#452

Geez, life is so annoying! But enough about that.

So, I’ve been painting a bit lately. I felt bad about not blogging, but I don’t have the brain power to explain all the different pieces yet.

Here are a few pieces, so I’m getting good use out of the paints that I bought after Christmas. My partner and I have also assembled and primed our respective Warhammer 40k armies, but have to wait to paint them, as we have an inspection coming up.

In the mean time, I have been painting all sorts of things, as you can see. I’ve drawn pictures to paint, copied pictures, used a gesso transfer and painted over the magazine image, I’ve painted boxes, clay figures that I’ve made in the past, begun painting a dress on a paper mache dress form, and scoured my craft room for half finished projects, so I have plenty on the go.
Please excuse the quality of the pictures, the colours did not want to show up with the light, and I had to try an adjust them back. I keep forgetting to take the photos during the day. Perhaps I’ll make a day if it when I’ve completed more pieces. I might even iron the background sheet ;).

Paint the town red! Or maybe just the dress form.

#220

Today I made a copic holder with paracetamol boxes that I had saved. This would work with toothpaste boxes or various sized boxes. Because each compartment is fairly small and I used a lot of packing tape, it’s quite sturdy. I can add on more later if needed, and when it’s finished, I can cover it with paper.
Copics are meant to be stored sideways, because it allows the ink to run evenly to both ends, so I might have to figure out a method of keeping the box upright when I’m not using them.

Day #159

I got my supplies out to decorate the boxes today, and had no idea what to do, so I only got to do a couple. I quite like the square gems on the gold. They look pretty and the pattern matched up without really planning it. I tried putting micro marbles on one, but for some reason couldn’t figure out a good way to do it with minimal mess, as I wasn’t able to use my craft room.
I did look up some ideas and thought I’d try quilling on one later, and maybe get some fabric and ribbon out.
I finally got around to baking the clay that I moulded the other day. I’m loving the fondant mould I got, but I’m unsure if it’s because I used cheap clay, or that I didn’t bake it long enough, but the pieces are a bit bendy. I’ll have to try the super Sculpey that I have although they come out a bit mottled. I think I’ll have to experiment because I couldn’t find anything online about it.

Day #158

So, if you’re reading this, you might have noticed a change in the theme of the site. I even made a quick banner. I realised that the website was taking a long time to load. I think this is because the theme took the actual pictures from the pages instead of making a low resolution thumbnail, cropped as a circle. I did like the theme, but the meta menu was bugged and there wasn’t much that I could edit. The new theme I picked, (I think it’s called sketches,) is a lot cleaner and nice looking. I need to update the ‘about’ page more, but I didn’t know what to say. At least its better than the blank/default one I had.
I felt like doing something crafty this evening, without much effort. I was originally going to decorate boxes, but realised that a few of the boxes, that I had in my drawer, weren’t finished and needed another coat of paint.
I got a few disposable oven trays the other day, so I could use them for polymer clay, baking them when the tray is full. I discovered that they are good to put drying boxes in to keep them out of the way.

Day #141

Today I sat at my desk for a short time, looking to do something crafty before my nap. I finished off painting a box that I had started yesterday. Painting boxes with flat colour is the thing that calms me most. I was enjoying this feeling so much, but I ran out of paper and wooden boxes to paint. I looked around my table and found a biscuit tin that I recently emptied. I love my butter cookies at Christmas, and have multiple tins around the place, so I thought I could guesso and paint them to look nicer and give me something to paint. In between coating the tin and thinking about how many coats would cover the pattern, I somehow came up with the idea of a modified paper mache. Using tissues, separated into one layer and torn into pieces, I used the gesso as the binding agent. It worked really nicely in covering the tin, it stuck brilliantly and only used one tissue for the entire top.
I was quite excited at this discovery that I decided to see how it would make vessels. Using tissue or paper towel in paper mache seems to make it more flexible, but I’m wondering what the stiff guesso will do to the structure. If this works well, I have a way to make paper containers to paint instead of buying so many, as well as an option for armour in cosplay.
Even just using this method in the top layer of your piece will help smooth and give a great even base, with no newsprint, ready to paint.

Day #26

Box making day. I tried a couple of things. I needed a box to fit my Magic the gathering deck into, and boxes are $20 for a basic one. I thought making them would be good and a nice gift to my friends that play.
I tried making a pattern and paper mached with brown paper. But it didn’t have a sturdy enough base.
After looking around on YouTube,  I found this box and changed the measurements.  Unfortunately, the closing mechanism didn’t work on the scale and ripped the corners.

Its pretty, though.