The Big Halloween Crown

 

This is the biggest crown I've made so far.  I took a few photos of the process to share with you so let's go!

I use copper electrical wire for crown making because it's easy to bend and forgiving enough to be straightened again.  I grab Hub's three strand roll and measure by loosely wrapping it around my head three times. Then I strip all the plastic coating off the wires and separate them.

Wrap one strand around your head three times once again and use 24 gauge wire to bind it so it doesn't slip.

Next you'll decide the profile. Will it be tall or compact?  Will it be a flourish all in front like a pageant crown, or peaks and valleys like a king's crown?

I went with tall peaks and valleys for this crown.  To make the profile, you'll take another piece of wire and start bending.  Use the whole wire for this, you can cut extra or add more as you need. Keep in mind that the peaks don't have to be the same height, you can have fun with it.

After you decide the height and spacing, use more 24 gauge wire to wrap and secure the profile to the base.  the more you wrap, the sturdier the frame will be.  Because of the size of this crown, I needed an extra piece of wire.  I doubled the number of peaks to twelve.

Use the third wire to make small scrolls and spirals (or any shape you want to fill in with) and wire them together.  Again, the more wrapping you do, the more blah blah blah. 

After all the pieces are together, you can wrap the base to cushion it.  I used black velour cut into strips to wrap it.  I've also used crocheted scarves and Sherpa fleece from old sweaters.  Choose a material that won't unravel.  secure the material with a needle and thread.  I usually sew beads on as well.
TRY THE CROWN ON AS YOU'RE WRAPPING THE BASE, SO IT DOESN'T END UP TOO TIGHT FOR YOUR HEAD

At this point I usually add beads using 24 gauge wire.  I wanted this one to be made with all dangling charms, so added tons of closed loops in the electrical wire.  I made 240+ charms.

The decorating is the fun part! I use all kinds of beads, broken jewelry, knick knacks and doo dads.  It makes any project so personal to use things that have meaning to you.  Here I've used ceramic and polymer clay beads I made and bits from my grandmother's broken jewelry collection.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 21 - Frankie Door Hanger

It's day 21 of Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Can you believe it?  It's going by so fast!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

By now, you know that I save - nay- seek out fun tissue boxes. The whole sides are usable for just about anything, but the overlapping sides are only partially useable. Well I liked this little guy enough to carefully take him apart and put him back together. Apropo, no?

Materials:
Halloween tissue box
Scissors
Hole punch - 1/8" - I used the small hole punch on my Cropadile
Grommets
Cropadile or grommet setter
Glitter glue - I used black to make the "stitches"
20 Gauge wire
Headpins
Wire cutters
Round nose pliers Beads

1. Cut out your focal panel and decorate with glitter glue if desired and allow to dry.
2. Punch 2 holes toward the outer edges on the top and punch 5 holes on the bottom edge.
3. Add grommets to the holes.
4. Cut a 16" piece of wire and fill half way with beads.
5. Slide all the beads to the middle of the wire and put the wire tails through the top 2 holes from back to front.  6. Use the round nose pliers to start a spiral on the wire tails and roll them up to the holes.
7. Make or buy 5 charms. If you make them, slide 2 or 3 beads on a headpin and make a large loop.
8. Slide the charms though the grommets on the bottom and wrap the wire tails around to secure.

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Reverse Painted Pumpkin Plate

It's day 6 of Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop!  This has been so much fun, hopping and commenting AND I thank everyone for the awesome comments you've give me! 
Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

Last year C2C's Tiffany Windsor shared a Christmas Ornament Reverse Painted Plate and Candace J fell in love with it! In Candace's mind that technique could lead to fabulous possibilities! First stop: Halloween! Materials: Glass Plate Glass Paints - Purple, black, orange, turquoise and green Black puffy paint

	Choose a design you like and tape it face down on the front of the place.
	Turn the plate over and trace the outline of your image with the black puffy paint.I added a freehand design around the edge. You're welcome to use it if you like. Allow to dry.
	Pain in the sections with the glass paints.If you plan to do any shading or highlighting, you'll want to do that first. I added yellow to the orange for highlights and darkened the orange for shading. You don't have to be precise painting, if you paint over the puffy paint lines, it won't show. You may need three or more coats to make the colors opaque.
	Paint black on the back of the plate after the colors have dried. It gives it a finished look.

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 3 - Halloween Hand Soap

It's day 3 of Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! 
Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

Here's an easy Halloween upcycle project - Eye of newt hand soap! Dig out you favorite Halloween papers, and embellishments and create a one of a kind home accent!

Materials:
Soap pump bottle
Aleene's Collage Paudge Matte or Glossy
Decorative paper
Halloween ephemera
Gems
Paint brush
Scissors

	Remove the label from a soap pump. Measure the bottle and cut decorative paper to go all the way around. Paint the bottle and the back of the paper with Collage Paudge and attach the paper. Immediately coat the outside of the paper with the collage medium. If your bottle is not straight up and down you may have to do some clipping an overlapping. Smooth as much as possible.
	Add paper embellishments in the same way. I wanted the bat wing to stand out, so I coated the back of it to seal it.
	Glue on the rest of the embellishments and allow to dry.

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Amber Moon Earrings

New on the Bone Tree - Amber Moon Earrings

I made these little guys from polymer clay.  The base color is black and I brushed on iridescent powders in amazing colors.  I added glitter and finished with a glossy sealer.  The dangles are a white iridescent moon and an amber glass  teardrop.  You can find them on my Etsy shop - Delicious Mischief

Crowning Progress

I'm working on a new crown for this year.  It's the year of harmony and robots and this crown will reflect that.
The frame of the crown is electrical wire.  I wrap the wire loosely around my head to measure the base.  You need a little extra room for the covering of the base, which in this case is strips of shrepa fleece from an old top. 
Before covering the base. construct the skeleton of shaped wire pieces - curly ques and arches, etc.  They are strung together with 24 gauge wire.  There's a lot of movement at this point.
I wrap the base with stretchy fabric.  This is the first part of the tightening up process.  I usually bead the fabric.
Next I wrap the whole crown with 24 gauge wire.  Now the frame is very sturdy.
Today I'm ready to start adding charms.  I made a singing bird bead from polymer clay.

 Here's the tutorial.

I'm going to make a tiny robot with beads and there are lots of handmade beads that I'm compelled to add because they speak to my warped beingness.  Skulls with jeweled eyes, chocolates and such.  You'll see =0)

In the meantime, hop over to my page at cool2craft.com and see what we're up to!

Bone Tree Jewelry

Etsy recommends having interesting photos of your product and I thought long and hard about it.  This is what I came up with.  It's The Bone Tree.  It's visually exciting to me!  I knew there was a reason I saved those vine wrapped branches all those years!  Soooo I'll be posting what's new on The Bone Tree occasionally, just because I like the sound of it! =0)

Origami Snowflake Template

Polymer Clay Candy Corn Bracelet

I love October.  The colors and smells of autumn bring my senses to life.  I love to bury my nose in the first bag of candy corn I buy in October.   I open it with relish and pour it into a clear glass candy jar.  That's when it's fall to me!
Three years ago I went to Italy with three friends to take polymer clay jewelry classes with Louise Fisher Cozzi and Donna Kato.  We had so much fun!  
Louise taught us how to achieve an amazing technique to give polymer clay layers of color.  She uses translucent polymer clay and colors it with oil paint.  After it's cured, she adds more oil paint on top of that.  After that's dry, she uses color pencils to give the piece another layer of fabulous color.

Here I've started conditioning translucent polymer clay.  After the clay is fairly soft you can add a tiny bit of oil paint.  An inexpensive oil paint is fine.

Continue to condition until the clay is a uniform color.  It helps to have a piece of the candy corn to look at while you're tinting the clay.  Be sure to add only a dab of paint each time, and do the yellow before the orange.  It's okay to get yellow paint on your orange clay, but not okay to get orange paint on your yellow clay.

                                                                 

The orange roll will be the largest, the yellow is half as large as the orange and the white roll is half as large as the yellow.  Lay the rolls side by side and slice evenly.  Begin by rolling the white piece into a cone, the orange piece an egg shape and the yellow piece into a slightly flattened oval.

Gently roll the pieces until the all edges touch and it looks like a continuous cone shape. 

Flatten the cone shape slightly.  It's a good idea to have that candy corn to look at for dimension.

For the bracelet beads, bend a wire or paper clip to mark where the holes will be.  I made mine to mark both holes just inside the orange part.  For earring beads, you might want to make a vertical hole through the candy corn.  Remember to hold the clay very gently as you pierce it, so you don't squish it.

Bake the clay as directed on the package.

When making a bracelet, I line my beads up against a ruler to make it seven inches long.  The length you use depends on who the bracelet is for.  I wanted this bracelet to look full, so I used three strings in each bead hole and strung smallish beads.  Larger beads would make it look chunky, if that's your preference.

Have fun making your beads and bracelet, and send me a photo! 



Creative Play Theme for October

The Creative Play theme for October is Studio Monsters!

 If your tools, your supplies, your own artwork turned against you...What would that monster look like?  Come up with a studio monster of your own and tell us all about it at the Coo2Craft Creative Play blog on the Hive. 
Remember you can use any medium!  Draw it, paint it, video it, sculpt it, write a Haiku about it, make a costume, write a song about it, or come up with a different way to represent your studio monster!
Have fun!

Here's a link to Elisabeth Latture's Studio demons.
http://www.sparklingsoulstudio.com/
Beth is a fiber artist and part of the art grhttp://www.sparklingsoulstudio.com/oup F.I.N.E., Fiber in nearly Everything.  Here's the link to the group.
http://www.f-i-n-e.com/

October Halloween Art Giveaway





Candy Corn Riot Earrings

This week's Cool2Craft Creative Play giveaway  is a pair of these earrings!  I made them using real candy corns that have been sealed completely.  They are embellished with colorful glass beads and are a must-wear for your holiday parties!

Leave a comment on this blog for a chance to win them!  Next Wednesday I'll announce the winner as well as the giveaway for the following week!

The October Tease

Tonight on Cool2Craft Pajama Party Live with host Lisa Fulmer, I will announce the Cool2Craft Creative Play theme for October.  Here's a teaser:

Ooh!  It's so scary!

I'll also be announcing giveaways that will be happening every Wednesday, on the Cool2Craft Pajama Party Live!  Tune in to find out how to win!

Halloween Giveaways at PFATT

You have got to go see this web site!  Who knoew there were so many Halloween artists! 

My New Role

I am about to take on the roll of Creative Play Muse for Cool2Craft!!! Tomorrow at noon, Eastern Standard Time, I will fill you in on all the details! Check out the Cool2Craft Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=342077966832&ref=ts#!/Cool2Craft?ref=ts and scroll down to the Cool2Craft Live button on the left to tune in!

I'll be presenting a monthly Creative Play theme for you to run with. You'll send in your entries which will be posted on the Cool2Craft web site at
http://cool2craft.com/
AND on the Hive at
http://creatingthehive.com/group/cool2craftcreativeplay
 Play on!

Bone Guy

This is Bone Guy, the clay whistle.

He's a warped little dude with a clear whistle sound.  With medium air pressure he sounds like a steam boat.  Play on, Bone Guy, play on.

Darkness Inspiration's Monster Challenge

Coffee Monster

Yes, this is what I look like before my morning coffee.  It's an inch and a half tall it's made of white earthenware clay and colored with crayons and black paint.

Check out Darkness Inspiration's Blog!

Frida Kahlo Inspired Self Portrait

Last week The Crafty Chica, Kathy Cano Murillo, challenged her blog readers to paint a Frida Kahlo inspired self portrait to honor the artist on her birthday.  I don't really paint, but I loved the idea.  So, I started with a box of chocolates, which I happily ate.  Then I sketched the portrait to go on the top of the box.  I cut it out, put it on, added colors, inks to age the box and attached some dangly earrings.

Note the uni brow and hint of moustache! Very Fridaesque.  I decided the piece would be about my inner artist, so the inside of the box would have to reflect the joy of creating art!  I love sculpting food!  Especially chocolate and coffee!  I used polymer clay to make the skeleton bits and chocolates.  Of course I had to add jewels and wire work.  Those things bring me joy, as well.

Then there's the Sacred Heart that my ribs can hardly contain.  That's all about my spiritual life.  You can't see it here, but I lined the inside of the box with a sparkly ribbon.  I do love to have sparkle and brilliant colors around me.  They feed my inner artist.

If you're not familiar with Frida's work, click here to see her work and read about her amazing life.

Sweetie

This is Sweetie.  She's a handmade clay whistle.

Each whistle begins as a hollow ball.  To achieve that, you make two pinch pots and join them together.  After the ball dries a bit so that it's firm, but malleable, it can be shaped and smoothed.  I like to carve, stamp and finish the details before cutting the hole and adding the whistle mouth piece.

When the piece is dry it can be fired.  The firing turns the clay to the consistency of an unglazed flower pot.  Now, I don't mind glazing, but I prefer the process of wax resist.  I color on the pottery with crayons, then I paint the whole thing with brown or black acrylic paint.  The paint wipes off the waxy part and soaks in the parts that aren't waxy.  Next they heat in the oven to evaporate the wax (the color remains).  I finish the piece with colored pencil highlights.

Each whistle has a unique sound and different breath pressure to achieve the sound.  If I were an expert whistle carver, I'd be able to control those things, but it is what it is.   Sweetie's whistle sounds like a Ghost Train when blown at a medium pressure.