This project is a mixed media box that holds something important to you.
Using four postcards and a map, you will cover the inside and outside of the box. Add the relic in the center and some pop-up elements on wire to add zing, and you will have a mixed-media monument to something you wish to remember in a whimsical and nostalgic way. Lift the lid for a big surprise!
In “Adventureland”, there are two plastic toy figurines of a Cowboy and an Indian from my childhood (the relics) and postcards and maps of Southern California, where I grew up. The signs are all the theme parks that were there at the time.
The orca tops the box of Washington, which holds the magical stone (the relic) that I was given by new friends I met on the beach. The postcards are vintage postcards of the area. The wires hold sea monsters, just because I love them.
Supply List:
- 4 postcards or photos, 4” x 6” two horizontal and two vertical. Must be card stock.
- 4-5 small images for the “signs” printed on card stock.
- At least 2 maps totaling 6” x 18”
- Cutting knife, sharp
- Cutting Mat
- Glue brush or tool (I love using a Shur-Line 01520 Trim and Touch up Pad for this. Available at most home improvement stores for about $3)
- Glue sheets (old magazine will work)
- papers and collage elements relating to your relic.
- Print of what you want on the sign on top (ie Adventureland) about 1-2 inches high, 2-4 inches wide. Let me know if you need help with this.
- Scissors
- Steel ruler
- Your relic for the inside
Optional:
- Needle nosed pliers
- Awl or pushpin
Kit Fee $10
- Includes all the rest of the pieces of board and paper to make this project, adhesives, dowels, beads and wire. I will bring lots of maps, postcards and images for the signs to share.
A Little About ME
Jill is a mixed-media artist, teacher, and mom in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains who makes lots of books, paintings and other story-telling structures. She focuses her work on text, color and social issues, and it often involves maps, symbols, houses, housewives, and the mystique of charisma, and you can see it in Somerset Studio, Letter Arts Review and Cloth, Paper Scissors, Art Journaling, Artists’ Café, Drawing Lab and various other magazines and books. She just published her first book, Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed-Media Mapmaking, with North Light in November 2011.
Her paintings and artists’ books have been shown in national invitational and juried shows and can be found in public and private collections across the country. She has taught at five universities and various other institutions nationally and feels that art is necessary and accessible to everyone.
