Saturday, May 21, 2016

Mice and Tea Bags and Mail Art

I've made a few mice in my time, but I'm always fascinated with how wonderfully a "mouse" theme can be carried out.  Odile has taken this to a most detailed, whimsical, and delightful extreme.  



I have so many unfinished projects, tucked here and there.  I don't seem to have any "stick-to-it-ive-ness" and flit from one thing to another.

Like tea bags.  I've been looking again at the work several artists (real ones like Lynn Perella and Ruby Silvious) have done with tea bags.  After looking at some of Ruby Silvious' work, decided to give it another try.  

After a couple of cups of coffee in the morning, I switch to decaf tea, so a plentitude of tea bags doesn't take long to accumulate.  Since my drawing skills are so poor, a search through some stamps seemed like a possibility.  After stamping a few images on the used tea bags, I adhered them to postcards that were already monoprinted using a gelli plate.  :) Playing with this technique can be fun.


I've done 4-5 of these so far,
but this one will go out tomorrow
to Bryce Eleanor
Along with the following two.
No tea bags, but gelli printing and doodling.
to Mila
to Max

And some letters that went out this past week.





Hibiscus
in the garden




13 comments:

  1. Hi Jen! Wow, that collection of fabulous mice is is out so this world! She's thought of everything for those mice to be doing. It
    S over whelmingly impressive to say the least. And the same goes for the tea bags as well. I browsed through many of them. Not all, but those also are over whelmingly impressive! You, yourself have a great start on some tea bag art too! I think stamping on them is a great idea. Me trying to draw on them wouldn't work out either! But stamping...oh yeah! I always love your brightly colored mail art. It's always inspiring for me. And your Hibiscus are so gorgeous. I love the colors.

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    1. Aren't Odile's mice wonderful? And Ruby Silvious' tea bags are wonderful! I'm drawing on some now, but more like doodles--since I have difficulty drawing anything realistic. I'm going to try drawing some Carla Sondheim-style animals. It doesn't matter how many tea bags are ruined in the process because I drink a great many cups of tea a day.

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  2. What a typing mess that comment turned out to be! And then when I tried to type this comment, it was a mess too! What is wrong with my keyboard? LoL

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    1. :) I've been having trouble with my Kindle this morning; it keeps skipping around without permission which is absolutely frustrating! Those damn planets must be in retrograde again and taking it out on technology!

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  3. Those mice are so adorable! When is your birthday, BTW? And what's your astro sign? I just learned recently that one of the more obvious (to some) indicators of being a Pisces, which I am, is a lot of varied interests and moving around between them. Maybe you're a Pisces too?
    Have a great weekend. Looking forward to my mail. xo

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    1. I seem to have a thing about anthropomorphic animals, especially when they are in tiny "human" settings. :) My birthday is in November--a Scorpio, and I do have a lot of interests, but I take a kind of shotgun approach--a little here, a little there. :O

      Have a great weekend, Connie!

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  4. I recall my grandmother made lots of little mice for Sales of Work. We used to say that future archaeologist would build up an entire complex theory about a highly local Mouse Cult if they found them...

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    1. :) Here's to the surprise and delight of the future archaeologists!

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  5. I can't imagine making that many mice. I get do bored with repetition even if each one is different. It is amazing to me that artist can find any medium to create art. I have heard of tea bag art before. People did a lot of it years ago. You are good at finding the time in your day to be creative.
    xx, Carol

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    1. I know! That is a whole lotta mice! Odile is the author of children's books and a quilter and a crafter. That is too much creative energy! Yep, I played with tea bags several years ago (inspired by the talented Lynn Perella at the time). I was not very successful, but I'm having fun with incorporating them into mail art.

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  6. Beautiful Hibiscus!! What fun you're having. I've used tissue paper before and even used tea bags which are quite fun to work with as they dry sort of mottled. Being small they can be worked into pretty much everything. So much fun to explore isn't it?

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    1. One of the lovely things about Hibiscus is the long season of bloom--such beautiful blossoms that just keep producing! Exploring is a joy--so many ideas to pursue. :)

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  7. Now, what's this nonsense about your not being able to draw? We've seen your art, you can do just about anything. And don't argue! Mouse-ville is extreme art! I can't imagine sticking with one theme long enough to do half of that--but I am a Pisces, so now that makes sense.

    Your hibiscus are gorgeous. I have gardenia, orange blossom, and Carolina jasmine in my back yard. Walking to the car takes several minutes because I absolutely must stop and smell a flower. It just occurred to me that my favorite scented blooms are white flowers. (Add old roses to the list.)

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Good to hear from you!