Back to the Future

When I started RELICS & ARTIFACTS ® it all began with just a few simple pieces. I have always been a collector of well, just about everything, from rocks, shells and porcelain to jewelry, pottery and ephemera. I still have lots of things from when I was a really young kid. Fast forward to today and while those collections have grown in size I’m still searching out much the same kinds of things. One of the first resin craft blank castings I made were from a group of antique milagros and ex votos. I paired them up with 18th century hand carved angel wings that were actually attached to large figures. Making the molds was tricky it was hard wrangling the pieces and not damaging them in the process. Those first hearts sets turned out to be some of our best sellers and when my original molds bit the dust I didn’t want to risk it again so we discontinued those sets. I finally worked up the nerve to take molds from the antiques again and here we are with several reissued set and some new pieces as well. Hope you love them as much as we do!

Psychedelic ArtFoamies- Projects by Jenn Pipe

I had so much fun working with the stamps in Sandra Evertson’s new Psychedelic line for Art Foamies!

When I first saw the stamps, they immediately served up 1970’s vibes for me. The “Fierce, Fly, Fabulous” project is a tri-fold 70’s-inspired piece. I kept it pretty simple with some stenciled elements, collaged sheet music, doodles, and some fun rhinestones and butterflies nested in their hair. I pulled out the gel plate in order to ink the stamps. The stamps were dipped in the painted plate and stamped directly onto cardstock, creating the two women on the right. The woman on the left was created by pulling the image directly off of the gel plate. Truth be told, she’s my favorite. I love the inverse effect of the white flowers and the darker background colors.

My second project, “The Bee Keepers,” was created on a wooden substrate. I used modeling paste to create the honeycomb pattern and once dried, I painted it with a light coat of yellow and gold paints. I used the new face stamps to create my three beekeepers. Their dresses were cut from an old alcohol ink print, fern stamps became their head dresses, and some stamped bee images finished off the piece. The quote was from a ledger sheet and seemed like the perfect complement to the rest of the project.

The versatility of these stamps is unparalleled! If you let your imagination guide you, you’ll end up with endless project ideas.

(Jenn Pipe is the owner of Self Esteem Through Art, an art-based empowerment and self-discovery studio located in Rhode Island.)