Here's a new treasure chest I customised for the toddler. I didn't take the hinges off this time. As always, I started with sanding and adding a base coat of acrylic gesso. Unlike last time, I didn't bother to seal it with PVA first. I don't think it really has a noticeable effect. I made this in July, but I've been really lazy about posting on here lately.
I asked the toddler if she'd like an under the sea theme or a fruit theme and she went for the under the sea theme.
Continue readingThese have been on the backburner for literally years. I finally decided to give it a go. I finished these at the end of June but I got lazy and didn't post it. Anyway, these are squishy pen toppers I got for the kids a few years back and now they're worse for wear.
Here are the patients. They have cracks, tears and missing appendages.
Continue reading I made a corner shelf out of paper maché ages ago, back when I made the Commander Keen stage. It was actually a part of that video, but it turns out you can't upload more than 15 minutes without giving g00gle your phone number, so it got cut. The big problem with it was that things kept falling off it. So I decided to make another one, but with a lip on the edge.
Continue reading I finally bought myself a hot glue gun and a couple of months later, I actually used it! My Teal Times sofa had come undone. I'd been using that awful Hobbycraft double sided tape at the time; I didn't buy the UHU Power until I was about halfway through that project. Anyway, that tape was absolute pants. The adhesive deteriorated after a couple of years and discoloured. According to customer services, it wasn't even acid free. It had already ruined several scrapbook pages, and now had ruined my dollshouses too. So I had taken apart that sofa over a year ago now, and just couldn't be bothered to put it back together.
Anyway, now being in possession of a glue gun, I thought I'd see how that would go. While I was at it, I decided I'd see if I couldn't do something about my first kit. I only did the most minor of customisation for that one. I thought I may as well revisit it, since I was increasingly hating the decor.
Continue reading I've been having problems with the rain. More specifically, I've been having problems with my mudguards. They just don't work on my bike. As soon as the roads get wet, my backpack gets covered in mud and it takes ages to get out. I'm already on my third mudguard, and I've currently got a home-made contraption on the back. I decided I'd revamp an old backpack, because fabric paint by its very nature should be waterproof, right? So even if it got muddy, it would be easy to wipe clean. Right?
I was forgetting about the joy that is cerulean pigment.
I mentioned in a previous post about how to turn acrylic paint into fabric paint. I bought the Scola brand of fabric medium, which seems to be the only widely-available and affordable option here in the UK.
Continue readingI decided in the end to base my second shadowbox on a DallE rendering of an Altrisian forest (yes, the same as the one on my penholder).
Caerulean paint, oh my gosh. It's so unstable! Anyway, Continue reading
I was looking up how to seal fabric paint when I came across instructions on how to actually MAKE fabric paint out of acrylic paint! I was like, "I spent over £100 on this for nothing?" I can't believe I'd never heard of this thing before!
Easily over £100 worth of paint. Scammage!
What it said was that you can mix equal quantities of Continue reading
This has been on my to-do list for a while. As usual, first step is sanding and priming.
I decided the best way to paint the insides was to use that old can of silver spray paint I bought way back in the days of the dolls' café monstrosity. So it did an okayish job of painting, although I did need to top a lot of it up with acrylic afterwards. That part was fine, but...
Continue readingI had an old jewellery box I haven't had any use for for years. I was never a fan of the design, the colours never did anything for me. I decided to gift it to Tines. I was going to paint some doughnuts on it, but she insisted on a sunset scene, like the one I painted on my Moriah-inspired underwater scene.
So I looked up some design ideas, because I have no creativity of my own. I found this tutorial and pathetically tried to copy it.
Continue reading
The boys were given some empty hankie gift boxes, and as soon as I saw them, I thought: shadowboxes! It took a while, but I eventually finished one of them.
Continue readingTechnically, it was just head surgery. Gingerbread man moneyboxes don't have brains. I forgot to take a photo of it before the repair job, but what happened was The Chipmunk's brother threw the box and there were two big holes in the skull. I patched them up with airdry clay (I love that stuff!), filled in any gaps and cracks with more clay, and did a repaint.
After the second patch up and sanding:
Continue reading I made some play food to go with our Tiny Teatime game.
Before painting:
Here are the savoury foods. Fishcake, veggie burger, vegan pizza, chips and chip sandwich.
Continue reading I made a dollshouse for Tiny, inside a cracker box. Like my other projects, it remains unfinished. I still have the bathroom to make, but I just can't get round to it.
Here's the outside. I offered to paint it, but Tiny wanted to keep it looking like a box of crackers.
Here's the interior:
Continue readingQuick update:
The old flower hook just ended up as a sunflower. Boring, right? I didn’t even do any shading. Oh well. I stuck it above my bed and I use it to hold up my earphones. No more untangling!
Continue reading I felt like making some dress up dolls for Tiny.
I had to do a bit of cheating here. I mean, I could have drawn it all freehand, but you know what my skill is like and I didn’t want to be here all day. Somehow, even though I traced it, the model went from front-facing to slightly turned. Oh well. It’s nothing less than you should expect from me. Anyway, I freehand drew the hands and face. The feet came out a little too chunky. Tiny said she didn’t want toes, which was a relief as I can’t really draw them.
I traced the sketch using my lightbox to create two dollies. I forgot to fix the right hand on Daisy. Yes, that is Tip-Ex under Stephani’s foot. Actually, even the naming was a happy little accident. When choosing the skintone for Daisy, I tested out the coloured pencil on the side, thinking that that part would be cropped out… It clearly wouldn’t. So I used washi tape to cover it, and thought I might as well turn that into a name tag.
