It's Kim here!!!

hiya!

I've been having such a fab day- making art with all my friends, and I did a series for the Henry Darger prompt!

they are all inspired by words from that documentary that kara linked us to. I love all of this work, but i'm not a great illustrator- plus I'm super influenced by Sara Fanelli lately, so i did some collage pieces with Henry quotes.

This is a two-page book i made;

and my favourite;

hope you like!!

Henry, Henry, Henry

Hey, lovely loves. Kara here again.

I'm really inspired to bring you our newest Challenge, and a different kind of Guest Designer.... :P It's a bit unusual, but bear with me here! :)

I happened upon the work of Henry Darger a few weeks ago from the Black Apple's fashion blog.

I go through phases where I'm obsessed with insane artists and people, it's just one of my weird quirks. My fascination is a bit morbid, but ah well, haha.

About Henry Darger-

Henry Joseph Darger, Jr. was a reclusive American writer and artist who worked as a janitor in Chicago, Illinois. He has become famous for his posthumously discovered 15,145-page, single-spaced fantasy manuscript called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, along with several hundred drawings and watercolor paintings illustrating the story.

(from wikipedia)

I recommend reading the entire entry about Henry Darger on Wikipedia. I am so intrigued with his work and totally blown away just searching for more examples.

To get all in the mood and inspired for this challenged I watched this documentary by Jessica Yu. I loved it! I made my bestie watch it with me and it was great, but, I am such a sucker for documentaries anyways.

So. A little Henry Darger inspired art journal page. :) (examples)

So. Link us up. Do some artwork inspired by the colors or his words. Go crazy! :)

More Henry Darger----

vintage paper

Hello and happy weekend – it's Jen here, with a little paper goodness for you this week! There's something extra special about the feel and the smell and the charm of old paper. Lay your eyes upon the loveliness...

gorgeous paper art by Sarah Morpeth

Kate Greenaway paper dress ...

... and wellingtons by Jennifer Collier

vintage paper butterflies...

heart strings...

and birds found here

and desktop wallpaper from Free People.

And now I'd like to introduce our most fantastic guest girl with the most fantastic vintage paper collection ever.

Jamaica Edgell. Her craftiness can be found at the Dares and also all over her blog, where you can check out her gorgeous quilts and pillows, paper projects, design and home decor ideas. The girl has style.

Included in her vast collection are vintage Pantone posters, flash cards, and a gorgeous variety of old ledger papers. The items above and below can be found in her Etsy shop. If you want to get your hands on some of the amazing papers from her personal stash, be sure to check out the Duly Noted notebooks she makes. They're truly awesome.

And here's Jamaica's stunning and totally inspiring project! (You won't believe your eyes – you may have to look twice...)

Jamaica says: "I hoard vintage paper but never, ever use it for fear of ruining it. I wanted to make a pillow with old ledger paper but never quite figured it out until now. All my favorite pieces – ledger paper, flash cards, seed labels, packaging and graph paper – were scanned in, carefully measured for my design and then printed on color inkjet fabric sheets.

Once I heat set and rinsed them for colorfastness they became stitchable pieces of vintage paper. Albeit slightly stiffer than regular fabric, they've allowed me to actually sew with my favorite papers. And, use them over and over again since the originals remain intact."

(AMAZING... say it with me... just brilliant! And beautiful.)

and here's my little paper projects...

I used sheets of notebook paper from these three old steno notebooks (that I found at Goodwill for 25 cents each) to make the inner pages for a small notebook that I will probably keep in my bag.

The cover is a cool old postcard that I picked up at a local antique shop. I bound it using glue and heavy cardstock. Then I used the same steno paper to cut (with an xacto) a few "hello's" to make some little notecards. Simple but nice to have on hand.

Hope this leaves you inspired to try something new with something old this weekend!
Maybe even sewing with paper. ;)
xo - jen