Stitching the pieces together...

Stitching the pieces together...

Just a little preview of what I've been up to around here! What comes from a bag of scrap fabrics, a tin of scrap ribbons, and some lovely hand-pressed face beads? Sore fingers. Ha! Okay, that's just bad artist humor. :)

Working on a round of fabric dolls for holiday heART exchanges and all. Will have more and better photos for you soon. Also planning a mini how-to with photos to show how I'm doing these scraps-to-dolls pieces. Coming soooooon...

Besides that, I'm just stitching together the pieces of my to-do list. Been writing articles for a couple different features. More on those when they publish. Working on several thousand words covering "Grief & Creativity" topic. That one isn't coming along so well. Struggling to find the focus of it. But have a few more weeks to revise, so we'll see where it goes.

Managed to get our catalog updated, but still tweaking content.
Will probably refine a bit more and then post it out as a PDF to share latest offerings. Hoping to post it on a fully revised Mother Henna website for the new year.

The site revision is turning out to be more of a big deal than I thought it would be at first. Thought I would just play around with content, but now reconsidering what I really want to do in 2010. Thinking about nixing much of my consulting to focus on making art and doing lecture/workshops on grief & creativity. Not sure yet.

This all started with my retreat time in November. I had planned to DO a lot during that time, but ended up spending the time more in reflection, actually retreating and pondering as I was making art. It's taking me a lot more time to sort out all the pieces than I thought it would. Trying to roll with it and not panic.

:)

So anyway, that's that for now...
more soon...
miracles,
k-

Anyone want to swap? Face beads for???

~offer now closed as the bead have been snatched up!~
Thx all who connected with me!

Whacha got?

So I made twice as many of these face beads than I ended up needing for a recent project.

Anyone wanna swap me?
You can have this whole lot.
You send me???
Tell me what you've got and lets see!

So the beads:

-click on image to see full size

-they are handpressed, polyclay

-each has a hole near the top, so can be used as charm or sewn onto fabric

-pressed in purples, golds, deep red colors of clay

-then painted with shimmery silver and gold pigments

-measurements range from smallest bead at 1/2 inch diameter to largest bead 1.5 inch diameter.

-most are just shape of mold I pressed; some have additional henna like cravings on them

-they've been baked, so they are rock like. I suppose it is possible to smash them, but I've not had one break on me yet

-I have found that I can paint on them with India Ink brush pen to add permanent, delicate details to each face

Okay, so, don't know what else to say about them.
Tell me what you've got -- either leave comment here or email me (see top left column of blog for link that reads "Contact Mother Henna").

Miracles!
k-

Season's Greetings...

Handcarved Jizo on Notecard...mini how-to from MotherHenna

Handcarved Jizo on Notecard
...mini how-to from motherhenna.com...

So image left is of the Jizo notecards I sell over on my Etsy shop. Have had a few people ask me about how I get the full bleed cards done, so doing a mini how-to on this today.

The original
This card is a reproduction of an original canvas piece, so let me tell you a little about creating it first.

The canvas is just a plain old wrapped canvas like the ones you can find at any art supply shop.

The paints are a mix of acrylics and watercolors. You can tell I favor the shimmery mediums like pearlescent watercolors and iridescent acrylics.

The textures in the background are a mix of ephemera papers. I just wanted there to be shaped, bumpy texture for the eyes to grab onto in the background, but not anything you can necessarily read.

The stamp inks are the Distress brand. If you look closely, you'll see that I used the whole stamp pad as a block to make square patterns as part of the background. And then I also used these inks to stamp the face and the letters of the main image.

The stamps themselves are a combination. The letters are a store bought, rubber set. I think I may have trade someone for them. But they are just letters. Nothing special. I do hope to one day make my own set of letters, but for now... And then the Jizo Face, the head of the main figure, that is one of my own handcarved pieces.
I carve on softblocks using Speedball brand tools. I use a combo of the thinnest blade and thickest blade usually. I've shared my process with you before, so if you want more details on that, click here.

The body is done in my favorite India Ink using the Faber PITT pens.

The bib is just from a red Japanese fiber paper.

The Digital Version

From canvas to screen, there are a couple options. I can get Hawk to do high resolution, full studio light, photoshoot of the image. Or I can, if the canvas is small enough, actually lay it flat on a glass scanner and get a high-resolution, full color scan. In this case, I chose to scan because the original canvas was part of a triptych, and I wanted all three together like this:
Playing with .jpg in Photoshop is my next step. So I might play with size, color balance, cropping. If I feel like it, I might add layers and color washes, just to see what will happen. With this image, I pretty much just straightened, cropped, color balanced, though I did bump up the black point a little. Doing that shifts the color from the original some, but it gives the flat notecard image some depth, some dimension.

Actually making it a notecard can happen in a number of ways. You can work with a local printer in person or you can work with any number of online printers. There are so many now, that literally the world is your oyster! The catch is that every printer will have their own specification for size, full bleed, crop marks, format, etc. So I usually wait to do full layout of the image till I have settled on a printer and have their specs right in front of me. For this card, I did use an online printer. Don't remember now which one, but I've used VistaPrint, PrintingForLess, Zazzle, and others, all with very similar results. So shop around, see which you like best.

Packaging to sell the cards is next. So once I have the finished cards in hand, then I want to decided how to package them to sell. Sometimes, I just take a handful to a local bookshop and they sell them in a postcard rack, in which case, no packaging is needed. But sometimes, I like to sell them on my Etsy shop where customers expect just a little more. So for selling there, I pair each card with an envelope and slip sets of three cards/three envelopes into a sleeve. I get most of my packaging materials from ClearBags.

Last step is to actually post it online for sale. I use Etsy for now. I'd someday love to pull all my products in-house and sell everything from my own shopping cart on my own site. But that prospect is slightly overwhelming at the moment. The other options would be to license the images and have others produce, market, etc. Again, something I'm interested in doing, but overwhelmed by the details of actually making it happen. So for now, to see the finished product on Etsy, click here! Note that all the images for selling the product include the watermark/copyright notice -- but that mark is *not* on the actual card!

Miracles to you for your holidaze!
k-

Star GRRRL for the Holidaze...a mini how-to

Star GRRRL for the Holidaze
a mini how-to from motherhenna.com

Star GRRRL is an original, watercolor illustration done on an 80lb weight, watercolor paper. It's an artist rag paper texture. You can find this kind of paper in many places:

Dick Blick papers
Mister Art papers

For the heavy lines, I'm using my favorite Faber PITT, India Ink, bold tipped pen, in combo with a fine tipped of the same brand:

Faber PITT

To do the watercolor, I'm using one of those FABULOUS water pens. The one I have is a Japanese import so it is a little different shaped than this one:

Pentel Water Pen

And I found it at the art shop over on Bainbridge Island. You can see a snippet of my using it in another how-to video by clicking here...

The paints are just the shimmery watercolors that come in little palate, just like Crayola ones for kids. This set, however, has shimmery pigments mixed into each color. The pigments are Pearl-Ex like, often the product name is Pearlescent. Makes the pieces sparkle under the light of display!

Paints

I'm also adding sometimes, a wash over top using a Pearl-Ex pigment of my choosing. Just for added shimmer:

Pearl-Ex

When I'm done with the pieces, I'm hand ripping the edges to enhance the scalloped look. Each piece in the Etsy shop is the original. When customers purchase, I sign and date the pieces.

I am also doing a high-resolution, full color scan of each of these originals before selling them. With the digital copy, I am mostly just wanting to document the piece before parting with it. But I also never know if I might be inspired at some later date to share the piece in a print book, on a card or a tee shirt, feature in a portfolio, or pull into a digital landscape to alter it or use elements from it in layering a new digital collage. Example:

Having that scan at least gives me the option, even if I never use it for anything but documentation.

So that's my mini how-to and heART feature for the day.
Happy Holidaze and mucho appreciation for any gift purchases you make with us this month!
Miracles and lots of Reiki to all of you!
k-

A Star Boy for the Holidaze...

A Reiki infused Star Boy for the Holidaze
...mini how-to from motherhenna.com...
He's one of my handcarved stamps. You can see in this first photo, how I would do an artist proof print of the stamp as I was carving to see what areas still needed to be carved away, how to shape him exactly as I visioned. He's carved from a soft block, using Speedball brand carve tools. A combo of the thinnest carve blade and the thickest. I drew him in red ink on the block first. Thick lines. And then carved away all but the lines...

With each artist proof print of the stamp, I could refine and refine and refine till he is exactly shaped as I want. See image below for how final print/carve turned out...And then photo below is actual picture of the soft block at the finish. You can see the red ink of my original drawing on the block. You can also see that I didn't exactly follow the drawing. As I carved and proof printed, I shaped the block visually. The original drawing is just guideline...

And finally, I take the finished print and scan it into the computer at 300 dpi. I take it into Photoshop to make it completely black and white, getting rid of all grey areas or yellow of print paper. I want a clean, high resolution, b&w image so that I can upload it to CafePress. I save several versions of that finished image to do knockout on dark colored shirts, regular version for light colored shirts, and saved in various sizes from original stamp size up to 10 inches tall. I'm doing all that so that I can then attach the image to products on my CafePress shop. Below you see the photo of the long sleeved tee with Star Boy in black. If you surf thru the shop, you'll find him in red ink and on short sleeved tees, too. So if you are looking for highly specialized, handmade with love, Reiki infused gifts for giving this season, well then check out Star Boy and all the others from MotherHenna.com...
Happy Holidaze!

Miracles,

k-

Welcome to December...

These last 21 days leading to the shortest day of the year are notoriously difficult for me. I'm practically doing orange juice via IV and snorting the bergamot out of my tea bags and hording the fresh cranberries. It all helps. But it is most helpful to honor my heART and body. To allow for more sleep. To allow for wrapping in warm blankets. To review what's come before and spark renewal for what's to come. Be gentle with yourselves. Sending Reiki to all eyes who come across this:

HON SHA ZE SHO NEN
HON SHA ZE SHO NEN
HON SHA ZE SHO NEN
miracles,
k-

Art Every Day Month + pondering the holidaze & everydaze

for art every day month
...click images to see larger version...

Reminder
If you signed up to be participant in our Handmade Holiday Gift Exchange, please click here to read updated blog post that has been edited to show your partner matches!! Connect with your partners!!

art every day:
holidaze & everydaze
Wow, this month has flown by so quickly. While I have succeeded in making art and being creative every day, I have not kept up with posting here in the blog every single day. It's made me aware of how much I do -- how much we all do really! In my mind, I think, yeah, no big deal. Just do a post. You don't have to say alot. But when it comes down to it, there are so many plates in the air. I think about my schooling coming up in this world. It was so pitiful as preparation for this world. I mean to just do an entry for AEDM, here's the process:

• Make the art (a whole discipline in and of itself)
• Then scan or set up lighting, set to photo the artwork
• Take the images into Photoshop to light balance, color correct, straighten, crop
• Upload to Blogger and do entry, fuss with html code if there is something special I want
• Post and then share on Twitter, Facebook, etc.

There was no formal education for making art, using a scanner, setting up lights, using a digital camera, using Photoshop, messing with html code, or using social media. When I left Carnegie Mellon in 1995, email was quite high end and felt brand new. The statistics class I took that last year, the one and only class in all my years there that required we use the computer lab, was experimental.
And this process I use to share for AEDM is one of a thousand things I'm doing in any given day.

• I'm also writing and researching.
• We are updating websites for clients, do client artwork.
• We are customizing workshops for various audiences.
• We are in a constant state of trying to find paying work. Commercial website and photoshoot work finds us the most, but for teaching and selling art, it is a constant prowling on the Net and phone.
• There is the messing with php and html to keep our enewsletter going and our own websites updated.
• There are two other blogs besides this one.
• There are friends and family and professional groups on places like Facebook and LinkedIn.
• There are the emails and calls from bereaved families and caregivers who need support or are looking for resources or want permissions to reprint materials.
• There are photoshoots for our own projects.
  
• There are the books and invoicing to be tackled every other week.
• Phone meetings and in-person meetings.
• And then you know the everyday stuff like dealing with the dishes, laundry, is there toilet paper, what's for dinner, are those library books overdue.
• Attempting to stay emotionally available for whatever is happening in my life...which takes time and space for me to do consciously.
  
• And then you know, imagine that after all that you want, oh I don't know, relationships in your life?!! So doing fun stuff, connecting with the kids, getting to see the grandkids, traveling, meeting with friends for fun, date nights with my husband.
• And I'll barely mention exercise and leisure because though, in theory those sound like fun, I hardly ever get there in any given day. Rather I get to a space where I might do that, I start to meditate and I fall sound asleep coz my brain is like, "ah gawd finally quiet space!"
  

So it just dawned on me in looking at all this, that it isn't just the holidays that are a daze. Most everyday is a daze. My education - your standard american education system process, even with my stint at an ivy leaguer quality of education - did not in any way prepare me for everydaze and holidaze. My preparation has been by trial and error. I was lucky enough to happen to meet a person who became my partner who is interested in art and technology, too. So Hawk teaches and experiments with me a lot to keep up with the tech curve of things.
In all of that, I'm constantly trying to gauge my just-right life. Am I making choices and doing things that feel right for me, for what I want to BE. This process is often at odds with all those things I'm doing in my everydaze.

For instance, I try hard to not be a materialist. If I buy something, I want to know I'm going to use it. If I can trade or barter for it, even better. I'm all for dropping out of the consumer aspects of the holidaze and everydaze. I would be thrilled to live as minimalist as possible. But rent must be paid, so artwork must be sold. Which means I become one of the proponents of consumerism. And young grandchildren do not understand the concept of handmade holiday, and when asked, they always want Transformers and princess dolls and such. So we become participants in consumerism, trying to dull ourselves by saying it's for the babies.

Most days, my goat Capricorn self keeps taking one step after another up the craggy hillside. But always my heart longs for the fishtail part of my Capricorn being. My heart wants warm, salt water. To just float. To rest in the quiet moments.

I think this is why I get films like "Lost in Translation" ... why I get lost in a film like that ... because the whole piece is my fishtail. The odd quiet moments. The undercurrent of raw music. The pull toward some kind of authentic connection amid a world of 24/7 consumerism. The idea that it is all lost in translation. We make our own meaning, moment to moment. And our language of meaning will most always be lost in translation if we try to get others to understand, try to convince them of our meaning.

Not sure what all this leads to really. I guess it is just about a commitment to make art every day no matter what. There is a shot of Sophia Coppola in the "making of" footage of Lost where she talks about how lucky she is to have Bill Murray there, willing to let her direct him to do exactly what she wants, wear what she wants, say what she wants, all to make her laugh. So maybe that is my point. Regardless of all the other hassle and doing and effort and being, the point is ultimately to be conscious of how lucky I am to make art everyday.

Miracles,
k-

Happy Holidaze: a 2010 Calendar, Handmade Gift Partners, and AEDM for Nov 27

for art every day month

First up today:

Handmade holiday exchange partners are matched!

Because we ended up with 21 people, an odd number, I've taken myself out of the equation to make it even and match you all with one partner each. I am going to do a small run, limited edition, handmade holiday print, numbered/signed -- and if anyone wants to trade with me in addition to your partner, then great! Just contact me at kara@motherhenna.com to trade mailing addresses. Okay? To see who your partner is and how to connect with them, please see the holiday exchange post by clicking here!

Next up:

the heART of 2010:
calendar featuring works from MotherHenna.com!

I'm sooooooooo excited to announce our 2010 calendar featuring 15, full-color prints excerpted from the three different series of GRRRRLS, Kabuki Ghost, and Danger Danger.

Calendar is coil wire-bound; sized 11x17 when open to show month and art; and printed on 100# glossy stock. U.S. holidays are noted, plus reminders for October Awareness Day, Days of the Dead, and NCMD in December.

When you click over to the 2010 calendar page, you'll see a link just below the cover image that says preview. If you click that preview button, you'll get to see the cover and all 12 months of images so you can see exactly what you'll see throughout the year.

To have in time for Christmas giving, the printer recommends you order by December 08th for regular mail delivery OR by December 15 for priority mail delivery - you can see more about their shipping schedule by clicking here.

Hope whatever daze you find yourself in for the holidaze is one where you feel supported, where you are able to advocate for gentle days and loving ways, where you are able to make meaning of holy days in whatever ways are right for you!

Miracles and Reiki to all of you!
k-

AEDM, Nov 25 &26 + Shhhhh, I'll tell you a secret!

for art every day month

Shhhhhh. Come closer. I'll tell you a secret. Get Ready! Tomorrow I'll be posting with "the heART of 2010" Calendar!!!! 15 full color artworks, oooh, I can't wait to show you all tomorrow!

Okay, but for today...
So the images I'm sharing today are sort of the start to art, but not really art yet.

I thought it might be fun to share with you a little bit about how I work on my art journals. Sometimes I do one page at a time, but more often then not, I work across multiple journals, multiple page, working layer by layer. So in the last week, I showed you the covers of a couple journals and three sets of page I worked up together.

Well, as I moved to work new sets of pages in the journal, I decided that I wanted to just do all my gluing of multiple pages together for the entire journal at once. Then I decided I wanted to gesso all of them as a base all at once. Then I when thru with my stamps and did some base layer stuff. Here and there I added bits of paper and ephemera.
On some I didn't do ephemera yet, but just enhanced the stamps with india ink marker decorations.
Then I took out the paints and started doing some page washes, touches here and here.
After that, on the one below, I did another gesso wash, and then decided to do a page of text:
On another page, I could start to see an image take form. The first layer of stamps were wing like. Then when I added the ephemera, I shaped them into the start of bodies. Did the paint wash over top all that and then will work from there...we'll see where that goes:
At that point, I really begin to look at the page sets individually and working up the layers. Adding more bits of ephemera, doing a second color of paint wash in some areas, taking out the texture makers like bubble wrap and doing accents. And then I'll begin working the sets one by one till they feel finished.
This one below is the first one that feels finished out of all the sets I started. Don't know if you can see the details well or not (my camera sucks and I didn't feel like scanning yet), but so the burgundy jelly fish are soooooo cool. I'm most pleased with those. Used a fan brush to do round swipe to make body and then light pull with same brush to do their tentacles. I love how they look like they are in motion!
So there you go... art in progress. Hope all you Americans are having a Happy Tofu Day! Eat Tofurky, Save a Turkey!
Miracles,
k-