Friday 28 February 2014

encaustic

i think the winter has had a huge effect on my creative mood
and wishing for spring
after dividing the board into thirds
i  painted the top third in layers of taupe, beige and then white
for the bottom it was a mix of oranges with a bit of yellow and red
and then chocolate brown and black
i used one of my tree  photos and applied a photo transfer
 

Tuesday 25 February 2014

winged statue

after experimenting with the clear powertex and crochet doily
i decided i was ready for the next level
sculpture
i gathered up my supplies needed
some armature wire, cheese cloth, cotton t-shirt strips, masking tape. lace trim
and an old Barbie doll's body ( which i covered with masking tape because
powertex will not stick to plastic)
i used the clear powertex because the only other color on hand is black
i started mummy wrapping at the top of body with 1 inch strips of t-shirt including the wings
on the back to help secure them and at the bottom i wrapped around the skirt
i wrapped the wings and skirt with cheesecloth
i found a decorative piece of trim and cut around the design to make a dress
the heart shape worked well as both the top and the scalloped edge on the bottom
now that i am totally addicted and have more supplies
i will be creating a lot more
so stay tuned


Tuesday 18 February 2014

kumihimo and wire necklace

today I taught a class with my friend carmi
to a group of CHA members at john bead
first carmi showed us how to make the basic kumihimo braid
(4-6 inches of braid works great 
 and even the beginners got theirs made in less than an hour)
for the pendant I used 12 gauge aluminum wire  to make the heart
and 18 gauge to decorate

aluminum wire is easy to bend and is great to practice with before
moving on to more expensive wire
for more inspirations click here

Saturday 15 February 2014

encaustic

in last weeks class i cleaned several old boards
creating one new one
with one of the newly cleaned  boards i created the above
covering the board with old book pages and a ticket stub
for the first layer i used a "glaze" of ocher
allowing the text to show throw the wax
then i started building the texture
using a grid stencil in the center
and alternating red and white wax
using the heat gun to smooth out a few spots and
to highlite the texture i rub in some burnt umber oil paint
and remove the excess from the top
 
 


Wednesday 12 February 2014

another leather bracelet

since the last bracelet was so quick and easy
i decided to make another
this time I doubled the leather and chain
i used matching aluminum wire to make some jump rings and staples
it took a little math and some painters tape to mark the spots
where i wanted the holes to be punched
adding the staples to join the two straps together
(starting in the centre , working out and in every other hole)
then using the jump rings to connect the fancy heart chain
after that i simply glued the leather in the clasp
and finished


Saturday 8 February 2014

leather bracelets

 
i've been buzy helping my friend carmi creating
jewelry with flat leather
metal complex has made it so easy to create these bracelets
above,  a hole punch , jump rings and some fancy chain
before you know it i'm working on several more
 
 
also available are a variety of  clasps
just simply glue leather in place

Thursday 6 February 2014

simple bowl

i just purchased some clear powertex and
wanted to do a quick experiment to see how it would turn out 
i have a huge collection of crochet doilies and trims
so it was easy to pick one and make this simple bowl
i can't wait to work some more
i have so many ideas for the trim and
 turning it into some jewelry




Sunday 2 February 2014

encaustic recycle

for today's class i brought several previously painted boards
 to scrap down and reuse
but why waste the wax
above the combination of three different works
combined to make one new one
 

first i heated the artwork
then scored it into one inch strips
scraping them off the board and then rearranging them
then i heated a second one and scraped into 3 inch strips
creating a new board in white and
photo transferring a sheet of script
and created more one inch strips
after playing around i liked the mosaic effect and
 added a red panel to balance it