Paper Roses - The simple things

Sometimes the Simplest things mean the most...

Projects in the Making - Upcoming artworks

Watch this space. 

Watch it very carefully. It will continue to be interesting. I promise.

Whether its craft, art, or cardmaking you're interested in, don't worry - my creativity is apparently very busy (like, rather a lot of the time) and has a very, very vast spectrum of abilities. (Hence why I get a lot and a little done all at once.)

There is always more than one project going on in my room! Just as there is always more than one thought.... Well, as I am learning about driving my trains slowly.... I guess I am also practising driving my creativity slowly too.... well, just a teensy bit slower. I think, though, creativity is an absolute need to output if that's your personality type... which, well, it is mine.

So, projects, waffle back in your box.. put the lid on, and here we go.

 

 Uhm.... you say... yes, well, it's not just any cardboard horse. It's actually model horse armament. Believe it or not - and he is finished (tutorial soon!), so keep watching for updates....

And these two? Well, they are 2 of 4 of one of my latest canine experiments... and, not actually finished yet, despite the beautiful coloured layer of acryllic. Wait and see how these guys will look come December...

This one.... well... remember that odd-looking cardboard horse up there? Well, that's him - his armament is becoming more, uh, 'well-built' if you like.
I finished this project last night. It looks pretty amazing.
Oh yes - that pink thing is my phone....
Followed by... doggie Christmas tags!

Tiger Repaint - Comission

Bengal Tiger Female - customised comission hand repaint, as requested. Originally cheap plastic model, scraped down, and redefined. Painted according to photographs of real female Bengal Tigers. 100% Acryllics used throughout, 4+ coats total.

In this photo (left), the base coat (the grey) has been on for 24hrs and is doubly thick. (x2 coats)
The first coloured coat is being added here, and is still wet. I applied two coats of this colour, letting the first dry and then shading/mixing the second.


























First coloured coat can be seen (above). Shading is incomplete, only the lighter/white edges have been added to the undersides. Once this coat dried I then applied the shaded colour layer.

Completed Tiger. (Above image.) Once Shaded layer had dried, I shaded inside of white areas slightly, as well as facial light areas.
I then carefully and painstakingly painted each stripe on, using a photographic guide (one photo of each side, front, and back view) and my pencil at an angle, by dragging it across, instead of painting directly onto surface. Facial features were then added, including mouth, eyes, nose and toes were deatiled. Highlights added to eyes... and complete!

Completed tiger (above) with similarly-sized Schleich Tiger male, Bengal. Not as realistic, but not bad.

Masterpiece A Day - What Day is it?

Not that it matters. I... lost track of time, set myself an impossible goal... and yeah. Let's just say the artwork still happens, it's just silly to think a Masterpiece can be completed in under a day. Haha.
So, with that in mind, don't think that is it!

I will attempt, at least, a masterpiece a week, perhaps.Actually, I am currently drowning in a collection of many different masterpieces - and hoping desperately I find an actual crafting desk soon, otherwise my already tiny computer desk will be covered in layers of it all - like a giant explosion of creativity.... oh... too late.

Masterpiece 3 - (or Wednesday's missing artwork) - Felt Chihuahua

 Yes, that's my lens cap. This puppy is super duper weenie tiny.

Not to mention outright adorable.

Made out of felt and stuffing, this Chiwa is entirely handmade, and took a few hours to complete.

Stands up on it's own, and has a lovely pink collar. Nawww.

I made this one while I was pretty sick and stuck in a chair for weeks. (I made a lota things then.) This puppeh is a fawn Chihuahua and is very breed-like with it's big ears and cute belly. I also made a brother (slightly bigger), not a Chi - but a cream/off white Labrador.

They are so cute! - and miniature. I may make tutorials on these guys some day.

Greeting Card Tutorial - "Hoot" Owl

Howdy. Or Hoot, or whatever you'd like him to say. Ain't he adorable?

Yes.

And, of course, as my brain is the most creative brain I know (can't say I know a lot, but from my experience... mine tops the list) .... art and creativeness is always a thing of the today.
In fact, so much so that my mind hardly ever rests, makes sleeping impossible, and ordinary jobs just as difficult.
Pah.

This adorable fellow was made quite a while ago now - during my worst 'sick' days about 4-5 months ago. Yep, those were crawl out of bed barely moving days. And this took a lot longer than it might now. But he was well and truly worth it.

Hoot Owl Greeting Card

You will need:

1 card (I used boring white)
Paper bag, brown
Cardboard, natural colours
2 Buttons
Scissors
Glue
Wool/yarn, thick
Pencil
Corrugated cardboard

Step 1: 

Cover card with brown paper cut out from thin paper bag. This isn't necessary, I just used it for the natural tone look it gave the finished card.

If doing this, make sure the brown paper is folded down on the inside and covered neatly with plain white paper, using glue.

Then select a range of colour schemes to use on your Owl and on the rest of the card. I used brown, cream and yellow tones.





Step 2:

Sketch out your owl. I designed mine simply by experimenting with paper shapes first. When you have decided on the shapes you need, cut out in the paper you will use. Also cut out exactly the same shapes in the cardboard - and then glue the paper onto the cardboard.
This makes the owl pop out a lot more.

I also really, really wanted the buttons as eyes for my owl - so I basically worked all my shapes around these.

Again, try to stick with natural colours.

 
Step 3: 

Once the owl outlines have been stuck (glued) together, as well as dried, stick (glue) onto card. What you should have is separate outlines which double up on top of one another. Don't add eyes yet.

Let glue dry....

Step 4: 

While waiting for the glue to dry, we can have a go at our 'Hoot' word. I did this simply by first seecting a round/rectangular bit of paper and gluing it onto cardboard, like the other shapes.

Once dried, I then took my pencil and wrote each letter for the word very faintly front side up.

Taking a large needle, thread with wool, and follow the outline of your pencilled words.
Once completed, tie off, and glue to card.

Step 5: 

Add finishing touches, glue on button eyes, and whalla!
A Hoot Owl Greeting Card!

Customised Horses.. the start of something interesting?

 SO why the sudden inspiration with horses?
Well, it's not exactly sudden. It's more along the lines of enjoyable experimentational art which involves the majority of people (Australia and otherwise) being generally mostly somewhat insane about horses (unlike myself, who, on the other hand, is that way about anything canine, unless it falls into the category of little white and fluffy dogs.. yeck)... and this seems to be the way the market falls at the moment.

If not since, like, forever. But, in saying that, I am actually really enjoying picking up again on my old hobby of collecting model horses. Ah, my childhood. I used to have 100+ model horses. Ah yeah.
Well, I can't say I own that many now, but re-looking at it has inspired and reminded me of many of those 'children at heart' who are out there, prowling around the internet, not to mention ebay, looking for any kind of 'customised' and therefore different model to add to their likel;y huge already collection.

That's where my current artistic/enjoyably artistic skills come in.

It's called customising. And, happily for me, it comes naturally.
Expect to see a lot more customs from me. Like a lot. Models, artworks... etc.
And not just horses - the horse phase is simply market experimentation.

For me - it will always be, always has been, my dogs. And dog customs just don't sell. Pooh. But I guess there's no harm in trying.

Keep watching this space for customs - non Breyer horses (gasp) which actually look pretty darn good.