Is There Anything I Won't Alter?

I guess the answer would have to be NO.

Today I was making ham salad (yes, I use those cheap canned hams to make ham salad. Don't laugh at me; be amused, please).

Suddenly, I had a quick vision of what might be, and I quickly dug through the garbage to dig out the ham cans and ran them through the dishwasher.

Voila! I think they're going to be absolutely perfect for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) retablos/shrines. I'm thinking backgrounds of Our Lady of Guadalupe inside the arch with lots of flowers and skulls and crepe paper and milagros. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find the traditional marigolds in miniature artifical flowers. If not, I'll have to make do with other flowers.

Jon was laughing when he saw I was going to make art out of ham cans. He found this much funnier than when I use round bread crumb containers for mini-theatre structures.

I often wonder how I can do so much work with garbage - and yet still buy enough art supplies and vintage findings to support a small Third World country!

I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who makes stuff out of garbage. What's the wierdest thing you've ever made art from?

Today's Mini-"Vintage"-Theatre Construction

I was going to work on doing an out-doors-y sort of woodland faery theatre piece.

But, it just seemed to get fancier and fancier as I went along, and it turned out a tad too royal for a forest scene.

I think maybe it's going to require a Marie Antoinette character inside it ...

I used papier mache (as usual) for the basic structure, and added vintage and handmade papers, a beautiful piece of antique brass filigree, an Anna Griffin crown embellishment, glass fringe in the shape of leaves, crepe paper, silk ribbon (for the bunting) and paper-and-ribbon covered dowels for the columns. As I look at it more and more, I think that maybe I'll need to add something to the facing of the balcony to add to the rhinestones. They're looking a little lonely there by themselves.

I guess now I'll need to see if I can get that natural forest-y stage structure started!

I Just Found This Exquisite Piece of Work

On Ulla's blog and was just knocked out by it. The combination of naivete and obvious appreciation of the delicate and lovely really speaks to me. I don't know if this is a vintage piece of art or a contemporary assemblage ... but I'm going to pretend that I know it's been around for many decades and delighting people all the while!