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| Some of my Artist Cards. Made from ATC size card shapes. My Artist Cards (AT's formally Artist Trading Cards or ATC's) I have been making ATC's for quite a few years. Though mine were not really made for trading, though I have given some to friends, so really they are Artist Cards or Art Cards. I didn't even know of the ATC community until more recently having spent most of my life busy doing other things the world of ATC's was definitely not on my radar! My introduction to ATC's started many years ago when I came across a pack of watercolour ATC's by accident. I was in an art shop in York looking for small canvas or an art book. I live in a small house so I don't have the space to store a great deal so was looking at doing some art in a smaller scale. Looking at watercolour paper I spotted a little pack of small water colour cards, the size of playing cards, 2.5 x 3.5 which were very reasonably priced. Thinking it was a fun way to make some miniature art I bought a few packs plus my water colour paints and thats how I started. Over the years I have used my ATC size Art Cards for toppers in card making, for tags, in scrapbooking and junk journalling. They look nice in frames and make lovely gifts. They work well for making paint samples, for trying out mixed media pastes, for collage and for making mixed media projects, especially ones made on MDF ATC'S. It's a lovely way to tinker with new ideas without using too product something which is quite important when working on a budget. |
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| Artist trading card by M. Vänçi Stirnemann |
History of Trading ATC's.
Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) began as a conceptual art project by Swiss artist M. Vänçi Stirnemann in 1997. Inspired by sports trading cards such as Hockey, baseball and playing cards which traditionally are 2.5 by 3.5 inches in size.
In 1996, Stirnemann began making small artworks the size of commercial trading cards and exhibited 1200 of his cards in 1997 in his second-hand bookshop and gallery in Zürich, Switzerland.
When the exhibition ended he organised a trading session.
The ATC project was born, people would create pieces of art from various medias and offer them as swaps with other like minded ATC makers. Putting details on the back such as when the piece of work was created, the name of the artist. Selling or buying ATCs was not part of this idea though with some ATC online groups sometimes some small amount of money was exchanged to help the artist with postage costs.
From Artist Trading Cards to Artist Cards, from ATC's to AC's.
Because ATC's are a fun and cheap way to create small master pieces art, crafter and artists started using the base of ATC to create small art projects for selling. These lovely creations look beautiful displayed in an ornate frame or sold as Collectors Cards with limited editions fetching a higher dollar!
Because they have become popular within the crafting community over time ATC's, which used be cut by hand, are now available to buy pre cut from card, water colour cardstock and even MDF. You can also purchase dies to cut your own ATC shapes.
Coming soon tutorial on how to create your own Artist Card or Artist Trading card and how to decorate it.
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| One of my Art Cards made on a MDF ATC. This incorporates use of pastes, die cut paper shapes, embossing techniques and charms. Thank you for reading my post more coming soon. |
