I make stuff.
A while back, I had ordered another Kickstarter. Even though I’ve been burned before, it was pretty hard to resist ordering this Eazao Clay 3D Printer at a fraction of the price of anything else on the market. Kickstarters often take a very long time to materialize into a product (if they even do). Once this printer shipped it then sat in the California port for many, many months.
Have you ever liked a type of art but had no idea what it was called so you couldn’t look up how it was made? I certainly have. I recently came across the word “Cloisonné” and realized it was one of those things I had always wanted to know about.
Essentially, Cloisonné is an ancient enameling technique where you outline your design with strips of metal, drop-in enamel paste to color in your design, and then fire it in a kiln.
A while back I had fun making pins with Shrinky Dinks and I keep thinking about making more. The images I had picked out in the past were mostly white (or were just prints) with a touch of color that I added with Copic markers. The next ones I make I hope to do more drawing and coloring, something original. I wanted to see what supplies I had that would work and which would look the best once shrunk.
Just a quick update on the first project on the 3D-printed loom. The loom is built, now it’s time to make something!
A while back, I found 3D printing files for a rigid heddle loom. A new loom had been on my wish list for years but I never pulled the trigger. Honestly, I think I’ve become frugal in my old age. Years ago I wouldn’t have thought twice about adding a new loom to my cart and checking out, but these days I just can’t justify in my mind paying hundreds of dollars for a couple pieces of wood and some plastic. Especially when I’ve had 3d printers in my home for 10 or 15 years now and I pretty much DIY everything I can.
I did it, I finally got around to getting the loom fixed up and I tried weaving. About 3 years ago, I found this antique loom on craigslist at a local artist’s estate sale and I went and nabbed it. I initially cleaned it up and got it in working order before life hit and house projects took over. This loom ended up being stashed away in storage for a while and pretty much forgotten.
Just a quick update on the layered wood ornaments I’ve been making. 12 days of Christmas? No, it’s not the 166th day of Christmas in my craft room. I’ve knocked out a few more ornaments designs and this was the last one. I plan on making one more before figuring out little hangers, packaging, and where to sell them.
I can’t wait for it to be done. Honestly, I don’t want to see any Christmas stuff for a very long time.
Rudolph and penguins and polar bears, oh my!
I decided a while ago, back when I posted my first post on using a laser cutter, that I was going to make more wood ornaments. I realized a few days ago that I pretty much abandoned my blog because I was off lasering and painting and doing all the things. So I’m back to give a quick update.
This year, for Christmas, the ‘ol fat man brought me a laser cutter.
Santa, who? No, I meant me. I bought this.
If you have ever made your own traditional silkscreens then you know it’s a huge pain in the butt. Framing your fabrics, photo emulsions, transparencies, cleaners, solutions, lamps, etc. It takes quite a bit of material and equipment to get started.
I’ve made silkscreens in the past and was moderately successful even with my small home setup. I mostly made silkscreens for ceramics but that was back before it was really popular. Now, companies like Mayco produce a large line of pre-made screens you can buy.