MORE FAIRY HOUSE STUPH

The theme for the Art Thing show next month is Sticks & Stones I thought perhaps I should ad some stones to my repertoire. When we lived in Fla. I coveted the neat rocks I found out here, and would manage to stockpile some under the seats to take back with me to paint. Now they are everywhere, so of course I tend to ignore them. So here's a few I painted...will have a couple as door prizes for the show opening. Also finished one more wood house. This one is made to hang. The actual house is an ice cream carton I cut in half so it has a flat back, then covered in the "scales" off of pine cones. For strength I pulled out the ol hot glue gun to hold the carton together. With all the new glue, it's been a long time since I used it...and now I remember why....need to be careful. IT"S HOT! Each of these houses has a little critter, so this one has a little needle felted bird. I plan to make it 3 birds, but since I've been trying very hard to be good & put things away, I need to dig out the felting stuff. I love belonging to this art group and having a challenge to come up with different things!

FAIRY HOUSES FOR STICK & STONES ART SHOW

The challenge this time for my Art Thing group. Everyone has to create a piece using the agreed upon materials. At first I thought of painting animals on rocks as I had done many years ago. But then decided Fairy Houses, would be fun. Once again I was right! Made the round one using pieces of bark salvaged from the wood pile. Besides the dragon on the roof, I made a couple of little fairy faces peaking out of the windows. The tall house is made of aspen slabs, left over from a friend's furniture making projects. Had a fit trying to make a roof, until I made it flat, filled in with spanish moss & trimmed with dried flowers from a yucca plant. A steampunk owl sits on top. Because of the beautiful gnarls in the wood, I put the door on the side instead of the front. Used sliced black walnut shells to decorate. The back is flat so it can be hung on the wall. Thinking of making another house using stones. Since it snowed again here today I need to be inside anyway....

MAY FLOWERS AND MINI HATS

Doing another workshop the end of the month. Friday we'll make flowers with ribbon & fabrics. Saturday decorate mini hats (6") with flowers and/or lace,feathers and other stuph. These little hats are popular with Steampunk, and are a lot of fun to make & wear. Had a couple of ladies model during a Red Hat lunch.

STEAMPUNK HAT

There are several posts online for making Steampunk hats...the one that caught my eye was made of DUCK TAPE! Of course I took a bit different course, but used the basic technique. They used a real hat. I won't go into details for how they did it, but I got a paper hat after St. Paddy day, covered with saran wrap, then the duck tape so it can be used over. I also made a pattern of the original hat and lined mine to make it nice & sturdy. Brads, cut out fabric flowers, wheels,etc. were used to decorate. The band at the top is actually bagging from potatoes. The other thing I now love is: texture paste. Used a stencil to apply for the design on the hat front. Plan to do more with it. Got the recipe for making with baking soda, white glue & acrylic paint. So cheap...one of my favorite things! Posted the recipe on my laurascreativemess blog. Hat will be part of my display for the Art Walk in June.

STEAMPUNK GOGGLES

Had to order trim for these on line since stuff like this isn't found around here. But worth the wait I think. This all started last month when I looked at the top of my distilled water bottle...Hmmm that looks like it would make neat steampunk goggles! So after making a pattern, dabbing on metallic paints (along with some distressing to make look old), and embellishing with "stuff"..Voila! Steampunk Goggles. Since the lens is plastic not really suitable to wear over the eyes. However will look funky as part of a costume I betcha!

STEAMPUNK VALENTINES: ROSE & VALENTINA

I THOUGHT I would "recycle" a couple of dolls for this show & save some time. Valentina was the undressed doll of the pattern for Steampunk article in SD&A. Used a crushed velvet pink jacket to make her outfit, with wired ribbon (wire removed) for her undershirt & trim on the jacket. The fun part here was that she was already mounted permanently to the base..SO had to sew pants onto her body by hand. Boots were black, so painted them to match. Decided I would sorta base her on the Hunger Games movie stuff, so made her an arrow with a heart for the point and flattened out wire for the bow. Rose has been sitting on a shelf for several years. I was experimenting with doing the lycra overlay, painting with gesso, inset glass eyes. Interesting but never quite what I wanted, so decided to work on her at a later date...which was this week. I had given her a pompadour hair do. No matter how much I messed with it, it just didn't look right. Cut it off, and replaced with a little curly wig, and that was it...along with a little hat. ta da! Rose holds a fancy scepter,(knitting needle) embellished with wire & roses, which she uses to cast a spell on young lovers...or something.

STEAMPUNK VALENTINES

Do to the great response in October All Good Things Gallery is sponsoring a Steampunk Valentine Show for next month. So here we go again! So Far I have Lover Boy, two Steampunk Cupids, and a couple of Valentines featuring Johnny Depp as the center of attention. Just could not resist, as I think he has such a gorgeous face. The one on the left has "Dream Lover" on it and hidden in the netting under the heart on the other is "Throb".(Get it?Heart Throb?) Still have a couple of more to do, but these make a good start!