When is a Door
Not a Door?
*and things that go flap in the night
Remember that old joke? When is a door, not a door? When it's
ajar! I haven't heard it in years, but I remember how that stymied
me......How can a door be a jar? That's the joke! OK.......I
finally got it. But here's a turn on that old
joke.......because.....sometimes a door actually IS a jar!
This door is a jar.
And, LOOK! The jar door is ajar!
Sometimes, in fact, a door is all sorts of things! Sometimes it is even a door, but today's theme is unexpected doors. You can make a door out of whatever you have at hand. You get to decide what is a door. And you get to decide what's behind that door and whether or not you will open it.
The way I make a door out of absolutely anything, is to just make a slit in the paper with an X-acto blade, along the lines I want the door to open. Leave the hinge side uncut. That's it. (Oh, be sure to put a cutting board or stack of old newspaper under your paper while you are cutting to protect your work surface or dining room table.)
Here are some of our exciting examples. Some of them are finished works and some are merely prototypes to inspire you to make your own works.
Get ready.... Set... GO!
OK. First of all, doors are everywhere. Really. Anything can be a door!
Sometimes, in fact, a door is all sorts of things! Sometimes it is even a door, but today's theme is unexpected doors. You can make a door out of whatever you have at hand. You get to decide what is a door. And you get to decide what's behind that door and whether or not you will open it.
The way I make a door out of absolutely anything, is to just make a slit in the paper with an X-acto blade, along the lines I want the door to open. Leave the hinge side uncut. That's it. (Oh, be sure to put a cutting board or stack of old newspaper under your paper while you are cutting to protect your work surface or dining room table.)
Here are some of our exciting examples. Some of them are finished works and some are merely prototypes to inspire you to make your own works.
Get ready.... Set... GO!
OK. First of all, doors are everywhere. Really. Anything can be a door!
These are Doors for the creative thinkers among us.
Of course, you expect a door in a house:
Of course, you expect a door in a house:
No surprises, there.
Or here, as gates are already doors.....just an opening in a fence.......nothing special....
But we can still be excited by what lies behind the door or gate!
Now, you MIGHT be surprised by a door in the clouds..... they seem to appear completely out of the blue, to the surprise of the heroine of many a tale.
And you never know who or what will be revealed by an opening in the clouds.
Sometimes, the door is obvious after we see it open, but can be a secret until that very moment that it is opened. Mysteries abound.
Sometimes, people hide things, like safes, behind framed pictures.....but you can hide anything you like.
And, remember....you can use these anywhere you like. On a card, on scratch paper, on Notes to Self, anywhere you want them.
AND, you can put anything you like behind that closed door: a birthday wish, a photograph, a stamped image........any kind of surprise or treat. It's up to YOU.
Check out the Book of Secrets.
Look, Ma! PAGES!!!
I slit the cover and stuck in a small signature of four pages, just for fun.
To make the signature and give a 3-D quality to this wonderful Book of Secrets,
I just cut two lengths of paper, each twice the width of the pages I wanted, then folded them in half.
This is a quick way of doing it: I just taped them onto the back of the paper with the book on it.
Here, you can see the tape and how simple it was. If I were wanting to hide the back, as in a pretty card, I would add another piece of paper to cover the entire back of the card.
I just thought we ought to take another look at the finished product. I think it's cool.
So, lookie here at this: Here is a door made from a squareish thing which is roughly shaped like a typical door: this is a Wonderful Door! It would also make a cool book cover, wouldn't it?
And, another look at something which is not typically door-shaped but reaffirms our thesis that ANY thing can be a door:
A declaration of love: from the heart! Isn't she aDOORable?
What's inside this cabinet?
Just slit along the edges of where the doors would really open, and then, they really open there:
....another opportunity to be led into mystery.....
Well, a house can have a door.
AND....a house can BE a door!
Instead of a door, try a flap. A flap, in this case, is like a door, but from a separate piece of paper which is taped or glued to the front of the original paper, as opposed to cut from the original paper. Here, it is also oriented differently, opening from the top, rather than from the side).
What's behind that flap, when it is dropped down:
You can see the tape at the bottom, which attaches the tulip paper to the paper with the star grass. You might prefer to use a glue stick, which would still show the tab, but not the tape. You can also decorate the tab to make it part of the underlying picture.
Again, you never know what is going to be a door or a flap. This chicken is holding the most useful note, but one could add pages as we did with the Book of Secrets, or just open the door to other possibilities.
Give it a try. This makes a fine card or increased list space and, whichever you choose, it is well protected by its chicken guardian.
There are different ways of defining and making a door: you can outline the door place or not.
Whether you choose to outline the cut area, you can choose to cut around the outline, drawn or imagined, or follow the edge of the image.
Who would have expected a panda to be a door? But, again, ANYthing can be a door: even a panda head. You can cut along the edge of the image or give it a border, either along the same shape or a defined outlined.
You can make a door out of anything....anything at all. See? You don't even have to make it rectangular first. You can cut along the edges of the image but you don't HAVE to. And you can put things behind it, if you wish. Or not. You can make a door just for the fun of it, even.
"What's behind these doors?" you might ask. Well, it's up to you to decide. What do you want to see when you open your door? You get to choose, same as you get to choose which doors you make and where you put them. What's behind your door?
Go ahead, and open the door to more rubber stamping. Step over the threshold and get stamping in a new way: make the most of those doors, explicit and otherwise. Make new doors. Make doors that do what you want a door to do and lead to where you want to go. And, then, you GO, Girl!
Rubber Blessings on us all!
Ceci Córdova is an artist who is also a Mother, Midwife, and Life Learner. She loves rubber stamping and enjoys sharing the art form with others. She likes to carve her own stamps and has an extensive collection of rubber stamps including many RubberMoon stamps dating from waaaay back.
P.S. Come hang out and play rubber stamps with me next month at Stamp Boldly with RubberMoon. And you can soon join me in real life as I will be hosting art and rubber stamps classes at my new studio in Seattle.
Party on, dudes.
Or here, as gates are already doors.....just an opening in a fence.......nothing special....
But we can still be excited by what lies behind the door or gate!
Now, you MIGHT be surprised by a door in the clouds..... they seem to appear completely out of the blue, to the surprise of the heroine of many a tale.
Sometimes, the door is obvious after we see it open, but can be a secret until that very moment that it is opened. Mysteries abound.
Sometimes, people hide things, like safes, behind framed pictures.....but you can hide anything you like.
And, remember....you can use these anywhere you like. On a card, on scratch paper, on Notes to Self, anywhere you want them.
AND, you can put anything you like behind that closed door: a birthday wish, a photograph, a stamped image........any kind of surprise or treat. It's up to YOU.
Check out the Book of Secrets.
Look, Ma! PAGES!!!
I slit the cover and stuck in a small signature of four pages, just for fun.
To make the signature and give a 3-D quality to this wonderful Book of Secrets,
I just cut two lengths of paper, each twice the width of the pages I wanted, then folded them in half.
This is a quick way of doing it: I just taped them onto the back of the paper with the book on it.
Here, you can see the tape and how simple it was. If I were wanting to hide the back, as in a pretty card, I would add another piece of paper to cover the entire back of the card.
So, lookie here at this: Here is a door made from a squareish thing which is roughly shaped like a typical door: this is a Wonderful Door! It would also make a cool book cover, wouldn't it?
And, another look at something which is not typically door-shaped but reaffirms our thesis that ANY thing can be a door:
A declaration of love: from the heart! Isn't she aDOORable?
What's inside this cabinet?
Just slit along the edges of where the doors would really open, and then, they really open there:
....another opportunity to be led into mystery.....
Well, a house can have a door.
AND....a house can BE a door!
Instead of a door, try a flap. A flap, in this case, is like a door, but from a separate piece of paper which is taped or glued to the front of the original paper, as opposed to cut from the original paper. Here, it is also oriented differently, opening from the top, rather than from the side).
What's behind that flap, when it is dropped down:
You can see the tape at the bottom, which attaches the tulip paper to the paper with the star grass. You might prefer to use a glue stick, which would still show the tab, but not the tape. You can also decorate the tab to make it part of the underlying picture.
Again, you never know what is going to be a door or a flap. This chicken is holding the most useful note, but one could add pages as we did with the Book of Secrets, or just open the door to other possibilities.
Give it a try. This makes a fine card or increased list space and, whichever you choose, it is well protected by its chicken guardian.
There are different ways of defining and making a door: you can outline the door place or not.
Whether you choose to outline the cut area, you can choose to cut around the outline, drawn or imagined, or follow the edge of the image.
You can make a door out of anything....anything at all. See? You don't even have to make it rectangular first. You can cut along the edges of the image but you don't HAVE to. And you can put things behind it, if you wish. Or not. You can make a door just for the fun of it, even.
"What's behind these doors?" you might ask. Well, it's up to you to decide. What do you want to see when you open your door? You get to choose, same as you get to choose which doors you make and where you put them. What's behind your door?
Go ahead, and open the door to more rubber stamping. Step over the threshold and get stamping in a new way: make the most of those doors, explicit and otherwise. Make new doors. Make doors that do what you want a door to do and lead to where you want to go. And, then, you GO, Girl!
Rubber Blessings on us all!
Ceci Córdova is an artist who is also a Mother, Midwife, and Life Learner. She loves rubber stamping and enjoys sharing the art form with others. She likes to carve her own stamps and has an extensive collection of rubber stamps including many RubberMoon stamps dating from waaaay back.
P.S. Come hang out and play rubber stamps with me next month at Stamp Boldly with RubberMoon. And you can soon join me in real life as I will be hosting art and rubber stamps classes at my new studio in Seattle.
Party on, dudes.
Rubber Art Stamps used in this post include, in relative order of appearance:
Please note: Jar stamp is a retired RubberMoon stamp and is no longer available. I'm sorry. I make a point of using only available RM stamps but that old jar joke got the best of me.
jc459 - phylis
kp5065 - panda
mk493 - wonderful
mk593 - garden gate
mk9110 - chicken note
db4040 - moon unit house
jc334 - blanche
jc246 - baggy pants
jc241 - she's the one
db4266 - catch a falling star
db4681 - cloud
db4391 - amy vander popen
jc458 - ms. moon
db4252 - book of secrets
mk2125 - on her way to the top
db9107 - star wardrobe
db4793 - crooked chimney house
jc143 - moon dancer 3
db4104 - wee fishy
db4895 - star grass
mk9110 - chicken note
db4496 - starflower (sm)
mk265 - swirl marble
Ceci! You have done a great job of showing us the ins and outs of being sneaky with our art! You explore so many options of doors and windows, oh my! Thanks for these little bits of wonderful.
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