Happy, Happy Holidays! Whew!! What a super busy time of year...it should be more relaxed, shouldn't it? Gonna have some GREAT, GREAT changes coming through in 2013. Can't wait - going to follow my heart and do what I love in regards to my artwork...so excited! But that's for a later post.
Wanted to share with you a gift I recently made for my Mom. I always try and make something for Mom for Christmas...love doing it and I know she loves it too. So THIS year I went for something a little bit out of the box for her...I am hoping she will love it. Below is how I came to this idea:
So I am always looking for inspiration for my artwork and always looking for new and unique ideas to put my artwork on. So I was at Wal-Mart one day looking at crafty stuff that my kiddos can do for a project (my youngest always asks on the weekend, "Mom, what's our project for the day?" Ha! Love it! So much better than sitting in front of the TV!! ).
Anyway, I was in the craft aisle and came across a wood burning tool set. If you aren't familiar with these, here is a picture of one similar to what I am using:
You can find these in any craft store or, as I did, in the craft section of Wal-Mart. Mine was, literally, $10...yep, $10. Can't go wrong there right??
So I purchased the set thinking that I would use it someday. Well then I was at IKEA and came across these wooden lazy susans...for $7.50 each!! Immediately my mind raced as to what I could do with this unique blank canvas.
And so the fun began. My Mom hosts 'Fish Friday' dinners with her closest friends during Lent. How fun would it be for her to serve drinks or whatever on a fun lazy susan for her fish dinners. Can you say COVERSATION PIECE :)? I started to think what my Mom's favorite flower is (sunflower) and then my mind just let loose...I grabbed the wood burner and started my design.
The first thing you want to do on any piece of wood you are going to burn on is make sure you sand it first. Many pieces have a finish on them and in order for the wood to burn easily it helps to get some of this finish off. I am using a very fine grit sandpaper (320) to sand the initial piece. (By the way, plug your wood burner in while you are doing this because you want it VERY hot)
**WARNING: This is NOT a project for younger children as the wood burning tool gets VERY hot and it takes a while for it to cool down so be sure to keep it out of the reach of small children!** (Just want the kiddos to stay safe :) )
Once your tool is heated up and you have sanded your piece, start burning :) Apply a bit of pressure and TAKE IT SLOW - I found that if you try to rush through the burning portion then you don't get the beautiful brown burn in your piece. And, the slower you go, the less your hand will hurt :)
I also tried the different tips that came with the set and I REALLY liked the larger tip the best. It really did a great job giving me the burn I wanted and it was super easy to work with - it did curves just fine.
If you want to write words in the piece, however, I would recommend one of the smaller tips. Experiment with all of them to see which one suits you best :)
I worked on my piece over a couple of weeks. I would burn some for a little while and then stop, look at my work and then just walk away from it. It was a time filler (yah...seriously...like I need one of those) but it was nice to have it in the corner of the counter in the kitchen while I cooked, etc. (Again, keeping it out of reach of my kiddos :) )
Once I felt the burning was done then I cleaned it with a paper towel (lightly dusted) and then lightly sanded it again with the fine grit sand paper to get ready for painting.
I used acrylic paints...that's it. There aren't any 'special' paints you have to use but I like acrylics because of the color variation and it dries quickly. Use whatever colors you want - there are NO RULES! Be fun, use bright, bold colors - get messy! :)
Once I was done with the painting portion I looked at what I had done and thought that something was missing in the background...so I grabbed my stamps and STAZ ON ink...and started stamping. Yep, I turned this into a mixed media lazy susan! Who hoo! After the stamps I wanted to personalize it even more for my Mom so I started writing down the words that I think of when I think of her:
Brave
Strength
Courage
Love
Faith
Hope
...and painted those on in bright white so they would really stand out. I aged the sides with some brown wash. I am just so in love with the way it turned out! May have to make one for myself and my family too!
Once your piece is completely dry you need to put a finish on it so it doesn't get scratched, dinged, etc. Polyeurethane works well for this. Take your piece to a WELL VENTILATED area - they have done wonders with the smell of this stuff but it still stinks and not good to inhale either. LIGHTLY sand your piece again so that the finish adheres and put your first coat on (use a GOOD bristle brush or foam brush for this process). Keep the coat light. Once you are done, let it dry for a good 3-4 hours. Once that time is up, lightly sand again and apply your second coat. Let it dry again :) If you really want to coat it, apply a third coat but I only applied two as I know she will not be using it all that often.
And...done! It is ready for gift giving at Christmas. I will let you know how she likes it!
Happy Holidays everyone!!
