Cardboard Microscope Slide Mailers - Altered Art

I like to play with lots of Altered Art projects and one that I've enjoyed in the past is altering Cardboard Microscope Slide Mailers.  There are just so many ways you can paint and embellish these sturdy little folders as well as place hidden treasures within. Double slide mailers also make great ATC shrines; so if you like creating Artist Trading Cards - ATC's as much as I do, this is a great way to expand on that art form.

  These are some of my altered microscope slide mailer projects.

Microscope Slide Mailers are used in medical and scientific field to safely transport and mail specimens that are on glass microscope slides.  These mailers come in various materials and with several compartment choices.  I use the cardboard mailers for my projects with 1, 2 or 4 slots.  The cardboard mailers are a dull gray color that can be painted or covered with decorative paper before embellishing.

 These are the mailers I use. Using the  microscope slides with the mailers are optional. Microscope slides are available in glass, plastic or you can use transparency film cut to the same size of 1 x 3 inches.

Several online crafting and stamp companies carry these, so that you can purchase just a handful or you can buy them at bulk rates from supply companies online if you think you will be making lots of these.

Here are a few places I've purchased mine from in the past:

Blockheads Rubber Stamps

Articus Studio

I have also seen them on eBay and Etsy. 

 4 Slot Slide Mailer

The largest cardboard mailer has 4 slots and measures about 4 3/4 x 6 1/8 inches when closed and 6 1/8 x 9 1/2 when open.  You can leave the interior slots as they are to fill with 4 items of artwork or you can cut the bridges out and fill the compartment with one piece of artwork. 

 This is the front of my Fairy Tale Book.  I've used some great rubber stamps to create the lock and hinges to give the mailer the appearance of a book and then a funky key was added for fun.  The lock and hinges were stamped onto a metallic gold paper that had a slightly swirled pattern.  The Lock stamp is by Scrolls Work Stamps and the Hinge is a retired stamp by Raindrops on Roses Stamps. I got the cracked leather look by stamping the front with gold ink and Judikins 2422J crackle rubber stamp.

This is the inside of the slide mailer. I gold leafed the slots using a gold leafing pen by Krylon and then filled them with faux stain glass art. The cool brick wall stamp image you see in the background is Great Impressions H108.

These 4 panels were created by stamping medieval images from Stamp Camp onto transparency film and then coloring them from the reverse side using sharpie pens and paint. Spray adhesive was used to attach each image into the slots.

This Medieval banner: "Where there is great love there are miracles" 

is by All Night Media from the Anna Griffin collection 580H18.

 2 Slot Slide Mailer 

The middle sized mailer with 2 slots measures 3 3/4 x 3 1/2 inches when closed and 3 3/4 x 6 inches when open.  You can choose to use both slots or you can cut the bridge out to create one opening that will hold a 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch ATC.  Which is what I did with this next project.  You can see the tutorial I did for this  project at Third Coast Rubber Stamps by clicking Here.

Front of the Closed ATC Shrine using a 2 slot microscope slide mailer. 

Decorative paper, gold leafing pen and a great image by Third Coast Rubber.

 Inside the open double slide mailer showing the removable ATC of the Brooding Princess.

Princess is by Third Coast Rubber stamps and the letters used to create 

the words are by MSE - My Sentiments Exactly Y526 multi retro.

 Remove the ATC and you get a surprise ending. 

Shy Dragon is also by Third Coast Rubber Stamps.

 1 Slot Slide Mailer

The smallest size mailer is the single slot mailer which measures 3 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches when closed and 3 3/4 x 3 1/8 inches when open.  You can also make a great project by using 2 single sliders together to form a double opening door mailer that measures approx 3 3/4 x 3 1/4 inches when closed and 3 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches when open.  I have shown examples of both below.

 

 The closed front of the Egyptian Mummy slide mailer.  I painted the mailer black and then spritzed it with Glitz Spritz "Royal Peacock Fire" by Lindy's Stamp Gang. Stamp image is by Uptown Rubber Stamps.

 Inside the open single slide mailer shows the "Mummy" in his tomb. Egyptian image by Missing Link Rubber Stamps. Hieroglyphs by Time to Stamp.

 Using 2 single Slide Mailers you can create this double door ATC Shrine.

For this project I took 2 single slide mailers and flipped one of them so the door would open in the opposite direction from the other. I mounted the backs of both onto a single piece of black mat board to create the  larger mailer you see below.

This is the front of the closed double 1 slot mailer. Stamp image is by Blockheads Rubber Stamps. Transparency film and decorative glossy paper using the polished stone effect were used to create the doors to this mailer. See previous post for Polished Stone Effect on Glossy Cardstock by clicking -  Here

 Doors open to reveal the Kimono ATC.  The Kimono is ATC size and is attached to the black backer with temporary adhesive.  The black backer is hiding a surprise so when you lift the kimono out...

 Surprise - Two lovely Asian Beauties without their Kimonos.  These beauties are printed on transparency film, cut to size and attached into the slots using spray adhesive.  The slots have been colored with a Krylon Gold Leafing pen.

  Close-up of the Asian Beauties shows you where the (two) single slide mailers were joined together. See how the notch on one mailer is at the top and the other is at the bottom. This is what allows you to get the double opening door effect with these single mailers. (There is a single piece of black mat board attached to the back so the two mailers do not separate and in effect have now become one mailer instead of two.)

These are great whimsical works of art to create and set out on your desk.  I enjoy the movement involved with opening them up to find the hidden treasure inside and they are sturdy enough that you don't have to worry about people breaking them if they are picked up and played with.

Grins and Giggles,

 Evelyn (EKDuncan)

Polished Stone Technique on Glossy Cardstock using re-inkers

I enjoy creating funky, colorful backgrounds for my ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) and other small pieces of artwork; especially using the Polished Stone on Glossy Cardstock Technique.

One of my favorite things to do with these creations is to overlay the background with a sheet of transparancy film that have either been printed or to rubber stamped with a design. I just really like the look these combined layers give to a finished project.

This ATC Shrine project uses transparancy film that has been rubber stamped with
imagesby Blockheads Rubber Stamps that are overlayed with spray adhesive 

onto glossy carstock to which the Polished Stone technique has been applied.

Polished Stone Technique on Glossy Cardstock using re-inkers.

Creating a Polished Stone background onto white glossy cardstock with re-inkers is an easy technique but it can get a bit messy, so protect your clothing and work surface when you give it a try.  Basically you want to daub and swirl color onto the glossy cardstock in layers adding color and alcohol till you achieve a look that you like.
 

Supplies:

White Glossy Cardstock

91% Isopropyl Alcohol

A small spray bottle filled with the alcohol

Dye Based Rubber Stamp Pad re-inkers 

or Adirondack Alcohol Inks (this is what I used for this project)

a Gold Leafing Pen (optional)

Daubing Tool (mine is by Tim Holtz)

Felt Pads (I cut my own from large felt squares)

Start by dotting several colors of the reinker to the felt pad on your daubing tool.

I have two dots of Stream on the top and bottom of the pad and two dots of Lettuce in between.
 

Next spray the Glossy White Cardstock liberally with alcohol.
 

Daub and swirl the first set of colors onto the glossy cardstock, spraying with more alcohol as needed.
 

Load up a clean felt pad with more colors for added depth.

The top two dots are Wild Plum, the middle two Stream and the last two are Eggplant.

I sprayed alcohol again and daubed and swirled as before.
 

Once I achieved a color combination I was pleased with I dotted on ink from a 

Gold Leafing pen, sprayed on more alcohol and daubed and swirled this into the mix

for added interest.
 

The process of adding the Gold Leafing adds shimmer to the project but it also
softens the existing colors. This step is optional; however this does put the "polish"
in the Polished Stone Effect.  You can also substitute silver or copper leafing pens for the gold.
 

This is how my finished piece of Polished Stone Glossy Cardstock turned out.
 

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An example using a polished stone glossy cardstock background:

 Polished stone background & Transparancy printed with animal print pattern.
 

Transparancy bonded to the polished stone background and cut to 

ATC size of 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches.
 

ATC with additional images over the background.


Every background you create will be unique and there is a large range of possible color combinations. 

4 examples using the same rubber stamp image on different color variations of polished stone backgrounds. The waterfall rubber stamp image is by Third Coast Rubber Stamps and was stamped onto the the backgrounds using Black Staz-On ink.
 

4 examples using the same rubber stamp image on different color variations of polished stone backgrounds. The map rubber stamp image is by Hero Arts and was stamped onto the the backgrounds using Black Staz-On ink.

Grins and Giggles,

 Evelyn (EKDuncan)