pearl powder before baking. The rest I also created with polymer clay and a bit of imagination. Elmer, the gnome stands out in his field admiring this year's crop, hoping for a love of his own.....

"Blue Moon
You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own.....
Blue moon....."

Cheers,
Cyn

AUGUST FULL MOON #2

A key to the lock of a journey ...

a journey of creativity?

a journey of adventure to where?

a journey of the heart, emotions, soul?

A journey.

Hugs, Marilynn

AUGUST FULL MOON #1

Dear Fellow Artists!

It is the corn moon and while I played around with several thoughts about incorporating corn into this month’s section – it just didn’t come together.  Going through my “PO” I found a corn charm – but not very exciting.  And then I found the handle of an old silver spoon that had corn on it but it was too late to make a mold and use PMC to make something a little more exciting.  So that will get saved for another day!

Most all of you planted your seeds that were generously given to us by Peg.  As I knew no one would be home to tend them as they started to grow I have left them in the packets…maybe next year!  So instead of corn I decided to make my own fantasy flowers to share with all of you.  They are a combination of bead embroidery, vintage buttons, felt and horse hair flowers. 

I started with felting around glass marbles and then cut the hollow felt balls off of the marbles.  Now that is a challenge!  Trying to get the felt thickness even around the marble and then trying to cut them in half and have the halves even took a little doing!  I made them in a variety of colors and two different sizes.  The different sizes allowed me to stack the smaller halves in the larger halves to give them a little more “punch”.  I also felted a small flat piece that could be used for the back ground.  The center of 3 of the flowers have blue woven horse hair flowers in them that come from Chile.  The others have a combination of beads and vintage buttons.

The flowers were then sewn through a piece of foam and the green felt so they would fit nicely into the space and the piece had some body to support the flowers.  The horse hair flowers originally had green horsehair stems that I couldn’t let go to waste.  I stitched the green stems through the backing to look like blades of grass coming up through the flowers.

So now you have seen my fantasy flowers….all coming from those wonderful seed packets given to us by Peg!  It was a fun project and now I have visions of felted and embroidered flowers on wire stems so one could make a bouquet.

Now on to the next space…….H.  And my mind is racing with things that start with H…..happy…hooray…holy cow…..hallelujah……halibut…hamster….handles…hat…..heaven…..so many!!!!!

Kathy

AUGUST FULL MOON

The Moon light streaming in my bedroom window was so bright I could actually read by it. What  a joy it was to see her in full glory this month. The last 2 full moons were obscured by our infamous clouds and I barely glimpsed July's full moon.
 It was a glorious sight to behold moonlight streaming through the ceders illuminating the trumpet vine turning it from the fiery red/ orange of day time to a silvery black bell shape. As I wandered into the yard I could hear slow steady movements echoing my steps. and the Zena warrior princess ( my cat) dashes out and shoots straight up the magnolia tree! Can you hear the trumpets in the distance heralding the  mouse uprising? Yes Zena is there to careen among the branches canceling the the troop invasion..Saving the world again.

I found inspiration  elusive this month and began and discarded many many times. as I listened to others  online as well as around the area I heard the same thing echoing from many different sources. Was it the weather, the temperatures? the knowledge that summer was in her full glory and soon to be gone? was it
feeling the lazy hazy days of summer along with the extra chores that August brings?

I set aside my pondering and celebrated Lammas. Considered the first harvest celebrated by the peasants as first harvest. It is the time of year early August (the 2nd to be exact) when the first grains are harvested. Celebrated by a huge feast not unlike  our present day thanksgiving. Bread is baked in decorative loaves for the feast and one loaf is broken up and given back to the earth as thanks.

It is also a time releasing of what was planted and dreamed for in early spring that just didn't flourish. This year the pumpkin and squash struggled as well as some of my flowers had passed prime and looked bedraggled.   First off to be inspired by the Nursery. When ever I need a loft a trip to a nursery always buoys my spirit.  Jackpot!!
 I returned home clipped cut,pulled, composted and replanted. and gave thanks for my garden. I cleaned up potted, rearranged and crooned to my garden. I did the same to my studio considering, cleaning, rearranging and sending sending several bags to charity .
 I was amazed at the inspirations pouring into my wee head. Taking the time to reflect and be thankful for the small everyday blessings and the beauty that surrounds me. Stopping the worries and stress for a moment helped me expand and renew my heart as well as my artsy fartsy view of the world.

I give you my thanks as well Fellow Little Altars Project Artists, you all have inspired and renewed my love of creating art and sharing all the fun.

JULY FULL MOON #9

This month of July  created a interesting twist of creation as the Little Altars project has 11 artists and 12 months of exchange. I worked for days creating a schedule of exchange that would be as random as possible, in order to keep this fresh and ever changing.  And during the exchange each person would have 1 month to create just for them selves.

What occurred in July was 3 of our Artist all had their names and created  a varied bounty of delights.

 Here is Kimberly Kostals" piece Pennies& Cupid Doll 

Waiting to hear the inspiration for this little altar

 Kathy's 52 inspirations

Lynn Vernons' Inspired by Viking knit

JULY FULL MOON #8

 Hello

Nancy

My inspiration began in my garden gazing at the trees.  I was struck by the thought of how a tiny sapling not ¼ in diameter  grows into such a large tree now 9 inches around.

 I began to picture the tree made up of many saplings bundled together.. So I began with copper wire and copper covered colored wire and began to weave, on the way to becoming a tree that should fit into one of the long skinny spots we used this month I got the feel and rhythm of Africa. I had several found and created objects I was going to add to create my version of the Baobab Tree. One was a piece of my fused glass that I had beaded around that symbolized the setting sun and the other a double elephant bead I added at the bottom to show the size of the tree.

 But as many of my projects do they morphed into a different idea.

 The piece I was going to use for the sun became the Summer Queen’s head the woven tree her body and the elephants under her protection.

 I had a great time torching the ends of the wires that I used as branches and roots and got some great color in the entire piece.

The slimmer section I added a shade lighter sky blue embossed paper and added from my stash 3 glass leaves to enhance and add to my tree theme. They reminded me of the giant leaves you would always see in Tarzan movies as the natives used them to fan or crawl under to cool off from the hot African sun.

 Can you hear the drums throbbing in the distance waiting for the twilight and the dancing to begin????

Peg

July Full Moon #7

The Chakras.

I just can't stop thinking about the Chakras. 

The rainbow colors. The symbols. 

Cleaning & Clearing them.          

 Base. 

Sacral. 

Solar Plexus. 

Heart. 

Throat. 

Third Eye. 

Crown. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5.

6.

7.

When I first looked at the 2 spaces for July, tall skinny bits they are, I planned to make a pile of Faeries. But... I couldn't get the Chakras out of my mind. So, I didn't fight the flow or the inspiration, I jumped in to work with the Chakras.  Wanting to learn the sanskrit symbols and understand why the chakras are made with 2, then 4, then many more petals, surrounding, then start all over again with 2 petals around the third eye chakra.  It seems so... so... disjointed. I figured there must be a reason.  

I looked up the symbols in all my books and checked out things online, like About.com.  I practiced the symbols by looking at them and trying my hand. Oh boy. That was WAY harder than it looked. Many of those brush or pen strokes are so foreign to my hand that they looked wobbly and weird, not like the symbol I was attempting. Argh. What to do? Time was running out fast. 

Just as my last few hours of time left before the moon deadline were quickly sprinting away, I grabbed my shrinky-dinks and my double-decker box of practically every color sharpie in the world. I cut 2 pcs of shrink plastic out in the exact dimension of the 2 spaces, pre-shrink. That meant I would not shrink them. I had no idea what I would create, how each chakra would look, if they'd have the right number of petals or other such stuff, etc. I just drew. What I ended up with is what you see immediately below on the right with my rainbow of sharpies. I loved it. I was thrilled. It was my original art (no copying, no iterations, all me) and it was the chakras. Aaaaaaaaaaand, then I tried to fit them into the 2 spots. Crap-a-doodle! They were 1" too long. Gee maybe I should measure twice before I let the muse take over. But, failed attempt resulted in an even better Chakra end result.

Since that didn't work and I was already behind, I indulged my muse in the circles.  See, I've listened to several meditations that talk of the chakras as spinning spheres or discs. Why not make these into circles?  Why not find a way to make them spin. They don't quite free-spin the way I visualized, but the end result of 2 different sized circles spinning for the Chakras is pretty freakin awesome!  And when they shrank, oh wow. So wee & tiny!  The image above on the left is "Before" shrinking.  The images below are the full 7 Chakras "After" shrinking.  My guess is that Lou needs to learn about and play with the Chakras as much as me. So, my dear Lou here is my suggested visualization/meditation.

Gwennie's Chakra Clearing: 

Recommended when you're feeling blocked, down, bombarded, disconnected / unable to ground, etc. Remember, you can do this for each, a few, or all chakras.  There are no hard & fast rules.  I recommend that you look up what each Chakra means/represents and take that into consideration when you are looking to do some clearing/cleaning.

To set your chakras back right & spinning...
If this is your first time, I recommend you start with the Root/Base Chakra in Red and work your way up to your Crown in Purple. Do that several times - say once a day or so until you get the hang of it or start to feel good.  Then introduce this practice whenever you are called / guided to do so.

1. Take stock of how your chakras feel.  Are they muddy? Broken? Black? Dull? Hard? Not spinning? Flat? Do they not feel "right" or not feel like they are functioning at "your body's normal" to you? 
2. Visualize a white light (gentle, strong, beautiful, bubbly - what ever feels right to you) being sent to that chakra/area of the body.  Allow the light to clear out the area like scrubbing bubbles, crystal clear mountain spring water, or like the fresh air after a spring rain does for your scent sense.
3. Visualize the chakra returning to it's brilliant color - Red if base, Purple if Crown, etc. If your Chakras show you that they spin, then imagine them spinning like a top.  If they glow, then fuel that light with more so that it is positively blindingly brilliant. 
4. Move on to each Chakra until you feel you are done.

May you find joy and bliss in every day.
~GG~
http://calmundertension.com

JULY FULL MOON #6

..I've been gone for almost two weeks in Idaho helping with our daughter's wedding.

This month's project was a little challenging but I was able to put together a couple of things that, I feel, relate to July.

I wanted to make something that we might all see at some point in July namely: balloons and lavender!  I made a little line of balloons on a string and a little packet of lavender from a bush that grows in our yard. This month's project is going to Gwen.  Happy July everyone!


Lou

JUNE MOON #11

Yes, it is true….I am late!! 

One month to be exact!  We were gone in France and I really didn’t have the chance to work on something plus I was waiting for inspiration.  We had a great time and for a while my head was chocked full of ideas…unfortunately many of them either fell out – or were washed away with the good French wine!

While traveling we visited many typical French marketplaces – the ones that travel from town to town bringing great fresh produce and products.  Every one of them had several “honey” stalls and as we drove through the country side we also saw homes with different types of bee hives set up.  We also did one of the flea markets in Paris and one of the travelers found a great heavy brass mold with different figures on it.  The closest we could figure out was that it was for making marzipan.  But it had a great bee and the word “Miel” which means honey in French.

I had been wanting to get out my paper clay and use it for something so I used the paper clay to make both the bees and the little pieces saying miel.   After it dried I had to file it as the clay was pretty rough trying to get it out of the meatl molds.  The paper clay was then colored – and I had to try a variety of things on it as it did not color as easily as I had anticipated.  Probably acrylic paint would have worked the best but I didn’t have any of it around.  There are three of each style and they can now be used to play….Tic-Tac- Bee!

So enjoy your little miniature game!

Kathy

JULY MOON #5

Hi Peg,

 By now you have received your “stick” and “leaves”.  It was fun to put these together.  I’ve hoped that the stick would find a home in THAT Little Altars spot since the beginning.  I’m kind of a sucker for beads on sticks – well for beads in general, I guess you could say!  And the leaves were begun last year as I looked through one of those Japanese beading books.  Even though I’m not the world’s biggest fan of beaded wire flowers, these were totally fun.  I chose linen fabric to mount these on because I like the texture, and because you could put an awl through it and the hole would just heal up!  Enjoy!  Nancy

JULY MOON #4

July Altar Project

The Bag of Possibilities!

We are enjoying a glorious summer!  Home from our trip, working in the yard, enjoying company and soon to be off to work the Bellevue Art Fair with my good friend, Maggie Meister.  If you are like me, I think of great ideas for projects when I am involved with other projects (like weeding the yard), but when it comes time to sit and create I come up dry.  And I seem to say to myself…I’ll do that tomorrow…and then other things get in the way and I don’t seem to make the time to sit and create or play with ideas.

So I decided for this month’s little project I would try to do something to help me focus and yet be motivated to do something!

I was intrigued several years ago by the “inchies” that Peg talked about.  So I made little fold over almost inch size cards and started a list of ideas and things to do.  Initially I will have 52 – one for each week – but I expect the group to grow.

I hand stitched a draw string bag (no sewing machine readily available) and then glued it in place over the two “F” sections.  Inside the bag is a place for the “inchie” ideas to be done and the other side is a place to put the things that I have done.  So hopefully this will inspire, motivate and goad me into doing something different each week!  The first one …was play with paper clay…– which I did in creating my little Tic –Tac – Bee game for Lynn for the June project which also just got finished.

I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else has done with their 2 “F” spaces!

I hope you are all enjoying your summer- it is going by too fast!

Kathy

JULY MOON #3

Hi Peg,

I hope this finds you well!

This month the Altar project was for myself and as you know the spaces in my box are long and narrow.  I decided I wanted to experiment with Viking Knit.  I created my own mandrels with different sizes and numbers of holes.  I then worked with both colored and sterling silver wire.  I worked through several variations of the Viking Knit process and transitioned some of my samples through all three in one piece, single, double, and triple.  I also used various gauges of wire.  I found the process VERY relaxing and enjoy doing it while I sit with my husband watching TV.  

Many months ago my son-in-law asked me to make him a Mjolnir and I wanted a handmade chain to go with it.  I am carving the Mjolnir out of wax and will have it cast for his 29^th birthday next month so figuring out the right size for the bail was important to know before carving since the chain will be an integral part. 

I’m very pleased with my Viking knit skills!  Tried once before years ago but had a mental block.  I think I’m over it now!  =)

Many blessings to you my dear!

 Lynn Vernon

JULY MOON #2

Have you heard the news? The forest is all a twitter with excitement! Down past Wise Old Oak, over Giggling Creek through Clover Meadow just a hop, skip and a jump to a patch of toadstools right there on  your left is 28 Lindsay Brown! A delightful Faery Couture shop is about to open it's doors!! All the faeries have been so anxious for the lottery drawing to see if they will be the lucky one to receive the very first appointment with the proprietress and grand seamstress, Miss Lynn. Who will be the lucky one? It truly is a grand day in the wee forest!!

I have to say I had so much fun with this month's altar for Lynn H. And was delighted that it was the 2 tall narrow spots perfect for a wee shop and Faery home right next door. In the tree 2 bluebirds of course! We all know what wonderful bows they can tie. Oliver Owl is the ever faithful nightwatchman. Made out of polymer clay and a wee bit of whimsy.

Cheers,
Cyn

JULY MOON #1

Here is the July space that is for BETH.  It is a clay piece I did many years ago, but did not like the color, so I re-painted it.  Embellished with fabric, ribbons, wire and some of my glass beads.  The piece of glass is so Beth can write her favorite word, or a word that will prompt you to go create!  Hugs,     Marilynn