Art Warrior Project

       So, we were given a new project of creating art warrior armor. We were to base our armor on a published work of art. Like a song or painting. One part of this project is that we had to have a "use of a repetitive unit" on the armor.

       I have based my project on the Of Monsters And Men song "Dirty Paws" which has been a favorite of mine for many years.  This song is about a war between the birds and the bees. Here are some lyrics.

The forest of talking trees,
They used to sing about the birds and the bees.
The bees had declared a war,
The sky wasn't big enough for them all.

The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines.
But she and her furry friends
Took down the queen bee and her men.

         I am planning on doing the armor of the bees after they lost the war. In the middle of the chest plate.  I will paint a huge gash representing their loss.The plate will be made out of pieces of carboard and they'll be painted to look like honeycombs. The wings I have multiple ideas with the wings. So I haven't chosen how to do them yet. The skirt will be a fabric that I'll paint to look metallic.

         I am having a lot of fun with this so far. I hope everything will turn out. But, ya know, it doesn't always. Things change. But that's ok. Let's get ARTING!

New Stained Glass Project

           

            

               So, our new project we are looking at making our own stained glass designs. I've designed a dragonfly, consisting of 28 pieces. Many of them being extremely small. I'd hoped that we'd have black glass for the body, but we don't have any. So I will probably end up using dark brown. I've designed the wings to look like the logo for my favorite podcast Nightvale. The logo is below.

              I will make the moons in the design easier to grind. Because of its curve and the size of the grinder, I'll need to reshape the wings a bit. And I'm sure that the body will be somewhat easier but difficult in its own way.

Part 2!

        

           This is the finished piece. Continuing what I said in the last post, after you take the paper off you should put the pieces together in the pattern it was meant to be in. Then you dry fit it; try to fill the gaps in where you ground off too much or too little. Once you have done that, you'll need to foil the edges. Flatten the foil down to make it stay. Foiling is what I had finished doing in the picture in the last post. Then you will need to sauter the edges and creases in the pattern. and then sauter the ring to the top. If you want, you can put patina on the sauter, which is what I have done. Patina makes the silvery look of the sauter turn copper. After all this, slap some wax on it, wait until it hazes, and wash it off. Then BOOM, you got yourself a stained glass wonder.

On To Stained Glass!

                      We've begun stained glass. . . and finished it. Well, I have finished. I was so caught up in it, that I forgot to make a post! And I really am having fun, especially with this. I'll go through the process with you. First, you have to draw out your pattern, or if it's already drawn up, start drawing another one to use as a guide for your pieces of glass. Cut the second pattern out. You want to start picking out the glass you want to use. Once you have chosen, glue pieces you have cut out of your pattern next to the edge of the glass. Carefully cut it out and cut any extra pieces before you start grinding. Vaseline the paper on the pieces so they don't fly off. When you grind, keep the piece flat on the board. and grind all the way to the paper piece. Once you have done it with all the pieces, soak them in water for about ten minutes so the paper will come off easy. And that's it for now. I'll explain the rest in my next post.

Finished!

             Finally finished! The second picture is the inside of is which is my favorite part. I love how it swirls inward. I'm going to try to do that on the outside of the next one. 

            One big difference between this one and the first is the end of the string. As you can see in the picture above, I had planned to end the string in a more pleasant looking way. Last time was not planned out that well. I'm just really proud of myself for sticking to my plan and not messing up too bad. Now, ON TO THE THIRD!

            

In Progress: Second One

          

        I am surprised it is turning out this well, to say the least. The stitching is consistent and the shape is actually staying. I'm adding another inch or so, to the basket because of the requirement for the measurements to add up to eight. I'm planning to give it as gift or just keep it as a pencil holder. Something like that. Can't wait to finish it!!

Second one now!

        

  Starting my Second one. I am planning on making it like a bubble on a bubble. One ball on the other, until I hit six inches high. With this one, the stitching is more planned than my previous one. as you can see in the first picture the stitching is vertical and touching each other. I'm going to do this style on the whole thing.

After Shellac:

                  I'm happy that I'm done with my first basket and that it turned out better than I thought it would. I do have few ideas for my next one which I'll be starting soon. This next one that I'll be making will be much, MUCH bigger. Haven't decided on making the stitching more intricate or simpler than the first one. We'll have to see.

Basket Making

             When I added this class to my elective list, I hadn't known that it would be this much fun. As you can see by the little swirl of pine needles with string wrapped around it, I am making a basket. Yeah, I know what you are thinking. How the heck can you have fun making a basket? 

             Once you get in the spin of things, ( Ay, get it?) it can be quite calming. It's this big process at first but you get the spiral in the middle and make sure you put the needles in that bronze gauge every once and a while. and you are set.