Metropolitan Magazine Mortals - Artist Trading Coins

I created these four artist trading coins for a swap, but just wasn't thrilled with them.  These were my first attempts at artist trading coins, and there was a learning curve (literally and figuratively!).  Each one had a problem or two that bothered me enough that I decided to start over.  (I ended up submitting these calendar car coins instead.)  I do like the guy in the top right corner.  He reminds me of a young Omar Sharif.

I cut the people out of a late 1890s Metropolitan Magazine, which was a New York-based monthly periodical with articles on theatre, literature, business and well-known "high society" residents of the day.  I bought a bound book of them at a garage sale and have enjoyed reading some of the articles, but it's the pictures I really wanted.

This guy's head is just a little too large for an artist trading coin, and I wished I hadn't added the brown stenciling on the right side.  I do like the green and purple color scheme.

I chose this woman because of her fabulous hat and determined look, but I had a mishap gluing her onto the coin (120 year-old paper is pretty fragile), and her head got ripped off.  You can see the "scar" across her chin where I tried to glue her back together.  In addition, I didn't get the text scrap on the right knocked back enough, and the brown stenciling is too prominent.

This one isn't too bad. I just wish the original photo had been a little darker.  Also, I didn't get that scrap of music in the background obscured enough for my liking.

This last one was my favorite of the four.  I like the composition and how the background pieces work together.  The stenciling frames him nicely without being too prominent.  The quality of the original photo is better, and let's be honest, he's better looking than the other guys!

Since I didn't use these coins for the swap, I'm not sure what their fate is.  The Omar Sharif lookalike may become a bookmark for my daily journal.  That way I can moon over him every day!  As for the others, they may get put onto a greeting card or get used in an art journal. 

Thanks for visiting my blog.  Have a great day.

Calendar Cars - Artist Trading Coins

Artist trading coins are all the rage right now in the mail art community, so I thought I'd jump in and make some myself.  At 2.5 inches in diameter, the coins are the same width as an artist trading card but not as tall and, of course, are round instead of rectangular.  I created these four coins for a swap with an open theme.  They're kind of a riff on the calendar car postcards I made a couple of months ago.

I started by adhering a road map to a piece of heavy cardstock, then used a Spellbinders Nestabilities circle die to cut four coins.  I used an old gift card to scrape on a thin layer of white acrylic paint, which mutes the background so it doesn't compete too much with the focal images.

After fussy cutting the cars, I selected vintage postage stamps to coordinate with each one.  Then I chose the stencil, which required some consideration due to the scale of these coins.  Achieving a good composition can be tricky when working on such a small piece, especially when it's round.  I settled on the Harlequin stencil by Tim Holtz and used distress inks to add the design to the background.

After adhering the cars, I stamped on some spatters and the text, added the postage stamps, then stamped on two types of faux postage cancellation marks:  the wavy lines in gray and the round mark in red.

The "Fig. #" images are rub-ons that were the perfect size for these coins, and they helped to ground the cars so they don't look like they're floating in space.  The final step on the front of the coins was sponging gathered twigs distress ink around the edges.

To finish the backs of the coins, I adhered patterned paper and a mini label with the name of the swap, my name, and the date.  I like my art pieces to have a clean back, and the additional layer of paper made the coins a little sturdier.

Other than working with the small scale of these coins, the biggest challenge for me was with the shape.  I've made a lot of really small collages, but most of them have been on substrates with straight edges. The curved edges of the coins was a new twist.  Have you tried making artist trading coins?  If so, what did you find most challenging about them?  And if not, what are you waiting for?!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful day.