Blog

City Blues or… In my Art Journal today

offbeat01_natkalbach

“Sometimes the city beats to the pulse of my heart, sometimes slightly off”

Last week the city was beating slight off my heart pulse, meaning I was grumpy at the city – yup that can happen – but playing with some of my brand new ArtFoamies Designs helped *wink. In case you have missed the big news- check them out  – you can order them now in my store

nstudio-f16-foam-stamp-announcement-500

I used the Manhattan Border Stamp and the Manhattan Positive & Negative Stamp Set and went to town for some fun pattern play.

offbeat02_natkalbach

The Manhattan Positive and Negative Stamp Set comes with both stamps and you can use them either alone, together or …even cooler on top of each other – yeah!!!

offbeat03_natkalbach

I played with all three variations and added the Manhattan here and there and then outlined some areas for a city scape.

offbeat04_natkalbach

I added the journaling with a black marker and traced on top with a white signo pen. And…I felt way better about the city again – no more City Blues *Wink

offbeat05_natkalbach

Here is what I used (some of the links are affiliate links):

SuppliesCJS


Which of my new ArtFoamies Stamps do you like the best and would take away any Blues from you?

In case you are in the NYC- Area – there are still a couple seats open for my two day and super duper awesome Art Rules Workshop at The InkPad this coming weekend. Check it out- it is going to be amazing and we will use all the new stamps and even some other fun secret things *wink

October 8-9, 2016 in NYC at The Ink Pad  in NYC, NY

ArtRulesWorkshopNat

Registration open now

Have a wonderful day!!!

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Joi @RR

    |

    Wow – awesome new stamps Nat. How exciting. And super fine journal pages created with a new one too!! Xj.

    Reply

Leave a comment

Art Stroll: Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, NYC

kalbachchcollage

A couple weeks ago I went on an Art Stroll with my friend Andrew and he suggested we should visit the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. Well – I haven’t been there yet- so of course I was up for it!
kalbachch01

And boy was I glad went- it was so much fun and so worth it- btw- it almost right at the Guggenheim where we did another Art Stroll that day, so if you are ever in the area :)

kalbachch03

Upon our entry we received a big pen which, we were told has two functions.

  1. to use on certain interactive stations to do your own designs and
  2. to save the information of everything you saw and want to keep track of and the designs you created

Or as a very sweet guard said to me: “You can collect the whole museum and take it home with you!”

HOW COOL IS THAT . Big shout – I loved it. It definitely changed the way how people including us viewed the museum. You weren’t so focused on writing things down or photographing everything – and yes I know there are avid hater of the fact- but this is how information and things get consumed nowadays and I feel as this was the smartest most amazing way of a museum to embrace it, go with it and make it better for everyone! People do not feel they are missing out on taking home the memory ..they take the whole museum home *wink

kalbachch04

Here is Andrew in front of a wall paper creator – I made a simple one for him

kalbachch06

Here he made one for me. I like it ….maybe just one tiny section of a wall because I might get a bit 70s if I’d had this all over my walls- but it is fun !

kalbachch09

Love this poster *wink

kalbachch10

here is Andrew creating a vase.

kalbachch11

Poster Generation Vielfalt, Götz Gramlich 2014. I loved this- this is how our election posters look like during our election time in Germany – which lasts only a couple weeks- oh boy you wish *wink. Often times those posters change over the time either by weather or by protesters. So the design of Gramlich for an election was actually a play on that.  Gramlich’s poster series Generation Vielfalt was designed for the progressive political party Generation Heidelberg. The posters were displayed over time to show a transformation. Here, the second poster in the series shows the image partially torn away to reveal a new message underneath. I love the idea of revealing a new message by tearing away a layer on the top.

kalbachch13

This is a Graffiti v-neck tee and pants. It was designed by Melitta Baumeister. I think it has my name written on it – how cool is that. If I’d longer legs I would take it home with me- but the tee would do *wink . Definitely a reminder for me to do some more wearable art!

kalbachch14

This is a magazine. It was designed by Theseus Chan and printed byAlsOdoMinie and made for WORK. Its medium is die-cut offset lithography over silver foil on paper. Andrew and I agreed it would make for a really cool siding for an art journal.

kalbachch15

This is Andy standing in a PolyThread knitted textile pavilion. It was designed by Jenny E. Sabin. Its medium is 3d seamless whole garment digitally knit cone elements; photoluminescent, solar active and drake yarns; twill tape; aluminum tubing. Now that is a mouthful and pretty pretty amazing.

kalbachch16

These are prints by Kyuha Shim.

kalbachch17

kalbachch19

upon closer inspection you see that they are made with stamps- so so so cool!!!! I almost squealed.

kalbachch20

Shim created these ninety-two custom rubber stamps to produce his series of prints Seeing through Circles (2013) above. The stamps have with visual densities that roughly match the brightness or darkness of sixty corresponding pixels. Printing the stamps together creates a texture similar to digital printing.

kalbachch21

This sculpture was designed by The Haas Brothers, Nikolai Haas andSimon Haas and collaborator: The Haas Sisters of Monkeybiz andMonkeybiz.

glass beads, wire, wood, mixed fiber stuffing, and cast bronze

The colors made me happy and I would have loved this as a toy as a kid!

kalbachch22

Some beautiful textile pattern design!

kalbachch23

loved this airy piece …and forgot to use my pen on it – so ….unfortunately I have no information on who designed it but I thought it was really

kalbachch24

kalbachch25

Sou Fujimoto Architects created this series of models for the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Called Architecture Is Everywhere, the project discovers architectural possibility in found objects and everyday materials. Simple artifacts such as a lottery ticket, an ashtray, or a ring of binder clips become intriguing structures when placed on pedestals with tiny human figures. In the words of Sou Fujimoto, “This is kind of a funny trial to expand our ideas of architecture beyond our usual understanding.”

kalbachch26

This looks way cooler in person -you have to see it. It mad me giggle !

kalbachch27

That a treasure of inspiration was found in this museum. I am getting all excited again while writing the post and looking at the photos again.

Hope you enjoyed this Art Stroll! There are more to come soon !

What was the last museum exhibition you went to that knocked you off your socks?

+ Expand this article
3comments
Nat

Comments (3)

  • Kim

    |

    So cool to explore design in such a hands on way!

    Reply

  • Natalya Aikens

    |

    I love that museum! And I haven’t been there for a while, tis time…. Thank you for my virtual visit!!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

    |

    First of all, how exceptionally cool is that pen to take the museum home with you?! Unfortunately I don’t get to museums as often as I would like to, but the last time I was in one it was in Washington, D.C. and the art of super cool and different. This one piece which was a series of TV’s stacked on top of each other (to show the Vietnam War and how America saw it on TV) really made me stop and think. Just a stack of TV’s used as art (and very well arranged I must say). In this post I especially liked the small humans arranged on the screws and such. Thanks, once again Nat, for bringing art straight to my computer for me to see. Love it!

    Reply

Leave a comment

From Small Beginnings – Michelle Rydell

CS September Theme 2

Happy Tuesday!  It’s time for my Creative Squad to share a project with you with this month’s theme: “From Small Beginnings”. Throughout the month of September, the team has been using my n*Studio Stamps to interpret the theme. The change in seasons and the childhood ritual of Back to School in September has me thinking about starting new things – new projects, learning new things, and meeting new people, and all the excitement and challenges that come with all of these “new”s. For this theme, From Small Beginnings, my Squad has thought about the process of starting something new and the very first steps they took. I asked them, how did you experience a Beginning?

So this week we have a very fun Fauxbonichi book cover from Michelle Rydell that definitely brings back those childhood memories!

—————————————————————————————————

Michelle September Headshot

Oh my gosh I had so much fun with this month’s project!  September and “Small Beginnings” made me think of going back to school as a kid, and that made me think of one of my fave things about that – making covers for my textbooks out of paper bags!  Did you do that too?

I decided to make a cover for my Fauxbonichi – and use the “Marks” stamp set to decorate it…

I gathered together the basic materials for the project…

rydell-beginnings-1

I cut the grocery bag open so it would lay flat…

rydell-beginnings-2

I placed my notebook on the grocery bag and figured out how wide I would need it to be, to cover the width of the book and folded flaps on the front and back covers, and then cut off the extra…

rydell-beginnings-3

At this point, I had to do a youtube search, so I could remember how to fold it. (it’s been awhile – ha!).  Once I got the folding done I took a white pastel pencil and lightly marked where the spine was and which part was the Front cover.  Then I took the cover off the book, and got ready for the fun part – decorating!

rydell4and5

Using a roll of masking tape as a template, I cut a peace sign out of the extra paper, and lightly taped it on the front cover to use as a mask.  Then I started stamping horizontal stripes with the various stamps in the “Marks” set…

rydell-beginnings-6

When I got to the peace sign, I stamped right over the top of it…

rydell-beginnings-7

When the stamping was done, I removed the peace sign, and this is what it looked like…

rydell-beginnings-8

The last step was to put on some finishing touches with a fine point paint marker.  I’m so happy with how it turned out!

rydell-beginnings-9

rydell-beginnings-10

rydell-beginnings-11

—————————————————————————————————

I love Michelle’s book cover – it’s such a cool idea that I haven’t thought about in a very long time and what a great place to use the stamps to make a field of pattern.

In addition to a brown grocery bag and her Fauxbonichi, Michelle used the supplies listed below (some are affiliate links):

supplies

Maybe you will even play along with us -I would love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

See you next Tuesday for another project from the Creative Squad!

Nat

Comments (5)

  • Sue Clarke

    |

    LOVE this cover Michelle and like Marit I used to cover my textbooks as well (so this post brought back some cool memories too)!

    Reply

  • Meg

    |

    This is so fun, Michelle! I completely forgot about covering books in school. I wonder if I have any pictures of the covers I made back in the day. Love your project.

    Reply

  • Marit

    |

    Oooh, I remember covering my schoolbooks (I also enjoyed it, years later, to help my son with this…!) It was the second-best thing at the beginning of the school year. (The best was ‘buying and initiating my new school-planner!)

    Reply

  • Julie Tucker

    |

    Ohhhhhhhhhh this is just FABULOUS! LOVING that peace symbol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply

Leave a comment

Stroll Through the Hood – September 2016

NathalieKalbach_Strollhood_Logo

Time for a Stroll Through the Hood . Strolls through my hood get me out of my studio, they help me unstuck and often I get inspired by what I see and to get new ideas to create something.

kalbachstrollhoodsept1601

The area around the Holland Tunnel in Jersey City is not really the most beautiful area- in fact …it is really really ugly and unfortunately often all that people see when they drive to or from New Jersey. So I love that there is some street art popping up here and there on the walls of ugly concrete. The above has some cool drippings and I love the monochromatic color scheme.

kalbachstrollhoodsept1602

Love the stencil work in this one with all the different layering.

kalbachstrollhoodsept1603

And this one just makes me happy because of the colors.

kalbachstrollhoodsept1604

this one made me laugh – I think there was a time where we had cards that you could exchange with those- kind of like trading cards? Anyone remember – maybe only in Germany – I guess I am getting old I only have a vague idea of this.

kalbachstrollhoodsept1605

Oh my- nature is the best painter …or maybe air pollution but let’s not think about this right now *Wink .

kalbachstrollhoodsept1606

This time is truly amazing regarding sunsets viewed from our deck.

kalbachstrollhoodsept1607

This one are the remains of a boardwalk at Liberty State Park – I assume it got destroyed in Hurricane Sandy. I love the texture and the pattern with the different materials- wouldn’t that be cool as a textured stamp?

kalbachstrollhoodsept1608

Here is a view of Manhattan from Liberty State Park – the historic landing pier here in the front of the picture was also heavily damaged in Sandy and has not been restored yet.

kalbachstrollhoodsept1609

The beautiful historic Liberty State Park train station, where the immigrants that came through Ellis Island headed out to all over America to start a new live. I love the building. It is talking to me *Wink. I need to make a painting of it some time.

kalbachstrollhoodsept1611

Last week some of our friends hung out at my wonderful friend’s from Beekman Lane – who had a booth with their awesome vintage and antique stuff at the Historic All About Downtown Market. As you can see we are amazing helpers and made sure people came in and bought things ;)

I had to get this hilarious Valentines Card- probably from the 40s – it made me laugh.

kalbachstrollhoodsept1612

and you see …we helped placing things at the right places too …the policemen on this Valentine’s Card actually has no pants on ….so …we needed to make sure he was covered – LOL . but joking aside the graphics of the box and the cards, and the red lunch box you see peeking underneath are just beautiful.

kalbachstrollhoodsept1610

And last but not least …another sunset picture. I wish I could make such a nice color swirl into one of my paintings. Maybe by using Pouring Medium.

I hope you had fun with this stroll through my hood – take a walk next time you feel stuck when you are creating something or need a spark – it always helps me to get new ideas!

Nat

Comments (4)

  • ARHuelsenbeck

    |

    Beautiful sights. I didn’t realize you live in Jersey City. My husband and I both grew up in NJ, but moved to Arizona 28 years ago. Greg used to work for a bank (forget which one) in Jersey City, and would take the tubes over to the World Trade Center during his lunch break.

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

    |

    Love the swirl of the clouds in that last sunset photo.
    I always enjoy strolls through your various hoods Nat!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

      |

      Thank you Sue – yeah that swirl was pretty cool ! Nature is really amazing!

      Reply

Leave a comment

N*Studio ArtFoamies Stamps Release

kalbachartfoamiesstampspreorder

This is BIG NEWS!!!  I am so stoked that ArtFoamies and I teamed up together for a stamp release. I had so much fun working on these brand new foam stamps – all of them inspired by my travels around the world.  Here they are!

Batik Pattern 1

batik-pattern-1

Batik Pattern 2

batik-pattern-2

Batik Pattern 3

batik-pattern-3

Batik Pattern 4

batik-pattern-4

Buenos Aires Tiles

buenos-aires-tile

Chicago – comes with two stamps a positive and a negative pattern

chicago

Manhattan Boarder

manhattan-border

Manhattan comes with two stamps a positive and a negative pattern

manhattan

Santa Fe comes with two stamps a positive and a negative pattern

santa-fe

Toledo comes with two stamps a positive and a negative pattern

toledo

Versailles comes with two stamps a positive and a negative pattern

Versailles

I cannot wait to show you loads of fun and creative projects with them! If you want to get your hands on these- you can PREORDER them in my store NOW – they will ship out at the latest the week of October 17th – but probably earlier though as I should get them next week!

Nat

Comments (6)

  • Bec Miller

    |

    Wow!wow!wow! Congrats Nat!!
    I love foamies and all of these have to make it in my stash!!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

    |

    Batik Pattern 4, 1, and 2 are my favs.
    Congrats on the new line Nat!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

      |

      thank you Sue – glad you like those – they are also a favorite for me!

      Reply

  • Seth

    |

    Congrats Nat. These are very cool. Kind of like taking a trip around the world!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

      |

      thank you so much Seth :) Yes they have been inspired by many wonderful places around the world.

      Reply

Leave a comment

You Are At The Right Place or… In My Art Journal Today

artjournalrightplace01

“you are at the right place, when you travel and have a splendid time and come home and fall over in love again with your home”

artjournalrightplace02

Loved making this grungy spage using a handcarved stamp as well as my Urban Scribble and Grunge Stamp Set.

artjournalrightplace03

I added some marks and painted details to blend the elements together and I like the overall feel of this page.

artjournalrightplace04

This art journal spread reminds me how excited I am every time I come home from traveling and how happy it makes me to see the statue of liberty and the skyline of Jersey City and New Jersey and sometimes even my house from the airplane. I guess I am home here now *wink

Here are some of the supplies I used for this art journal spread – some are affiliate links:

SuppliesCJS

Wishing you a beautiful day!

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Joi@RR

    |

    Oh wow – these pages are just amazing Nat. There is so much to see and so much dimension – the buildings go in and out and up and down and it’s just sooooo awesome. Seems like THIS needs to be a painting SOON. It’s really splendid. Xj.

    Reply

Leave a comment

From Small Beginnings – Marsha Valk

CS September Theme 2

Happy Tuesday!  It’s time for my Creative Squad to share a project with you with this month’s theme: “From Small Beginnings”. Throughout the month of September, the team will be using my n*Studio Stamps to interpret the theme. The change in seasons and the childhood ritual of Back to School in September has me thinking about starting new things – new projects, learning new things, and meeting new people, and all the excitement and challenges that come with all of these “new”s. For this theme, From Small Beginnings, my Squad will think about the process of starting something new and the very first steps they took. I’ll ask them, how did you experience a Beginning?

So this week we have a gorgeous scrapbook page from Marsha Valk, where she reminisces about her start in mixed media with stamping, embossing powders, and scrapbooking.

—————————————————————————————————

Marsha September Headshot

This theme made me think about how I started stamping. I can’t remember which stamps I bought first. I’m guessing it was a small wood mounted alphabet set.

I do know that some of the first inks I had were little Colorbox Cat’s Eyes and the first time I used embossing powder was in an Ali Edwards class. It was sooo scary and soooo amazing at the same time!!! And then, of course I had to buy the stuff for myself.

Anyway, I started to look for the mini I made in that class and I ended up looking through some of the other minis I’ve made over the years. One of the minis featured a photo of my scrapcorner in the attic in 2006 and that sparked my plan for this theme:

I wanted to scrapbook, I wanted to heat emboss and I wanted to use materials I would (or could) have had 10 or more years ago.

marshavalk_nscs_fromsmallbeginnings_details2

I started stamping on a smooth watercolour paper with embossing ink. I heat-embossed with white embossing powder.

marshavalk_nscs_fromsmallbeginnings_step1

Then I played around with Ecoline and… forgot to take further photos… Oops.

Once the Ecoline was dry I added the cardstock cluster and my photo. My title was made with two of my Dymo Label Makers. One of them is actually visible on the desk in the photos!

marshavalk_nscs_fromsmallbeginnings_details1

marshavalk_nscs_fromsmallbeginnings_details3

I also added some Scrappers Floss to the cluster with a stapler and because I used to print most of my journaling, I adhered my text in strips to the page. I finished the page with some paint marker splatters and the date.

marshavalk_nscs_fromsmallbeginnings

—————————————————————————————————

I love how Marsha took us both back in time AND behind-the-scenes with her super fun page.  And those Kaffee Klatsch and Mish Mesh stamps look amazing embossed in white against those gorgeous colors!

In addition to paper floss, a stapler, and personal photographs , Marsha used the supplies listed below (some are affiliate links):

SuppliesCJS

Maybe you will even play along with us -I would love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

See you next Tuesday for another project from the Creative Squad!

Nat

Comments (2)

  • Joi@RR

    |

    This was a fun story of your beginnings Marsha and your project is fun too! Really awesome background with the stamps. My very first stamp was Nathalie’s Fiesta stamp and would you believe I WON it – from her???!!!! I treasure it still!!! Thanks bunches for sharing. j.

    Reply

  • Mary

    |

    Beautiful. Love the technique. Thanks for sharing.
    On my list to do.

    Reply

Leave a comment

Upcycled, Recycled or … Easy Peasy Gift Bag

KalbachGiftbag01

My sister-in-law’s birthday was a big event last month and so I wanted to have a special and colorful the gift bag. I had this fun bag, which I had gotten as an advertisment gift laying around and decided to oomph it up Nat-style

KalbachGiftbag07

I started by loading up some acrylic paint onto a fan brush and flicking it onto the bag.

KalbachGiftbag06

Cleaning the brush in between I flicked one color after the other on top.

KalbachGiftbag05

After the paint drops dried, I rolled out some pink color and applied it with a rubber brayer to the solid side of my Elephant Foam Stamp (which is part of my Elephant Foam and Rubber Stamp and Stencil Set) and stamped the pink elephant on top of the bag and let the image dry completely.

KalbachGiftbag04

In a final step I stamped the rubber elephant stamp using Archival ink over the pink elephant silhouette.

KalbachGiftbag03

And voila – a festive and fun gift bag was done. Now…what was in the gift bag? ….welllllllll – LOL- that is a different post because it was also something hand made but I used something I cannot show you yet. I promise to show it to you later *wink!

KalbachGiftbag02

Here are the supplies I have used for the gift bag – some links are affiliate links:

SuppliesCJS

Do you like to make your own gift bags and what have you used?

Nat

Comments (4)

  • Sue Clarke

    |

    Love the gift bag and you are a tease about your new supplies to be announced at a later date!

    Reply

    • nathalie-kalbach

      |

      LOL- sorry ;) It is coming any day now – promised!

      Reply

  • stephanie

    |

    Nice! Great re-use and upcycle.

    Reply

Leave a comment