I've been screening!

I finally got this box finished as a very belated Birthday present for a friend. I used texture paste through a screen to create the pattern effect which was coloured with spray inks, wax and copper leaf.



She was also leaving her job and developing her art practice in photography and jewelery making so I added a did this smaller box, using the same screen and gold texture over metallic turquoise paint as a good luck gift.

I am going to pop both of these in the current challenge gallery "Made with Wood" on the Happy Daze Facebook wall

It's like buses

You know, nothing for ages then 2 come along at once! So here is yet another blog post! This little Bird House altered with metal was spotted just after I'd made it by a very talented friend of ours, Maria Slovakova, an artist, poet, performer and all round amazing person. She is releasing her first record shortly and asked me to make a series of these, all slightly different, to animate for a video, how cool is that, and how chuffed am I.

A Klimt Inspired Box

A friend of mine is fond of the paintings of Gustav Klimt so for her birthday recently I made her this box with a hint of Klimt. I didn't want to use The Kiss as she has that image already but chose instead the Alter of Dionysus as an image to go on the lid, the rest of the box is decorated in a style stolen entirely from the Alice in Wonderland themed boxes made by Carol Fox, thank you Carol for letting me steal which I felt added to the Klimt feel. The box was painted in gold and a PVA peeled paint in cream effect was applied over the top, clear Viva Crackle paint was applied over the image, the base and inside were treated with Glue N Seal and copper foil added in parts, new hinges and closure fitted and four large glass beads attached as feet. The hard part is waiting between the layers for it to dry when you are doing the inside and outside and top and bottom of a piece duh!

The Bluebird of Happiness

Back in February as we tramped around the craft Trade Show a few of us got talking about hats- 2011 we felt would be the year if hats, what with Royal weddings and what not. So we decided to each create a new hat an d this is my effort. It has everything except the Kitchen sink on there, a bird house, nest with eggs, a couple of birds and a pile of feathers. I did have fun!You can see the other hats on the Happy Daze Design Team Blog - click the link on the right. There you will find "Matilda's Walking Hat" a Steampunk creation by Carol Fox, "A Bee in Her Bonnet" by Jo Capper-Sandon featuring stamps she designs for Stampotique Originals and "Mad as a Hatter" an Alice inspired piece by Julie Dandy.

Altered Hands

Those who know me will be aware I do love to have my nails painted. Well they only usually look nice for about 5 minutes before I've got ink or paint all over them, but these I might jsut have to look after more carefully. This cunning effect is created by a base colour – in this case “Outrageous Turquoise”, with a layer of a new polish by OPI called "Shatter" over the top and hey presto crackle paint effect nails. I'm loving it. Best get some of those cloves to wear when playing now to keep the nails looking lovely.