ATC's for Beginners & Newbies (1 to 1)

This swap had a great response when I hosted it in April so I thought I'd run another one....here are the original details & instructions...

Ok, here on Swap-Bot I see a lot of mention of ATC's (Artist Trading Cards). I had no idea what it was so I did a little research - and thought - hey, how bout' a swap for newbies like me who really don't know what they are doing but would love to get the experience and at least try! :)

For this swap you will only send 1 ATC to 1 partner since we're all still learning and I myself don't want to get overwhelmed! :)

Now, here's some details:

Artist trading cards are 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches, and should be flat enough to slide into a standard trading card sleeve.

The dimensions of the card must be 2.5 x 3.5 inches (64 x 89 mm). The back of the card typically includes the artist's signature, the date, and any other info you like to share. (Some artists like to make a personal calling card with a self portrait on the front and contact information and anything else they'd like to include on the back, to give out with their trades.)

Artist Trading Cards are typically made on a base of card stock. However, ATCs have been created on metal, stiffened fabric, plastic, clay, balsa wood, leather, embroidery canvas, acetate, heavy watercolor paper, and many other materials.

Various techniques are then applied to the chosen substrate: collage, textile arts, assemblage, digital art, calligraphy, beadwork, watercolors, rubber stamps, carved soft block stamps, pen and ink, colored pencil, airbrush, and many others.

Here's some links for ideas:

http://www.altered-art.net/make-artist-trading-cards-2.html http://www.bellaonline.com/subjects/3846.asp http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/92167/howtomakeanatcartisttradingcard.html?cat=24 http://painting.suite101.com/article.cfm/artisttrading_cards http://tagartteacher.blogspot.com/2007/09/tag-art-club-goes-crazy.html

Please message me if you have any questions at all!

Happy Swapping!

Additional notes from Monteverde1997 - Thanks!

There are several ways to send ATCs. First after making an ATC, I back it with an old playing card.(Like a deck of cards you play rummy with) Then I put another piece of paper on the back so that it looks nice. You are trying to make it durable. You can Use heavy duty cardstock to save you a step if you want.

On the back you can buy a stamp for ATCs or put the info on there yourself. Here is the usual info included on the back: (Your name, What you go by here on swap-bot, where you are from, name of the swap, Title of your ATC, the date it was made, and a line titled "Info" meaning how many ATCs did you make " 1 of 1" or "2 of 3" etc. Some people include their address and email information.

To send the ATC you can put it in between cereal box cardboard and put it in the envelope or just send it inside of a card. Sometimes people include a note describing the ATC or the technique used or that you read that persons profile and made it just for them. I have learned the hard way that sending it with out some kind of protection card, cardboard etc. could result in it being damaged. I also put on the outside of the envelope "non-machineable" which means that the envelope will need to be hand stamped by the post office and not run through their machine. This is an extra 20 cents but after having your hard work shredded in their machine it is worth it. For extra hearts you can send goodies for the reciever to use to make ATC of thier own..