Tag Archive for craft tutorial

DIY Tips Tricks & Tools, How To..., Sculpting Tips

DIY Tutorial: How To Use Flocking Powder!

March 8, 2013

So, as promised here is a quick tutorial on how to use flocking powder. I like to use it to make hard-sculpted things look fuzzy, but you can also use it for everyday crafting like: fuzzy letters for scrap booking, finishing the inside of a nice decoupaged box, or I even saw someone do their nails with it on Google!!

How To Use Flocking Powder

Supplies needed to do Flocking. Pretty much the same as doing glitter!

So these are the basic supplies you’ll need to cover anything with flocking powder:* Paperclay Sculpture (or other)* Acrylic Paint* Elmer’s Glue* Paint Brush* Flocking Powder* A piece of paper or box to gather loose powder when you’re done

Order Flocking Powder online. It comes in either shakers or a bag.	This is how Flocking Powder comes. Either in a bottle with a handy salt-shaker top or in a bag. I buy mine online, but if you look really hard, you might be able to find it at a Hobby Shop or Specialized Craft Store.
Different ways to apply the flocking powder. If your powder cam in a bag, you can use a small squirt bottle to apply it.	If you powder comes in a bag, you can use this fancy trick for easy application. Just take a small squirt bottle (got mine really cheap at the craft store) & cut the top open wider. This will give you a nice POOF of powder!
Paperclay parts painted with acrylic paint ready for flocking powder	Now take whatever you are flocking & paint a nice coat of acrylic on top. I’ve seen where people say that you can change the “tint” of the flocking powder by what shade you use for the under coat, but I really can’t tell a difference. You’ll be coating the heck out of it, it’s just a safety in case you miss a spot.
Just apply a layer of (slightly) thinned Elmer’s Glue with a brush.	Now just paint a coat of Elmer’s Glue onto your piece. Be sure it’s decently thick so you get good coverage.
Shake, Shake, Shake… Shake, Shake, Shake… Shake the Powder!	It’s time to FLOCK! Now just pour the powder on. Don’t worry about using too much, only so much will stick to the glue. You can always gather the left over powder & put it back in the container! No Waste!
Put as much powder on as you want! Then let it dry	It’ll look super fuzzy, THAT’S GOOD! Just let the powder sit & soak. It’s a good idea to try & flock the entire piece at once cause you can get some pretty weird layered effects if you try & do it in sections. Let it dry for a few hours before you shake off the extra. Most WILL come off!
One layer of Flocking Powder. I like to blow off all the extra & do another coat for a good coverage.	Here are the chicken bits with one layer of Flocking Powder on them. I like a nice thick coat of fuzz, so I wait till it’s completely dry then blow off all the extra powder do another coat of glue & powder. Be sure that all the extra fluff is off cause you’ll get rock-hard fuzzy boogers if you don’t!
Finished Base & Chicken Legs covered in Flocking Powder	And here is the base & legs! I really like working with the Flocking Powder cause you can get some pretty nice detail. I’ll use it for anything that is really thin like insect legs because it looks mostly like felted wool without working so hard with thin wool over armature wire. You get the look without losing the structure!

Awesome Links, Felting Tips, How To...

Great Week: Post #1 – Wee Felt Worlds Book!

January 14, 2013

So this week is going to be posts that announce AWESOME stuff that’s been going on around here! Last Thursday & Friday were filled with positive, exciting events!

Post #1 – Revealing “Wee Felt Worlds” Book!

wee felt worlds Great Week: Post #1 Wee Felt Worlds Book!

Awesome Needle Felting Project Book with such a variety of styles & projects! Available on Amazon!

That’s right! It’s been over a year since I worked on this super fun book. I was honored to be asked to contribute TWO scenes into this collection of needle felted dioramas! There are so many cute & inspiring artists & projects!

*Available on February 5th, 2013

*Available now for preorders on Amazon! Check it out here!

Back Cover Great Week: Post #1 Wee Felt Worlds Book!

The back cover of the book with my little T-Rex included!

There’s something magical about things made in miniature—and now you can create whole wee worlds of them, with three-dimensional critters and scenery. It’s easy to do with needle felting, an oh-so-simple process that requires few tools. Choose one of ten fun felted scenes with 50 individual items, including a prehistoric landscape with dinosaurs, volcanoes, and Paleolithic plants; a camping adventure featuring an adorable bear cub; a sweet sewing room, and even a galaxy far, far away with UFOs! Along the way, readers get tons of techniques and tips from the designers—from basic felt shaping to creating joints—and lots of helpful step-by-step illustrations.

Felting Tips, How To...

How To Make Wet Felted Spikes!

December 14, 2012

Today I am posting an old-to-me-new-to-you, fun & easy tutorial on how to make some Wet-Felted Spikes. You can also use this technique to make longer cords or snakes. It’s fun & easy & fast & all-ages. Enjoy!

HOW-TO: Wet Felted Spikes & Cords:

First you’ll need to get your material together:
• A bowl of cold water
• A bowl of warm dish-soapy water
• Some tufts of wool
• A towel (to help control wetness)
• A Bamboo Sushi Mat (or other textured felting surface)
• Some plastic wrap (to help control mess)

Now measure out a tuft of wool. I was making small spikes, so I used a very small thin tuft of wool. I found that you need to break up the wool so that it is short because as you felt it, it will stretch out & be really thin and limp. Remember that even though it may look like a lot of fluffy wool, it will felt down REALLY fast!

Now dip your tuft into the warm soapy water. Since I was making a spike, I want to leave one side dry & fluffy. This will give you a good “flange” of wool to felt to another surface. If you are making a cord or snake, then you can just dip the whole thing in!

Alright, ready to start felting!! It looks all limp & loose now, but not for long.

**THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART OF THE WHOLE TUTORIAL….

Create animated gif

Now start to felt on top of the Bamboo Mat. Be sure to be gentle at first, the wool will be very loose and want to stretch out & come apart. If you start gently rolling the wool back and forth, it will start to firm up & felt together. DON’T roll in just one direction, it will just wrap around itself and not felt from the inside out. Now just keep dipping the wool into the warm water & rolling it on the mat. It won’t take very long to felt, only a couple of minutes.

Here is the little spike after a couple of minutes of felting. Stay away from the edge if you want to keep it a spike. See the fluffy end at the bottom, this fluff will help you seamlessly felt your spike to a felt base.

Dip & Roll… Dip & Roll…

When your spike is pretty firm, dip THE WHOLE THING (fluff included) into the cold water to rinse the soap out. The cold water will not only rinse the soap out, but also shock the wool, which will help you firm & felt it up even more.

**HERE WE GO AGAIN!!! (sorry just figured out how to make a GIF animation & am really excited how it helps illustrate process. You’ll be seeing a lot more of this now that I know how to do it!!!)

Create animated gif

Just keep rolling & rinsing. You’ll see when the spike or cord is done felting when… well… it just wont felt anymore. This whole Dip & Roll process will take only a couple of minutes when using a small tuft. I guess if you don’t have a Bamboo Mat or other textured felting surface, you could probably just use your hands and rub the wool between them. Like when you were a kid & you made clay snakes. This would take a lot longer than if you use another surface. Try using whatever you have around the house as a Felting surface: drawer liner, non-slip floor mat, silicone oven mitt, paint tray liner, etc.

This is what your spike will look like when you finish felting. It’s a little on the rough side, if that’s how you like it… uh… But just let it air dry.

I like my felting to be pretty clean, so I needled my spike, just a little to tighten them up even more & poke in all the fly a way fibers.

*Note: Never feel like you cannot mix felting techniques. If you try wet-felting something & it doesn’t turn out right, go ahead & needle felt over it!! There are no rules when felting. They all do the same job, just in different ways. Don’t be a felting “elitist” or “purest”. Whatever get the job done for you!

It’s so hard for me to get crisp points with felt. So with these spikes I cut off the very wispy end of the wool & needle-felted directly into the tip. This firms up the tip a little. Then you can just clip any stray hairs that may still be sticking around.

If you are making cords or snakes, you are pretty much done at this point. But if you are making spikes, now is the time to take advantage of that fluffy end you left. Take the fluffy end of non-felted wool, thin & spread it out to create an awesome flange to felt. This will help you attach the spike solidly & easily, without adding a lot of extra wool.

Now just place your spike wherever you want it, and felt it on!!! I’m not a wet-felting expert, but I think you can also wet-felt it on.

DONE!!!!!
YEA!!! Thanx!! I hope you enjoy this fun & animated tutorial. If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to comment on my blog.

HAVE FUN!!!

Felting Tips, Felting Tutorials, Videos

Pondering My New Felting Video How-To: Shading with Pastels

October 22, 2012

So I just uploaded a new How To video to YouTube about shading wool using chalk pastels!

I got some great feedback from some amazing Felters yesterday via Twitter:

[box] You actually inspire me to take bigger chances, experiment and play. @shanakohnstamm [/box]

[box] Thanks for sharing. I’ve always loved your shading but the airbrush wasn’t an option for me. This is! @runredrunfelts[/box]

It got me to thinking….

★ The real reason I experiment so much, honestly, is that I’m lazy! I see such amazing felting work & realize how much time & labor goes into them. I figure there HAS to be an easier way to create the look that we want without all the work!

★ I don’t see my art work as precious. I think this gives me the “courage” to take more risks with the whole process. It’s just wool after all! Never feel like you are stuck with what you have created so far, you can always cut it, add to it, change it!

★ I’m not really a felter, but a sculptor that happens to work with wool. I love being able to sculpt fibers into fun Plush, without having to do all that pesky sewing! That’s why I don’t feel like I have to be constrained by the traditional techniques of the craft.

★ You learn the most from your mistakes! Like in this video, after working with the eyeshadow, I knew that it wasn’t as good as the chalk pastels. That’s why it’s an experiment. Sometimes you gotta screw it up before you perfect it.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest! And I hope you enjoy!

DIY Tips Tricks & Tools

DIY Tips & Tricks: Giant Candyland Props!

October 15, 2012

I’ve been super busy that last couple weeks working on some party props for my little cousin’s 5th Birthday Party! It’s always was fun to work on projects that are out of my norm & learn new techniques to inspire me in my regular art!

My kitchen is still a bomb with left over materials from all the Paper Mache that I did, paint bottles strewn about, and an overall cluttered feel that all will be taken care of today. I like to tidy up the studio after the push of a big project & start fresh & new for my next project.

So here are just a few picts of some of the GIANT CANDY I made for her “Candyland” themed party. It was super fun coming up with ideas on how to make all these iconic candies!!

I was really happy with how the lollypop turned out. It was made by hot gluing 2 pieces of Foam Pipe Insulation (available at Home Depot for like $1.00) in a spiral, then I painted it, and wrapped it in clear cellophane. The Pink Candy was super simple: just a couple paper plates hot glued together, then wrapped in some shiny wrapping paper!

I was also pretty happy with how my Gumdrops looked. They were a little more complex, but basically I found a bucket (a Jack-o-Lantern candy bucket at the Dollar Store), paper mache’d 3 layers of newspaper over it, painted it pink, then… covered it with Epsom Salts! I saw this on Pinterest for modifying candles, but I thought it would be perfect for a “sugar glaze”. I brushed on a layer of Elmer’s Glue, then rolled the whole Gumdrop into the Epsom Salts. I then sealed it with a couple coats of Clear Coat.

These are 4 mini chocolates I designed based on real candy wrappers. I took some empty cookie boxes & covered them with aluminum foil. Then I designed the “wrappers” in Photoshop and cut all the different colors on my Silhouette Cameo & glued it all together. It was fun & I actually learned alot about layout in Photoshop & the Cameo Software.

And a couple more candies I made. I did the Hershey’s Kiss by just taping some newspaper together & covering it in aluminum foil. The Smarties looking candy was a tube that I painted white, cut strips of colored paper that I taped on, then covered the whole thing in cellophane. And there are some more paper plate candies that I covered with tissue paper!

Robot Me & Robot Husband….

IMG 1948 1024x1024 DIY Tips & Tricks: Giant Candyland Props!

‘stache Me…

DIY Tips Tricks & Tools

DIY Tips, Tricks, & Tools: How To Peel Masking Tape

August 16, 2012

Since I started redesigning my studio space, I’ve been using all sorts of tricky DIY techniques that I forgot that I knew how to do! I learned many of these Tips, Tricks, & Tools while working for many years in the entertainment industry. I’ve worked as a scenic painter & sculptor here in L.A. and have worked on stuff ranging from Disneyland Rides, Movies, Commercials, & Giant Stage Sets.

So I thought, “Why not share a few of these totally time-saving ideas with you!!” So here is a new series that I’ll be posting!

DIY Tips, Tricks, & Tools:

How To Peel Masking Tape Off!

Have you ever pulled off masking tape & then it starts to peel off the paint you just pain-stakingly spent the time to perfectly apply?

Here is the pegboard I made for my new studio space. I taped off about 2″ of the edge to paint a nice black boarder around the entire thing. After Masking off the edge, I sprayed 2 coats of Kilz Primer, then 3 coats of Aqua Spray Paint on. Once completely dry, I started to peel off the tape….

So don’t just pull off the tape really fast. Alot of time, especially if you are painting with acrylic or Latex paint, the paint creates a “skin” when it dries. When you pull the masking tape straight up, you are pulling up the “skinned” paint with it. You will spend time touching up the bits that tear off with your tape.

The proper way to pull off tape is to peel a little bit up, then fold it back on itself & peel SLOWLY off at an angle AWAY from the painted surface.

Folding it back on itself means that as you pull off the tape, make sure the unsticky sides are in constant contact. You could even pull away & down.

This technique tears the paint along the taped line rather that pulling up the paint.

Extra Tips:

*If you find that the paint is still pulling up a little, use an Exacto knife to cut any stubborn paint along the masking line.

*Be sure to thoroughly burnish the tape down. You can use a credit card or the back of your finger nail to help.

*A SUPER-SECRET Trick that I learned to help prevent seeping paint… If you find that no matter how much you burnish the tape down, it still leaks, try this… After applying the masking tape, brush on a thin coat of clear Matt-Medium, Mod Podge, or other Clear Acrylic Medium. This will seal the tape & if the clear medium leaks through, no one will notice!!

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Felted Chicken

Tag Archive for craft tutorial

DIY Tips Tricks & Tools, How To..., Sculpting Tips

DIY Tutorial: How To Use Flocking Powder!

March 8, 2013

How To Use Flocking Powder

So these are the basic supplies you’ll need to cover anything with flocking powder:* Paperclay Sculpture (or other)* Acrylic Paint* Elmer’s Glue* Paint Brush* Flocking Powder* A piece of paper or box to gather loose powder when you’re done

This is how Flocking Powder comes. Either in a bottle with a handy salt-shaker top or in a bag. I buy mine online, but if you look really hard, you might be able to find it at a Hobby Shop or Specialized Craft Store.

If you powder comes in a bag, you can use this fancy trick for easy application. Just take a small squirt bottle (got mine really cheap at the craft store) & cut the top open wider. This will give you a nice POOF of powder!

Now just paint a coat of Elmer’s Glue onto your piece. Be sure it’s decently thick so you get good coverage.

It’s time to FLOCK! Now just pour the powder on. Don’t worry about using too much, only so much will stick to the glue. You can always gather the left over powder & put it back in the container! No Waste!

It’ll look super fuzzy, THAT’S GOOD! Just let the powder sit & soak. It’s a good idea to try & flock the entire piece at once cause you can get some pretty weird layered effects if you try & do it in sections. Let it dry for a few hours before you shake off the extra. Most WILL come off!