Project 11: Coasting Through Life

This week's project was an opportunity for me to explore block printing. If you don't know what block printing is, click here. I have done printing one time before, in Mrs. Davidson's art class in elementary school. I made a picture of a cat on a sunny day sitting in the middle of flowers. There was no dimensionality to it. I still have a copy of it somewhere. So why not try again? I don't know why, but I decided to make glass coasters with a printed pattern on it. Not sure if glass is really the most practical material for coasters but they look pretty.

The Process:

I bought a stamp making kit. It came with a rubber pad and a carving tool! 

Clearly the first step was to draw a pattern. I decided to make my coasters 4" square. 

Next, the drawing is transferred to the block.

Then the fun part is carving the block!

This picture looks funny. The parts that look raised up are actually
the part that I carved. I guess it's a trick of the light.

Last step is to ink up the block and print. The issue was that glass doesn't grab paint like paper does and the paint didn't apply evenly to either the stamp or the glass.  

So after the initial stamping, I went back over the lines a few times. I know that's cheating, but it wouldn't have looked very nice if I hadn't.

The goal was to make three coasters. A red one, a blue one and a turquoise one. I finished each of the coasters differently. I frosted the back of the turquoise coaster with my favorite spray. I painted the back of the red one yellow. I tried to get artsy with the blue one and painted the gaps. However, my color choices didn't work out. So I turned something that could have looked really nice and made it ugly. So that was a bummer. 

So much potential!

The Final Product:

See? Totally ugly. 

This is frosted, but on a white background, you can't tell.

Project 10: Etched in the Stars

I'm not particularly impressed with this project. It didn't turn out the way I wanted it to and unfortunately it reflects the fact that I couldn't put that much time into it. But anyway, my goal for this one was to create an etched picture on a sheet of glass. I came up with a basic landscape scene, made a template and then 'etched' the design. I made two decisions that I'd regret, but more on that later. Also, clear glass with etching on it doesn't photograph all that well, so I don't have too many pictures up.

The Process:

First thing was to design my scene. I chose to do hills at night. I threw a tree in to make it a little more interesting.

Next step was to cut out the spaces that I wanted to etch. Mistake #1: I used normal printer paper instead of buying contact paper. The problem with paper is that it doesn't adhere to the glass so there is room for the etching acid to seep into spaces besides the cutouts.

An x-acto knife is a girl's best friend.

I had to tape the template to the glass.

You can see the gaps behind the paper >.<

Finally, I had to etch the glass. Mistake #2: I opted to use an aerosol spray which gives glass a 'frosted' look instead of using the actual etching acid. The aerosol didn't apply evenly. It's also thinner than the acid so it bled more than the acid would have. Oh well, you live and learn.

The Final Product:

White background.

The dots in the sky are supposed to be stars...

So that's all I got. Be sure to check out Project 9. I'm much prouder of that one and since it was posted late, I'm not sure many people saw it.

Project 9: A Surprise Engagement

Believe it or not, this project is not late. I finished it on Thursday, I just didn't have time to put up the blog post. I went away for the weekend and, horror upon horrors, the place where I was staying didn't have internet! So now I'm posting my entry 3 days late. Hakkuna Matata.  

Anyway, this week's project was inspired by a pendant I found at the Bead Garden. The pendant says 'Love Me' in the middle and has 'yes' and 'no' written around the edge. Then there is a spinning arrow in the center. It's super cute. I decided to make a box. I was thinking specifically a box to hold an engagement ring, but I guess it could anything. The pendant is the door to open the box. I thought it would be really neat if I could get the box to only open if the arrow points to 'yes'. 

The Process:

My Inspiration

First thing on the list was to design the box. The box is 5 cm x 5 cm x 2 cm.

Pattern for the box.

 I built the box as two separate pieces; the lid and the bottom box.

It was important to figure out the lid and the locking mechanism before the box was put together because once the box was soldered shut there would be no way to go inside and fix problems.

The first task for the lid was make a hinge for the pendant. I really wanted to have a pivot point so the pendant twisted open. This would also keep hinge in the box and thus hidden. However, I couldn't figure out how to lock the box if the door opened in this manner so I had to stick with the standard pin hinge. If that didn't make any sense, don't worry. I have yet to figure out a clear way to explain it. 

No lock, just a hinge. I explain the lock later.

The last step, besides installing the lock, was to solder the pieces together.

Final Product:

I bet you're wondering about the 'lock'. The box is locked by a bar that is larger than the hole cut in the top of the box. When the box is 'locked' that means if you try and pull the box open the bar will catch under the glass and it won't open. I soldered the bar to the arrow so the bar spins when the arrow spins. Finally, I cut away part of the glass around the hole that conveniently line up with with words 'yes' on the box. Hence, the box only opens when the arrow points to 'yes'.

Open a little bit. 

I hope this entry made sense! I feel like my ideas may not have come through clearly, but oh well. I'll have another post in 3 days (hopefully!).

Project 8: Jack

My mother asked me to make this project at least six months ago and I'm just getting around to it now... better late than never right? Anyway, my mother is one of five. Her oldest sister, Karen. has two sons. Her eldest son, Alex, is married and he has two children. My mother wanted me to make a window of Alex's son, Jack, for my Aunt Karen. So I think that makes Jack my first cousin once removed? Anyway, the funny part of all this is that I've never met this kid. But he looks pretty cute from the pictures I've seen. In these pictures, he's about two and a half. 

Super cute right?

The Process:

I drew a sketch based off the picture of Jack below.

After the sketch was done, it was time to cut out and grind the pieces. They need to fit together nicely.

Next, foiling! 

The silver blobs are solder, which hold the
pieces in place for soldering. 

 Then soldering both sides!

Close up

Finally, framing and patina were added. However, I don't have a specific picture for that step so just admire those aspects on the final window.

Final Product:

Not that I want to point out imperfections in my work, but you'll notice in the above picture that his pupils are wonky. I corrected that afterward, but the sun had set so I couldn't get another super great picture. But please note in the final picture that he has lovely, basically symmetrical and appropriately placed pupils!

Nice eyes eh?