The Art of the Family Tree: Creative Family History Projects Using Paper Art, Fabric and Collage

138 Pages·2007·38.5 MB·English

by  Bolton

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Finally, a creative book on how to beautifully display your family’s history!
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WE ARE ALL FASCINATED BY THE FAMILIES WE HAVE DESCENDED FROM. And whether you
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have collected generations of genealogical research or merely want to document your t

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extended family or grandchildren, The Art of the Family Tree offers a beautiful
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array of projects to highlight and celebrate them. From lovely “espalier” family t
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trees that hang on the wall, to keepsake books and albums, to creative sculptural

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family trees, you will surely find wonderful projects to artfully document your
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family’s heritage. These simple projects include clip art and free reproducible
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templates for new crafters, along with more detailed ideas for customizing and embellishing y
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for more experienced paper artists.
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º A lovely book for paper artists, genealogists, or r
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a Creative Family History Projects Using Paper Art, Fabric & Collage
scrapbookers looking for creative family tree ideas t
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º Creative ideas for making beautiful family heirlooms that a
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will be treasured by future generations il
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º Free artwork, family tree templates, and clip art included st
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º Professional advice on researching your family’s history P
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JENN MASON is a fine artist, writer, teacher, product designer, and s
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industry consultant. She lives with her husband and two daughters in g

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Brookline, Massachusetts.
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Also Available from Quarry Books r
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Making Family Journals ic

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1-59253-228-4

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Paper Art Workshop: Celebrating Baby ll
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ISBN-13: 978-1-59253-339-8
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Crafts ISBN-10: 1-59253-339-6
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$24.99 US N
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$29.95 CAN
www.quarrybooks.com
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E N N A S O N O R E W O R D B Y AT R I C I A O LT O N
3RD PROOF The Art Of The Family Tree
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Family Tree
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OF THE
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F T
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OF THE
Creative Family History Projects Using Paper Art, Fabric & Collage
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E N N A S O N
FOREWORD BY PATRICIA BOLTON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF,
QUILTING ARTS MAGAZINE AND CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS
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© 2007 by Quarry Books
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the copyright owners. All
images in this book have been reproduced with the knowledge and prior consent of the artists concerned, and no responsibility is
accepted by the producer, publisher, or printer for any infringement of copyright or otherwise, arising from the contents of this
publication. Every effort has been made to ensure that credits accurately comply with information supplied. We apologize for any
inaccuracies that may have occurred and will resolve inaccurate or missing information in a subsequent reprinting of the book.
First published in the United States of America by
Quarry Books, a member of
Quayside Publishing Group
33 Commercial Street
Gloucester, Massachusetts 01930-5089
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
www.quarrybooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mason, Jenn.
The art of the family tree : creative family history projects using paper art, fabric, and
collage / Jenn Mason.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59253-339-8
ISBN-10: 1-59253-339-6
1. Photograph albums. 2. Family in art. 3. Genealogy. I. Title.
TR501.M368 2007
745.593—dc22 2006100293
CIP
ISBN-13: 978-1-59253-339-8
ISBN-10: 1-59253-339-6
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Design: Dawn DeVries Sokol
Cover Image: Allan Penn
Illustrations: Jenn Mason
Templates: Melanie Powell, Shy Buck Studios
Printed in China
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Mother love is the fuel that enables
a normal human being to do the impossible.
—Marion C. Garretty
To Mum, for whatever you did to make me whatever I am.
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Contents
Foreword by Patricia Bolton ..............................9
Introduction ................................................10
Getting Started..............................................12
Chapter One
Planting Your Family Tree........................16
Top Down and Bottoms Up! ....................18
Using What You Have............................20
Solving Tricky Family Dilemmas ................22
Telling Your Ancestory............................24
Adopting Ancestors................................26
Chapter Two
Espalier Trees: Art for the Wall ............28
Branching Out: Shadowboxed Tree..............30
A Layered Family: Collaged Canvas............34 Watercolor Tree variation,page 41
Family Orchard: Watercolor Tree................38
Quilted Memories: Circle Chart Assemblage ..42
Chapter Three
Leafing Through the Years: Book Art ....46
The Women Who Made the Men:
Ancestral Star Book ................................48
Soft-Sided Memories:
Fabric Journal Collection Book....................54
Fanned and Frilly: Altered Board Book ..........58
Framed and Quartered: Coin Collector’s Book....62
Hiding Jacob’s Ladder: Wooden Book and Shrine..66
Library of Relatives: Mini Journals Collection....70
Ancestral Star Book,page 48
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Collaged Canvas,page 34 Chapter Four
Tree Houses: Three-Dimensional
Family Trees......................................76
Sadie’s Girls: Paper and Wire Sculpture ........78
It’s All Relatives: Paper Topiary Tree............82
Mossy Mementos: Standing History Wreath....86
My Family by the Sea: Sea Fan Assemblage....90
Chapter Five
Inspirational Trees:
A Gallery of Solutions ......................94
Chapter Six
A Beginner’s Guide to Researching
Family History ................................108
Suggested Reading ..................................113
Fabric Journal Collection Book,page 54
Templates and Clip Art ............................114
Resources ............................................129
Stores ................................................130
About the Contributing Artists ....................132
About the Author ..................................134
Acknowledgments ..................................136
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Foreword
Complete with multiple fold-outs of ancestral
Every family has one: the genealogist. That
pedigree charts (some dating back to the 1200s),
relative who spends hours chained to the
maps, migration trails, copies of photographs,
dining room table, hunkered over a
newspaper clippings, obituaries, birth certificates,
patchwork spread of yellowing birth certificates,
hand-written wills, love letters, and applications
century-old love letters, and creased, sepia-toned
to the Colonial Dames XVII Century, it rivals the
photographs in efforts to uncover the mysteries of
weight, word count, and width of an unabridged
the family and answer that age-old question: How
dictionary. If I flip open the book, I’ll stumble
did we come to be?
upon any number of interesting stories or bits of
text. There’s an entire chapter entitled, “When
In my clan, the fervent archeologist of family files
Individuals Go Against the Norm,” for example.
would be my grandmother, Anne Bassett Stanley
And here’s a passage from “Chicken for Supper,”
Chatham. Daughter of a former U.S. congress-
a letter written by a homesick soldier to his wife
man and governor of the Commonwealth of
during World War II:
Virginia, my grandmother is a proud citizen of
the Old Dominion State—but she’s a granny with
her secrets. When her father was in Congress (and We couldn’t understand how such a fine-looking bird
she just a slip of a thing boarding at an all-girl could make such a poor showing and we didn’t find
high school) she eloped with my humor-loving, out the answer until supper, when we started to eat
thrill-seeking grandfather, a hillbilly from the our rooster. I was served a drumstick and was pro-
mountains of North Carolina. She wasn’t the first ceeding to take myself a bite of very expensive chicken
to breathe a bit of scandal into the family and when I almost broke my bridgework. I have never
though she and my grandfather enjoyed nearly seen such a tough piece of meat in all my life…
fifty years of marital bliss before he passed, she
decided to research the family tree and see who I am eternally indebted to my grandmother for culling
else had their stories to tell. That was the early such an array of ancestral history, and for providing
’70s, and twenty-five years later she self-published fodder to create mixed-media pieces of artwork that
a hardcover book that is a whopping 1,246 pages. will tell the stories of my family tree more visually.
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In The Art of the Family Tree, Jenn Mason shows us
with paint, glue, and collage how we can express
our ancestoryin creative ways. By adding a dab of Altered Board Book,page 58
paint and artfully combining words with images, we
can tell the whole, colorful tale of how we came to
be. So grab your gesso, eyelets, scraps of fabrics, and
family memorabilia, and get ready to celebrate the
stories of your families in the most creative of ways.
—Patricia Bolton, Editor-in-Chief,
Quilting Arts Magazine and Cloth Paper Scissors
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