I am usually out of town when the when the Nebraska State Fair rolls around. This year I made it back into town just in time for its very last day. The Nebraska State Fair isn’t just about the carnival rides, its mainly about 4H and FFA. There is livestock, food, crafts, woodworking, quilt and many more competitions. There are food vendors and other vendors displaying their merchandise, entertainers, and concerts. Here are some pictures from the fair:
Amarillo is located in the Texas Panhandle along the historic Route 66. They are known for Palo Duro Canyon (America’s Second biggest canyon) and Cadillac Ranch. Amarillo is also the Helium Captial of the World.
Due to rain, I was not able to visit Palo Duro Canyon. There is a nice, pleasant walking path around the hospital’s complex lake.
Near the lake was Helium Monument:
Cadillac Ranch is located on the west side of Amarillo. It is opened 24 hours a day. The biggest surprise was the layers and layers of paint on the vehicles.
Okay, it is the same panda, but one way done on a black tile with Sakura Gel Pen and the other was done on a white tile using Tombow Mono “graphite” pencils.
Sakura came out with new color pens, so I decided I had to test them. Below are a few of the small drawing I created recently using the new colors and some of the old colors. This is the first time ever I tried to draw a peacock, cottage, and gazebo.
I wanted to create something very colorful. I wanted it to feature the five-petal flowers I drew when I was younger. It was drawn on a 16″x20″ black art board using Sakura Moonlight pens. I used every color in the set plus their white pens.
As a gift, I received a set of Calligraphy Ink with Glass pens. I could have used them in calligraphy, but instead I decided to see how well they did with drawing. Below is a picture of one of the sets I received.
The first thing I did with the ink was to determine the exact color. I did this putting all the colors on a sample sheet. I’ve learned opening a bottle is messy. It contains a little stopper and while removing it you will get ink all over your hands. My solution was to open the bottles using rubber gloves and a baby wipe. Below are my drawings. I wanted to use every color on both drawings.
In January, I created one tile/design/pattern/window a day for 31 days. Each tile is 4″ x 4″ x 0.252″ or 101.6mm x 101.6mm x 6.4mm, which should work very well for 3d Printing. Here are examples of some of the tiles I created. They are just designs and patterns, there is no hidden meaning behind a tile.
What can you create with these tiles? I created a Glass Tower in Tinkercad with the 31 tiles. The only tile I reused was the last tile, the bottom tile, the tile I used for the floor. Below are pictures of my Glass Tower. The 3D view is available at this link: Glass Tower
All the tiles are available for copying and tinkering on Tinkercad. What can you make with these tiles? A square, a window in a building, a charm for a necklace. Just use your imagination and log on and search for sarahcath under People to find a design.
For January, I drew on two tiles per day. One tile was white and one tile black. Some were nice, some were not so nice. Below are the better tiles. I used Studio Series Artist’s Tiles, Micron pen on white, and Sakura pens on black. Shading with a pencil made some of the tiles beautiful.
In 2009 a trend called Inktober was envisioned. I don’t participate in Inktober, but I do try draw a tangle a day during the month and I like drawing on 16″x20″ art board. Below is my tangle drawing using a black art board and Sakura Gel Pens.
I also wanted to use my Copic Markers, so I created a list for 31 Days of Color. I randomly selected 31 colors from my Copic Markers and created a drawing with 61 sections on a 16″x20″ art board. Here is this list of colors I used.
My drawing for 31 Days of Color resembled a stained-glass window.
This inspired me to create another stained-glass window drawing. I used my Copic Markers and a 16″x20″ art board. The big question I had before I started coloring was “where is the light source coming from?” I decided it was coming from the outside, behind the stained-glass. Therefore, the inside had to be dark. I didn’t want to make it black inside, below is the result.
Have you ever gone into a store and saw something and thought, “I could finish that item! If I did, my sister would love it”? That is exactly what happened to me earlier this year when I was strolling through Hobby Lobby.
The first step was to purchase the Wood Tray. If took me several trips to Hobby Lobby before I decided that I would work on this project. Next, I sanded all sides of the tray including the legs. Originally, I was going to stain the tray a traditional color. As I was looking through my collection of stain, I found Worn Navy by Rust-oleum. Perfect! My sister likes greens, blues, and teals. I painted the bottom of the tray with primer and stained the rest of the wood with Worn Navy. After it was dry, I placed a light coat of varnish over the stained area.
My original idea was to create a mosaic on the bottom of the tray with just leaves. I already had some leaves cut and baked which I made from Sculpey Clay, but I decided to add some flowers too. I used Sculpey Polymer Clay to make the flower petals and additional leaves. After everything was prepared and laid out, and even though it had a nice gradient, I decided it was too plain. I drew a tangle on every leaf, petal, and circle using acrylic paint pens. Each petal and leaf were glued to the bottom. Mint Puff Paint was used as the grout. I sprinkled three colors of glitter over the grout before it dried.
I seal all my work with polyacrylic before applying the resin. Sealing the piece helps to reduce the number of bubbles in the resins. My flavor resin to use is made by Art Resin. Their resin calculator is very useful.
I could of stop there and it would have been beautiful, but no I had to paint flowers on the outside edge and vines and leaves on the legs. I used acrylic paint pens. I like color, so the flowers were painted different colors.
After the painting was completed, I put a few more coats of polyurethane on the tray (sanding between each coat). You would think I was done. No! I was concerned that if it was stored, the legs would open at an inopportune time, hitting someone and causing an ouchy. Another trip to Hobby Lobby and I purchase belt buckles and ribbon and put my limited sewing techniques to work and made two straps. Again, they were a bit plain, so I used Puff Paint to paint flowers on the straps.
Sarah Cath's Adventures 