ATC Trades!

on wednesday night i went to the ATC trading session at Richmond Art Gallery (RAG). it was really neat to actually trade in person, not just through the mail!

it was a small group, though other months it is apparently larger. the small group was good though, as i only had a few cards to trade!

i never seem to find the time to make ATCs just for the hell of it anymore, i only get around to making them for for specific swaps. RAG has monthly themes, which is great, cause i love having themes to use as a jumping off point. the past month's theme was patterns, due to the exhibits that were at the gallery for the last month. (they always try to tie the ATC themes in).

i started a small series of pattern themed cards on monday, and JUST finished them in time for wednesday night, and had a few cards left over from experimenting last week, so i ended up with 4 cards to trade.

one definite positive about trading in person is that i can post pictures a lot sooner, no waiting on the mail!

this first bunch are the ones made using my ribbon experiments from last week. i picked up a few bags of spool ends and such from the fabric store for $1 each, and they were so bright and cheerful that i had to play with them immediately!

i used some scraps of wash away stabilizer (machine embroidery is so wasteful!) and stitched them together to create a larger surface, and then i started sewing trims onto it, layering them and alternating between various machine stitches.




layering them this way created great texture


the top is all done with purple embroidery thread, but i used the bottom as an opportunity to use up a bunch of half full bobbins.

i've seen things made with way using two layers of stabilizer and spray ahesive to temporarily hold the trims in place. that way would take way less thread, i imagine! this way was totally fun and chill to do though, definitely worth it for the enjoyment factor alone!

after rinsing the stabilizer out and leaving it to dry, i cut ATC sized pieces out of it. i stitched them onto white cardstock, to add some support, and to give me something to write on.

i can't decide if the pics are better with or without flash, so i'll post both! just click the picture if you'd like to see it bigger.











as you can see, i ended up with 5 ATCs, with very little waste, actually. two of them were sent out last week, and i saved one for my own collection, which left 2 for trading. i titled the series "cheerful abandon".

the other series were based on an interesting fabric that i found at a thrift ore the other day. it's a cotton, but the polka dots are raised and have slightly rubbery texture to them. i used hand embroidery to create patterns around the pre-existing polkda dot pattern. the patterns aren't all immediately clear, they actually look better from a distance, and i like that about them.




i kept this one for myself, irritated that my rushing to finish them made me adhere the back on crooked!




i finished these RIGHT before i left for RAG, and i didn't have time to do more than scan them. that left me attempting to photograph them on my thigh at stop lights!

i didn't take my atc binder with me, because i had so few atcs to trade, but i will in the future. i got all inspired the other day to edit my pictures of past atcs. i've been wanting to print them all out like i did for my chunky book and my tip in book, but hadn't gotten around to it until now. after a run to buy yet another ink cartridge tonight, they're finally all printed. along those same lines, i also uploaded all of my past atcs to flickr and put them all in a set of their own. it's kinda cool to get coments on atcs that i made over a year ago!

i'm definitely hoping to go back to future trading sessions at RAG. next month's theme is "girl", which should be interesting. my initial impulse definitely has a political bent, because gender is such a near and dear topic to me. i immediately started thinking of ATCs about binary gender and that sort of thing! i'm not sure how well those will go over though... i'm also attracted to the idea of doing a series of cards all illustrating society's version of girl. you know, sugar and spice, and everything nice! lots of pinks and ruffles and hearts would be fun to do. we'll see!


i also heard a bit more about the vancouver trading sessions, which are one sunday a month. they're held at the grind on main, and are apparently much bigger. i'm tempted to go, once i have a chance to make more atcs. i'll have to be more careful though, as main street is horrendous for parking. wednesday night was bad enough, i was determined to go, but wasn't feeling well, so i took pain meds before i left. richmond luckily has parking, including accessible spots, but even so, i was very weak and hurting a lot by the time i got home.