When I was in Mareeba last month staying with friends John and Marion, Marion (an artist) introduced me to the idea of Artist Trading Cards. Blank cards can be bought from art supply shops and the pack claims ... "Artist Trading Cards are a concept where artists create pocket sized artworks so that they can be traded with other artists. This began in the Impressionist age and is popular today among artists who prefer to share their art." They are not sold but swapped.
Marion sent me on my way with some ideas, some blank cards and two cards of her own (top left two in photo below). The deal was I was to send back two cards of mine when I made them on my return home.
So I took out my Kindy Bits box (tiny bits of fabric that are too small to cut a 1.5 x 1.5" square from) and we started creating.
Very soon Karen G had made a log cabin card and Linda had made an applique jungle.
We just stormed onward and at each stage we experimented with ways to quilt our trading cards.
But then the brainwave struck to try binding our quilts. After a bit of trial and error it was decided it was best to use commercial bias binding and to keep the back flat rather than folded as back of the 'quilt' was going to be glued to the trading card anyway.
Our final collection included some from us all (Robyn is going home to create hers from her own stash).
The challenge for this month is not to do a block but complete two 2.5 x 3.5" artist trading cards (this size is really important) and send one to the group for Christmas. We'll have a lucky dip so we will all have our own trading card to keep and one from another member of the group. The winner of your card might even make one especially for you which means your collection will start with three cards!
In all, our September gathering was fantastic. We were only five but had such a creative time and I still havn't stopped smiling. Happy card making and quilting too.
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