Something new...

[fajrdrako]

maboroshimaki thought I needed a hobby. She's into crafts. She makes quilted things and designer doll clothes and lovely works of art. Me, I buy fabric and never use it. Plan art and never paint it. Gave up on knitting decades ago and I've had an afghan in the making since 1976. Rubber stamps, I go for. Origami: yes. So got a good idea.

"You should make a scrapbook," she said.

You know how sometimes someone says something, and it just clicks? I was about to scoff, and found myself intrigued. Yes, I could make a scrapbook. I could make a fannish srapbook. I could use my LOTR clippings and my PotC clippings and suff I've collected re Smallville. I went out and bought a real scrapbook from Lewiscraft. (I did toy with the idea of using an actual book and making it a book-art project; maybe in future.) During the past week or so I have been going through my fannish pictures and other pictures I wanted to enhance the pages I was designing in my head - iconic symbols that I associate with the characters I'm working on: sunflowers for Clark, a laptop for Lex - that sort of thing. I made a sort of rule for myself: it's cheating to make it a digital art project, by just finding things online and printing them. Cheating and, with the cost of ink and photographic paper, expensive. I'm trying to do it with magazines I have or can get at a reasonable price, and ingenuity.

I still need a good picture of a katana, white tulips, and a back pack like the one Clark carries.

Tonight I started my first three pages. The first is a page on Clark Kent, with the words last son of Krypton in Kryptonian script at the bottom of the page. The second is a page on Lex Luthor. The third - which is actually page four in my book - is Chloe Sullivan. Page three is reserved for Lionel Luthor, if I can find any art.

Comments

Re:

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

ARGH! I just wrote this LOOOONG response for you, posted it to LJ "successfully", and yet it didn't show up. Usually I copy my reponse in case this happens, but I never seem to remember to do it those times LJ screws me over. Well, maybe it will show up later?

Here's the quick version of my response:

1) Trust good photo shops, the ones that cater to photographers who develop their own film, for neutral pH items like photo corners, pens, glue, etc., rather than a craft shop. Look for words like "Neutral pH", "museum quality", "archival" to tip you off to the good stuff.

2) My fav glue is a white glue that dries clear (like Elmer's glue, or any milk-based craft glue) called Neutral pH adhesive by Lineco, Inc. That's a permanent glue. A less permanent, but still archival glue, so you can pull up and reposition stuff, is a clear gel glue in a tube that Exposures sells. Also, double-glue-sided squares are great, too; they come on a paper roll that you peel the squares off of and Exposures sells them. I tend to white-glue the backgrounds and use corners or squares to lay the pictures and ephemera on top.

3) For Lionel, you could also find an old financial-oriented magazine like Forbes and use the cover or one of the ads inside as his background. Or pictures of money, put together in a collage.

4) Wrapping paper makes a great background, even cheapo wrap you get at a dollar store. Dollar stores have cheap wrapping papers that are fun.

Re:

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I just wrote this LOOOONG response for you, posted it to LJ "successfully", and yet it didn't show up.

I think it did, eventually - that is, I got two messages from you. LJ was acting funny yesterday.

Usually I copy my reponse in case this happens, but I never seem to remember to do it those times LJ screws me over.

I have that problem with webmail. Usually I remember to save my replies. The odd time I don't - it's guaranteed to disappear!

The idea of gluing the backgrounds and positioning things on top with photo-corners is excellent. I'll try that. And I plan to explore a few dollar stores at lunchtime for Lionel fodder. Maybe I can do my Lionel page tonight - that would be fun!

I'm tempted to also do a "general Smallville" page but I'm still working on thematic composition in my head. I think perhaps the theme should be 'secrets' - ?