Tuesday, January 21, 2014

My Paper Mache Adventure







I had  a long abstinence form may blogging due to my school work and also due to my new adventures. One of them is creating sculptures from paper. This is the website I was using for general instructions in making paper mache:

http://www.ultimatepapermache.com/paper-mache-recipes

This are some of my creations you can find on Etsy.com






The link to my Etsy site is:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Karinuska

Thursday, October 24, 2013

My idea for home made stamping: Home Made Stamps For Kitchen Towels

My idea for home made stamping: Home Made Stamps For Kitchen Towels: You can make them yourself using household items. Beware... results will be amazing!

Home Made Stamps For Kitchen Towels

Home Made Stamps

Rubber Stamps are quite expensive. I wanted to create my own online, but one block of rubber stamp would cost me over $30. I really wanted to create my own design which I planned on stamping on white cotton kitchen towels. The results are great. See for yourself....



And this is the stamp I created




All right lets start...

Materials and tools needed:

1. Wooden block. I went to Home Depot and picked up one piece of Favorite Hobby Wood Plank and cut it up myself on four pieces using a seesaw.   

2. Styrofoam Plate 

3. Tacky Glue (or any other all purpose glue)

4. Chopstick or Skewer

5. Scissors 

Optional:

If you are planning to stamp on fabric you would also need:


6. Fabric Paint ( I used Martha Stewart multi-surface paint)

7. Fabric Medium (Martha Stewart again)

8. Paint Rollers

9. Dish to mix paint with fabric medium 

10. Cotton flour Sack/or other fabric. 


Steps:

1. Cut out the edges from the styrofoam plate. 






2. Take a chopstick or a skewer, and make your design. Use the thicker side for thicker lines and the thiner side for more subtle lines.Be careful not to go to deep, but also do not make the lines to shallow.





3. Cut out your finished design. 





4. Use your glue and stick your design to another pice of the styrofoam piece. It would give it extra thickness which would be helpful during rolling the paint on.





5. After applying glue to the back side of your design,stick it to the piece of wood.





6. Start stamping (you can use your ink pad etc.)

If you are thinking about printing on fabric:

7. Iron you washed kitchen towel/flour sack or other fabric.
8. Spread the four sack flat on a stable surface. You can place a cardboard underneath.
9. Choose your paint and mix it with fabric medium (mix 1 part medium to 2 part paint) 





10. Dip you paint roller into the paint and distribute evenly on the stamp. You may want to wipe of the paint from the wooden block if you get any. You may also take any excess paint from the grooves using you skewer. 
11. Press it onto the towel.





12. 24 hours later iron on the reverse side. That will preserve your imprint. 

Enjoy!!!

You can purchase my home made towels on Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/166873885/kitchen-towel-hand-printed-cotton-flour?