Monica's Swami Beyondananda

How about a little colour out there?

I love this piece by fellow Edmonton Calligraphic Society member Monica Robertson & thought you would too. It's quite large and really draws you in to take a closer look. The quotes are by Steve Bhaerman. Monica calls it “Swami Beyondananda” and this is what she had to say about it:

"Our study group decided to explore layering for the ECS library project. I immediately went to “Swami isms” and contacted Steve Bhaerman. He very graciously endorsed the idea, i.e. no copyright infringement. I enjoyed the freedom of the layering process. (If you don’t like it, cover it up.) I began with 140 lb. w/c paper, masked off areas with masking tape, and poured, painted walnut ink and watercolor, then lettered, then collaged, then painted, then lettered."

She makes it sound SO EASY!

This one says Happy New Year!

Marv surprised me last night by handing me the words Hunter and Douglas that he'd clipped from an ad. When I gave him the totally clueless look that I'm so good at, he mentioned I must be running out of names by now as I've made so many snowflakes. He might have a point, since I've even made one for the son's cat. Perhaps I'll start on spring flowers soon.

Happy New Year!

OK, took a little break there from the blog, but look what I did over Christmas!
Marv & I were off to Van to see the boy over Christmas & I needed something to do besides chew my fingernails while Marv was driving (his driving is actually pretty good & it was I who drove us into the ditch one dark blowing night on the Coquihalla) SO I made
Paper Name Snowflakes!
Lotsa fun. Did one up for all Dale's roomies in the mansion, his girlfriend and even the cat Charlie. Can you pick out the names Adrianna, Shane & Karl on the pic below?

I had a nice Happy New Year snowflake all ready to post, but the man has done something with the connections so no scan tonight.

What you need for a 6 sided snowflake is a 30 degree triangle. Cut mine from a file folder. Any photocopy paper will do for the snowflake. Vellum won't work...rubbing the fold with your fingernail causes the folded edge to become a torn edge. I also thought Tyvek would be great 'cause it doesn't tear, but it's too thick & the layers that tyvek is made with create all kinds of scratchy looking edges.

Fold a square piece of paper in half, then half again, then line up the 30 degree triangle to create 3 more folds. Draw up your name in your sketchbook 1st to decide where each letter should connect to the next. A block letter style like Neuland works great. Erase the connecting lines. After folding the paper, pencil the name on one triangular section.
Use cuticle scissors to cut out the unnecessary bits. Be sure to leave bits of paper all over the house when you get up!

You can iron your paper snowflakes to flatten them out when you're done, but if you use a steam iron, flip the snowflake over 1st or you'll get all kinds of gunk all over your nice white snowflake. The voice of experience.

All about snowflakes
http://www.its.caltech.edu/-atomic/snowcrystals/
for the most amazing photographs of real honest-to-god snowflakes like you won't believe!
For some great patterns & what to do with them once you've made them, check out http://www.papersnowflakes.com/patterns.htm

We'll be making paper name snowflakes at the January 10 meeting of the Edmonton Calligraphic Society. http://www.edmontoncalligraphicsociety.org/