Cool Beans!

 

New and Improved!

 

So yesterday was the first day of a new-ish venture for me.  I'm currently employed as The Assistant Costume Designer for our local high school theater!  Some of you may remember last April I was involved making costumes for the HS production of Phantom of the Opera.  It was tons of work and also tons of fun.  So now, yay, I'm official.  Since my last venture into menswear was such a hit I am tapped to make Captain Hook's coat (among other things)  I promise I'll post pics! 

It's TIME to Paisley-fy! Clock re-do tutorial

Well it is looking like I am not going to get copies of the pix I took of my Phantom of the Opera Costumes so that's a big bummer.  The moral of the story is "Bring your own camera next time!"  However, life goes on. 

I had a very boring clock on my office wall.  I had to change a dead battery in it and while I had it off the wall and in my hands I decided to paisley-fy it.  First I had to see if I could take it apart without totally breaking it.

As it turns out, the plastic disc covering the face just pops right off when you insert a rusty Exacto-knife (or other skinny/flat object of your choice) near the little tabs.

After removing the plastic cover, I traced it onto a piece of white card stock so it would fit the clock face.  I didn't even remove the paper face that was already there.  It it was glued on pretty well and I thought tearing it off might damage the mechanism holding the hands.  Since the card stock I was using was mostly opaque AND I was going to draw and color on that I figured the original numbers would not show through--and they didn't.

I worked my doodle magic inside the circle and also marked a smaller circle right in the center where the hands would be.

I colored my paisley, cut out my circle and the smaller circle for the hands, then started to put my drawing overtop the original face.  After trying to thread the hands through just the little circle, I realized they needed more wiggle room.  I cut a small slit, about 1 1/2" to get them through.

Then I threaded the hands through and positioned my improved clock face the way I wanted it.  Lying flat, against the clock's face the extra slit is not visible.

I carefully popped the plastic cover back on, inserted the new batteries and hung it back up.   This was super easy to do; the drawing and coloring was what took the longest.  The potential for this project is huge!  You could cover your clock face with anything you want, whether it's a unique drawing, a large enough picture, matching wallpaper or fabric to go with your décor.  The possibilities are endless!

Save Your Doodles!

One question that artists hear often is "Where do you get your ideas?"  A lot of the time I get them from my subconscious.

Doodles!  They can be a veritable gold mine of ideas and inspiration!  Even those little scrappy ones that you do  in the margins of your notebook or on a Post-it while in class or a dull meeting -- they're ALL things you can use to create something spectacular!  Also, it's a good idea to keep a copy of your inspirational material should you ever be accused of infringing.  This actually happened to me once, I dragged out my notebook and showed the accuser the evolution from doodle, to sketch, to design to repeated design all of which were date stamped.  Here are some doodles that went to design:

And from design into Fabric!

Glue Batik Redo

I had tried a glue batik tutorial with less than stellar results but I decided to try it again with a lighter colored shirt this time.  My daughter had spilled chocolate on one of her favorite shirts and it went through the dryer (setting in the stain for life) before I noticed it.  One of the best candidates for dying, IMO, is a shirt with a stain.  Also, last time I used acrylic paint mixed with a textile medium.  This time I used actual dye.

This is the result and it was much better than my previous attempt.

New Coloring Book in the Works

Here is a sneek peek at the new coloring book I am developing.  For one month this snail, with his tricked out shell, will be availabe for free download!  I look forward to posting the new coloring book on Etsy very soon.  Enjoy and happy coloring!

Wordless Wednesday

Paisley of the Week Plummy iPad Pocket

This Christmas seems like the hottest gifts are e-readers like Nook and iPad. Once you get one you need something to keep it safe and sound.  I love this purple paisley carrier by Jennifer from Sewing Amity on Etsy.  So pretty and feminine!

But it's not just a pretty package, as you can see it stands up for itself! While paisley is bound to be my favorite, her shop has oodles of cute designs to choose from as well as adorable cases for your other electronic gadgets!

More free Paisley Wallpaper!

I haven't done a free wallpaper in a while.  I had to share these 4 new paisley backgrounds in the season's most popular colors:  Harvest, Frost, Plum and Teal.  For use with your desktop, Twitter, blog.  Simply right click to download and then set it to tile in whatever format you're using.  Under creative commons license. You may not resell, redistribute, or claim as your own.  I hope everybody has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Squirrel Nut Papers

Just posted in my Etsy shop.  I'm so excited about my newest paper collection!  I wanted a little polka dot but something a little more fun and so I came up with a tiny acorn.  You can't have acorns without squirrels and there's always room for paisley.  I'm not so sure about the orange though.  What do you think?  I'm thinking about a second collection with a different color.  Blue maybe.  I am running a contest on my FB page  in which you may be able to download one of these papers for free! 

Letter Doodles

There's an 'N' in the works too...

For those of you who might want an entire set of paisley letters.

Paisley of the Week! So Charming

I found this beautiful paisley necklace made by Jennifer of Wire-n-Whimsy.  I like that it has light and dark.  It's upside down too, having the curl at the bottom is an unexpected element.  Anybody out there who is looking to start their Christmas list for me I am dropping a big hint!! 

For those of you who abhor thinking about Christmas before Halloween has even come, be sure to check out the adorable ghosty and goblin accessories in the Wire-n-Whimsy shop!

Paisley of the Week! Catch of the Day

Casting about for this week's paisley of the week I caught this super-fun, fancy fish t-shirt.  It's designed and handpainted on a sea of pink by Seema of Uncommon Flair.  Be sure to check out Uncommon Flair's whole line of hand done block printed clothing and eco-friendly glass pendants.

Paisley of the Week! Hand Painted Record Clock

How cool is this?  I found this unique timepiece in the Etsy shop of Kailey Hawthorn, also known as Studio K.  This clock is crafted out of an old recycled LP (that's a vinyl record for those of you born after the 80's) and hand painted with gorgeous blue paisley!  Studio K also offers many other hand painted goodies such as custom designed letters and numbers, clocks and original artwork. 

Paisley of the Week! Reusable Snack Bag.

This is an ingenous idea.  A reusable snack bag for your lunch box created by My Sunshine Designs.  You can save thousands of plastic baggies by using tupperware boxes but they are bulky and sometimes too big for just a handful of pretzels or grapes.  Not only is this an excellent solution, but in pink paisley it's fashion forward too!  Cotton on the outside and washable nylon on the inside.  Happy Snacking! 

One person's treasure--is another person's treasure too!

Why you should curate an Etsy Treasury:

It's fun to do! First you need to come up with an idea of what to feature.  Sometimes that comes out of finding one thing that you really love and either wanting to see more of the same or thinking about what might go with that item.  Most people like to put together all of one color.  I just did one featuring orange paisley.  

You're paying it forward.  People will want to check out these items and then the shops from which they came.    Featuring other shop's merchandise puts out good karma, sixteen spaces worth!  When the sellers you feature do their own treasuries, they may come looking in your shop to see if you have an item that fits their theme.   Plus, there's all this interacting going on, people visiting other people's shops.  It's a good thing (to quote Martha.)

It's easy.  Once you get an idea, make use of Etsy's new relevancy search and start collecting listings that fit your theme.  All you need do is copy the listing number of an item and then paste it into the little box in one of your sixteen spots.  The picture of the item comes up automatically.

It looks really cool all put together.  Once you get it done, you can brag about it on Twitter, Facebook, your blog and anywhere else that you have an online presence. 

Paisley of the Week! Vintage Poker Chip Pendant

Hello again Paisley fans! After a long hiatus, I've decided to start Paisley of the Week! again. The reason is that Etsy has changed it's search engine to show relevant results instead of most recent. Bad news for people who used renewing as their main sales tool, good news for buyers who want to find what they are really looking for! Finding a whole crop of awesome paisleys got me all excited and I had to share!

This week's Paisley of the Week is this very cool, vintage poker chip pendant made by Kathy of Kathy Lambert Designs.  I just love blue and green together, it's very serene.

 

Be sure to also check out Kathy's blog and the other hand crafted goodies in her shop.  Have a great week and if you, or someone you love, has a suggestion for the Paisley of the Week, please leave me a comment!

Silk Screening



First there was this doodle I did at work.  Then
  I think I must've watched This Video on You Tube about a hundred times.



Then I had to figure out my negative space.  This was more difficult than I thought. A lot of details get lost in trying to solidify your design.

Then I cut out my stencil.  Paper stencil silk screening is not really worth it unless your design is very simple. I spent HOURS cutting this design with both scissors and an exacto knife. I only got about 5 passes with the squeegee before it started to disintegrate.  I did use packing tape to make it stronger but even so, it started buckling after a while.  Next time (and there IS going to be a next time!) I'm going to attempt either the filler fluid or the burn method.

Attempt number one done on an old pillowcase for practice.  I don't think we used enough paint, or maybe I wasn't squeegeeing hard enough.  The top and bottom of the paisleys didn't really show up.  Attempts 3 and 4 were progressivley better.

Finally, I felt like it might work on an actual T-shirt and it did!  

Sodie-Pop

After fiddling around in Photoshop with my snip of a design, I can't decide between lined and unlined.  Which do you like better?

A Snip of an Idea

I've been trying to draw more people lately.  This goth girl was inspired by a friend of mine on Deviant Art who combines her doodles and people quite effortlessly.  I'm sure I added too many cheerful colors for it to be truly goth.  Sometimes you get several ideas at once.  Once I'd finished "Much on My Mind" the little pink-orange-peach-brown paisley tucked in behind her wouldn't be ignored and so it became a new pattern idea named "Sodie Pop."  Not at all brooding and dark.

Sunday Squiggle