Friday Finishes!

This week I worked on an art piece. Something I have been wanting to try and practice a few techniques on. I decided to go with a small 5" x 7" canvas board. I used a new product, Liquitex matte medium. It went on a lot easier and nicer than the heavy gel, but I noticed bleeding right away.

The end result for my transfer was a bit more faded than the usual, but I did use plain copy paper and a design from one of my photos, that I put through an art filter. So, it wasn't that bold to begin with and gave me the effect I wanted as a background image. Once I cleaned off the paper, most of the red went away, so I was happy with that, as well.

This is how it looked, I did enhance the buildings with colored pencils.

I decided to further enhance some details by painting over the buildings and some of the surf. Then I started playing with things I had in my beach finds. First was the driftwood log, then I found a rock that looked like a body with an arm and some shapes and rocks that I liked and it became a little scene of me at the beach. I used wool for the hat and gloves, small pieces of glass and a shell. It was fun to do and when done, I added glass gel beads to the sand and under the boats. The boats are also my photos, I printed them out and cut out the boats.

I also finished my rug, I decided to stop since I was running out of the dark blue and truthfully, it is hard on my arm and slow going. It is 36" x 26" and I decided to put it at the top of the stairs. I gives a nice pop of color in a dark area and Bean can lie on it when he is waiting for us to get home.

This was done with precut wool, that someone had given me. It is a bit thinner than I usually work with, so the next one I will do in thicker coat weights.

And of course we went beach hunting last weekend. I am trying to keep from over doing it and making sure I get some straight walking in, great exercise and gives my back a rest. We found some nice pieces on Saturday.

And Sunday we got a bit more. I will definitely be making more mixed media art and using some of the fun pieces I find, as well as the glass.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Friday Finish!

First I want to appologize to those who haven't gotten comments from me, on their blogs. For some reason I cannot post if I do the security questions, they just keep coming at me, so I just comment and it shows up as going through, but then I get returned mail, saying it didn't. So, I have been visiting and commenting, just need to figure out how to get mine to go through.

This week I had some tries that didn't work, projects I couldn't start and one project I got to finish. The design was offered by Homespun Whimsy on Facebook. She also has a block of the month with sheep, if you are interested in checking out Homespun Whimsy on Facebook.

I reduced the pattern by 20% and made a little pillow, that measures 9" x 6 1/2". I trace my design with a blue embroidery marker that washes off. Then I color in the design with colored pencils, then I stitch the design. This time I didn't use fabric medium but the color stayed when I wet patted around it to get the blue marks off.

And then there was the project I wanted to come out nice. I used Americana decoupage on this one and it bled more than the others. I also messed up on the sizing to fit the canvas. I really love the photo and saying, so I will have to try it in a different type of art piece.

And the project I couldn't get started. I was gifted the rolls of braiding wool and decided to make a scrappy rug for the kitchen. But, I cannot find my braid aids. I found 2 small ones and the box, but not the third one or the larger set of three. I am worried they went out with other items I gave away. I can braid without them, but I think it would be easier with them.

I will try braiding this weekend without them to see how I do. I have tons of scrap, rough wools so I am going to cut them into braid strips and make small rugs for entry ways and maybe some for the pet dishes. A good way to use up scrap stash that is not really good for hooking and it is more durable for those areas.

And then there is the total disaster. I decided it was time to shave Izzy. She will let me do it for so long, so I give her some canned food and she sits still for a few minutes. The problem was, I forgot to check the blade length so it shaved too close. Then she moved too much, so she is shaved mostly on the top and sides and looks like a lawnmower ran over her, lol. I think I need to get a pill to put her in a sleep state, then I could just get it done quickly and get her nails too.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. We have good weather coming in, so I will definitely be outside as much as possible.

Friday Finishes!

I decided to get last year's issues of Punch Needle and Primitive Stitches to get a pattern that I liked. The nice thing is, you can order back issues at a reduced rate if you get the EMagazine, which is nice, since you can just print out the patterns, that you want. I wish I did more cross stitch, they do have some wonderful stitcheries, as well.

This pattern was in the summer issue, it is perfect for summer. I made mine with a round border, instead of stopping at the rope, which is uneven. I plan on mounting it onto a round wood box, so I will paint and prep the box next.

The design is about 8" round, but worked up quickly.

Another fun thing I did this week was to make a card. The design was a free painting pattern, from the Artist's Club, by Christy Hartman. I did it on watercolor card stock and used my water color pencils.

And I also did another image transfer. This is a photo of my son and husband, when we went for a hike one day. I wanted to make him something for his Birthday, since we always give him a gift certificate. I like to give him something to hide the card in, so I will tape it to the back.

Well, as you can see, it didn't work. I really don't like working on mounted canvas, not enough stiffness to press down the photo. I will have to try wood, next time. And maybe it is time to try some photo transfer medium, to see if it works better.

So, I fixed it. I had another copy, that I forgot to reverse. The photo was redone in a  watercolor filter, so I trimmed off the excess white and decoupaged it over the first photo. I had extra edge showing, that didn't look right, so I sanded and antiqued the edges. Not perfect, but something fun to hide his card in.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We are expecting snow to come in tonight, so tomorrow will be a stay home day, perfect day to work on more projects.

Friday Finishes!

This week I have been busy with new projects and trying new things. I enjoy experimenting and seeing where it takes me.

I wanted to try two photo transfers with two different mediums. I am still not pleased with the results, but they didn't come out too badly, considering I am using an ink jet and it is recommended to use a laser printer. I also used my laid paper, which has ridges on one side, so I printed on the smooth side.

The first is a sailboat photo, that I took from Jamestown, looking towards Newport. I used heavy gel medium, and I think the heavy is what made it harder to work with. I had to smooth it out a few times to get out the bubbles. I also had to be more careful when I removed the paper, or part of the design would come off too. There was also some slight bleeding, so a little antique medium was applied.

The second piece is another one of my photos, an old one from a kayak trip. I used the glaze medium and it seemed to work better, but it does bleed out some color, always seems to be a red. The design adhered to the board, so that it looked like it had melded into the canvas, so it was easier to get rid of the paper without taking any of the design. I also think my prints come out a bit dark, so maybe lightening them up would help and make it look more aged.

I do think I like them better on the framed canvas, but the smaller hard boards are easier to work on and great for practice, since they are cheaper. Next I will have to try some on wood.

Another project was the Stitch of the Month Club pattern from Kathy Schmitz. I really enjoyed doing this one and used DMC 115 to get a variation. The color tends to run longer with one shade, so I cut off a long piece, then recut and mix the dark and light in two strands to get this look.

And yesterday I was in the mood to paint, but my brain wasn't up to finishing the angel. So, I found a fun design from Artist's Club. This is a free design by Sharon Bond. The club is an online store for painting patterns, lots of free ones and PDF patterns for sale.

A Valentine for Nick. I added glitter to the word love and the heart eyes have glass gel in them, so it shines when you turn it to the light. I also used the glaze finish, which leaves a wonderful glassy shine, but hard to get a good photo with it.

He loves things that I make so it was fun to do. Last week he asked me if I could help him paint some rocks he found. I used to teach kids how to paint, so it will be a fun project to do together.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Finishes!

This week I am still experimenting with photo art and one type I tried is, attaching the photo, face side up. I had Bill cut out a piece of wood, but it is thicker than I would like to use. I like the thinner slat boards for art like this, but I wanted to test it first, before I do anything on good woods.

I like it in one way, but not sure if it is the thick wood, but not thrilled with how it looks. I think trying it on a white slate board, would look nicer for this technique. It is fun to try my photos in art, though.

With this one, I used decoupage to adhere it to the wood and then a coat, over the piece, then finished with a glaze medium. I also aged it a bit before I glazed it, with antique medium.

Another test was with a butterfly photo. I used the glaze medium this time and when I pressed the photo down, the colors started oozing out, so not the best medium to use. But, I was pleasantly surprised to see their was a nice print underneath.

I also used regular printer paper, which is thinner, so that may have left a better print but it was a pain to get off, the paper adhered with the glaze, so I had to be careful not to rub the design off. Overall it worked nicer than the first one with decoupage. I do think a heavier paper is nicer, so I will see if I have one without ridges. I will also try a heavy gloss gel medium, that I have. I have plenty of mediums, so fun to use what I have, to save money as I experiment. Most people seem to use the gel in this method, so hoping my heavy will work. I will also try the glaze with a heavier paper, I do like how it came out, overall.

As Michelle mentioned, most tutorials use laser printers, I am using ink jet, so you will get more color bleeding with that, but it lends to a more artistic look. I am also using cheap mini canvas squares, so not the best surface.

Another little project was a pillow I made, using a design by Ginger of Primitives by the Light of the Moon. It is a free design that she offers on her blog, along with others. I used my colored pencils and was not pleased with the look. I was trying to blend and make it look more like watercolor. I added some extra stitches, so I think that helped cover the flaws.

I did hear about using blending stumps, they look like fun to use and not expensive, so I will try those, on my next colored piece.

This design would be fun to do in punch needle too. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!