Travel Tin

Well, I'm aggravated. I DID finish the little travel tin. And dropped it off to be put in the show for Friday. I DID take pictures of it and carefully brought home the camera with all the images on it. And as you will see from the crappy pictures here. I got not one, but every single picture out of focus. Arrrggghhh!!!

So, try to use your imagination and when the show is over and I have it back I'll take some pictures with my NICE camera at home and post one or two.

I was pleased overall, with how it turned out. I wouldn't really call it a book per se, as there really are no pages and no written content, other than the names of places on the stickers on the outside of the little suitcase. So, what would you call it? An assemblage? Collage?

I guess it doesn't really matter what you call it. I finished it and enjoyed making it (especially completing something in a rather short turnaround time for me!) I like the way the objects came together on the inside - and they DO all have some meaning for me.The whole thing really started as a reflection on my trip to Texas for Chloe's birth. But, then it became more of an homage of travel and time spent with family.

I found some slightly textured wallpaper in one of the old sample books in my class. ("Those things DO come in handy on occasion - justifying my hanging on to them..." said the packrat). And I had the postmarked LOVE stamp to begin with. I knew I wanted sticker to make it look like one of the old suitcases but wasn't sure how I'd go about getting to to look kind of beat up and travel worn. I found some nice images and was going to print them on regular paper to cut out and apply. I was dreading the thought of all the little pieces and then having to glue them once they were cut out. When it occurred to me to print it out on some of the hundreds of sheets of address label papers I have. I tried it and lo and behold, because of the coarseness of the paper my laser printer printed the images out rather roughly. Perfectly aged. Then all I had to do was cut the little shapes out, pry the back off with the exacto and apply at will. The little leathery looking straps are from an outer lying area of one of the stamps. I applied a coat of matte medium over the top of the stickers this morning so they would be a little more secure and called it good. I showed both the tins to students today and they were split pretty evenly as to which one they liked better. I'm just glad to have finished them in time for the show and have them in relatively respectable condition.

(I just noticed that it looks like there is a sty in that big ole eye on the inside of the tin!?! I'm sure it wasn't there before. Makes me want to rub my eye. What the..??? I'll have to check that out when I get it back. Maybe it's a big ole wad of the sand I put down on the bottom of the tin....hmmm....)

I leave tomorrow after school forSun Valley and the art educators fall conference. I was a little perturbed to find out yesterday that I would not be getting reimbursed. Especially after originally being told that there would be money to cover expenses (as there has been in the past). I probably wouldn't have paid the money and gone had I know that. But then while bemoaning my sad predicament to Celiac I was chastened to find out that she is currently preparing to go on a "required" trip that will end up costing about 10times as much as mine with no reimbursement whatsoever. So, now I'm feeling like I'll just go, kick back and enjoy the lovely fall weather and all the lovely galleries. Plus the bonus of not having to be stuck in meetings back at school - which is what I would have had to do had I not gone to the conference. So, as the kids say "It's all good."