Inside & Out: Slide Mount Accordion Book [How to]

Slide Mount Accordion Book Cover

A year or two ago I remember seeing Quinn McDonald‘s awesome 35mm Slide Accordion Journal on her blog, as well as this mention about her slide mount journal being featured in the premiere issue of the Cloth Paper Scissors’ art journaling mag Pages.  Great idea! Making my own has been on my creative to-do list ever since and I finally spent some time creating one.  The process was lots of fun!  It’s also a great way to re-purpose any old, unused, and unwanted slide mounts into a miniature book!

Supplies to get started: Plastic slide covers & tape

Supplies I used to get started were some empty plastic slide mounts, paper tape (as well as masking tape), and a variety of miniature images, collages, and words to glue inside each mount.  Using some of my Lost and Found idea-o-logy paper stash came in handy for the background because each page is doubled sided and could be seen on the front and back in the mount’s center.

Attaching slides together with tape: Front and back

Using some paper tape on one side and masking tape on the other (just to experiment), I attached each individual mount together. The tape created a sturdy, flexible binding between each slide for the book’s accordion style.  I then used a variety of my favorite alcohol inks to add color to each slide.  The plastic, smooth texture of the mount’s surface made working with the alcohol inks super easy and left a nice look that dried really quick.  With some sandpaper and a sharp metal tool, I distressed some areas of the book after applying the alcohol ink.  I also accented the mount edges and in between each page with a gold paint pen.

Inside & Out: Slide Mount Accordion Book Finished

I think I’ve made my first Creative Pay It Forward gift to send to someone on my list in 2013! Yay! Thank you to Quinn for the inspiration to try this out. I look forward to making a few more!

Advertisement

Healing Imagination V @ Ursuline College

I recently finished “The House That Change Built” for Healing Imagination V, a juried art exhibition to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Ursuline College’s Art Therapy and Counseling Program. This house is dedicated to hope, growth, & truth and built from trust, art, safety and to never stop dreaming.

The House That Change Built

The house was first made with cardstock using these paperfolding steps, then covered with plaster modeling strips to experiment with using this material and another media for my new obsession of making mini houses.  The plaster was painted and embellished with collage, stamping, fragments, and a new material I received from Cathy (thanks!): grungeboard!  I used the grungeboard to create mini message flags that I painted, stamped, and sewed together for hanging across the front of the house.

Grungeboard Message Flags

I’ve also been working on a mini brown paper bag journal for donating to this event’s art raffle and to benefit tornado relief efforts in Missouri.  On the edges of the inside “pockets”  I’ve stamped the words create, give, be, and peace to go along with the peacemaking theme I am working on for the book.

Create, Give, Be...Peace

The Healing Imagination V opens on June 3 with a reception (5:00-6:30 pm) followed by a gallery talk (6:30-7:30) with Artist, Author, and Art Therapist Shaun McNiff at Ursuline College‘s Florence O’Donnell Wasmer Gallery.  The exhibit will be on display until July 8.

2011 revo’lution in motion & made visible

Introducing my 2011 revo’lution made visible!  As a re-cap for first time Creativity in Motion readers, for the last few years I have been practicing a year end tradition of creating my “revo’lution”, a process where I identify intentions that I want to focus more on and strengthen throughout the upcoming year. I then create images in response to these concepts and make an annual revo’lution book as a visual reminder.

This year’s intentions include: Truth, Choice, Nurture, Imagine, Inspire, Change, Freedom, and Passion. Below are images from this year’s altered board book I created to contain these eight concepts. Book spreads were created with a combination of magazine photo collage, stamping, vintage dictionary pages, distressed ink, and Tim Holtz’s idea-ology embellishments.

Something new that I experimented with was taking all the image photos on my iPhone using the Urbian Inc.’s Retro Camera app to feature in the gallery above and in the short film below:

Many of the intentions I chose this year focus attention on concepts related to continued growth, authenticity,  and of course, creating.  I believe 2010 revo’lution lessons and periods of letting go, reclamation, and transitioning have built a strong foundation for 2011 opportunities, exciting projects, meaningful relationships, and partnerships.  In my professional life this year, I am looking forward to having more energy, space, and imagining for new ideas related to what I am passionate about and creating ways to share these experiences with others through my work as an art therapist and trauma consultant, as well as my community organizing for The Art Therapy Alliance.

So what does your revolution look like?  What are intentions you would like to focus on and develop/sustain/strengthen throughout your 2011 life? It’s a great time to gather your revo’lutionary ideas and thoughts as this new year approaches and do some visioning through art!

Stay tuned here as my 2011 revo’lution in motion unfolds throughout the year!