Encaustic Painting

Things have been a little quiet around here lately. Over the weekend, Chris had a booth at the Antique & Collectibles Expo. Between working at Collage and Expo, I didn't have any time for me and my blog, as to be expected. It's now Tuesday and I'm on my "weekend"! I'm very excited to continue working on some projects that are in the works and to get together with a good friend, Courtney, this afternoon. Happy Weekend to me! Plus, the sun is out! Hooray! I'm going to try drenching myself in Vitamin D and shake out any gloomy feelings I've had these past few weeks. :)

One of the things that breaks me out of any gloom is being creative, trying something new, and playing with bright colors! Have you heard of encaustic painting? It's basically painting with wax. I had never really heard of it before Collage, so I took one of the classes we offer. Here's a glimpse into the process:

The wax medium is a mixture of beeswax and damar resin. The colors are a mixture of the medium and  wax sticks. The process consists of painting the hardboard panels with wax and then fusing the layers of wax with this hand iron or a heat tool. It's a very fluid process as the layers meld and change as you fuse them. The first piece consisted of collage, I couldn't resist and not use this cut out from a 1950's Better Homes and Garden magazine. 

For my second piece, I wanted something much more graphic. First I applied many coats of white wax, then taped off a pattern, and applied colors. I ended up not fusing this piece together in the end as that would have eliminated the straight lines. I really like how this piece turned out in the end! 

Encaustic painting was really fun to learn, and there are so many techniques that you can use and explore with it. Truth be told, I didn't fall in love with the process, as it was very time and material intensive, but I'm glad that I tried it and am now more knowledgeable about the process. 

Have you tried encaustic painting? 

Darcy's Seed Stitch Cowl // Share the DIY Love

On this snowy day in Portland, Darcy is stopping by to share with us more about the beautiful cowl she knitted! Darcy and I work together at Collage, and we bonded over blogs we both read and writing our own blogs. She is an amazing photographer and illustrator. Check out her pretty blog! 

What is your favorite project that you've made and what inspired you to make it?
 

With this being my first winter in Portland, my most recent favorite project is the seed stitch cowl I knitted a few months ago. I’d seen a lot of chunky scarves around and really loved the idea of burrowing into a single article on walks outside. 

 
With so many different yarns available, how did you pick the yarn out?
 

That was actually what I did before even choosing a project! There’s this amazing local yarn shop in NE Portland called Close Knit and I stumbled on this chunky, completely natural and organic wool. The skein was huge! and I knew I had to do something with it and wear immediately. 

 Did you follow a pattern or make it up yourself?
 

This was actually the very first pattern I attempted since first learning to knit a year ago. I’d always been so intimidated. I knew I wanted a chunky cowl and the pattern was actually free with the yarn purchase at Close Knit.

 
Did you love it on the first try? Or did it take a few attempts until you were happy 
with the result?
 

I absolutely loved it! It was my first time knitting in the round so I sort of prepared myself, but everything went smoothly and turned out with very few mistakes. 

 
What do you love most about knitting? 
 

I love how methodical it is. How you can get into a rhythm and forget you’re even knitting. Its actually a great road trip activity because it keeps me busy but doesn’t make me car sick like reading does. 


What do people say about the cowl when they see it?
 
I’ve had a handful of compliments on it, mostly people saying how they’ve been wanting to make something similar. I always get really excited and immediately refer them to Close Knit over non-local places.

Rate the difficulty level on a scale from one (total craft novice - super easy) to 5 (crafter extraordinaire required - very difficult)

I’d say about a 2. You definitely need to have the knit vs. purl skill down. Other than that, I learned to knit in the round that day, so its pretty much on a beginner level. 

Is there anything else you would to share about you favorite project?

I’ve already started another one! Hah. Also, the chunkier the yarn, the better. :)


Thanks so much for sharing, Darcy! 

DIY // Watercolor Notecards

For the past few months, I've been more and more intrigued by watercolor. It's definitely trending among most of the blogs that I read. I've never been much of a drawer, but what I love about watercoloring is that you don't need to be a good drawer in order to produce beautiful work.  

Over the past weekend, I've been playing around with techniques. I really liked painting in stripes and learning how to control my brushstrokes. 

If you'd like to make these, it's super easy! I picked one of my favorite color combos: blue and orange. 

For this project, I used cover/card-stock weight paper. You could use water color paper, but I found that this paper works really well too. 

Using a round paint brush, paint lines from one color unto your paper. Don't worry about straight lines, or different thicknesses. One tip on thicknesses: if you hold your brush low to the brush, you'll have a thicker line. If you hold farther up toward the top of the brush, you'll have a thinner line. 

Allow the paint to dry for 30 minutes. 

Using a bone folder to smooth the fold, makes a crisp and clean fold. 

I love the left over stripes and decided to use them to decorate the outside of the envelope. I used a glue stick to glue these on. 

For this card, I also painted a new page, then cut the 8.5x11 paper into two rectangles in order to fit the front of an A6 fold-over card.

I hope that this inspires you to pick up a paint brush and make some watercolor notecards. Have fun with all sorts of color combinations! If you make them, send me a photo, I'd love to see them! 

DIY // Geometric Earrings

Since working at Collage, I've learned a lot about many of the local businesses here in town. If don't carry something, we try to always recommend a local store in town that may have it. I've found myself over the past few weeks recommending Dava Beads to many people looking for beading supplies, but I'd yet to head in there myself. So over my weekend, I checked it out. I wasn't disappointed, it's the best bead shop that I've been to in Portland. Lots of different types of beads, findings, and much more. Check out their website here and they also offer loads of classes. 

While there, I couldn't resist a few some beads. Here's what I whipped up once I got home: 

1) I used head pins to string the beads on one by one. I find it easier to bead on a flat surface, so that I can stick the pin in without holding the beads in my hands. 

2, 3) Alternate gold and turquoise beads

4) Using Round Nose Pliers Bind the wire to a 90 degrees angle. Thread on the earring hook.

5) This is the tricky part, I find it's easiest, if I hold the earring hook with needle nose pliers, and then use the round nose pliers to wrap the end of the head pin around it's self above the top bead. 

Once the wire is wrapped around twice, you're earring is complete! Repeat to make 2nd earring. 

Jewelry making is really fun and simple to do, you can use any type of beads and make hundreds of different types of earrings using this same technique. 

Cost: Beads $2, Head Pins: 30 cents Tools: on hand, but you could buy these at any local craft store

Time: 15 min

Difficulty: Easy

Chris' Reclaimed Wood Coffee Table // Share the DIY Love

Today's DIY Love post is by my husband Chris.  He is a full time picker who buys mid century furniture, industrial items, and makes repurposed furniture.  You can read all about his finds and creations on his blog and you can purchase them at his Etsy shop.  His guest post is about a reclaimed wood coffee table he made.  Take it away Chris!

Chris:  Welcome to my reclaimed wood coffee table tutorial.  This project is very affordable compared to what you might pay at retail for a similar table.  I got all of the wood for $13 at a salvage yard and I took the hairpin legs off of a bench that I bought at an estate sale for $15.

What you will need: 
Materials:

Approximately 32' of 1''x4 or 1''x6'' reclaimed lumber
80, 120, & 220 grit sand paper
Minwax wood stain
Wood glue
18 gauge nails
10''-12'' tall hairpin legs

Tools:

                         

Measuring tape & square

Mitre saw
Orbital Sander
Air Compressor & nail gun

I started by making the frame.  The corners were cut at a 45 degree angle.  Next I cut each piece of the top of the coffee table. They were cut to fit within the frame diagonally at a 45 degree angle. 

All of these cuts were made with my mitre saw.

 Sanded each top piece with 80, 120, & 220 grit sand paper

Top pieces were stained with Minwax Natural Stain

 The top pieces were then nailed and glued in place. 

Finally they were clamped while the glue dried for 24 hours

I left the frame in its natural state to maintain the "recaimed" look

 After this final picture was taken I cleaned off the visable wood glue remnants.