ETA: If someone has clear/white embossing powder to spear... could you send me a small sample? I really really want to make some ATCs (3 actually) with embossing resist and $10 (jar + shipping)  seems too much for a little jar >.<! hope someone can help!

Also known as "My last and ultimate artistic frustratioh. Gah". I have two make 2 ATCs for a trade with a user on ATCards.com. My first intention was to draw and paint with watercolors, as always, but for some reason the subject of the cards didn't turned out fine =/ (vintage nudes, lawl).

Since collage isn't my thing I didn't know what to do. That until I was surfing some links posted on the Art Discussion forum and it came to me: image transfer. It seemed nice, because I could paint my background and apply the picture over and it'd look ancient and distressed and pretty.  Besides, it seemed like a easy technique.

EASY my @$$ :(

I tried first printing with my inkjet printer over the smoth side of a transparecy the rubbing it on the paper with a popsickle. While this worked on a small image with only one color (black, and white background) it didn't turned out with a more complex one :( Then I tried printing on a normal paper and rubbing alcohol over the image (partially worked, probably because the image was printed way before). Finally, normal paper and acetone (no luck at all with this one, LOL).

Most of the sites I browsed on Google mentioned that it worked with laser photocopies (color or b&w). I'd have to try that on monday after my classes. I have to go send some envelopes and there are many printers and photocopy centers in the way :) Other sites talked about inkjet printing over photo paper.

Does anyone ese have a tip on image transfer? I would appreciate anything that uses common and cheap materiales.

Well, actually... I've been in Antofagasta for at least two hours now, but I was watching a program about our national heroes, so I got stuck there :p

I didn't get a lot of chances to draw as much as I wanted but I have some sketches and a couple of ideas that I'll be, with a bit of luck, making reality this weekend. Wow, time flies.

It was a very fun trip, with its downsides, obviously. Let's start with friday, shall we? Well, I had classes so we didn't leave "early" as always (10-11 am?) but after lunch (4pm!). Claudio traveled with us half of the way, up to Tocopilla (a small city between Iquique and Antofagasta) which is where his mother lives and his father rests are too (since this year is the 10th year since his father passed away, he wanted to go).

I arrived to Iquique at around 10pm, and we all went to have dinner with my "aunt" and cousin :) She's the partner of one of my mother's brother, but they're not married (my uncle is still married to his first wife... it was understandable when legal divorce didn't exist, but now it really doesn't make sense). My cousin is 17 years old and I like him very much, we don't see too much of our cousins because they live in Santiago and we rarely go there, so it's nice to have someone around my age on Iquique, for a change :p

Next day my parents and my aunt went shopping to the ZOFRI (it's like a "duty-free" mall LOL). I was feeling a little sick, so I stayed in the apartment (by the way, that very first picture is the view we had on the apartment (: ) and watched some random movies and series. Although I carried my laptop along, I didn't had much luck with connection to wireless signals, most of the time I could only check up my e-mail and then the connection failed. I spent a large amount of hours trying to connect to internet,  yay for frustration >P.

Hum... I think next day we went to a barbeque over at my grandfather's place, I really don't remember. I think I blocked it out of my memory :p This, actually, is the only picture where he was more or less sober on the entire weekend. My grandfather is an alcoholic, from as far as I have memory. He excuses himself saying that it's because all the hard things he had to go through during the militar government of 1973-1989 (he was a political prisioner and all that implies). But, seriously, 30 years later is kinda too much. I guess I'm no one to judge (since I was born in the ends of the dictatorship), but it's kinda sad because he's the "annoying drunk" kind (he likes to be center of attention and yells and sings and stuff). We all love him, though :)

Today we went to have lunch with at my great-grandfathers place. That's also a pretty sad view, because he's been sick in bed for almost 10 years now, he doesn't move and he barely speaks. He suffers from osteoporosis, a disease that seems to run in the family, from my fathers side. After lunch, we went to my aunt's place to chat a little before leaving. Like before, we stopped on Tocopilla to pick up Claudio, yay! I had been so lonely without him! We chatted a lot more than kissing and hugging, LOL :p

Anyway, more pictures of my travel are on my Flickr. I don't have too much, because I don't like to take pictures on cloudy days and guess what... only monday was sunny!! LMAO.

Hey everybody! :) Nothing to "artsy" to post, here, but I wanted to let you know that I'll be out of town as from today and up to Sept. 26th. It's our national independence celebration. Actually it's on Sept. 18 and Sep. 19... and since Monday's in the middle the guys at the National Congress thought it'd be nice to make it legally a holiday too, so a 5-days-weekend it is! :D

There's a little chance I'll have internet conection there (yay for un-encoded wireless signals), so, with a little of luck I'll be able to post pictures and blog a little here and there (kuroba).

The hardest thing for me when I travel is to choose what art supplies I'll be carrying and which I'll leave behind =/ It has happened to me that I miss a little thing I thought useless and it frustrates me enternally and brings a serious case of "artist's block". But, that's also a very good excuse to buy new supplies, there are better art stores on Iquique that in Antofagasta, if I must say (that's where I bought my Cotman watercolors) and cheaper, because in Iquique items don't are charged the 19% tax that all product elsewhere have <3

So, here's what I'm taking with me
TOP (from left to right)

• Scotch and double-sided tape.
• Corner rounder punch.
• Sketchbook, bond paper 90grs.
• A small notepad where I write swaps information, 1-on-1 trades and letters I owe :p

BOTTOM (from left to right).

• Hobby knife (I'm still saying myself I gotta get a new one).
• A pair of scissors.
• Hum... a little tool used to paint with acrylic, that I use to remove the salt from paper without screwing up.
• White dry pastel pencil.
• 0.3mm lead pen (and 0,3mm HB refills).
• HB graphite pen.
• Various sizes of watercolor brushes.
• 0.1mm and 0.3mm COPIC multiliners.
• Watercolor colored pencils
• Watercolores
• Acrylic palette
• Sharpener, syringer and eraser, LOL.

Besides, I have to carry some watercolor paper. I'm cutting some sheet from my block in half, so they can fit a small folder. I keep telling to myself that, the minute I find a watercolor paper sketchbook I should totally get it. So far, no luck on that side :( Claudio suggested that I could buy a heavyweight paper block, trim it and send it to a photocopy center to get it "ring-bound", it's not a bad idea actually (because I'll get the chance to choose my own paper) I just lack the time :p

(I uploaded this to Imageshack because Flickr decided to fail on me for the first time :( I hope to upload this to my account as soon as I get back. Imageshack feel so wrong)

Laura from The Stampin' Soldier tagged me to tell you all 7 random things about me :)

1. I am a left-handed person, but I can do things with my right hand, like using scissor, crocheting and cross-stitch.
2. My eye-whatever coordination sucks terribly. I fail at Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution and any other kind of game which requires that :p
3. My anniversary with Claudio just passed by. We've been together for 3 years now, against all odds!
   
4. I study laws, but what I'd really like to do is run my own rubber-stamping store <3
5. My fiancé is teaching me how to cook.
6. I read a lot of blogs, but I rarely leave comments.
7. A friend of mine from school is staying at my place for around 10 days.

And since all the girls I know have already done this tag I can't do it to anyone, lol. So, auto-tag yourself if you want :)a