You Say Tomato. I Say Album.

To celebrate the release of my friend Avery Aames' new book, The Long Quiche Goodbye, I decided to turn a cheese container into an album. Yeah, I'm always looking for a way to recycle!

1. Cover and backside. I used a rubber stamp of a tomato, colored it in, and adhered it to the round with green masking tape. I also used red masking tape to cover the sides of the round carton.

2. Insides. These are coasters I picked up at restaurants. I drew my images onto water color paper so I could experience with paints. I'm not very good, but I had a lot of fun with this! The paints I used are really cheap. Almost any set you buy will do better. I started by sketching different designs and then painting them. There are six inside pages, each is double-sided. The only paper I didn't paint is the green plaid.



I owned that paper, but it was too bluish, so I used a marker and colored the green a more yellowish tone. Be sure to plan which "pages" will be your front and your back (your final) pages.

Special tips for the inside pages...



1. Always start with your lightest color of paint, the one thinned with the most water.



2. Always prep more paint than you think you'll need because if you remix, the color will be different.

3. Use an archivally safe black ink pen such as the Pigma Micron by Sakura.





4. Make a mistake? Paste a new image over the goof.

5. Try wetting your paper and then adding color for a soft look.

6. Keep a tissue or paper towel nearby to blot the color if it's too intense.

7. Want a plaid? I painted the background color first. Then I made stripes with a thin brush. I added a green stripe with the Sakura pen.



8. The tomatoes making the border on the red plaid pages were created with a cork stamp that I carved. I've covered this in other posts, but stay tuned and I'll tell you how in the next blog post.

9. Not a great artist? Look up images on your computer. Print them out and copy them.

You'll note that all the "pages" are strung together with a double set of ribbon. Make sure to allow enough room for the bend of the ribbon so that your pages stack neatly. Also, the first "page" is a shaker box. The plastic overlay was discarded packaging.

Do you like it? What do you think?

What do you think?