Tracey-anne's Blog: Tutorials

List of tutorials

Click on images to take you to the source

You can find links to more tutorials HERE

EGG CARTONS FLOWER

You need:
Empty egg cartons, scissors and wire - Cut four strips out of a tip on the egg carton.
Round the edges of the four egg carton strips to imagine the petals.

Make three such of egg carton ends and put them inside one another.
The inner need not be cut into four strips.
Insert the wire into the hole in the center and secure them by pinching the wire together.
Make sure there hangs a long wire out from the hole so that the
downside in this way can pin the flower on a branch.

LYSLENKE OF CARTONS FLOWER - Put flowers on a lyslenke.
They are not attached to anything. Muffin FLOWER - Man takes two muffin molds and pinch them together. Tie them together with sewing thread and sew them on a branch.

Pink dye- natural - by boiling eggs in onion, rose-hip tea or red cabbage.
This gives a beautiful color glow on eggs especially.

A tutorial by Tracey-anne

more instruction HERE

One Twisted Tree

Instructions by Forest Rogers

In case anyone is in need of a 24” twisted tree, I’ll summarize my approach to making one.

For me, this tree helped consume those feverish days (and nights) before the New Orleans NIADA conference. It was an experiment, and better ways are likely out there… but, here’s the story:

1. If you want tree-ish inspiration, check out books on Bonsai trees. Also very fine: Meetings with Remarkable Trees and Remarkable Trees of the World by Thomas Pakenham, from Norton publishers.

2. Armature: I twisted heavy armature wire (8 or 9 gauge aluminum wire) together to form the roots and trunk of the tree. The larger the tree, of course, the heavier the appropriate wire.

Continuing from trunk to branches, I moved through lighter weight copper wire, twisting out and up from the trunk, ending with 28 gauge gold plated copper wire, for the leafy branch tips. Pieces of easily manipulated, light weight aluminum mesh served to fill in areas of the tree trunk that needed more solidity & surface area — the “seat” and the thicker roots.

3. Trunk and branch sculpting: Over the wire trunk and heavier branches, I used Aves Apoxy Clay. A number of excellent two part self-hardening clays are available from the Aves Products web site (listed with sources below).

I chose to use the “Apoxie Clay.” The Aves site suggests that the Aves Clay (as opposed to the Apoxie Sculpt) is good if you are sensitive to solvents. It also takes detail particularly well. It’s not quite as strong as the Apoxie Sculpt, but for this purpose it served very well, and had a texture I found pleasant to work with: softer, indeed more “clay” like.

I followed the instructions on the containers, to good effect. I used latex/plastic gloves while hand mixing the two parts of the clay together, saving a lot of hand washing and stickiness. I mixed relatively small batches, as the material begins to set up in an hour or so, and I’m slow.

Keeping water handy for moistening & cleaning finger tips, I put the clay on in sections, perhaps 4” x5” or so, and worked it into the desired shape with fingers & a small favorite tool (very small burnisher, but each to her/his own!) I used water on fingers and a soft paint brush to smooth & refine the surface while it was still workable. A stiff, flat oil-painting brush was good for giving a bit of texture to the surface.

I continued to apply the Apoxie Clay up to a few inches above the seat area of the trunk, where the branches became very thin, 1/4”or less. I felt the clay might easily crack during transport if used on the thin branches, so I set aside the clay, and instead wrapped the wire branches in fiber (from flax yarn, in this case) & a white glue good for sticking porous to non-porous materials (such as Gem-Tac, and Weldbond).

This left the thinner branches flexible, and less crackable.

I painted the tree-trunk and branches with acrylics, sealed with a matte acrylic varnish. Good ones for the purpose: “Dead Flat” Decorators Varnish by Polyvine, or Winsor & Newton Acrylic Matt Varnish. (Note: the Winsor & Newton Acrylic Matt also works wonderfully on polymer clays. I’d be cautious and test the Polyvine varnish on polymer before using for that purpose.)

4. Leaves: I began to cut them individually out of silk… then I realized I could either find a faster method, or wait another few years to join NIADA. I went to a local decorator’s shop, and found a good silk Hydrangea, which looked like the perfect victim. I brought it home, dismembered it, and clipped its four-petaled flowers into four separate leaves. They varied nicely in size.

I glued a strip of archival (for the obsessive) tissue paper along each wire branch tip, sandwiching the wire. I cut the tissue strips in to a long, narrow , willow leaf shape. I could then glue the rounded ex-Hydrangea leaves onto the strip of tissue paper, resulting in the leaf pattern you see.I wanted to maintain some translucency in the leaves, and simply glazed them with acrylic paints.

Berries were created by twisting glass beads, on fine wire (30/32 gauge) into bunches, and adding as desired.

And there you have it.

Homemade Script Tissue Paper

I took a piece of copy paper and sprayed spray adhesive on the top and the bottom. I left the middle with no spray. This was just to get the tissue paper to adhere so it would go through the copier. I laid the tissue on the sheet of paper and trimmed it to fit the 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of copy paper. I then ran the paper through my copier and copied the image like normal. I only had to use one piece of copy paper because each consecutive piece of tissue adhered just fine.

Make feathers - using embroidery floss

Supplies:

Cloth Stem Wire – Very important to have the “cloth” variety. You can find this in the floral section of your local craft store.

Liquid Starch – This is what makes the magic happen

Wire Snips

Glue Stick

Sharp Scissors

Yarn, Embroidery Floss, Bakers Twine or even Jute

Using your wire snips cut the cloth stem wire to the desired length and apply glue to one end

Begin winding tightly starting about a half inch from the end

Once you reach the end begin winding back all the way to the other end of the wire

Before you reach the end apply more glue wind all the way to the end and then back about a half inch

Once you’ve wound to the end and back about a half inch snip the floss and glue in place

Cut several pieces of floss about 3 inches long

Begin single knotting each piece of floss starting about a half inch from the end (that portion will be the stem of the feather)

Follow through all the way to the end

Pour some liquid starch in a shallow container and submerge

Once fully soaked gently squeeze excess starch out of the floss

Lay out on a piece of plastic (I used a kitchen trash bag) shape with your fingers and let sit until completely dried. Yarn will take at least 48 hrs. Floss and bakers twine dry in about 24 hrs.

So now that you’ve got your feathers made take your sharpest pair of scissors

and trim to desired shape and dimensions.

Colour Theory

Felted Rose

By Tiziana Boccaletti

Craft medium: Wet feltmaking

Symbol: Rose:

I was undecided about the color of my rose until I read the Legend of the Christmas Rose.

Hence, my white rose is hand stained with tones of warm red to symbolize the gift from the heart.

MATERIALS NEEDED

One ounce (30g) white merino wool roving

One ounce(30g) mixed greens merino wool roving.

Cotton pipe cleaner cut to 7-8 inches

Liquid soap and water solution: 4oz. hot water and 3 tablespoons of liquid soap

Red permanent marker

Small rolling pin

A wooden stick or bamboo skewer

Two glass bowls: one bigger for water and soap and a smaller one for soap only

Two 8.5îx11î sheets of bubble wrap

Watercolor paint brush

Natural red watercolor pigment

SCULPTING THE BUD

With your hands (never use scissors), tear approximately 3 inches of white roving and lay

on top of the bubble wrap. The smooth side of the bubble wrap will be facing up.

Sprinkle the water and soap solution on the roving to saturate it. Pick the roving up with

both hands and work the solution into it, combing the roving in one direction until it feels

very smooth. Without wringing it, eliminate as much soap and water as you can. You

will now have a rectangular piece of almost felted wool. Wet your fingertips with liquid

soap only and start wrapping the roving around the tip of the cotton pipe cleaner in a

concentric motion. Your rose bud is now done. Set aside.

A PDF print out is available from HERE PDF

Homemade Ink and Quill Pens

Things You’ll Need

Feather

A paper clip

1/2 cup of ripe berries (blueberries, cherries, blackberries, strawberries, or raspberries work well)

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of dried vinegar

Jar, with a tight fitting lid

Strainer

Wooden Spoon

Bowl

Directions:

Place the berries in the strainer and place it over the bowl. Use a wooden spoon to crush the berries against the strainer so that the juice drips into the bowl. When all the juice is out of the berries, throw the pulp away. Add the salt and vinegar to the berry juice and stir it well. If the ink is too thick, add a teaspoon or two of water. Be careful not to add too much water or you'll lose the color of your ink! Pour the juice into a small jar and close it with a tight-fitting lid. Make only as much ink as you will use at one time, because it will dry up quickly.

Form the pen point by cutting the end of the feather on an angle, curving the cut slightly. Clean out the inside of the quill with a paper clip. Cut a small slit at the point of the pen.

To write, simply dip the quill pen into the ink! Don't press too hard or you might break your pen.

Homemade Tattered Bird Cage