CC: NJ - Inchies out of the comfort zone

Before I joined Swap-bot, I had never heard of an inchie -- now they're one of my favourite swaps!

Inchies are 1 x 1 inch pieces of artwork. As long as it’s an inch squared, you can use any media you like to make it, paper, fabric, wood, metal…the list goes on!

It's good if an inchie is sturdy -- just as it's good if ATCs are sturdy. Heavy watercolour paper or cardstock work well. If you use a flimsy material, you can always back it.

I've been experimenting lately with photo inchies -- photographs I've taken shrunk to 1 inch square. It's been fascinating to see which subjects work and which don't.

Recently I've tried cutting one inch squares from photographs and then using them as the backgrounds for collage.

This website has lots of links to pictures and discussions of inchies.

For this swap, each swapper should create six inchies. That's six tiny works of art, 1 inch x 1 inch.

Your six inchies can be themed -- six little animal pictures, for example -- or they can be random.

You can use any medium you like.

But let's see if we can push ourselves a bit. For some of us these will be our first inchies. In that case, just creating inchies is sufficient.

Some of us have experience of making inchies. Try something new! It can be as simple as painting your inchie background if you always use scrapbook paper, or trying a couple of zentangles, or using a different kind of paper than you've used before or trying photo inchies.

Sign each inchie on the back with at least your initials and the date.

Package your inchies so that they travel safely. I usually put mine in a small envelope and include it inside a notecard -- but I had some wonderful rinchies (round inchies) recently from @missxkay which each had a tiny envelope of their own!

Include a note to your partner telling them about the inchies you made and what was new.

Have fun!!!

Sender's choice, so you can start on your inchies now if you like.

If you have questions, PM me or leave them in the comments field below.