An Artist Trading Card—Selma in the Garden . . . in miniature

Ever hear of Artist Trading Cards, or ATCs? Similar in size to Baseball Trading Cards, these handmade miniature works of art aren’t for sale—they’re (almost) free. By exchanging a handmade card of your own in a trade or swap, you can build a mini-art-collection.

Selma in the Garden

Here’s a card I made recently for an online fiber art Artist Trading Card group. Their monthly swap sets a theme to inspire participants. September’s theme was artists, and I chose to recreate T.C.Steele’s well known painting, Selma in the Garden. It depicts the artist’s wife hard at work tending her flower gardens. Compare my impression with  Steele’s impressionist (and impressing) work at tcsteele.org.

My contribution to the September Swap used the same needleweaving techniques as my necklaces do, but I found it hard to keep to the exact 2 ½ x 3 ½ inch dimensions. It is very difficult not to pull the weaving thread too tightly at the end of each row. What should be a straight edge begins developing a figure.

The intricate curves and corners used in jewelry are actually easier to weave than a rectangle or square! I’ve used wire before to help shape necklaces, but didn’t want to do that with the ATC. I decided to continue weaving and try to pull it into shape later.

Most fabric ATCs are backed with either cardboard or a stiffer fabric—something to support the material and provide a surface to write the artist’s name, date and description. I recycled a piece of lime green cardboard to use as a backer. The little picture of Selma had a few open areas between the beads and the weaving, and the lime green color peeking through was perfect.

I used a clear school glue to attach the completed weaving, blocking it at the same time. First I drew the correct sized rectangle on the board and ran a generous bead of glue inside the perimeter and placed a bit in the center too. Next, I began pinning the weaving to it—starting at the top which had the straightest edge and working my way around, stretching it to meet the outline.

It all fit, except for the lower right-hand corner, where there was still a small gap. I’ve often had to invent ways to fix mistakes in needlewoven necklaces but ATCs are more flexible. I found some green seed beads and simply glued them onto that empty corner of the card. If only necklace repairs were that easy!

ATCs are a fun way to try out needleweavng techniques, and a nice change from jewelrymaking. Many scrapbooking stores have monthly Artist Trading Card exchanges, or for inspiration, check out Stitchin Fingers, one of the many online groups. My inspiration came from T.C. Steele State Historic Site, where Selma in the Garden and many more examples of Hoosier impressionism may be seen.