"Verdigris and Sepia" Tags

The patina formed on rusted copper and some other materials such as brass and bronze that are exposed to the elements is called VERDIGRIS for its lovely green-gray color.  Often a turquoise shade that develops due to outdoor weathering can be seen as well.  This is one of my favorite colors, and nature herself creates it!

The vintage photos of olden days in SEPIA tones also intrigue me.  That distinct yellowish-brown-gray color found in ephemera of times past is another color I gravitate to quite often.  There is a *stop and take a look* calmness and serenity to sepia-toned photographs. 

To celebrate these favorite two colors of mine, I created the "Verdigris and Sepia" Tags which are displayed on a burlap-covered board.  This is third in a series - the first being the Christmas Tags, and the second set being the RED tags. 

                                                        "Verdigris and Sepia Tags"


*Click once or twice on any of the photos in this blog to see an enlarged image.

~ Vintage Altered Books ~

~Vintage Altered Books ~

These are bundles of old books that I saved from the landfill ... they still have their charm and beauty, and with a few touches of ephemera and some antique additions, I believe they deserve a place of honor. 
Books truly are forever if you want them to be!

RED Tag Board

The RED Tag Board project came about simply because I had so much fun creating the Christmas Advent Calendar Tag Board, and I didn't want to stop making tags.  Being the overly-ambitious type, my first thought was to make a new and different Tag Board for each month of the year, and each month using one of my favorite colors, or color combinations for the tags.  I decided to start with red, my most favorite color, with turquoise following close behind (and no doubt coming up next.) 

Using the same board as my Christmas tags were pinned to, I simply turned it over and added a layer of polyester batting, a layer of flax-colored burlap, and a final layer of off-white burlap.  Then I stapled this down all around the edges, and finally hand-sewed a thin edging of crocheted lace in off-white to hide the staples. 

The tag board itself could display only 30 tags, not 31.  For purists, this means the months with 31 days are cheated.  Nevertheless, somewhere into the project the exact number of days and the idea of a tag calendar was lost, and the emphasis was instead on the display of the tags themselves.

Each tag is a miniature collage using my personal collection of ephemera and found objects.  Making these tag collages is such a fun and satisfying process ~ I'm already eager to begin the next batch.

*Click on the image to make it larger for viewing.

*Christmas Vintage Tag Board*

     Making small, mixed media collages on manilla shipping tags is a personal favorite project of mine.  These particular manilla shipping tags were first stained with walnut ink and painted in places, and then given to me as a gift from an artist friend, Carolyn.
     On top of each *vintage* tag, I created a small tribute to an old fashioned Christmas, using saved ephemera, miniature decorations, canceled Christmas stamps of a religious nature showing the Madonna and Child, images of antique postcards, floral embellishments, and other tiny treasures.         
     While the concept of altered tags on a board used as an Advent Calendar for the month of December is hardly original, what I love about this project is that anyone who creates a tag board ends up with an original work of art ~ no two could ever be alike. 
      The board is made of two pieces of 32" x 20" foam board with polyester batting on top, covered by two layers of burlap which were stapled onto the back side.  The underlayer of burlap is flax-colored, and the top layer of burlap is off-white so the tags show up better.  For the days of December, I have used vintage, round wooden game markers - numbering 1-25, and glued them onto the burlap. Around the edge of the board I have placed decorative antique brass uphostery tacks.  The backs of each tag have been sprayed with Krylon "Make It Stone" for added strength, then a light spraying of gold for decoration.  Finally, each tag is adhered to the board with ivory-colored pearl straight pins.
     This was a most enjoyable Christmas-themed project!

*EAST*

EAST is an altered art book that I've worked on for a couple of years, adding to it every now and then. This is one of the reasons I love creating altered art books - you don't have to "finish" them, and you can continue with them as long as you like.

This particular "book" is really a stationery folder that was given to me as a child. I've turned it inside out - the outside was originally the colorful red and yellow batik-printed Japanese paper. The inside was very old bark paper with natural texture and with pockets. It was called "Mingei Letter Set" and unfortunately, I do not have any of the original stationery left. The folder remained intact, thankfully.

The additions I have placed in this book are Asian postage stamps, coins, photographs taken in Japan and Korea, miscellaneous cut-outs and calligraphy, rubber stamp images, cloth "beads" and painted wooden beads, chopsticks, pages from Oriental books and maps, decorative papers, photographs of my own artwork, a tiny Oriental silk knot, a paper bill (money), printed papers with gold foil, and finally an Origami crane that I made as a teenager. Unlike my usual sepia-toned vintage altered art books, this one is colorful and playful.

*The White Album*

Color, of course, is intoxicating. But white is intriguing. Every tint, shade, tone and degree of the "color" white captures my attention and imagination. White equates peace and serenity to me, so what better way to celebrate white than a white album.
*The White Album* is my biggest and fattest altered art book yet.

44 pages of photos, fabrics, chunky items like buttons, lace, ribbons, and my usual beloved vintage ephemera.
The old photos in the book are part of my collection of vintage photos.

The new/contemporary photos of white things are photos I took myself specifically for this book. Their inclusion add a small touch of modern to the otherwise antique look of the book.

Left side: back cover of book. Right side: front cover of book

*TIME*

* TIME *

Altered Art Book by Lynn Lindley

Images of vintage clock faces always catch my eye, and I'm compelled to cut them out and save them. Over the years, I collected so many clock faces that I had more than enough to completely cover and decoupage a metal wastebasket with them. Even after that project, I continued to cut out and collect vintage clock faces out of habit. My idea for an altered art book with the subject of *TIME* seemed a logical venue for using my growing collection. For weeks I jotted down phrases and sayings that had to do with time - and surprisingly, there were so many, I didn't even use them all. Dangling from a snippet of vintage seam binding is a miniature glass bottle ~ inside is the word "time" taken from the text of an old book. (Time in a bottle.) The tabs on each page have a time or date that is personally significant written in gold ink. Several of the hands on the clocks inside and on the cover of the book turn, and there are other 3-D objects such as minature clock faces and watches included as well.

[To better see photos, click on the image once or twice.]

(Above) The cover of *TIME* altered art book

Passing The Test Of Time

Time Well Spent - If I Could Save Time In A Bottle

Time Will Tell - Time Is On My Side

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? 25 or 6 to 4

Double Time - Keeping Time

Time Will Tell - The Clock Watchers

Time Heals All Wounds - Time Frame

Time Stands Still

Too Much Time On Her Hands

It's About Time

Time Flies

Time After Time

Always Be On Time

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