1,000 Uses For 1,000 Words

A recent discovery of this artistic recycling trend has me wishing I had some expendable books in my collection.

People do some pretty cool things with their old tomes, and my brain-wheels are turning now ...

'Book' bookshelves are popular, and some of my favorites. (above from Design Squish)
An iPod carrier (I don't know why you'd want an iPod carrier ... But you could put anything in there, really) Courtesy of Unplggd.com

Books can be planting pots Sculptures Even lighting fixtures (called 'Boeklampen')

Or cool bags! (top from tanyadennisbooks.com, bottom courtesy of OhMySoCute .com)

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It wasn't long before I was eyeing my trashiest paperbacks with malicious intent.

On the chopping block:

The one on the left was an emergency 'I ran out of books to read and have an 8 hour flight' airport grab. The other two were both found abandoned in classrooms at school; I was pretty excited about their covers, so I nabbed 'em.

Just to test the waters, I decided to give poor long-haired, silk-shirted Sebastian a little taste of my drill.

(insert maniacal evil laughter here)

He didn't like it.

But I DID.

Actually, it was really really really seriously fun (my Dad used to be a librarian ... I have a psychological conflict regarding proper book treatment).

Except I'd really been hoping for a cleaner cut. Still, the brain-wheels will keep turning. I think maybe I just need to take a saw to Sebastian.

(Insert ominous 'Dun, dun, duuuuuuunn' here)

Getting Graphic

Just as I was getting over my Photoshop contest obsession (see Worth1000.com to drink the KoolAid yourself), I stumbled upon Threadless.com.

It's a brilliant little site that allows the community to vote on each other's art work, and for the lucky winners, it prints the stuff on Tshirts and pays the artist - $2000 per accepted design!





I immediately became wildly optimistic and inspired. I sketched for days, I made myself chuckle with my own brilliance, I photoshopped like a fiend, and finally sent off a couple ideas ...
Both designs tanked.

Because it's a stupid, stupid popularity contest. Which I would feel fine about if I were popular. Or more talented.

But I still love the site and am impressed/tickled by the other kids' work ...

Graphics by people who are not me, and who are therefore more popular and talented:



Sigh ... I will press boldly on!



Sketch for possible future submission, as soon as I finish up the battle-wound licking:

Completely Random

Sooo as part of my 'can-try' attitude lately, I've been looking into this Etsy shop stuff. So far it's an abysmal failure, but that's ok.




But I'm ALSO trying Google Analytics ... which gives me a list of search terms that have inexplicably lead people to my shop.

This includes:




"fur earring"

"my little pony fabric"

"printed coasters pinball"

"vintage film reel canister"

"vintage sperry topsiders"

"viper marshmellow"

I have no idea what these things have to do with my little handmade jewelry.

But hats off - and best of luck - to whomever is out there in search of 'viper marshmellows'!

(Are they snake-shaped marshmallows? ... Car-shaped? Marshmallows meant for snakes? Meant for 'viper' cars? Marshmallow-shaped snakes meant for cars? ... I may never know.)

Reverse Stenciling

So a couple years ago, when I was feeling drawn to tree imagery, I'd repainted my room.



At the same time, I was working on refinishing an old desk (which had been my mother's ... I love that legacy stuff :) ).



I left it a little distressed on top, because I didn't want to erase its whole past, but I smoothed out the major scratching on the surface, and of course added some blue flair to the edges and legs.

I also (to my knowledge) invented for the First Time Ever the Most Gloriously Cool Technique for a Reverse Stencil Art on a Wood Surface!
Woo hoo!

Here's what I did.

First I stripped the top of the desk, and sanded it to my heart's content but did NOT finish it yet (how-to posted here.)

Then I made two tree stencils. I just sketched the trees onto the backs of old cereal boxes, and cut them out with my trusty Exacto knife.

I placed the stencils where I wanted them, and then with the foam brush I painted the varnish on within the stencil.

Once the stenciled varnish dried, I poured some regular acrylic paint onto the varnished part, and then using a dry cloth rubbed it over the varnished surface - the paint stays on the raw wood, but wipes off of the varnish easily, creating a halo effect that illuminates the tree shapes!

After that had dried, I finished varnishing the surface as I normally would, sealing in the trees at the same time!






(Sorry the photos aren't very clear ... it's hard to get the light paint color to show up properly)

Simple Mural Making

It's flashback time ...
It was the year 2007, and I was a
young(er) lady moving to the big city.





In the two-level loft I was to share with 4 lovely yoga instructors, all of our 5 bedrooms came equipped with homemade lofts.









When I arrived, my room was a bit dreary.



But it was nothing a little dab of paint couldn't fix!

First, I decided I'd make life easy and only paint the bottom portion of the 18' walls.
I chose a calm blue color ...



It's easy to get a clean paint edge across the top.

- Just mark off the height you want in pencil, grab a leveler and trace a line at that height around the room.







- Then, carefully run a strip of BLUE painter's tape (the blue kind is the type meant for these jobs: it will stick enough to allow a clean painting edge, but won't pull up the paint underneath when you remove it).

- Roll 'er on. This job took three coats.

Voila! A two-level effect.
It was nice, but lacked oomph. So I decided to go around the border (with a step ladder) and free-hand some trees, using the same color (but a smaller brush) ...
(I was terribly lazy and didn't tape up those cracks ... but I was young, we must forgive me.)

Free-handing trees is EASY.
It helps to have look at some reference images.

I drew out a rough sketch of my (really simple) technique:
- Start from the bottom and pull the brush up; let the trunk split off into branches that taper.

- Just repeat that type of stroke until the branches look full. The most important thing is to vary it, and keep adding more smaller branches.

In this type, the branches don't overlap, for a more stencil-y feel.






Meanwhile, upstairs was now looking stark.


So I went for a simple tree-house look; with a darker blue in the same family, and with a larger brush.

I loved my tree house! From the loft level, just the light blue tree border showed, and the darker branches around me completed a calm, wintry scene.

Other murals I've done in the past, for fun & practise (I'm definitely not a mural-expert (like our friend, the Mural Maker!)):
An island scene

Picasso-inspired guitar player

Just a hole in the wall


Cheers and happy painting!

Possible future post:

How to Kill A Perfectly Good Tomato Plant in *3* Easy Steps.


... uh-oh. Poor Tom.

Refinishing (Blonde Wood Has More Fun)

Last summer I inherited two beautiful 100 yr+ wooden chairs, which had spent their last 5 decades in a barn upstate.














Needed:

- industrial strength rubber gloves

- steel wool

- chemical stripper

- a dry cloth

- a well-ventilated area - outside is really really really really preferable, in terms of mess as well as your health

- an assortment of sandpaper grades

- varnish

- a couple foam wedge brushes

- a mask and goggles are also very good ideas


Prep Work

- If it's a chair, remove the seats. Most seats are attached with long screws at the four corners on the bottom.

- Shake up the stripper.



The Real Work

*Be sure to wear your gloves, goggles and mask*

Un-seated and Ready For Action:


1. Apply a liberal coat of stripper over the entire surface - I pour gobs onto the steel wool and then apply it to the wood. Let it soak in for the recommended time: usually at least 15 minutes.
The wood, especially if it is dark, will turn a chalky, lighter color.

Minutes after the chemical stripper application (on the one in front):


2. With the steel wool, begin to scrub on the wood. It will start to dust off. This part requires a lot of elbow grease, a number of bits of steel wool, and PATIENCE. Go over (and over) every surface you can reach, reapplying stripper as needed - working it in and then off. The more you can remove now, the easier your life will be in the next steps.
* Wipe the dry cloth over the surface periodically to check your progress *

3. After you've exhausted the limits of the steel wool, it's time to get to the sandpaper. Start with the coarsest, of course, and work down.

Try to move the paper in the direction of the wood grain, though in the corners you may have to go against it sometimes.

4. Once you're satisfied, diligently wipe down the entire surface with a dampened cloth.
All dust needs to be gone before you apply the varnish, and the surface must be well dried.

5. You might want to pour out some varnish into a shallow dish. I usually just gob it onto the foam wedge brush to apply.
* Be smart about how you apply the varnish: start on the bottom of the furniture piece first, so that you can turn it over without getting fingerprints anywhere.*

Brush the varnish on in an even, thin coat in the direction of the wood grain. Be careful not to let pools collect in the corners.

6. Let it dry (preferably outside, weather-permitting) for at least 6 hours.

7. Resand, wipe down, and add another layer of varnish. This depends on your preference and patience (but technically at least two coats are recommended).


Happily lightened up and in situ:

Silver Paint (Platinum Is a Girl's Best Friend)

Don't be afraid to revamp your home with some simple touches of paint ...


Modern Masters Metallic Paint










I discovered this amazing metallic silver paint last summer, when I used it to repaint a 1960's MiG-23 fighter plane which decorates the architecture office where I was interning (Kushner Studios.):



But since then, I've found a gazillion new uses around the house, for rejuvenation and hip-ization ...

For one, when I moved in the bathroom cabinet was a distressed-looking fake wood ... which I promptly silverized and have enjoyed ever since:


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The tricky thing about this paint is rooted in its metallic nature: as the company representative patiently explained to me, the metallic specks in it need to all be brushed in the same direction, or every brush stroke will be visible. The paint doesn't do terribly well with rolling, and even brushing must be done very carefully -- keep it unidirectional, and as parallel as possible.
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For the plane, we sprayed it on with a big compressor machine (which was really fun, but not so practical for home use!).

Other things I've gone crazy and silverized:

The bamboo blinds that were here when I moved in and which I considered depressingly drab:



My doorknobs, which were all ugly, worn brass & stained with white paint:





My bedside lamp (it was orig a matte brown/black, ick):




This Paint:

IS water based, but WILL ruin your clothes.

Usually only needs one thin coat.

Is actually very reasonably priced - other companies that offer metallic house paint generally offer them as 'glazes'. This means you have to buy a base coat plus the glaze, and the end result is more sheer/slightly glittery than it is 'metallic'.