ATCs - Artist Trading Cards

Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) are 2.5" x 3.5" handmade [and not mass produced] works of art that are traded among the artists who created them. They are very similar to baseball cards but any art medium (paints, inks, drawing, fabrics, sewing, photography, collage, clay, iris folding, quilling, etc.) instead of players and stats. The only "rule" is the dimensions (2.5" x 3.5") so anything goes! Some people like to keep them "thin" enough to fit in the trading card holders (sleeves & pages are the same used for baseball cards). On the back of the ATC is usually the artist's name, contact information, and title of card. If making more than one in a limited edition or series then they are labeled as such (ie., "1/6" or "4 of 7"). Since ATCs are handmade, they are naturally limited in numbers.

I first heard about ATCs in the October 2005 issue of the Rubber Stamper magazine and had to try making them immediately. It's a fun way to try new techniques or play with colors and embellishments. There are many sites online to get into ATC swaps and find trades. Currently I am doing a monthly ATC swap with my mom and four of my nieces.

October's theme was "language". Below are the six ATCs I made for the swap. I used ink pads and rubberstamps. I colored the base using the direct to paper technique with various ink pads. Then I stamped some sheet music, written document, and Chinese characters in different colors. Each ATC has the recipient's first initial in English alphabet, American Sign Language, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. You can click on the photo to see a larger image.



A couple websites with more information about Artist Trading Cards:
http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/
http://www.cedarseed.com/air/atc.html

If you make ATCs or are interested in starting and want to trade, leave a comment or email me!