Sunday, June 21, 2009

What to do with mini cross stitch

Make a small fragile keychain you'll probably never use?

Oh well, I did it anyway. It only took me about five minutes too, so yay for instant crafty gratification.

And here's the construction, dead simple. I used a small plastic ring, that probably had some use in plumbing, a little felt, glue and my second cross stitched thing ever.


Basically you just glue your image down on a felt rectangle. Fold some felt over the center of the ring, glue that too, then cut a window in your remaining rectangle and do some more gluing down.

Mine turned out flimsy because I used thin felt. I probably should have added some cardboard between the cross stitch and the back, for sturdiness.

But like I sad, I'll probably never use it. I keep my keys on a little converse shoe I got from a street vendor. It red, just like my real chucks. I call that matching accessories ;)

Monday, June 8, 2009

Mix, pour, wait, then paint

The title pretty much describes what I did with plaster.

I got it ages ago, the kind you pour, along with exactly two molds - one is flowers and fruit themed, the other is Christmas ( a bunch of snowmen, Santas and bears with presents).
Let me tell you, those molds are expensive. And not really worth it, unless you want to make the same motives over and over again. Which I just might have to, because I still have a lot of plaster left.


Anyway, here are my forms, all dried and waiting to be painted. Ideally, I would sand the edges a bit, but I was out of sandpaper.


Painted and waiting for me to glue some magnets on the back. I only had three, so the other ones will have to sit and wait for me to go on a craft supplies shopping spree.

I used Decorlack by Marabu to paint them, which I wouldn't really recommend for plaster. I think it's better to use something that the plaster will aborb, like regular acrylics, tempera or even watercolor. They will blend better, and make your fruit look more real.


And an obligatory action shot. This kind of looks like a commercial for Candy fridges, but believe me, it's not. This fridges makes such bizzare and loud noises that I kind of hate it. But hey, at least it's a good surface for my magnets.