Assemblages

This is a collage to honor the music of Dr. John (aka Mac Rebbenack). It’s art I created for the Homage to Music card deck exchange hosted by Red Dog Scott. Dr. John is among my favorite musicians, since I first heard his music around 1970. On an early album, Gumbo, he described his sound … Continue reading "Homage to Dr. John – mixed media collage"

I created this pendant shrine for a friend. The symbols in it were specific to her interests. When I started this project, I knew that I wanted to make a pendant/shrine using a matchbox, a Premo-covered book, and hemp and glass beads strung together. The results were fabulous! Here’s how it looks from the outside. … Continue reading "“Art and Alchemy” Pendant Shrine"

You can make a small shrine using a Pringle’s potato chip lid. Here are some general instructions to create the base for the shrine. It was created using very small artwork—some of it original—and a Pringle’s potato chip lid. You know, one of those clear plastic snap-on lids that allows you to reseal the container. … Continue reading "The Pringles Lid Superman Shrine – Step by Step"

After draping your art shrine or assemblage with plaster and gauze, you can achieve astonishing results by layering paint and polyurethane. These photos show just a few of my experiments with this technique. It’s best to read this entire page before shopping for paint, polyurethane, and related supplies. You may get some great, unique ideas … Continue reading "Layering Paint and Polyurethane for Rich Depth"

Plaster gauze is ideal for embellishing your art shrines and assemblages. Add gold foil, gold leaf, glitter, beads, vintage jewelry, crystals, or other features, and your art can really stand out! Plaster Gauze To learn the basics of using plaster gauze (or plaster plus gauze… generally the same product), see: Shrines – Add Texture with … Continue reading "Embellishments for Mystery & Dazzle"

The Asparagus Wand was created for Sukie’s “Fairy Wand Exchange,” in July 2001. I made four of them to add to the wands already being sent by my daughter – who’d adopted the name “Applefaerie” – and me. The Asparagus Wand is shown below. It started in Michael’s Arts & Crafts store, where my daughter … Continue reading "Asparagus Wand"

This is an Altoid tin shrine created for a 2000 Capolan exchange, and titled the Relic Room Assemblage. The outside of the box: Altoid tin, secured with an antique button, and hemp twine with beads. Preparing the Altoid tin: First, I hammered it to age it. Then I sprayed it with a cream-colored epoxy paint, … Continue reading "Capolan exchange: Relic Room Assemblage"