carnival costume

we found out quite late about my sons kindergarten carnival and also took a week to realise that it is much closer then we think while we were wondering what kind of personage he may like to be.

i started a mask while ago (you know the build up part with children use oil clay over a plastic batman mask lol which i found in a chineze shop-or better said a shop full with chineze stuffs-and sadly this is a tendency around here shops overloaded with cheap chineze materials,toys,cloth available to the large mass of tight belt population in crisis) and i thought to work out a wizard or witch mask until we decide what his costume is going to be.

we asked him what he wants to be and he sad calmly that a rocket would do it.my husband liked the idea v much and thought it was not to difficult making it already having the a lot of needed materials plus my mache experience of glue making,stripping,paper etc...lol

i was anxious because time was slipping through our finger still not a step made . i was ringing silent bells that we should start it because drying is a time consuming thing.

finally we faced the fact of having 4 and half days for making the rocket costume.

the costumes armature weren't the best actually was v weak (i told him lol) and i made only two paper layers over the cardboard(soft one) which warped as i thought at the first coat of acrylic wall paint.anyway we continued and done it after all.even if it's having its weaknesses here and there made his job successfully.our son collected a lot of wows when he entered the room.he was very proud of his original costume and even if it's stiffness prevented him to be too quick (as he usually is lol) our efforts were well paid by his contented smile.

forgot.the next carnival he wants to be a submarine looool

i won

my creation line is still beeping well not with a "normal" pulse but it's still alive lol...

there's been more than a month from my last post though i would have had a few stories to tell...

a sad news kept me away from my artistic activities and made me focus more on the family line..not that i'm "away" too far from it in my every days.a ray of hope was all i needed than and it came.i hope it stays that way!

meanwhile i had a pleasant surprise by being the favoured winner of a recycled jewellery contest on flickr which ended up looong time ago.i entered the contest with one of my paper bracelet made of empty masking tape inner and recycled newspaper pulp.

the contest organizer is a young open minded guy who lives in Hungary and has his very unique and original line of jewellery,belts, dog leads made of bike tires,valves of tires and inner tubes.

his wearable art runs under the slogan "once a bike-always a work of art" as i saw it in guardian.co.uk .he has a new site you may take a look...http://1mind1.com or access his flickr account via http://www.flickr.com/photos/mind1/ .

these are the earrings that i won and i'm happily wearing them! thank you again Denes!!! you've made my day in that cold february day.

now the picture of the winning bracelet made as a christmas gift to is "dio"bracelet.

i hope soon to post some of my aged projects which are still in progress faze and some of the new ones as a mask and a rocket costume for my sons kindergarten carnival lol.

study on coils

it was in my mind to try coiling some paper while ago and now the moment become actual.i found many artist using coils to decorate their stuffs mostly the edges of their works and i could have been able to show a link to them if i wouldn't be so skilled to erase my favorite paper artists link while ago when i added another item.now i have to find them again and it will be not be easy.i'm not very sure if they used just the paper and flour mixture i usually do or if it was the so called fast mache or better said paper clay.i never worked with paper clay but i found out that it is a mixture which allows you to sculpt very fine details .coil is a detail i was willing to know more about.i remember very vague a sheep maybe sawn on etsy with a superb coiled fur.
i sad i should give it a try using my knowledge about corn shuck coils. this is a tradition in my grandmothers village where almost everybody makes objects from it .the coils are all the time needed and put over a wooden frame and some nails.the wide shuck end is cut because it is too rough then soaked in water for a minute or so and kept wet while working with them.i was doing it also with pleasure when i was a child and spent my vacations at my grandparents.of course the shucks advantage is that it won't tear apart like paper does if too wet or too soft.
the coils i made are recycled gifts paper but it will work well with shiny magazine pages too.i tried to imitate the shuck coils which with a little practice of course came uniform and round and thanks to their V shapes makes easy the continuity.that will be another study later on hehe.what i found important here is that after i twisted the paper i covered it with narrow strips of toilet paper,kind of v rough.we can still find it some place.it looks v much like crepe paper lol.i just put it over the coils dry they will soak enough humidity when it came twisted again.that would smooth out the coils and gives the look i want. hope it is understandable.a video would be word saving and easier to understand but no time for that.

what i did here was to recycle about 8 egg holder,actually the upper side ,the lid of the egg holder.i soaked in hot water for about 2 hours then teared it and pasted over a balloon with flour paste.this is what i call fast mache,you don't have to deal with the pulp.it is already ready.two layers of this "pulp"is enough for a bowl project specially if it cames hardened with the dragon skin. the coils came as an ornament i dreamed one morning lol but if you could take a look outside our window you would see the same pattern made from iron lol.i just figured out this yesterday.but inspiration come from many places....though mostly form the kitchen lol.i take a lot of shots while cooking not artistic photos but of anything that grabs my attention.like an onion for ex.my next painting idea lol.i must see to can paint.
enough for words huh,here some pictures


i used for the first time modeling paste.i asked for white acrylic ink and received this.my husband sad it is better this than nothing.lol.it is a lightweight paste which covered very well the wholes between the coils and body of the bowl but a bit expensive as art supplies are usually.ehe



this is the final result and i got some very good advices to enhance the texture from Magdalena and Marilyn my flickr friends.thank you!i will sure try both methods!
Magda " I would slightly enhance the texture: dip a sponge in diluted black/dark blue acrylics and just touch the outer texture. It will give it more dimension. If you make it too dark - you can just wash it out by rubbing with damp sponge/cloth :) "
Marilyn "If you'd like to "enhance the texture", as studiomurano suggested, maybe you could rub a soft lead pencil onto paper, then get some of the lead onto your fingertips and rub it onto the high spots of your bowl. You could also use pastels or conte, maybe charcoal or even soot from a stove; anything that gives you the look you want. "
please don't mind the quotes i rush to the end...my baby has to wake up.thank you again!

new bracelet

i'll write the text later..........i have to ruuuuuuuuuuun

hi.back.not for long though hehe...
if anyone would like to know how this bracelet was made than read the comments and you'll find out.this time i did not used any inner just a piece of flexible cardboard.

study

the latest three little bowls.. cannot call experiment..better a study of textures... this one following the orange-brown bracelets texture in a lighter hue.same procedure showed below -see first

bowl-








i will change the pictures as soon as i find them for a better view...for now i borrowed them from my flickr.











yes.you guessed.i used my husbands wood burner and i liked the bubbled texture a lot.
made from a very rough pulp-i call it one minute pulp-dragon skin-then pure pva burned at once i did not wait to dry... those tiny little bubbles were then painted with acrylics and are not sealed yet.(they are all over in the inside of the bowl and just portions on its outside)
here a picture before the finish....











the third following the bubbles line...i may change it...this is for now

inside and out...not varnished yet