Of tiny things: ATCs, ACEOs, Moos, twinchies, inchies and other small creations

One of my favourite things to do is look at other's people artwork, especially mixed media. I find it fascinating how with things most of us would consider trash these artists can create beautiful pieces.

And my predilection is no doubt tiny art. I don't know how it started but for some years now there has been a fad among online artists (mixed-media, fibre, drawers, painters, you name it!) to create in an ever decreasing size.

Two of the first were ATCs and ACEOs, Artist Trading Cards and Art Card Edition and Original respectively. They are both the size of a normal trading card (2.5" x 3.5"), only difference being that ATCs are made to be traded and ACEOs are to be sold.

I tried my hand at ATC a while back (about 3 years ago), but I was just too busy with university to actually make an effort. But I've always tried to check blogs and forums to see what artists were creating.

Not that long ago I heard of inchies, small 1"x1" artworks. The truth is I didn't really pay attention to them, until this week, that is. I was searching old forum and blog posts looking for tips and techniques in card making and came across inchies once again. Being bored (and not wanting to prepare my lessons for the following day), I started reading and looking at inchies, and just feel in love.

So, I immediately had to try my hand at it. I've only made four so far, not a lot, but I have about 100 cut and all ready to be made. I got a bit carried away and started a series.

The only thing I don't enjoy about inchies is photographing them. Not even my macro setting (which is amazing) will photograph them nicely.

On my quest to find more information about these inchies and eye-candy I came across twinchies, same concept as inches only 2" x 2". They give quite a lot larger area to work (four times an inchie), but are still small enough to be finished in a blink.

I haven't tried them yet, but are definitely on my 'to do' list.

When I thought my discoveries for the week were done, I noticed people making Moos. A lot of people have heard from Moo, a popular online printing service, especially famous for their half-sized business cards. Now, apparently artists have borrowed the idea and are making Moos, small pieces of art in a 28mm x 70mm format.

I love Moos as small bookmarks, they are pretty much the perfect size for pocket edition books, diaries, and planners. Again I haven't tried those yet, but I most probably will.

Another extremely common thing to see in a small size are tags. They are popping up all over the place, most are used as embellishments for cards or scrapbooking or as gift cards, but I think they deserve to be considered and admired by themselves.

And let's not forget small or mini cards. Usually considered small when they are of about an A7 or smaller size.

I've recently finished a few A8 cards for father's day, that will go on Zibbet as soon as their technical problems are solved, and found that these are extremely fun to make. They do take a bit of a shorter time than larger cards, but not that much. I think the main thing about making cards is its design, and that will take as long as it decides to take, no matter the size.

I'm really loving this downsize in art, I think it brings art to normal non-artist types (much like me), and if you were to buy them, you can actually own an original for what a cheap lunch would cost.

Experiments with paper: how origami is not as easy as I though

I finally found time to try some Origami. I found most simple/beginner diagrams to be extremely horrible, so, I decided to be brave and go for more complicated things. NOT a good idea.

In the end, my almost 5 hours of work did end up with a tangible result (in construction paper, I'm not prepared to ruin pretty expensive paper yet).

Most of my afternoon yesterday was spent folding, unfolding, staring at a diagram, folding again, checking the diagram, noticing my result was nothing like it was supposed to be, unfolding, looking at the diagram again, and folding again. This usually happened two or three time before I finally got it right.

I have to say that I succeeded in all diagrams I tried, except for one. It was supposed to be a rat, and was marked as 'advanced'. The worst part is that I actually got 3/4 of the way, but one of the steps I just can not get at all. I will try it again in a while, when I'm more experienced.

First I tried some classic Origami diagrams:

Then I moved on to Origami with rectangular paper:

In case you are wondering that is a heart bookmark. I haven't tried it yet, but it doesn't look all that useful as a bookmark.

And, the final part of my experimets involved strip folding. The tiny star which almost everyone knows how to do (but I didn't), and another a bit more complex star, which I have to say I'm really proud of.

I'll call myself satisfied with my results for the time being. Next challenge: Modular Origami.

Red Asian chicness

The only thing even remotely Asian about the bag is the fabric. Which I found at my local HobbyCraft, and was surprised to see at an extremely cheap price. Look at that, it's just beautiful.

So, to try my newly acquired (mini) sewing machine, I decided to make myself a bag.

And one in red for that. Because I realized a few days ago, that I didn't have any in that colour.

Lining, from a skirt I bought at a charity shop for £1.

Pleats at the front and back, just to add a bit of detail and interest to the bag.

It's a medium sized bag. Here it is comfortably leaning on my laptop, just for size comparison purposes.

I have to say, the sewing machine behaved itself perfectly. It might be small and incredibly cute, but that thing can sew. It's supposed to be only used with light and medium weight fabrics, but at some points it had to go through 10 layers of fabric, and did it with blinking.

Finished objects. Finally!

I've been quite productive these two last days. Mainly crochet.

First one, I kind of summery hat. I love the yarn, I've had it in my stash for a while. I'd done some baby booties with it. The stitch is not extremely fancy, but I love the look of it, I've used a lot of times before in hats and tops.

I finished the really bright pink scarflette. This is one to sell, but I'm going to be making another one for myself. This one is knitted on my amazing Denise needles.

A pair of crochet scrunchies. Lovely yarn, but horrible to crochet with, I kept sneezing.

And last but not least, three animal brooches. All felt and handsewn. They're kind of fun to do, but take forever to finish.

Everything's for Etsy, hope they sell, but if they don't I can always keep them myself!!

Sunday Etsy love - tea

I've decided to start featuring some Etsy items every Sunday, focusing on items that have been listed a long time. So get them while you can!

Today the focus is tea. No reason, except that I love it. Enjoy!