HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! & divvy it up

or "How to use up your scraps of fancy papers"

We were given a project to create for February's meeting of ECS (Edmonton Calligraphic Society) which was to create a box with 9 letters. The sample shown was

VAL

ENT

INE

however that's not something I'd have on my wall year-round. Well I could, but people would think I was weird. Which I am, but that's another story. So I opted for 'luving you'. What can I say, it was a dry day for ideas, & I had to go to a friend for that. This is how it was created:

Start with a (8"wooden) square block. (see below for how to divide an unequal measurement into equal pieces) Using clear matte medium as a paste, wrap a piece of rice paper on the front & around to the back. Paint black cheapo liquid acrylic on front & sides as a base. (Or you could just use black gesso.) Pull out all those fancy gold & red papers you've been saving for the perfect project, this is it! Then cut background squares & letters, & glue them on, alternating the color for each of the 9 squares. (Yes! the gold cross-stitch paper I saved from the 90's!) The fatter the letters, the better. Some may need a little oomph, like my U, N & Y, so outline them or the background with black pen, Gold Krylon paint or gold highlighter. Fun stuff.

Not so much fun putting all the papers away.

You can see the other samples at ECS's Facebook page. I think this is the link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=151228041582552

I may put the others up here after they've come out in the next guild newsletter.

Now, HOW TO DIVIDE INTO EQUAL PIECES WITHOUT A CALCULATOR

For example this green paper is 5 1/2" square & you want to divide it into 3 equal strips.

Hold the beginning of the ruler (0") against the top left corner of the paper. Find a number larger than the length of the paper that is divisible by 3; that's 6.

#1. Slide the right side of the ruler down until the 6" mark is flush with the paper edge.

6 % 3 is 2, so make a dot on the paper every 2"; at the 2" & the 4" spot.

#2. Slide the ruler down & line up the start of the ruler with the bottom left corner.

Slide the right side of the ruler to the 6" spot. Again, mark a dot at 2" and 4" .

#3. Join the upper & lower dots. To divide this page into 9 equal squares, turn the paper 1/4 turn & repeat the process.