table of contents

chapter two
Introduction main courses
Reliquary Girls
well-stocked pantry Quilted Clutch
tools and materials
Substitution Chart Mixed-Media Doll
Design Recipes Art Quilt
Serving Suggestions  wo cook s in the kitch en :
t
what is “ mixed - media ”? ( essay )
Creative-Tasting Party Planner
Fabric Journal
Dimensional Collage
chapter one
artistic appetizers Watched Paint Never Dries
Paper Dolls Peek-a-Boo Collage Book
Style Icons Keepsake Box
Doll Variations
Doodles chapter three
 wo cook s in the kitch en :
t
sweet treats and
the creat ive proce ss ( essay )
special occasions
Art Game
Crazy Papers
Kitchen Colorants
 wo cook s in the kitch en :
t
abou t each other ( essay )
Scrumptious Squares Mini Collages

Heavenly Leftovers Cottage Cards

Backgrounds
Quick Color Recipes
chapter four
Self-Portrait guess who’s coming to dinner
(mixed media apron gallery)

About the Authors

Templates

“If I cre ate fro m the hea rt, nea rly
if fro m the hea d, alm ost not hing.”
ingredients
6˝ square canvas, at least /4˝ deep
3
3 1/2´ of 1/4-inch copper tubing
6˝ x 36˝ piece of fabric, matching
thread
Copper tacks or screws
5 yards (or so) of copper wire for
wings and cage if you are making
the flying girl
Scrap block of wood for the base of
the standing girl
Photocopied image of a face, those
shown are about 4˝, but try a couple
of sizes to see which one looks best
Acrylic paint, two colors to comple-
ment the fabric as well as white and
brown
One sheet of cardstock to comple-
ment your fabric and/or paint
Paintbrushes
Paper towels
Scissors
Needle-nose pliers
Glue
Hammer
Drill
reliquary girls
everyth ing wor ks;
—M arc Cha gal l
i just love these dolls. The niches. The
serious heads on the silly forms, the bent tubing limbs, and
the wonderful fabrics mixed with metals. They are built, not
glued together. They each tell a story from my everyday life,
not some dreamt up, wild, poetic tale. For me, they really are
an example of allowing the truth to spill from your artwork—
that’s where the soul comes from.
Throughout history, reliquaries have been created as
containers for precious artifacts of cultural significance. These
assemblage dolls might not hold any saint’s tears or king’s
toenails, but they can display odds and ends that you love to
look at. Those odds and ends aren’t doing anything for you in
the junk drawer. Might as well make some art with them.
The sitting girl is the original reliquary doll; I created her
for my husband, J.R. He marvels at how I can sew entire quilts
and purses and skirts from scratch, but can never seem to
find the time to sew on his buttons. “Sew what” in the niche
is actually me saying to him, “You want me to sew what? I’ve
got art to make!” The little thread angel is telling me to be a
good girl and sew on the stinkin’ buttons and bake a pie and
run the sweeper, while the thread devil is telling me to make
something frivolously cute.
When Cheryl saw these finished pieces, she asked me,
“what exactly did you tell the guy at the home-improvement
store that you were doing with all of the copper tubing?” I
laughed because it was my husband that really required all
the explaining. I asked him to help me with the drilling (keep
in mind, artists, that the copper wire and tubing are heavenly
to work with because they are very easy to mold), and boy,
was he ever full of suggestions and questions, beginning with
“why would you…” I thought about crediting him as my col-
laborator on this one.
mixed mania Debbi Crane & Cheryl Prater
project gallery

clockwise from top left:

Dimensional Collage, Scrumptious
Squares, Cottage Cards, Reliquary
Doll, book from Keepsake Box.
 clockwise from top left:
Fabric Journal, Art Game, Fabric
Journal, Art Quilt

mixed mania Debbi Crane & Cheryl Prater

 get your mix on!
Mixed Mania features 20+ smart and sassy mixed-media projects
appetizers (starter projects),
divided like a cookbook into
main courses (full projects), and sweet treats (proj-
ects to make for gifts) for a fresh perspective on mixed-media art.
From artist books to assemblage, art quilts to art dolls, it’s all here,
plus how-to instruction on a variety of mixed-media, collage, and
surface-design techniques.
inside you’ll find:
F O
 ver twenty step-by-step projects laid out like recipes
complete with ingredients (materials), instructions (what to
mix, add), and tips (how it should look, taste, etc.) show-
casing colorful, innovative collage and assemblage projects
created with a variety of ephemera and mixed-media mate-
rials, all with detailed how-to instructions and photos.
F T
 echniques include art quilting, collage, bookbinding,
assemblage, image transfers, paper art, and more.
F A
 n inspiring gallery of work by popular artists interpreting
the theme of the Apron in a variety of mixed-media.

Mixed Mania will appeal to established art makers seeking inspira-

tion and to readers new to the world of mixed media looking for a
way to get started.

about the authors

debbi crane has been an avid book artist for many years and
has studied book arts at Penland and Arrowmont. Since 1998,
she has been teaching art workshops for adults in various fabric
arts, including the International Quilt Festival at Make-It-U, spon-
sored by Quilting Arts Magazine. She lives in Bedford, Indiana.
cheryl prater is a scrapbooker who began experimenting
Scrumptious Squares, with collage and altered books in 2005 after discovering Cloth
Quilted Clutch Paper Scissors magazine. She creates, blogs, teaches workshops,
and takes on other artful endeavors in Atlanta, Georgia.

interweavebooks.com

ISBN 978-1-59668-084-5
$22.95
81/2 x 101/4
128 pages
Paperbound
November 2008