finished project #6 - mixed media canvas

Even if I don't consider myself a true artist, I at least have found something that I can blend my love of so many processes, and come out at the end with something that I'm pretty happy with!


My latest fetish is mixed media, and as you saw in my previous post, it's taking over my life!!!

If you want a simple tutorial in 6 simple steps, read below!!  (i know i've used some previous pictures but this is a step by step process using the same canvas throughout, so you get an idea of how much it changes from unwanted artwork, to work of art!


6 steps to mixed media canvas

Step 1 - cover canvas with paper
You start with a blank canvas (or one you use to like but needs a do-over,) and you add some paper to it - can be a few pieces, can be a whole sheet, just glue that sucker down so it doesn't move (and it's ok if it crinkles, that's all part of the magic!!

 




Step 2 - paint your heart away
Next step is to play with paint - opaque effects & edges, watered down & blended colours on the corners, features in the middle........there's no rules in mixed media!!  I used some blue & white paint for this one and smeared it on randomly with an old credit card, so much fun!!






Step 3 - Painting embellishments & layers of texture
Once that's dry, start with the pretty embellishments - from a think dob of paint through a doily stencil, or make a gesso (?) paste and use it in a stencil with some acrylic paint for affect.  rub on some bubble wrap, use an old sponge in paint, or pull out a spray can.  Either way keep playing until you have filled the background to your liking.

 


Step 4 - Feature to focus on
Now you've got to think of a feature - would you like an item to stare at?  Maybe some song words or some insprational quotes to look at daily.  Either way print & create them and then stick it where you think it looks nice on the page.

Step 5 - highlight the feature

 Time for another paint & play - get the edges dark to make the feature piece shine, maybe even highlight a few parts with some zentangling.........there's no rules, only your imagination will limit you!













Step 6 - doodling, zentangling, stamps & rub ons
Finally, it's time for a bit of stamping & rub ons - get out the ink & paddle pop stick and add some small but highlighting details - it's so cool to have a few new layers on the page/canvas.

Once you're done with the rub ons & stamps, you're done!!  A quick top coat of your choice and you're ready to rock & roll!!

I've been enjoying upgrading some discarded boards & canvases with some song words & quotes.  I'm working up to pictures & eventually I'll do faces.........but that's a whole other story again!

Remember the only rule is to be happy with one stage before you move on to the next - it's hard to go back a step if you've already got layers on there - my best tip would be make sure you're happy with the background once you place down the feature pieces (before you stick them for sure,) and make the changes accordingly.

Either way I made a piece the other day (without doing a work in progress shot,) and was absolutely chuffed with it!!  I'm hoping to finish the back & have it in the gallery next week, along with a few other pieces I'm working on today & tomorrow.

i love that this mixed all my loves - painting, paper, colouring in, song words or quotes, stamping, embellishments, and that you don't have to have any formal training to make it happen.......so much fun!!

mixed media, my latest crush

If you want to know what's going on inside a woman's head.........imagine a desktop with 2,634 tabs all open..............all the same time...................all the time

YUP, THAT'S ME!!

Hubby had a laugh when he saw this one - it's absolutely explains why I go from craft to craft and from high to low in the blink of an eye.

SO WHAT'S MY LATEST LOVE!?!!

why.......it's MIXED MEDIA of course!!

I can't remember if it was when I purchased some lovely stamps from Coral of Finding Firelight that got me started, or if i was searching on Pinterest and came across this great tutorial from Christy Tomlinson that set me on fire.........but BOY AM I HOOKED!! (hope this link works! If not find it on my pinterest board titled tutorials worth taking note of)
http://pinterest.com/pin/234468724322643802/

I love that this incorporates so many of my favourite crafts, but it's still unique & different each & every time.  I love

stamping
doodling (zentangles please!)
painting
scrapbooking
texture painting
stencils
song lyrics/inspiring quotes
paper textures
ribbons & washi tape
ALL THE COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW!!

If I could give it a terrible analogy, it would be like all those beautiful different things fuse together to represent the inside of my mind!!!

I've been loving the process for about 4 weeks, and already I've made some pieces - I'VE EVEN SOLD A PIECE AT AN EXHIBITION!!  woo!! 

So now I'm doing pieces for birthdays, weddings, and some inspiring ones for the shop!!!

Love, love, love it!!  hope i'm doing this for a while before I go onto the next thing!!

my passion, my pottery

Do you have a specialty craft that you love, or are you the type that tries everything to learn the process, and be able to say, "i can make that."

I usually find i'm trying to find my nieche craft.........drifting from scrapbooking to zentangles, sewing to crochet, maybe one day i'll do a soldering class and make a sculpture dragon purely out of hex nuts. (it's a dream of mine along with life drawing and a screenprinting class.)

But my passion, or medium of choice, is clay.

A medium that can be moulded into any shape......the ideas are endless.

I've had two wheel lessons and have made a few 'thrown' bowls.....but it's not my forte. Most potters use the wheel as a way to create vessels......the real magic is in handbuilding.

I'm currently enjoying simple bowl making with textures etched in...doilies, stamps, or anything laying around. I'm also playing with glaze colours and finishes (waiting on availability to do a glaze class.)

I've sold a few things in the shop and i'd love to sell some work at the markets,  but it would be 1/3 pottery, 1/3 upcycled & 1/3 mixed media......because i never want to just have one specialty........but that's just today!!

Tomorrow I might find something else on pinterest and go off on another tangent!!

But for today, I'm just happy to steal away 10 minutes to do something creative with my hands.

If only I could stretch those 10 minutes into 2 hours and get my hands dirty!!!  :)

can I borrow an hour of your time!?!!

I'm often the first to put up my hand and say i don't have time for anything - I think it's my safety mechanism to make sure that no one can tell me I haven't done enough.

If something is too hard I put it off - if I get questioned about it I instinctively go into defence mode....

"I have a full time business,"
"I have two young kids,"
"my husband travels alot and isn't home during the week"

blah blah blah - all valid reasons - but still in my head it's sometimes still not good enough

I sit halfway between "stop feeling sorry for yourself," and "oh man how DO you do it!?!!"

I get up at 5.30 in the morning to check emails for 1/2 an hour.  I then exercise while watching tv for another 30 mins.  breakfast is followed by the usuall yelling at the kids to get ready for school routine.  Once they're gone I'm in the car or on the train - to get in touch on my social networking and to see what the rest of the world is up to.  Working in the gallery is mixed - sometimes it's quiet and I can check my emails and do more networking/behind the scenes work, other times my whole day is talking to people - hearing their stories and sharing the concept - it's sometimes a 'lost day' in my book because I haven't had a chance to be in action.

After I close the doors it's back to travelling home and then to being a mum & wife.  cooking, bit of cleaning, maybe a chat with hubby if he's home.............maybe even 10 minutes to do some crocheting, or painting, or zentangling............either way I don't work after hours cause I'm too tired and need 'me' time!

I'm writing this post while sitting in my gallery - it's a rainy day and I'm not expecting an avalanche of people today - but I'm finding 10 minutes to spend time doing something for 'me' that has been neglected.

I have so many things I want to do, but no free time

I know I use that as an excuse, but if you followed me around for even half a day you would see that i'm already squeezing a hell of a lot into my list laden, time poor schedule.

As long as you find time to do what you love, all the rest is incidental!!

I hope you find 10 minutes to yourself a day to get things done that you are truly passionate about

I just did :)

my unhealthy obsession with Pinterest

“what is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?'"
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Ch. 1


If you have any creative bones in your body, chances are you are also hooked on Pinterest.

If you haven't heard of Pinterest.................there are no words!!

                                  

Here are some of my boards and favourite images to date - I love that i have a GO-TO website that inspires me and encourages me to keep on making beautiful things.

i love that it doesn't judge me like facebook does, or that it's not about how many people like my stuff like instagram - it's just a lovely place to catalogue all your favourite parts of the internet, in a visually enabling way.

As creatives we are all about the visual - so it's nice to see things in a visual format.

No wonder it's one of the most popular social networking tools in the world............now if only i cared enough to use it for that purpose...........

In the meantime, if you want to find me, I'm usually on my tablet late at night, adding items to my most biggest board, aptly named, "if only I had more time..."

Come join me, won't you!?!!

http://pinterest.com/vicki_sinclair/

finished #4 - upcycled ottoman

ok - this isn't going to be a tutorial, but I'm really happy with my first prototype, and might eventually make a few more of these to sell at a market some time.

100% upcycled

Fabrics from a BrisStylers destash sale were used for the top & sides.
And old wooden button was recovered & handstitched on to tidy up the messy points, and the same fabric was used to edge the main pattern and create the sides
the base was reclaimed from offcuts from a shop fitout (yoink!) and the legs were bought from a recycling centre, cut down & sanded back

           

The only things i bought new were the staples to fix the fabric to the bottom of the base, even the scuffs were leftovers in a packet from our dining table chairs.

So there you have it - warts and all!!  I'm not a sewer by any feat (and obviously not an even stapler either,) but as first goes go, I'm pretty impressed with my efforts!

next time I might try for some autumnal colours and maybe some greys to blend in - WHO AM I KIDDING, RAINBOWS ALL THE WAY!!

finished #3 - tie mobile phone holder

mobile phone holder from a tie

I'm a self taught sewer (translation, I'm very bad and not willing to pay for lessons cause I won't retain the information) so I'm only ever good on the machine for straight lines, or the occasional zig-zag when i'm using it for scrapbooking (did I tell you I like to scrap too? Jill of all trades, master of none)

SO............when I added this pin to my pinterest board I thought I'd tackle the project after christmas while I had some down time.

http://pinterest.com/vicki_sinclair/if-only-i-had-more-time/

sadly for me the link no longer works, so i had to create my own tutorial.

SO HERE IT IS!!

What you need
a tie (duh!) preferrably one your hubby is no longer using (unless you've had a fight with him) but if you don't have a bloke partner or a tie, the local op shop will always have a spare few going for $2 ish
Scissors
a sewing machine
a key ring attachment (is there a technical term for these!?!!)
needle & thread
snap fastener (or button)

What you do
size up your desired tie length by slipping in your phone of choice into the bottom of the tie, and folding over the top so it can be fastened with a snap pin or button at the end.  Mark the bottom and cut it, allowing for a 5m hem

Now is the best time to pop on your keyring attachment.  cut a small section from the thin end of the tie, sew it closed, fold it over and sew up the ends together.  then you need to make a small slip on the side of your tie to slip this into.  pin it in place before going to the next step.

Next, decide if you're going to have a pocket for business/credit cards etc (i started with one then ended up not including it for this,) and sew around the sides & bottom (depending on if it is going to be folded over for the pocket or not) remembering to sew the keyring attachment into place at the same time.

NB - if you did want to include the pocket, at this point you would need to sew to the bottom of the phone holding section (are you still with me!?!!) and then unpick the tie from there, stretch the side to sit in line with the wider part of the tie, turn over & hem the end, stitch the side and then hand stitch the top of the pocket to allow space for credit cards......i might have to do a second example and include that in another blog






ok - starting to take shape now..........time to turn it inside out, pin the open sides of the tie and handstitch them together - remember to try and keep it neat if you don't have a pocket, as this is the part that will be on display if there's no pocket to hide the handywork

Once that's done you simply need to add your fastener of choice.  I have a box of snap fasteners here so I used one of those.  you could always sew on a button and use your fancy button hole foot on you sewing machine (maybe that's a blog I need to find!) or use a hair tie to stretch over it.  I'm happy with my pearl top button fastener though!

That's it - if I can do you , you can!!

it's always fun doing the first one, but maybe the next edition will have a pocket and a button, just so i can say that I did it!! 

What colour should I do next?