HTV for my Scan N Cut - took a class

I had an intense class on htv -  who knew there were so many choices

we made samples of each and the hand out was excellent  - we could jut put the sample right on it - loved the fact I could record my settings etc   its great
Loved every moment

I brought home some hologram and some of the foil/adhesive to try out 

now if I only had time ......

Snowman Heads !

Yes I got even further carried away making snowman heads

the larger bowls I found at Dollarama - (the smaller ones at Dollar Tree)

I use the white sand from dollar tree as it does have some sparkle and its cheaper than straight sparkles 

I use the minwax polycrylic as the adhesive but you can use anything you want to get it to adhere

the Hats for the large heads I cut on my Scan n Cut  - and the file is from SVGCUTS.com their new year kit - worth it as you can size the hat down for the small snowmen as well and I found decorating was 1/2 the fun 

the face I made with my scan n cut and vinyl 

the accents - I got the red styrofoam balls last year at dollarama  and the greens are the long green wire ones at dollarama just cut into about 2-3" lengths  and I used the white sand again by dipping my finger in glue and rubbing it on and then pushing it into the sand and it looks like snow 

way too much fun - but when I go places I take one with me to give out as gifts 

Getting carried away with Snowmen and Grinch lights

so getting carried away with making Snowmen and Grinch lights
most of it comes from the Dollar tree - hat, scarf, base and the rose bowls , sand
Using Minwax polycrilic clear gloss as the glue and white sand  for the frosty and glitter for the grinch
easy to make and all of this came from learning how to layer vinyl with my Scan n Cut machine

Gelatin Plate Update

I made my gelatin plates back in march - they have been sitting since then  on a counter in my living room where temp during the summer could be 80+ degrees -  I took them out to use yesterday at a class and they are still perfect - and worked well at class -  I have the big one and the small one I made back then (see side bar on right for link to recipe) I do keep them in air sealed containers - one is a cake  storage and the other a pyrex glass seal able container I turned upside down  - so the mix of glycerine /water and gelatine works very well - no mold at all

Using my Scan n Cut for Ornaments - Sparkle Ornaments

Yes still not doing much of anything - playing with  my scan n cut to make ornaments - glitter ornaments using the minwax polycrylic (home depot)  and cheap glitter - then making vinyl cuts of text or pictures to put onto them

The first one I tried was the grinch - then realized I should be using transfer film as I messed up trying to match up the mouth and eyes  -what you need to do is  first weed out all the vinyl  you do not  need leaving the image - then use the transfer film/tape to pick up the image and then put onto the ornament - I think I went wild on Saturday and Sunday once I learned how to do it

Need to clean up studio and bring down all the liquids so they do not freeze during the winter - kinda disappointing since now I am feeling a lot better

Still Missing in Action -

But feeling much better - even going through the studio and thinking of destashing a few things - will post on the face book  pages  https://www.facebook.com/groups/glasstools4sale/   mostly u.s. based but some Canadians are hanging out in hopes of posts. 

I have a Carlisle CC torch up for sale  900.00 cdn

 and just sold a Covington Wet Belt Sander -

Going through things and seeing what I may have double of or not want especially coming to terms that I am not going to get to use them -  I think   there may be a couple of  carlisle mini torches and a nortel minor  as well as a mega minor torch, possibly an osg 15 with tank , going up soon and possibly a slab saw - so keep your eyes open - I'll also post here as well as that facebook group

Missing in Action - hoping to make a comeback this weekend

Well its been almost 6 weeks  since I contracted shingles - up the back left side of my head
THE PAIN ! was almost unbearable - throbbing pain , could not touch my head or hair , sensitive , burning sensation, headaches, no sleep -

the first day (a thursday) my back of the head was swollen - lumpy - went to clinic right away - they diagnosed swollen lymph nodes  (did not even look at my scalp but felt it )  gave me  antibiotics  nothing for the pain

I was off  the friday and I was suffering in bed Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, Sunday - I got up monday in extreme pain, my eyes watering and took myself to work wher eI finally gave up and went to the hospital  at noon where I waited 4 hours - I had shingles once before but around the waist - if it wasn't for the commercials on TV I would never have even thought  I could get anywhere else - so I asked the dr if I possibly had shingles and he agreed .  so toss the antibiotics and got virals and pain medication -  let me tell you the pain meds did nothing - even doubled as he said to take if it didnt work.  I took 1 day off and went back to work - taking advil during the day as the pain meds made me tired and woozy

eventually  each week now its better - last week I could go almost all day without any advil and most of the pain gone - can brush my hair and even get a good nights sleep so I am hoping I will get back into the mood to do something at the studio soon - I left off with not testing that etching cream which will lead me back to  trying out my butterfly wing stamp on dichro and getting some of those done

so hoping to be back into the swing of things

Rustoleum Etching Cream

Never heard about it till someone mentioned in a thread on facebook in the Cricut create Canada
evidently available at lowes, Cdn Tire and Home depot  but maybe not all  of them

evidently a 1 quart  is only 23$   WAAAAAAAY cheaper than the etchall cream (there is also something called batch and ceramic etch as well - need to check that out )

going to track some down - check the prices and try it out  will let you all know

tried Home depot in my area, lowes, canadian tire - nada - but found this in aurora  which is not too  far to go

Reno Depot   946ML  for  33.59  (and a small discount )  over 2lbs  (over 32oz) of product -

on amazon.ca  armour etch 10oz is  45.00 and the small bottle at michaels is about the same


so now to get my hands on some and try it out  its located off the 404 at exit 45   where the walmart is - probably not till the weekend

Great Show

Hoping I am starting to feel better -  the show was great - and feeling enthused - need to make about 30 of the candle holders for July 8-9  for next show and more plates - was a bright - sunny - hot day

Very Sick and have got nothing done

Still haven't finished coloring and sealing my plates - haven't made any candles - no lampworking  - basically nothing done - sick with pneumonia  off and on but still went to work -thought I was done and the cough came back last night  and I have a show next week
the Art In the Park - in Stouffville   on June 10  ( what a way to spend my birthday )

I need to get things together this weekend  for the show   - its only a one day and I should be ok
but saturday only nice day to cut the grass as well  so will see how I feel to get things finished up - so want to make about 25 candles but I have not been able to get to my  glass places to pick up the tempered glass .

I am just not that enthusiastic about anything -   Have 3 shows set up
stouffville June 10 - Art in the park 1 day
July 8-9 Purple turtle in Sutton
July 23 - cottage country  1 day in peterboro

and I think thats it for the year

I've done 1 class   prepping for a 2nd possibly this month depends on people availability for a 2nd fusing class in Pickering

coloring tempered glass - did not get far

Only 5 purple and one blue/green stil have a stack to go

got detoured on such a nice and day and was cutting the grass -  no horses so I needed to get about an acre or so cut  before it starts to really grow for the year 

Alcohol Inks on Tempered Glass and rearranging the studio

I reorganized my corner where I fuse - prepped for hot water to realize the outside hose needs fixing and some parts and the filter that goes on needs parts - so that is for next week -  got my pottery wheel in place and tried it out - not for long but long enough -

I have 6 sets of plates ready for color so today  started - there are 5 different sizes from each batch so  30 plates in all to get done - I tend to do all five in one color then move over to next color  so I have a few done only about 27 more to go from this huge batch

so first color is my purple mix I like - then there will be the blue /green etc... till Im done then I'll seal them all with epoxy
my back is killing me today from moving things around so not sure how long I'll keep this up - I do want to be finished by end of the day  so that next week I can do the epoxy

I was happy with my new set up its not running over my lampwork table area as I walk in the door - so now my rack for the molds is getting ready - and space for my hot water heater is in on a rack above the floor - brought up a bin of pottery colors to use and my alcohol inks 

the shelving I made last year - still have about two more levels to go 

the white rack is perfect for beside the sink - and the bottom rack holds the hot water tank above the floor level but close enough to the sink to work out perfectly - but I need parts to finish this job 

the microwave will be moved as I want the rack for more of my molds that are stored under another shelf at the back - the light will move to be more over the table - all those white buckets are full of tempered glass and I'll have more tomorrow from one of my suppliers he said he has lots - and the orange (one has tempered in ) but are for making the candles - which you can see one on the side of the table 

Fused Tempered Glass Plates - 4th batch in

3rd batch out last night and 4th batch in

excuse the mess I still have not quite cleaned up certain sections of my studio for the season - just jumping in and getting the kiln running was a chore

I have a pottery class tonight so I'll get them out late and hopefully another batch in late

Studio cleaning - getting another load into the kiln- finding my pottery wheel

Well I got my 2nd batch out and put a 3rd batch in on Sunday -

 Plain for now till I get coloring them next weekend

tonight is 3rd batch out and 4th batch into the kiln

cleaning front area - moved my shelving around so I can move the kiln a bit more on an angle so I can get my wet belt sander beside the sink - and arrange for my hot water on demand  unit - space -  I need to install hopefully by the time I can turn the water on next week

I made my way to the back and dragged out my potters wheel I bought in 2005  and never used - now that I am taking lessons I am for sure going to use - hoping the weather stays  above zero here

found some of my pottery tools as well 

and I think I'll bring down about 4 of the pails to start making some candles at the house as I need at least 70°F for the epoxy to cure properly  - I have one left over from last year I just need to seal 

as I am going to need a min of 50 of these at least for my summer show 

Pottery night - non wheel class

I can use the wheel but I am just having some fun building clay with my hands rather than throwing

my piece from last week is a turtle pot stand
he needs to be painted but so far he has been fired




but last week throwing class  I did two pieces - the first was wayyyyy better than the second flop

so this week we get to clean and prep the pots for firing 

these ones are done with low fire clay so I get to possibly paint what I want  with different paints 

having fun 

First Big Kiln Batch - Plates - of ;the season - the kiln is on !

Yes I toured up to the studio - what a lovely  evening - still a tad chilly in the studio but outside was warm -
I mixed some fresh kiln wash  and did up the molds and then filled them with hardly any blood spilled.

Hoping to take out tomorrow night after pottery class and possibly fill and run again 

Toner Foil applicaton and Printing on tissue for decoupage

What to share a couple of techniques for this week
the first I did a long time ago but they had a little class at the Scrapfest we attended yesterday - and that is using a laser /toner printed image  and then using that with heat foils and a laminator

I have a color laser printer so printed the images in black -  I have a regular laminator - a Scotch brand that is about 30.00 at Walmart
Put the heat on the highest which is the 5mil button

I dont have any carriers so I used deli paper  (unwaxed paper) to sandwich it in so that the heat goes all to the foil rather than soaked up in regular paper

I had some pieces left from the class in red and a small piece of gold

so I printed the Happy birthday first - then the feather - then the mandala and ran them through the laminator

In love with the technique - so anything you can print in black you can coat with the foil - it adheres to the toner (wont work on ink jet )

Next I was wanting some specific images for my journal - on tissue  so I googled and found something where you took some temp movable glue - so I tried my fabric temporary spray glue 

worked - the trick is to get as smooth as possible - I tried rolling but I think if I use something like a rolling pin to wrap around it may go down smoother - but even with wrinkles it came out ok -  I used my laser printer - but I think the heat from the rollers for the toner - made it pretty impossible to take off - so I used my heat gun and it came off quite easily - but I am going to try my ink jet if I ever get it connected to my pc  

turned out great - I can tear or cut and put in my journal or use for decoupage - so I am now able to make my own tissue images in black and white and in color 

Started pottery throwing class last night

I started my pottery throwing class last night
pretty wonky pieces but I had a ton of fun -  I think that pottery wheel I have stashed at the back of the studio is going to be coming out this spring (not like I dont have a ton of other things to do )

the first piece I made came out rather well  but the 2nd piece - went wonky and almost lost it -

Getting Kiln Ready for 1st load of the season

I dint get too far last night - cleaned out the kiln  (had patter plates and lava cloth in kiln from last batch of wine bottles -

I leave the shelves about 1 inch off the floor and the shelves are washed but I also leave the thicker blanket on in case I can fit something between the molds 

got out the  molds I want to use and cleaned them off - now to  put fresh  wash on them - but didnt have water up at the studio yet - then got detoured at the house

so I set up the molds in the kiln for set up

so wont get a chance tonight to wash them   or fill as I have a pottery class in oshawa till 9pm and wont be home till 10 

and I bought a small on demand hot water unit for the studio so I'll have hot water this year - will work on setting up shelf next week to place it  on and the  hoses so I can just hook up when the weather is for sure warmer

Re Melting the Gelatin plates

After I played with marbleing  - I decided to re melt my  gelatin to reform them -  the large one I made and was uneven so I decided on a slightly smaller pan  so I would have a nice thick piece to work with

cut it up and put into a glass bowl and put in microwave till it all melted - mixed it up and poured into my teflon pan 

the mark on the pan is a burn mark - nothing to do with the gelatin - poured it in - then ran a piece of newsprint over top to get rid of any bubbles - let sit on my stove that is pretty level  till it gelled - then put into the fridge to speed the firming up 

used a shap knife around edges and pulled it out - with my hand supporting it and layed it out on the rubbermaid serving tray (has a lid)  - nice and thick about 1/2" this time and pretty even 

later I did my 5x7  - remelted and repoured it back into the container 

More Gelatin Plate fun - and clean up at the studio time

I played again with the Gelatin plates I made about 4 weeks ago -  using twine to create cool marbling effect paper

and I got out on Saturday and cleared paths to my kiln and other work benches  to start the season