Here is the completed highland-coo-in-a-honey-pot shelf sitter, complete with clear UV coat and chunk of mesquite wood to keep it grounded.
This is a cute project offered by the local Hobby Hut. I will be looking for the next painting day!
In April 2017 our rock painting hobby started. I read about “Kindness Rocks” a national movement to leave messages of hope and art for people to find and keep, if they wanted, or hide for someone else to find. The movement has since gone global, and although our painting isn’t as frequent now, we still do paint and hide and I still find other’s painted rocks around town.
Since the start I have learned that sealing the rocks with a clear coat of UV protectant helps them last a little longer outside. The thicker the coat of paint, the more likely it is to crack and peel with the freeze thaw cycles. The rocks that keep their messages the longest have only the message or drawing, not an undercoat.
In February 2017 I was experimenting with my new air brush. I tried a design out on paper, then did it on a plank of wood.
For the words I used a stencil, then airbrushed in shadows.
This was a gift for a friend. I did enjoy the airbrush, but set up and clean up is an involved process, so I don’t use it often.
We’ve done another round of ceramic painting. This time I tried for flowers, daisy on one side and a sunflower on the other for my mother-in-law.
It was interesting how the flowers changed after firing, and something to consider when painting again with glaze.
The other interesting thing is the apparent shape of the mug. In the pictures above it looks like a standard straight sided coffee mug, but it isn’t.
My favorite part is the ombre interior. It really amuses me to have the inside painted like a patina of coffee has already built up.
My youngest is on a ceramic painting kick this summer. We go to pick up the fired piece, and paint another. Repeat. I’m learning about music theory particularly in the realm of Barbershop harmony, so I painted a mug in celebration of Harmonics.
I like that the “Fluted mug” looks like a digitized sound wave.
On the opposite side of the mug I wrote the harmonic series in scale degrees, because Barbershoppers are all about the overtones (in physics overtones and harmonics are different, while in Barbershop they are often used interchangeably.)
It greatly amuses me to paint the inside of the mug like it is already stained with tea or coffee. And, of course, when I get to the bottom of the mug, it is time to go sing.
Critters and Craft 