RPG Themed Shadowbox

It has been a long time since I last posted. I'll admit to not being very productive over the past year, though I have done some painting and crafting. Some of it was just for fun and some I will get around to posting online eventually.

I was also working on this project on and off and it is finally finished. It all started with the blue bottle charm which made me think of potions in video games. The idea grew to create something around that theme. When I found a set of old cake pans at a yard sale it didn't take me long to realize they were just what I needed for this project.

This is not based on any specific game but I will say my biggest influences would be Final Fantasy and Blade of Darkness. If you play these types of games you will recognize many aspects of them in this piece. I especially wanted to focus on the exploring and finding things that help you in the game... weapons, armour, potions... and the excitement of finding a new place and doors that open.

There is a mixture of handmade and bought elements in this. The backgrounds of the larger boxes are acrylic paintings and the smallest is simply painted to look like wood grain. There are some handmade polymer clay items; the decoration on the side, treasure chest which opens and has glass jewels inside, sword, shield, round and oval decorations, bricks, stones, apple, candle, and a small silver box. The book is also handmade and can be opened. And then there are some resin pieces, charms, beads, and fabric flowers.

Kitchen Shadow Box

This is something I thought about doing years ago when I picked up a few miniatures at a craft store. This year I finally decided that I am going to get this done. And I think the timing was right because I have just recently learned things that helped me to create some the items and background for this.

The hand made items are made with polymer clay, wood, and resin. They include the mortar and pestle, apples in a dish, pie, pickles, and the table and everything on it. The brick wall was done with a stencil, modelling paste, and paint. Other thing were more improvised, like the popsicle stick floor, the little wood pile, and I'll let you guess at what the stove pipe is made of. The stove is an old pencil sharpener that belonged to my granny. 

My dad helped me make the box. The back of it is the back of a picture frame and the frame and glass fit on the front of the box. This way the glass will keep the dust out but I can still take it off the add more things later.

June Art Journal Page and Other Things

There has been a lot of stuff going on lately leaving very little creative time. But I have done a little when I got the chance.

Back in June I got another page done in my art journal. Over winter a few of my perennials didn't make it, but then I was surprised to find a little lupin growing in spite of all the digging I have done in that area. There was one in this yard before, which I moved while cleaning things out, but that one didn't survive. So it was the inspiration for this page, which I coloured with coloured pencils. The other page is just some soft pastels and stamps.

I hope the real one will be purple too.

Another project I got done is this box for my husband to throw his business receipts into. It is made from two fruit snack boxes. I cut the top flaps off of one and the other I cut into pieces and glued them to the first box for more stability. Then I covered the corners and edges with strips of card stock, then gessoed and painted. In the middle I painted some simple purple roses and the outer part is a slightly mottled dark red. Then I used gold embossing powder on the designs in between, and gold paint on the edges. Then I added a few purple rhinestones.

Embossing powder is another thing that looks so easy on YouTube, but I make a mess with it.

And here is my first try at making a polymer rose cane. It's okay, I guess.

More polymer practice

Finally got some creative time yesterday. With camping and yard work I don't get much time in my craft room lately. Good thing it was raining so I didn't have to feel guilty about ignoring the weeds. I really wanted to try more blending and that flower cane again. It still doesn't look like the one in the video but I like it. It kind of looks like a fluffy type of flower. And then of course I turned the scraps into marbleized clay.

Then I wanted to make something but had no idea what to do. So many ideas but when it comes down to doing one of them, I don't know what to choose. I ended up just rolling out some black clay, then using a stamp and embellishing it with more clay and purple pearls. I want to try coating this with resin later and will make it a brooch.

Snakes

When I saw a tutorial on YouTube for making a snake bangle, I right away thought of my mom. She loves snakes and though she doesn't wear much jewelry I wanted to make one for her birthday.

Good thing I started on this early because the first one didn't turn out so well. It was too thin, and then I broke it a couple of times. Since then I have learned that polymer should always be baked for an hour, not just the 15 minutes per 1/4 inch it says on the package.  I tried to re-bake that one, even though I already varnished it with water based Varathane. The varnish held up okay in the heat, but maybe I should have baked it longer yet. I think I put it back in for 20 or 30 minutes but it still broke easily. Or perhaps the problem is that it is Sculpey III and from what I have read, Premo is better.

The second one turned out better and my mom loved it, though she said she probably won't wear it. That one wasn't baked very long either but I let her know that it just has a little flexibility.

First Skinner Blends

Here is my first try at making Skinner blends and trying out a cane tutorial on YouTube. Not exactly perfect but that's what practice is for. I just needed to be more careful while making the blend. And my cane didn't look much like the one in the video, but I still like it.

I tried the cane a second time, using the same blend. I also tried a couple more blends which turned out better.

Then I used what I made to make a pendant. I also have some nice marbled clay made from the scraps.

Here is the video tutorial if you're curious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSG2jg8WxgA

My first mandala

In my art journal this month I made my first mandala, starting with a black Staedtler pigment liner. I had the idea that it would be flowery but other than that I had no plan, just started from middle and kept adding things. It was kind of relaxing but I really should do these things when my 4 year old isn't around to be able to enjoy it more.

After the outline was done I filled it in with coloured pencils and the blue was done with a Crayola marker.

Earlier this month for Mother's day I made my mom this sign. I had made Tool Rules signs for my husband and my dad and my mom told me that she would like one that says Cookbook Rules. So, I figured, if that's what she wants, I'll make one. This one was more fun because I got to make it pretty. I painted and stamped a piece of hard board, textured and painted the edges, then did the writing on tissue paper with a Sharpie and glued it on. I also glued on silver trim painted with black metallic paint, and made the miniatures in the corners with polymer and wire.

Red peony and my first fairy door

This month I hosted the Different Strokes project at wetcanvas.com and the theme I chose was flowers and they had to be close up, or macro, shots. For my own painting I used a photo I took in my mom's friend's yard as a reference and painted it on a wooden plaque. The total size is about 11.25x8.5" at the longest.

I also made a time lapse video of the painting.
https://youtu.be/hrlAvzD-s48

I also just made my first fairy door for a gift for my aunt. I used polymer clay and a few beads and charms.

Easter Eggs

It has been years since I last made Easter eggs (pysanky). They are very time consuming, it takes all afternoon to do two. It was always hard for me to put other things aside but this year I decided it was time to do some again. I got 12 done, though one kind of got messed up when I tried to use Folkart's acrylic gloss on it, the one on the right side with the red and white cross in the middle. Perhaps it was because it is water based. When I started smearing it on it was picking up colour so I wiped it off but wiped too much and removed some colour from one side of the egg. But I have ideas for how to still make good use of it.

My mom already bought two of these. The rest will be for summer craft sales.

I also tried something new. I painted Easter eggs on poster board with my Derwent Graphik paint pens and made polymer clay bases and turned them into pendants and earrings.

Cross stitching done

I don't know when I started this picture, but it has been a few years. It was always being set aside for other projects and it wasn't an easy picture to do. I might try to do some knitting again now, at least make a small afghan for my pets. Then I will start the next picture in that book of cross stitch patterns. There are still three that I haven't done.

I also finished some polymer eggs this week.

Clay Valentine

I spent all day Monday making a Valentine's gift for my husband. It was one of those days when nothing goes right. My plan was to put a heart shaped photo on a circle of clay and decorate it. I tried laminating the photo with iron on stuff, but it turned out all bubbly, twice. And then the clay circle that I made with a mixture of red and black turned out really nice, until I broke a piece off it. I thought about patching it, but in the end decided to cut a heart out of it, and stick it on a black circle with a heart cut out of the middle, and I stuck another photo on the heart, which got ruined in the oven. So finally a fourth photo was used and I finished decorating in the evening with sparkle paint and pre-baked clay hearts. I haven't given it to him yet because he is away at work, but I sure hope he likes it.