Having Fun with Miniature Paintings

Several years ago I bought an assortment of small Stampbord pieces. The largest was 2x2 inches and the smallest was 1x1 inches. A third size included in this assortment was 1 inch x 2 inches.

Stampbord is made by Ampersand. It's basically a clay type surface over hardboard. Stampbord doesn't warp so it's great for mixed media techniques.

I've been using the two smaller sizes to make pendants for my new mosaic jewelry collection. But rather than using the 2x2" pieces for jewelry, I've been turning them into miniature paintings. Here's one that's still a work in progress:

A tiny abstract displayed on a miniature easel from Michaels

This painting was created first on acid free artists tissue paper, which I then cut out and adhered to the Stampbord with soft gel. Once the gel dried, I continued to tweak my Lilliputian creation using fluid acrylics and a 1/8 inch wide nylon brush until I was satisfied with it.

After I took this photo I decided to paint the border surrounding the artwork black. I really liked the blue border but it didn't completely cover the pencil marks at the edges where I had marked off the paper's dimensions. Carbon black, however, does a great job of covering up unwanted marks. So as of today the border is black!

I signed it on the back rather than the front. It was easier to place my signature on the back where there was more room. Tomorrow I'll seal it and varnish it and call it done.

Creating the art on a separate piece of paper first, then adhering it to the Stampbord, made the painting process easier. The Stampbord's clay surface grabs paint and makes blending fast-drying acrylics somewhat tricky. Working on a separate piece of paper eliminates that problem.

I've got plenty more 2x2 inch Stampbords to turn into into miniature paintings. They're so much fun to do; already I'm dreaming up ideas to try with them.

Miniature paintings make terrific gifts. People really seem to enjoy having an original piece of art that takes up hardly any room and brings a touch of color to a desk or table top. Their small size carries an equally small price tag (mine are $45 including the miniature easel) making this art readily accessible to everyone!

Text and image ©2014 Lynn Edwards

I've Been Liberated!

Manually cutting teeny tiny pieces of paper, some no wider than an eighth of an inch, is a v-e-r-y time consuming chore. But it's unavoidable when these microscopic bits form the basis for my latest designs, a limited edition collection of mosaic themed jewelry. After hours bent over my worktable with scissors in hand, suffering hand cramps and eye strain, I kept thinking there has to be a better way.

And lo, it turns out there is! I vaguely remembered seeing a collage once in which a square "window" had been made on one of the papers. The description had said something about a paper punch being used to to create the opening. Hmmmm.....With a perfectly square piece of paper I could easily mark off tiny strips from it with precision, then cut them easily with a scissors. So off I went to Michaels, where I snagged a manual paper punch for $6 --- 40 percent off the regular $10 price with a coupon. It makes 1 1/2 inch square paper "tiles."

Let the fun begin! Brought it back to the studio and started punching papers like there was no tomorrow. Hand painted deli papers, stained tissue papers, origami papers, found pages from old catalogs ... the punch turned out dozens perfectly proportioned little "tiles" in just minutes. OMG I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! (I can hear you scrapbookers chortling and rolling on the floor laughing your heads off at my ignorance. You've probably been using these devices since the last Ice Age but this fantastic little gadget is totally new to me!)

Anyway, now a huge pile of little paper squares in all different colors and patterns is sitting on my worktable. It's a heady feeling. Oh, the many, many possibilities! When I look at the mosaic beads I've been making, like the one below, I begin to realize just how much this tool is going to revolutionize my work process.

Without a punch, a bead like this takes me two hours to make. It demands endless measuring to cut each paper strip as straight as possible with a scissors. The punch does away with the most tedious and difficult part, which is cutting the small starter "tiles" with absolutely precise 90 degree angles so all subsequent cuts made from them are straight. Even though I've been using a plastic square to measure, the extremely small scale made it very difficult to get it right. The square would shift slightly or I'd fail to keep the marking pencil pressed firmly against its edge. This resulted in many a do-over. And made it one heckuva slow, inefficient way to make the beads. But now all that has been eliminated. So break open the champagne! Release the balloons! Let's celebrate liberation from drudgery! Let's toast whoever invented the paper punch! Whoo-hoo!!! 

Text and image ©2014 Lynn Edwards