Arty Break happening folks

Hi all
I am having pain issues that are not settling. What I used to do in an hour with arts and crafts is now taking me a week/weeks. So I think I shall just have to stop being creative at all for now and work on my health...it seems doctors, physios and hydrotherapy are my new friends for the moment. As such I wont be sharing a Tuesday tip, do any paper arts or make any new jewellery for now but hope to start arting and crafting back up again once I stabilize.
hugs
Annette In Oz

Faux Wax Seal and how to make your own - Tipnique Tuesday

Wow life has been so busy here for me in the top end of Oz. Hubby and I have had 18 days today and tomorrow he has left again for 18 days back to work as a fauna handler on the gas pipeline in QLD...I'll miss him heaps till he is home again *sigh*. My 23 yr old daughter and her fiance Cory are staying here too till the week end and are occupying my art room. Believe me when I say I can't even see my art desk let alone use it LOL. So this week I shall have to share another how too for you all. I have always loved the look of wax seals but the price for real ones made them unattainable for me...so I make my own and here is how:

WHAT YOU NEED

• Small stamps to imprint on your faux wax seals
• Versamark watermark ink OR baby oil
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks. I like using the black glue sticks
• Non stick surface like Gladbake or other non stick baking parchment. A glass plate may be used if you have no baking parchment.
• Mica powders such as Polished Pigments, Pearl-ex etc but you can even use shimmery eye shadow powder if you want!

HOW TOO

1) Ink your stamp up so it's very wet looking on the underside using Versamark ink or baby oil. Be generous so your stamp wont stick in the glue.

2) Squeeze a small amount of melted glue onto your Gladbake or glass. The size of the glue depends on the size of your stamp so you shall have to experiment to work that out. As soon as you lay down the glue, gently press your stamp inked side down onto the soft glue surface. Be careful to not burn yourself as the hot glue will squeeze out at the side of the stamp.

3) Leave the stamp in place till the glue cools and sets then gently peel up the stamp. Your impression will now be on the glue.

4) Brush mica powder of your choice directly onto your glue seal and the stamped image will pop. Use a second colour to highlight the raised areas. Pop the glue seal off the base and spray with a little acrylic sealer and the seal is now ready to use.

Faux wax seals are more durable then the real ones. You can attach them to cards, collages, scrap book pages (spell out a title or name using alphabet faux wax seals) and mixed media works with just a little more hot glue underneath them. Have fun and give them a go

hugs

Annette In Oz

Blender Fluid How Too Make your Own - Tipnique Tuesday

Hi all
hubby is home till the 27th yeha. I also have my daughter Carlia here and her fiance Cory staying whom are  in my art room for the next two weeks so I shall do some how too's to make your own art products today and next week :o). Today for Tipnique Tuesday I'll tell you how to make your own blender fluid! It can be used with markers such as Tombows to blend colours with.

What You Need

• 1/3 Glycerin
• 2/3 Distilled water
• 1/4 Teaspoon alcohol such as Isopryl alcohol available as Isocol in super markets and chemists.
• Bottle with a dropper

How Too
Measure and pour all items in a dropper bottle. Gently shake to ensure all combined well. For Tombows and other markers remove the fine line tip/nib carefully with pliers using a twisting motion. Place drops of the blender fluid down the barrel and refit the nib. The solution can be used on coloured markers that have started to dry out to give them extra life or to refill a blender marker.
This is one recipe I have not tried myself so if you do give it a try let us know how it goes!! When my children where younger I collected allot of these tips and techniques on how to save money by making your own consumables for arts and crafts products. It helped me to not be tied to products and to think out side the square :o).
hugs
Annette In Oz

Ice Resin by Susan Lenart Kazmer -How I use it in small quantities to decrease waste

Ice Resin is an awesome 2 part jewellers grade resin that I use heaps of. It dries to a hard durable non yellowing surface. It's self leveling. You can create domed effects on bezels by pouring half the height needed in, let that set and then pour more in till it domes. If you do get an uneven result or a bubble where you don't want it or a finished piece gets scratched then Ice Resin is also self healing. You just sand the imperfection away. Wash off and dry the piece and then pour more mixed Ice Resin on top. Even though the item looks milky after sanding it will go crystal clear once more resin is applied. You can drill thru it as well.

Ice Resin makes some papers see thru when applied on top. If you wish to apply it on paper or an image that you don't want to be transparent test a small section first. Use toner based copies of originals and/or apply a clear sealer (even a clear drying white glue) on top and let that dry thoroughly before you apply Ice Resin. (I rarely worry about that as I use allot of vintage book papers and I kind of like the transparent look of the words or images after Ice Resin is applied :o).

If you are using open backed bezels with Ice Resin place tape underneath and burnish where it makes contact with the back of your bezel to help stop the Ice Resin leaking out. Once the piece is set remove the tape. I always place a sheet of Glad Bake or other non stick baking paper on my work surface when I am using Ice Resin. I also cover my poured items till they are set with an upturned plastic container as I live where there are tiny little winged things that get attracted to light and inevitably one gets stuck in the ice resin setting surface that I don't see till its set! I usually wait till I have several items to pour at once and do the pour at night and cover it up. It will be then set and ready in the morning.

Ice Resin can seem hard in cold areas so if you go to use it and it feels hard just pop it in a container of warm to hot water for 5-10 minutes and it will be runny and easy to pour again. Like all chemicals always work in a well ventilated area when using Ice Resin. Ice Resin has minimal smell and is quite safe to use. If you are sensitive to chemicals of course use a mask and always use a mask regardless when you are sanding Ice Resin. Always read the instructions supplied with your Ice Resin thoroughly. There are loads of tips, instructions and videos at the Ice Resin web site here.

The trick to using Ice Resin successfully is to ensure you have exact equal amounts of part A and part B the hardener and I do mean exact. With my jewellery I sometimes use tiny amounts of Ice Resin on tiny embellishments or as a glue for attaching my tiny watch cogs etc. I prefer it over E6000 glue as E6000 does go yellow after time.

When I want to fill small bezels such as the brass keyholes in the photo below, a small bezel or attach tiny parts to my jewellery (the tiny watch parts are for the owl, bike and necklace in the photo below) I only need a small amount of Ice Resin and I use far smaller amounts then that recommended in the instructions. To use small amounts only I have developed my own way to make sure I am precise. I waste very little of the Ice Resin and the way I do it means I use very little consumer required things as well.

WHAT YOU NEED

• Ice Resin part A and part B hardener
• 2 small syringes. One marked A and the other marked B
• 3 plastic cups. I use cheap shot glasses from the cheap shop. They don't need measurements on the side. Mark one with a A and and another with a B. When you finish measuring and putting the ice resin in the third plastic container the containers marked A and B become the storage pots for their respective syringes. That way you can use the same syringe over and over without cleaning the syringes or containers as the A syringe/container will never mix with the B syringe/container!
• Something to wipe out the unmarked container after use and to wipe  the Popsicle stick on. I use a cheap cotton pad or tissues.
• Popsicle stick or something else to mix the resin with.
• Something to apply the Ice Resin mixture with. I will use a small paintbrush in this tutorial. It can't be used as a brush any more afterwards but I just lay the used brush on the Gladbake and when set I break it off at the metal section and then I use the Ice Resin encased brush as a dangle in my jewellery!
• Gladbake or other silicone baking sheet.
• OPTIONAL: Gloves and mask. I don't use them. Ice Resin washes of your skin easily enough. It doesn't burn the skin but is slippery. I also have a Q tip or cotton bud close by to remove any excess drips. 
• Container to place over the Ice Resin till it sets.

WHAT TO DO
1) Use syringe marked A and draw up required amount of Part A resin you want. I'm only attaching the small watch parts today so I only need a few mls. I drew up 3mls

Gently squirt that into the third unmarked container and put syringe A back in container marked A

2) Use syringe marked B and draw up 3mls of Part B resin.

Gently squirt that into the third container that already has the part A resin in it and put syringe B back in container marked B

4) Gently mix the two parts with Popsicle stick for the recommended time. It goes milky looking and then clear with no striations. Make sure you scrap the sides and the bottom as you mix.

5) Let the mixed resin sit under a warm light for 5-10 minutes to allow the bubbles to come to the surface and pop. Wipe the Popsicle stick clean and it too can now be used again.

 6) You have about 25 minutes before the mixed resin starts to thicken up so while its under the light I put the items I want to work on close by. Today I want to use the resin as a glue to attach small watch parts. When ready I dab small amounts of the mixed Ice Resin from the brush onto item of jewellery and then position watch parts over the small blob.

When I am done I wipe the container that had the Ice Resin mixture in it out with the cotton pad so its completely clean. Then I can reuse that too! Any drips I clean up with the cotton bud. Cover with a container and leave for the recommended time to set. If you miss a drip just use an awl to pull it off or craft knife to cut it off once its set.

Any questions please ask
hugs
Annette In Oz xxx

Kaliedocycle How Too-Tip/Technique Tuesday

This Tuesday I have an interactive card stock toy for you to learn how to make. Once completed it bends over and over on itself. These are known as Kaliedocycles or Tetra Hexa Flexagons. I learnt how to do this from my daughter Melissa who was taught the how too in a maths lesson many years ago. They are fun for children to play with.

SUPPLIES

• A4 piece of card stock or larger
• Pencil. rubber, ruler, craft knife, craft mat, bone folder, glue and rubber.
• Images or decorating medium of your choice. I have decorated my sample with Twinkling H2O's and stamps. You can use photos if you want.

HOW TOO

1) Place A4 card stock in portrait position so long edges at the side. Measure from the bottom left up and mark a pencil dot at 4cm intervals till you reach 24cms in length. I'm using a black marker so you can see what I am doing clearly. From bottom left measure across and mark pencil dots at 4cm, 8cm and 10cm.

2) From the 24cm marked dot measure across and mark a pencil dot at 10cm. Measure up 24cm from bottom 10cm mark to the top 10cm mark and adjust that 10cm dot as needed so its at the 24cm mark..

3)Place ruler along both 10cm dots and mark pencil dots up from bottom at 4cm, 12cm and 20cm.

 4) Use ruler and pencil and lightly mark diagonal lines from bottom 4cm mark to 8cm mark at left side, 8cm mark at bottom to 16cm dot at left, 4cm mark at right to 24cm mark at left, 12cm mark at right to 4cm point at top line and lastly from 20cm mark at right to 8cm point on top line.

5) Use ruler and mark the diagonals in opposite direction from 8cm mark at bottom to 4cm mark at right. from 4cm mark at bottom to 12cm point at right, from bottom left corner to 20cm mark at right, from 8cm mark at left to 8cm point on top line and lastly from 16cm mark at left to 4cm point on top line. It should look like the picture below.

These shaded areas will be where you apply glue

6) Use ruler and pencil and lightly mark a straight lines from left marks to the ones at the right side

 7) Use bone folder and ruler and score along ALL lines. Rub out ALL pencil marks.  Decorate the rows of diamonds as you like. Each row will show on one face of the completed Kaliedocycle. If you want to use a photo make a separate template and cut out a row and fold it so all the diamonds touch to make a 6 sided shape (see completed 6 sided shape below). Use this as a template to cut your photos.

 8) Use bone folder and fold all diagonals as mountain folds and run bone folder along edge to create crisp folds. Fold all diagonals that go in the same direction and then repeat for the ones going in the opposite direction. Do not fold the straight lines they will naturally bend in the direction they need to be in.

 9) Apply glue to the tabs at side and top

10 Fold the tab in from long side and adhere it to the opposite side under the diamond. Continue till you make a diamond snake with the tabs at end.

11) Fold that around to make a six sided shape and pop the remaining glued tabs into the opening at the other end. As an extra precaution I use a stronger glue on these last tabs and leave it adhered in place with a paper clip for a few hours to ensure a strong bond.

Here is a little video of how this is moved when completed.

Enjoy
hugs
Annette In Oz

Necklaces

Here are a few necklaces that I have finally strung and added the last few finishing bits too. Metal is hard to photograph indeed. So I took two shots of some of these. The first one is an etched brass box.

This opens to reveal vintage images, tin type photo, a tiny frozen Charlotte, small watch parts, a small metal rose, a brass pen nib and all encased in Ice Resin

"Hoot" the steampunk owl

An etched house shape necklace with an etched brass shield shape in the middle with a keyhole centre that has a vintage child image and Ice Resin. Old type writer key with the letter "H"

Lastly a flying Steampunk bicycle necklace

These will soon be available in my shop here. Im off to QLD to see hubby from Saturday till Thursday next week and I can't wait. Heck I miss that man :o)
hugs
Annette In Oz