Key Holder upcycling

 As Christmas is well and truly over I am safe to post one of my Christmas pressie makes.

My brother and sister-in-law said they would like a key holder so I thought I would try making one rather than buying one.  

Not something I have ever made before but I decided to have a go.

A few years ago I decided to take off my red rubber stamps from their wooded bases in an attempt to save space.  Now the wood was lovely and smooth so too good to throw away so I have had them all stashed away until I can think of something to do with them and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I sanded, gesso'd and stamped a hummingbird and the word "keys" which I embossed then coloured in with posca pens.

When it dried I added a few coats of varnish and bought some key hooks.

I was really pleased how it turned out, not too fiddly just a bit of time for the drying between the layers etc but quite effective and totally personal (sis-in-law loves hummingbirds).

Now I just have about another 40 odd blocks of wood to use up!  Any ideas?

Happy crafting

Kyla

Trial prints

So, on Wednesday I shared my latest purchase, a brass printing plate.

This was a print using a thick acrylic on paper.  I don't have a burnisher so used my stamp cleaner as its padded and reasonably thick.

The paint was too thick and grainy I think (it was old) and not sure it prints well on paper.

So I tried it with a newer acrylic black paint and this time on card and the detail is much better.  Still need to experiment and keep trying but pleased with this one.

If you have any tips or ideas I would love to hear them, just leave them in the comments.

Happy crafting

kyla

Abstract

 With the unexpected time being stuck indoors whilst we had snow I decided to have a "play" with my paints.

I decided to have a go at abstracts.  I had been looking online at my talented cousin (https://aoh.org.uk/house/axios-tattoo/ paintings online and thought I would try.

Well, I have NEVER tried abstract before and boy it is hard-building up layers, waiting for it to dry (yep, used my heat gun-I have NO patience).

I painted a canvass with black gesso then used a rolled and spatula to add colours

I used three different colours and added some blocks of white to add interest.

 I then created a tints of the colours, mixing them on my old Girl Guide camping metal plate!!

Until finally I was reasonably pleased with the result.  

Not sure I like it, it is different and not my usual style but I certainly enjoyed spending the day painting and so I have decided to hang it on the wall at the top of our stairs-not sure it will stay there for long, but it is growing on me!  

Some closeups of the details

I certainly enjoy the process and think I will try again.

Have you tried abstract?  Do you have any tips you'd like to share?

Happy crafting

Kyla

Abandoned art

 I often leave small pieces I have created on my walks etc for others to find.

A few weeks ago I started to paint some left over cardboard I had and also some small canvasses and I don't think I have shared them with you yet.

For the canvass boards I used stencils and various 3D mediums from gels and pastes (again, using up old stash).  I added colour with sprays and paints, watering down some and flicking them across the canvasses and then adding some words with a posca pen (I love these pens as they seem to take on most surfaces).  I finished them with a light spray of a sealant just in case it rained when I abandoned them.

The cardboard was even easier I just drew direct onto the white acrylic again with a posca pen.  I drew a couple of my favourite Studio Ghibli charachers of Totorro and a soot sprite!

Once again I applied a light coat of sealant.

Some of these have already been abandoned, some I have yet to set free!

Kyla

Art Abandonment at Upfest

 Following on from my Upfest post I thought I would share the Art Abandonment's I placed around the festival.

Art Abandonment is a global group of artists (search Facebook/groups/artabandonment) and we leave pieces across the globe for people to find, leave or pass on.

This is one of the canvas boards I made a couple of weeks ago ready to leave at the festival.  My husband found some stencil art left by 'Dave The Agent' (I found a piece of his a couple of years ago!) so I left this in its place, it seemed fitting.

This is the piece my husband found abandoned, lovely find instead of just abandoning.

My final piece was one of the cardboard pieces I made painting a Studio Ghibli inspired Totorro and Soot Sprites-I am a huge fan of Ghibli and always manage to find inspiration in their work.

I have also abandoned some rock art around Sidmouth during the folk festival and my husband took some for me to Blackpool to the Rebellion punk festival.  I hope to be able to blog about those soon.

Happy crafting

kyla

Powertex playtime

 Not had much time for crafting or blogging but I was able to have a go at playing with my powertex.  First I made sure I covered the table with plastic sheeting and wore an apron and for once I also wore gloves!  I know, me, the person who nearly always has messy hands (just have a look at http://lunchladyjansfabricfrenzy.blogspot.co.uk/ that's my hands the lovely Jan used for her title!!)

Next I poured white powertex over the canvas, spread it out leaving some areas slightly thicker to see if it affected how it cracked (it does, the cracks are deeper on thicker layers)

 I then sprayed Bister (I remember this as a wood dye my father used to use back in the 70's but powertex sell it as a good way to add colour) and added some splatters too.

 I then cut up an empty milk carton to mix some thickener up with the white powertex.

 After I dried the canvass with an airgun the cracks started to appear.

 I used a pallet knife to apply the thickened powertex and coated some wooden canvas stretchers with it to help it adhere.

 I then added some powertex clay balls and started to play with mica's and acrylic inks dribbling and spritzing water to see how they reacted (after all the idea of this was to play and see how the products react).  

I also soaked some scrim in water and powertex and scrunched this up (and was REALLY pleased I was wearing gloves-boy is this product messy).

 My final piece, not sure if its a cross or a desolate tree after a forest fire (on my mind at the moment, my thoughts go out across the pond to those in Alberta).

 Not too sure on the final piece but I do like the depth and texture you can achieve with this product so I know I will be making some more time to play.

Happy crafting

Kyla

March 365 Challenge

Finished my March pages for Kate Cranes 365 Challenge, almost in time for the start 

of the month (almost!!).  I inked the background with Dylusion inks as I love the

way they react to water when you flick it across the pages.  

I then painted a tree with acrylics and adding the bark with gold and black markers.  I painted the first leaves of spring starting to show-a promise of better weather soon.

All ready to be filled in!

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

365 Challenge Year 4

I often beat myself up for not sticking to things but one thing I have stuck to is Kate Crane's 365 Journal Challenge.  Every day you jot something down about the day, or even a small drawing to represent the day.  It only takes one minute which I think is why it works.

I have been doing this for four years now!  I know!!! Get me, actually sticking to something.

January's page is coloured with Dylusion sprays (I still love these products, such bright colours and water reactive) and the fir trees are made from a stencil I made by punching trees from some waste card and inking through.

I added some snowflakes, stickles glitter and flicked some white watered down acrylic paint across the pages.  The 'January' is die cut from an old cereal box, coloured and stickled so it screams bling and sparkle! 

The pages are filled in up to date, but I tend to take a photo before I start filling them in...lets be honest the daily humdrum life is of little interest to me let alone you!

If you have made any new years resolutions (mine are the usual, work less, create more, be kind to myself etc) then I hope you have made a good start to 2016.

Happy crafting,

Kyla

Malta roundup

One of the reasons I haven't blogged for a while is because we went to Malta for a well earned break.  My parents and grandparents both used to live and work there so it does feel comforting when I walk around.

The weather was lovely and warm (in the 80's) but there were a few days of heavy thunderstorms and downpours (but hey, if you are swimming you are wet anyway).

We were staying in Floriana (just outside the city gates of the capital Valetta) and knew that they had a street art festival (similar to the one we have in Bristol) back in the summer so we headed off walking the streets to see what we could find-and boy did we find some amazing pieces.  This is just a small selection:

These were down by the lido (where we swim if we are there in season but as we were just out of season it was closed, so we swam in the sea off the rocks with the locals instead.

This gent was HUGE and was painted on the roof of fishermen's huts

 

!!This was painted on the walls of a local cafe

 

These were next to the lido on the roof of their bar/changing rooms.  The jelly bears are larger than a person and when you walk amongst them it is difficult to tell what they are....but climb up through the streets and peer over a certain wall and voila, 3D jelly bears!  Several people were there and taking photos of the lovely harbour view but not looking down!  That soon changed when they heard us "oohing and ahhing"!

This large 3D melting icecube complete with trapped blue bottle was next door.  It almost felt you could reach out and touch it.

A short water taxi to Sliema and we came across even more

This one was 3 storeys high

The eyes on the skull cleverly used the drainage holes in the wall

 

So many colourful pieces all hidden under a walkway next to the sea, the only way to view them was to climb down when the tide was out and look back towards the town

I think this was a really old painting looking at the weathering 

 

From the road you wouldn't know any of this was here

Some stunning work and not what I expected to find

Back in Valletta we came across new bars and galleries since our last visit as it gears up to be the 2018 European City of Culture

Tables have been upcycled with handpainted tops

Locals have embraced the anarchic nature with "this is a piece of art!" we found in the street

Whilst we were there it was the 10th Anniversary of the performance and arts festival Notte Bianca where 60,000 people descend on Valletta for one evening.  These were Mdina Glass light shades suspended along one of the streets.  There was so much to see and do, 

such as crafts,

like this weaver

 

ancient and public buildings (including the Prime Ministers private office!!  The queues for that were massive) threw their doors open (free entry)

There were lots and lots of art installations such as this bedsit covered entirely in paper

These were small diarama's made by prisoners depicting what time in cells meant to them

 

We explored the WWII bomb shelters where my nan probably spent some of her time whilst she was on the island.  As you can see it was VERY far down into the depths of the island.

 

We then walked to the far end of the city to Fort St Elmo.  This was only recently re-opened after refurbishment and not somewhere we had been before so we took advantage of it all being open for free, with bands playing and lovely light displays

 

With rows of giant floor lanterns once again made with Mdina Glass

Then there were the fireworks....which carried on,

 

and on for almost 6 hrs!!  There could not have been any gunpowder left on the island!

 

We did some tourist things such as visiting the markets and Mdina (the silent city)

 

The biggest change we noticed were the new city gates in Valletta which are a stunning execution of stone masonry.

 

If you like your street art and are looking for somewhere sunny I thoroughly recommend the capital of Malta.

Kyla