Bleaching wildlife photos

I am really cleaning out my husband's photo albums! The man had a million pictures. I thought the wildlife might be a nice change. As you can see, I did before & after on the one photo. My problem is I get so anxious to start dipping the photo that I forget to photograph it before I start. I think it's very interesting to see what the photo looks like before bleaching.
I probably won't post again before new years so I want to wish you all the best in 2010. I am looking forward to another creative year with all of you!

One World One Heart Is Coming

Stay tuned....One World One Heart is coming again in January. This is a HUGE event that attracts bloggers from all over the world. I encourage any of you that haven't had a chance to participate to do so this time. It is a wonderful event that Lisa Swifka of The Whimsical Bohemian has worked very hard on since she originated in all in 2007. Check out her blog for details.
Have a great week everyone!

Altering more pictures

Good morning! Once I find a form of art that I love doing, it's hard to stop me. I could stand for HOURS playing with this photo bleaching process. I thought I would do a before & after this time to make it a bit more fun.
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Wishing all my blogging friends a very merry christmas

I am wishing you all a wonderful holiday season. I send a HUGE "thank you" for visiting my blog on a regular basis & leaving such nice comments. Your friendship means so much to me. Once again, I want express my sincere appreciation for your support during a very painful time for me this past year with losing my husband. It would have been a much tougher road without all of you!! I am extending my arms to all of you with BIG BIG HUGS!

More Bleaching Photographs

Good morning everyone! I am posting a few more pics that I ran through the bleaching process. First, I will tell you I originally saw this process in a book titled
The complete guide to altered imagery by Karen Michel. I have included a picture of this book. The process is really quite easy with the only draw back being you need to use 35mm photographs. You can't bleach an inkjet print (to my knowledge.)
You dip your photograph in clear water & then on to dipping it in a 50% water/bleach solution. You can experiment with the time you leave it in. I do it for approximately 10 seconds or so. You can put gel medium over any part of the photograph that you want to resist the bleach. Once it's dipped, you wash it off in cold water again & let it dry. I add water colors & use the Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Artists' Crayons to add additional color. Give it a try...it's so much fun!
A note on the 2nd picture of the barn....I did not use any gel medium on this one. The entire photo was dipped in the bleach solution. It just gave it a bit of a different affect. The photographs I have used I pulled from some of my hubby's old photo albums. These are all from his original pictures.

Bleaching Photographs

I am feeling so excited this weekend! My friend, Minnie came up Friday evening to do a new project with Gail & I. We pulled out a bunch of old photos & we BLEACHED them & then added watercolors & crayons for a splash of additional color. Gail did one that I was absolutely astounded by. See the picture of the bird on the scenery background. How beautiful is that?? The tipi was done by Minnie & the trolley car by me. This is the first thing I've done for a long time that has excited me like this project. I love altering photographs! I thank Minnie so much for sharing her very valuable time to teach us this wonderful process.
Happy Sunday!

Finally Doing Some Crafts Again

I finally got my hands on some crafts this weekend. Each year around Christmas, my friend, Minnie picks an art project that she shares with her friends. We gather at her home & she teaches us a new project. This year, we felted soap. Felting has never really been something I was too interested in but I really did find these to be a lot of fun.
Basically, we took the white wool & did 3 layers of that...1st layer, lay the wool (a very thin piece) horizontally, 2ND layer, a vertical pattern & 3RD layer another horizontal pattern. Lay your soap on the wool & fold it over & pat it down. I added the colored wool to the top & back side. Then you place the wrapped soap in a nylon stocking. Dip that in hot water & rub a bit until the soap starts to suds. Remove from the stocking. You will need to rub the soap for a while for the wool to adhere to it. Once it starts to stick good, rinse in cold water & place it in the sun (yes, we still have sun in our beautiful state) & let it dry. That was it!
Pictured are Gail's 4 bars on the right & mine are the 3 on the left.
A big THANK YOU to Minnie once again for sharing this new technique with us.

Look who's visiting me!

Check it out! This handsome Pug man (& his mom) are staying with me for a bit. Lucky me! I not only wake up to a house full of wonderful cats but now this wonderful little Pug (KONG) is there to greet me in the morning too. We are all having a great time together. Isn't he a beautiful boy with his very shiny black coat!!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.