Friday, July 8, 2011

Sweet tiny shadow box... out of the roller paper?

My love for boxes of all kinds can be traced to many years back,
I`ve collected them for a while and some are little treasures!

After a while saving them, the idea of using this boxes for artful
porpouses gave birth to my shadow boxes, this came from the altered
books I discovered and  I just love to work on them,
some are very detailed, filled with little curiosities I have found
over flea markets and trips and some are simple, like this one we`ll be
learning how  to make out of a toilet roll, I`ll have many of this
during the year so, it`s a good idea to vary the utility of them,
I hope you enjoy and try, learning different things makes an artist
complete and diverse!

So here is how I did it! :D

I`ve traced some lines, in Mexico we are used to use centimeters
so this was done like so, 2 per side, it`s a little less than an inch,
you may like using a complete inch to make it easier but may strech
the box a little, you should know it`s good to have a good size for the sides
for this protects what`s inside!

Trace your guide lines with a ruler to be more precise but this kind
of box will be rustic becuse of were it`s coming from...



Then cut and fold those corners you can see bellow...


Use an embosing tool or a bone folder to go over the lines, this
will help you on folding them easier, just be gentle...


Help yourself with a ruler to fold inwards all of the sides...


Now you are getting close to complete the shape of  your box!


Add some glue and use some pins to keep them together until dry...


You got a sweet box! Isn`t this fun and easy? 


Now you can do all kinds of thigs with it, I chose to do some
paper machie, covering my box again with music vintage sheets! 
But you could use beautiful scrapbook papers to cover it!


Using one paper roll, I`ve strecheded it and attached to it a nice natural
 fiber hand made paper, with white glue, I`ve cutted the size of the inside 
of the box, then I can add my design in there so it will fit my shadow box!


Here is my design, a sweet angel! I`ve cutted it carefully
with a cutter, it has to have a new blade so it doesn`t ruin your
work!


Some colors and details wich also came from 
that same natural fiber paper and toilet roll, no
wasting!  So I could add the wings and halo with that!


Lightly add some guesso so the paint absorbs better
but not completly covering the beautiful notes or
words...
I`ve attached some foamy dots on the back of my angel,
so she has shadows on the back, this gives dimension and
depth to the final work!


Then paint as you like, I attached some words to 
go with my angel and some glitter and stars, then 
on the bottom some moss and tiny flowers with 
a universal transparent glue and Voila! 

Spry the entire work with fixiative to protect for dust!


To hang it I used a wire that was attached with 
the same paper machie, paper and glue, this is
super light so this will hold, if yours is heavier
try using a piece of fabric instead! 


This is actually hanging but I want to make a few
more so this is not so alone!

The words read:

The fragance of her soul
remained humble and simple...




I now share with you some new works, most of them
of course are experiments, I LOVE altered books, they
are a fantastic way of keeping a record of those works, 
like this last four photos bellow...

I hope you like my new watercolors! :D





In my altered book!



This one comes form a dream I had a long time a go!


I write to my self but like if I were a teacher in most of my journaling, 
this helps me know I hold my own answers inside me!


I hope you had fun, thanks for visiting! :D



Hands and Heart signature

9 comments:

  1. What a sweet shadow box! Love your work!

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  2. Such a great idea for the humble TP roll! And the watercolors are sooooo beautiful! Thank you for sharing your beautiful work... ; )
    Lotus

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  3. OMGosh Moni,
    this toilet paper roll thing has no end in sight! I am loving it...I am now pulling cereal boxes, tissue boxes and anything else I normall would sent to the recycle center and cutting it all up and storing it in a basket for all my new projects!
    Your watercolors are simply fabulous, but no surprise there:D
    Much love and hugs,
    Beth P

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  4. Wow Monica! Fabulous work. You have a lot of ideas with the tp roll and that is sure recyling. Love all your pieces. Thanks for sharing. Have a great weekend.

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  5. Thank you girls! that`s wonderful Beth, I love that you are now thinking oustide the box, that`s the way to go! :D Let`s keep on recycling and being creative! :D
    Cheers...Moni.

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  6. This is great, Moni! I love to hear that you write to yourself in your journaling....it's what I often find myself doing as well...for years now!
    Blessings ~H♥~

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  7. I Love the mini shadow box...adorable, great idea!! Love your watercolor pages also....the little bird is my favorite I think!! TFS Patti

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  8. love all your art Mona, love the angel, had to try drawing one, hope to find a place to post it ..thank you for all you do for us

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Thank you so much for your sweet comments!