- Allegory Gallery, Art Journal, Beadalon, Beading, Doodles, Drawing, Green Girl Studios, Jewelry, Resin, Throwback Thursday
An Artistic Year in Review
This year has been a trial by fire for pretty much most of us on this little blue dot of a planet we call home. Like many I had intended to do so much more but this year turned out very different.
We moved once in the earlier portion of this year, selling our home of 12 years, moving into my mother’s house, as we were having difficulty finding a new home. It was a hectic time but one of my little pleasures was the continued subscription to Jesse James Beads‘s Magical Mystery Bead Boxes. Enjoying the colors and shapes, pushing my creative style into different directions.
With a rainy Spring in full swing, I took inspiration from my potted garden to create different grey and pink toned jewelry pieces. My mother’s house went up for sale and we started packing for a second time.
When shelter in place orders came, everything was stuck in a holding pattern. Not knowing what to do, but not being able to do much of anything I found myself going to artwork for solace. Jesse James Beads released a series of Quarantine Beading Kits, which I was eager to buy and work on. With some findings from Beadalon I was able to make an early start on gifts for the Holidays.
I would work on making art, day and night, giving my nervous energy an outlet. Desert sunrises and the blooming wildflowers continued to be an inspiration. Sprinkled with making masks for my family and packing up the last of our things made for very busy days.
Silver Silk and More released a special Atlantis kit. Filled with golds, blues and greens it was a stunning collections of supplies. I found a sense of calm in a sea of uncertainty by creating these pieces while listening to the rain at night.
This set, that I ended up keeping for myself, would end up being one of the last pieces I would make before we moved again. I was getting increased tremors in my hands, more problems with my ability to walk, use my hands and losing feeling in my limbs. Once we moved a third time, my doctors were able to schedule surgery to work on my spine.
Recovery was slow but I could already feel my hands and feet, and walk with reduced pain. I started using wonderful journals from Rita Barakat as therapy and way to start testing my dexterity. At first it was simple doodles but it felt great to be able to hold tools without shaking too much.
A first true attempt at sketching after surgery, “Hope”, a goddess of Fall and the ever changing future. Originally I was going to try watercolor but found out I wasn’t steady enough, I went back to an old comfort, pencil illustration.
As I started to slowly heal and start unpacking some of my art supplies I found myself drawn to working with resin again. This time I wanted to give UV Resin from Let’s Resin a try. They had two different formulations and I found them both useful in different resin applications.
While my bones were still healing I found a new bead shop doing lives on Facebook, called Allegory Gallery, located in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. The owners, William and Andrew, were wonderful to watch. Sharing beads, treasures, design ideas and life stories. They were trying to keep afloat in these trying times while saving up to buy a permanent home for their store. They started a fund raiser called Little By Little, which one could, and still can, donate to via different options. I donated several times and ended up winning one of their wonderful prize packages.
Andrew created an stunning collection of paintings called Opal Girls, (available for purchase on their website) that I found absolutely enchanting. Inspired by his work I used some of the beads and findings I won from Allegory Gallery, to create this jewelry set. The lovely pendant comes from with a pendant from Cynthia Thornton owner of Green Girl Studios, Andrew’s sister.
In this coming new year I look forward to finding more businesses to support, and share with with you.
Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year! #TBT The Upcycled Mummy’s Curse! A spoOky DIY
Continuing my Throwback Thursday posts, this time highlighting my love of Halloween, Ancient Egypt and upcycled crafts! Posted in 2015 on the Amazing Casting Products blog, I had some rather odd inspiration for this project and it all started with me finding some fun plastic Halloween skulls at a Thrift store. With two of them, I made Ghoulish Glam Skulls and the rest I saved for Halloween decor around the house.
While I was outside in the garden one of our dogs, Luna, decided to play in the house, the skulls were close to her toys and she cracked one of them. I of course couldn’t be angry with her playing though her rather adorable “I totally did NOT do that” face also helped. When I was about to throw out the skull, an idea came to me: why not use the cracked skull as a base for a Halloween mummy head prop?
Supplies:
Amazing Casting Resin
Alumilite Dyes
Liquitex Gloss and Matte Varnish
Acrylic Paint
Aluminium Foil and Paper Bags
Stir Sticks
Plastic Halloween Skull
Cotton Muslin Fabric
Black leaf tea bags
Beacon’s Gem-Tac
Paint Brush
Paper Tape Roll
Hot Glue Gun and glue sticks
With the crack being along the side of the eye socket and most of the left side of the skull I needed to stabilize the now-fragile skull. I thought of using Casting Resin but I needed to seal the hole before filling the skull with resin. I taped up the crack with clear packing tape, creating a temporary seal for the resin.
Knowing that if I were to fill up the whole skull with Casting Resin it would not only require a lot of resin but make the skull on the heavy side I needed to put some sort of filler inside the skull. Using used clean paper bags and crumpled aluminum foil I slipped them inside the skull through a hole in the bottom.
Next I made small batches of Amazing Casting Resin and poured it through the hole in the bottom of the skull. By pouring small batches and then tilting the skull I was able to make sure all of the inside of the skull was equally covered with resin, stabilizing the plastic skull. This process went very quickly because Amazing Casting Resin sets up in 10-15 minutes. I ended up using 3/4 of a resin kit to fill the inside of the skull.
Once I had filled up the inside of the skull I hot glued a tape roll to the bottom of the skull to create a neck for the mummy head. Any gaps between the tape roll and the skull I filled in with aluminum foil and hot glue.
I then mixed up some Casting Resin and poured it into the newly formed neck of the mummy head. I put some extra foil into the neck cavity and filled it up with more Casting Resin, using up all of the kit.
Once the resin was cured, I removed the tape from the now resin-filled crack and removed any excess resin spills off the skull.
Since not much of the plastic would be visible under the wrappings but I didn’t want it looking like a skull. I painted the skull with a mixture of yellow, brown and black acrylic paint. I glued on used tea bags to create eyelids and created a nose out of paper bags and tin foil. I glued on some loose tea grounds to give the look of sand/dirt and sealed it with Liquitex Matte Varnish.
To create wrappings: I dyed cotton muslin fabric in a bath of hot black leaf tea and bags. I let it soak for a few hours to stain and then let the fabric dry. Once dry I tore the fabric into 2 inch strips to make wrappings. I started applied the wrappings to the skull with a bit of Beacon’s Gem-Tac and started to wind it around the skull. I didn’t use any set pattern or style; I just had fun and made sure to cover up any of the more skull-like features of the head.
Once I was finished wrapping the skull I liked the overall look, but felt it needed something more to create the look of age.
Since real mummies still have old oils and resin still visible on the surface of their wrappings, I created some out of Liquitex Gloss Varnish mixed with some Brown Alumilite Dye. I used the varnish instead of resin because I wanted to control how it dripped and needed it to dry quickly. The Alumilite Dye allowed me to tint the varnish without losing the transparent nature of the varnish.
Once dry, this spooky décor is a perfect addition to my creepy curiosity cabinet on display for Halloween!
Until next time, safe travels!
This is an affiliate post, which means I received an assortment of products as a compensation for the creation of art. To read my full disclosure, click here.
#TBT Sit for a Spell! DIY Eye of Newt Apothecary Jar
Kicking off my Throwback Thursday posts with one of my favorite upcycling Halloween crafts. Posted in 2015 on the Amazing Casting Products blog, this quick and easy project is perfect with Halloween coming up fast.
Taking inspiration from one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays, Macbeth:
“Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,–
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”That part of the play has a wonderful spooky quality, often inspiring all types of ghoulish displays and decor for Halloween. The interesting part is that most of those names of ingredients were not intended to be taken literal, but were herbalist or folk terms for common herbs and plants. In the case of “Eye of newt” it was referring to a type of mustard seed. However thanks to pop culture more often than not most people think of real newt eyes in a jar. So knowing some seeds in a jar isn’t that ghoulish of a Halloween decoration I decided to go with the pop culture version of making a jar with faux newt eyes.
Supplies:
A Glass Jar previously used for a candle
Resin
Moss
Eye Beads
Glitter (optional)
Chalk Sticker
Chalk Pen
Wood Bead
Black Chalk Paint
Sandpaper
I cleaned up a old jar that previously had a three wick candle with a metal lid, making it perfect for an apothecary jar. I picked this type of glass because it is tempered and can handle the heat often created by thick pours of curing resin.
I put some dried moss at the bottom of the jar to add some visual contrast. It would also help with adding some textured base to prop the fake eyes on so they wouldn’t all sink to the bottom.
I mixed up 3 fluid ounces of Amazing Clear Cast Resin and slowly poured it on top of the moss to cover it.
The moss became a bit dark after the resin started to soak into it, so before the resin layer started to cure I sprinkled a bit of micro crystal glitter* to give just a slight shimmer to the moss layer.
*The glitter is an optional step
For newt eyes I used transparent acrylic Eye of Warding beads carefully placed in the still wet resin. Recent popularity of the beads has had a lot of bead manufacturers making all kinds of the Eye of Warding beads out of glass, acrylic, clay and even recycled plastic.
*Take a trip to your favorite craft store to check out what types of beads they might have for you to use!
Once I let the first layer of resin cure for about an hour I added some more eye beads and little snippets of moss. I didn’t want to add too much. I wanted it to look like someone used the “newt eyes” a lot in their spells.
While the final layer of resin cured I worked on the lid to the jar. To bring down some of the bright silver tone of the lid I used some sandpaper and little bit of chalk paint to give it an aged look. A painted wooded bead, glued on top of the lid, gave it a pull knob.
With a chalk board sticker for a label the jar was finished and not a single newt harmed! 🙂
Until next time, safe travels!
*This is an affiliate post, which means I received an assortment of products as a compensation for the creation of art. To read my full disclosure, click here.
2018 Creativation Trade Show with Amazing Casting Products
The Creativation Trade show, held in Phoenix, Arizona is the must-go event for craft and hobby industry professionals. It is held by Association For Creative Industries or AFCI, showcasing the many facets of the creative industries from edible arts, painting & drawing, kids crafts, sewing & fabric, paper crafts and more. This year’s 2018 show was a plethora of arts and crafts manufacturers, new products, demos, classes, and networking opportunities.
Once again I was a demonstrator at the Amazing Casting Products/Alumilite Corp booth at Creativation! Here we are first day, right before show floor opening happy to have the booth up and running before the rush of attendees. It was a pleasure and honor to being working with such talented and devoted people!
So many samples were showcased in every corner of the booth!
The Amazing Casting Products Design Team had sent in a wonderful array of projects.
Anything from home decor, kitchen wear, mixed media, jewelry, toys, garden decor, and fine art applications could be found in the booth.
The demo area always had some sort art going on.
With so many samples there was bound to be some art application that would catch the interest of an attendee.
All three days I did demos; First day “Frozen in Time” How to embellish mixed media projects combining Amazing Clear Cast Resin with powders, dyes, stamps, found objects and more! Second day “Crafting Conversation Curios” How to mold and create unique handmade resin pendants, charms and curios with Amazing Casting Products! Third day “Wearable Art, Clay Time” Exploring the creative possibilities of wearable art that can be achieved using Amazing Casting Products and polymer clay! Manufacturer partner, Polyform Products
Yours truly working on the “Crafting Conversation Curios” demo.
Amazing Casting Products Design Team Leader Susan M. Brown starting with her “Moldmaking 101” demo. At this demo people learned how to make quick and easy push molds using Amazing Mold Putty that could be used with Amazing Casting Resin, polymer clay, chocolate, fondant, plaster, soap, and more! Susan also did a fun interactive game “Texture THIS?!” exploring texture plates with polymer clay while learning quick and easy techniques to make and use texture in varied mediums/applications. Game entrants were entered to win a prize package of Alumilite Corp/Amazing Casting Products & Polyform Products.
The wonderful and talented mixed-media artist Cat Kerr‘s demo “Bezel Bonanza” on the first day of the show. Demonstrating three resin bezel techniques that add dazzling dimension and texture to empty bezels combining Amazing Casting Resin, Amazing Clear Cast Resin, and polymer clay. Manufacturer partners, Polyform Products and Nunn Design. A video tutorial of her demo have be found here: Clay and Resin Dimensional Pendant
Cat’s second day of demos was “Personalized Photo Holders” was about making quick and fun personalized gifts using Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin.
Creativation came and went so quickly it almost seems a dream filled with good times, amazing creative people, inspiration and a gateway into the creative industries. Hope to see you there next year!
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
- Amazing Casting Products, Association For Creative Industries, CHA, Convention, Festivals, Home Decor, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Resin
2017 Creativation Show with Amazing Casting Products
This year’s Craft & Hobby Association 2017 show was a whirlwind of changes, arts and crafts manufacturers, new products, demos, classes, and networking opportunities. Formerly known as the CHA Mega Show, it is now called the Creativation Trade show, held in Phoenix, Arizona. CHA also went under a new rebranding, now Association For Creative Industries or AFCI to reflect their more broad ranging inclusion of creative industries.
Here is their lovely new logo that was introduced to attendees and exhibitors on the second day of the show!
I was once again a demonstrator at the Amazing Casting Products/Alumilite Corp booth at CHA, this time for all three days! With the show being shorter but with longer show hours everything was a whirlwind.
In the above photo the President of Alumilite, Mike Faupel is proudly showing off the products of the Amazing Casting Products line and all the artwork samples.
On the front table there was a wonderful array of artwork by Cat Kerr, Tina Walker, Kristie Taylor and yours truly.
The talented and lovely Cat Kerr did afternoon demonstrations at the booth on Saturday. A tutorial of one of the projects she was demoing can be found Here.
While sadly Cat couldn’t stay for all of the show, everyone at the Amazing Casting Products booth made sure she had a great time!
One of my new pieces on display was resin frame piece I created and brought just for this show.
Using an old frame, gold leaf, Amazing Clear Cast resin tinted with Alumilite’s Dyes and mixed with Alumidust powders I was able to create a vibrant one of a kind abstract piece.
There was so many samples showcased in almost ever corner of the booth! From home decor, mixed media, jewelry, garden decor, fine art and more!
Trying a new spin on my resin canvas application (such as I did for last year’s show) I painted, applied gold leaf, Amazing Clear Cast resin, real leaves on a 12″x 24″ canvas. The depth and dimension I was able to achieve was lovely.
At the end of three days of demos from 9am-6pm I was looking a little frazzled but I had a wonderful time sharing techniques, new resin applications and showcasing my skills as a designer.
One of my favorite demonstrations was using the tile molds you can see in the photo. If you would like to find out how to create your own a tutorial can be found Here.
While I didn’t get to walk the show floor like I normally would because everything was so busy this show turned out to be a wonderful and new adventure into the creative industries.
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Ancient and Contemporary Inspired Artistry