Meditation Zine

DC: 193: Prayer/Meditation

This week's drawing challenge pushed me to design my first real 'zine.' The theme Prayer is interpreted by my self as 'Meditation.' Thank you so much TammieLee for hosting this event and choosing such a lovely theme for us to consider.

Firstly, this is a prototype, a design idea, a learning curve, an experiment. It is a zine about meditation and the graphics are collaged tea bag paper (used) with watercolour birds and stitched (oh it is awful but oh well) outlines for veins, etc. With all of its warts and (hateful due to machine issues, etc.) stitched boo-boos.

Here's some stems with tired worn out brown leaves from a lotus plant.

This is the entire 8.5"X11" sheet filled with old lotus plants.

We find a colourful bird has found its' way into the lotus grove.

Birds have been painted, and machine stitching added to denote veins, etc.

Words have been added.

And the pages folded and cut. It's ready to be born into a zine proper:

Front Cover.

Page 2 and 3.

Page 4 and 5

Page 6 and 7

Back Cover.

So I learned a great deal. The beige on beige is boring so I have in mind some very colouful bugs to add...next time. And I want to do hand lettering for the type. And use brown thread in the sewing machine. And to play with the machine to get control over what I want to happen on the page...

And so dear readers, thanks for dropping by. Click on Tammie's blog to see what others have added to this great drawing challenge this week. Bye for now, hope to see you again soon, Love Norma, x

P.S.
I want to express my heartfelt thanks to a friend who sent me a surprise gift in the mail. Her art inspired me no end and launched me into a whole new world of tea bag collage. Thank you so much Kim Henkel.

Success comes from hard work

Many the time I have heard this but I learned it for my self these past few days. I've been struggling and failing badly with my attempt to master a zine that I'm designing from used tea bag paper. One tea bag gives one zine which measures about 1.5" wide by 2" tall and gives 4 pages with a front and back cover. I've pushed through to success and am very proud of myself. Here are 5 zines which constitute my first successful batch. There will be no stopping me now!


So I have two zines which I'll keep for reference, one zine is a gift, and two will likely go up on my etsy shop. I am very pleased to be able to offer these.
Every zine is one of a kind. Every one has a front cover with a hand drawn sketch of something and a title that features numbers of some sort with a word or two to give the feeling of the zine. For example below you see: 36 warning as the title, inside there is a sketch of a bird using india ink with yellow acrylic coloration and gold watercolor highlights and the message is~in darkness, Every moment is an opportunity; 47 of mental shows bamboo drawn in an india ink sketch and inside the sketch is a lotus blossom with the message~'I'd like to be flexible.'
My goal is not to explain poetry but for this blog I'll say that 36 warning is a heads-up to remind one that not only yourself, but others can utilize a moment of their choosing, and 47 of mental can be read as of things mental, or of things of the mind.


Messages are made using cut text from antique books and typewritten messages on the paper from the margins of the same old books. I love my manual typewriter.


45 magic is one I'll keep or give away as a present. Inside shows a sketch of an owl and the message says~if you wish, Your life is your work of art.
IV artist is a gift to an artist who gave a wonderful workshop training session which I attended a few weeks ago. I made this zine as a thank you to the artist. The inside message says~Forever, I am learning to trust my intuition. It also features a drawing of an owl.


So that's what I've been up to these days with my head down cutting and drawing and pasting and mouthing expletives with frustration. It's all good now!

Thanks for dropping by and I look forward to seeing you soon I hope! *smiles* Norma

What is on my workdesk today?

Ironed tea bag paper, india ink, nib mapping pen, rubber stamps and an old book lay on my work surface today waiting to be used to make a zine that I am designing. You can see the zine itself at the bottom of the photo.


The cover of my zine entitled: know [38]


Page 1 showing an owl sketched in india ink.


The center spread (pages 2 and 3) show the message: to go through I listen to my gut feelings


Page 4 and the inside back cover. I sewed a few sequins on to this page. The image is from an Asian stationers stamp. I don't know what it says and so hope I don't offend anyone.


The size of my zine is 1.5 inches wide X 2 inches long (approximately). You can see that tea bag paper likes to bleed. This is part of the visual that is unique in my opinion.

Thanks for dropping by; to see more fabby art from other wonderful players go here.

My favorite things

In the selfish interest of having a chance to win this:


I am playing along with the butterfly effect and answering ten questions about me.

I. What is your favorite flower to bring to your enemy’s grave?
The grave is a place of memories so I'd bring forgetmenots.
II. What is your favorite bird to dress up as if you were in a parade?
Budgie.
III. What is your favorite pet quality you’d like to own?
Cat~the ability to just walk away; Dog~eternal optimism
IV. Which one of your favorite celebrities would you marry if you could?
Michael Caine
V. What is your favorite food to order when your in-laws are paying for the meal?
Something involving booze.
VI. What is your favorite drink to accidentally spill on a person you like?
Water
VII. What is your favorite destination to vacation and/or live if you won a million dollars?
London town
VIII. What is your favorite color to wear to your best friend’s wedding?
Indian yellow
IX. What is your favorite book or/and book character you’d take with you on a lonely island?
I Ching
X. What is your favorite song to sing in the shower?
My Sweet Lord by George Harrison

We are to do something creative as well so this was the excuse to go ahead and try out something I've been planning inside of my head for about a year now. It's a zine/littlebook made from a used tea bag sheet of paper. Here is the cover which features an india ink sketched bird and a quick collage. As tea bag paper is impossibly thin you can see that it bleeds easily and tears even more easily. Both a rip and a bleed come with the territory on this cover. So here is my prototype of my zine which I plan to make for my etsy shop.




Thanks for visiting, and I hope to see you soon. *smiles* Norma