crafts
Anitabot Stamp!
The Speedball stamp making kit came in the mail last Thursday and I got to the stamp making today.
It took me about 1.5 hours, and it turned out pretty well.
The first step was to trace (with pencil) the item that I wanted to make into a stamp, then rub it onto the piece of rubber:
Anitabot stamp progress: the beginning
Then, using the 2 cutting tools, start gouging! This part was easier than I thought it would be. I thought doing the curved outlines would be difficult, but they weren’t so bad.
Anitabot stamp progress: almost done
I used the smaller tool to do the outlines, and the bigger tool to gouge out larger areas. Then I inked it up and did a few tests to determine which areas needed to be shaved down. After that, it was done!
Anitabot stamp progress: Done! (kind of)
The only thing left is to get a wood block to mount it to – though it’s still usable as it is. It was really fun… and now I want to stamp the entire city with it!
Anitabot Bathroom Graffiti
A few years ago, after I designed the Anitabot logo, I got stickers printed up and handed them out to friends and stuck them around the city. I went to Nuit Blanche ’08 and posted a sticker at every installation I was at, and friends told me later they saw that I had been there. How Novel! (See the album below)
2 Christmas’s ago Aaron designed for me, the greatest Christmas gift ever. A Pop-art rendering of my beloved face! (Yes, I am obsessed with my cartoon alter ego).
Take that, Warhol!
I had ran out of stickers so I tried drawing one on a bathroom stall… I’m not good at free handing, I like vector handles I can pick up and move. Anyway, the ‘bot’ on the left was my doing back in February. I returned to this stall just last week and noticed someone had added on!! I don’t know who this person is, but this is great because I love sugar skulls! I also like that this was a complement to my drawing, and not a defacing. To C, whoever you are, thanks!
Bot left, Sugar Skull right!
This made me think that perhaps I should get more stickers printed and continue my rampage on the city but then decided something that may be a bit more economical: a rubber stamp!
I ordered a kit from www.paper-source.com and I cannot wait until it arrives. I’m excited to try out a new craft. I’m pretty decent at sculpting/carving things, but this will require a very steady hand. I’ll update you when it does, or you may just see the stamp in a bathroom stall near you!
Weddings are a good excuse to craft things!
The wedding planning has been going as well as it can. I’m 33 days away and have most things done. Weddings still kind of blow my mind. The planning experience has been a little tough, stressful and frustrating but everything is happening… but I can’t wait til it’s all done and over with – I don’t want to plan stuff anymore!
One of the more enjoyable things for me has been the excuse to get crafty! With the help of a friend I designed and crafted the Save the date cards, and programs. These two things have improved my illustrator skills tenfold. The world of print is so daunting, but I feel like I’m starting to understand it more and now want to create and print more things.
The latest craft project is what I’ve chosen for centerpieces. They are unfinished wooden “Taj Mahal” birdhouses purchased from Michael’s:
Taj Mahal Birdhouse
I’m not sure what kind of bird would even fit into that. The actual Taj Mahal is a masoleum, not a palace or house of any sort. So maybe this is more of a “final resting place” for birds, rather than a house. That’s a bit grim. Maybe I’ll put 2 tiny coffins in each one. Tee Hee.
I’ve started work on 2:
Centerpieces... in progress
The one on the left was decorated using scrapbook paper and modpodge – much like my “Ikea Fira Chest” project. I painted the pink, purple and gold on the domes. I love the colours.
The one on the right was a more random idea. Using a black sharpie and ruler I drew random diagonal lines all over, and started randomly filling in colours. I’m not sure what type of look I’d call this, but the colours have a sort of ’70s feel to it. I’m not sure what to do with the top parts – I didn’t want to try drawing straight lines on the curved surfaces for fear of screwing it up but I don’t think they should just be one solid colour either. I’m sure I’ll figure something out.
My friends have taken on a few of their own and I can’t wait to see what they come up with. I’m excited that they’ll all be a little different with a dose of individual personality. I have about 3 – 5 more to do and trying to think about types of art and design I am drawn to an how to incorporate it into a design.
I think the next one will use ribbons and string to give more texture. I’ll post more pictures, and hopefully after the event I can post them all.
She’s Crafty! Ikea Fira Paper Craft
I’ve been overly negligent with this here blog. I have a good reason: I bought a condo. Well, my boyfriend Baron and I bought one together. We made the momentus move from North York to downtown which is a huge lifestyle change. In addition to the general crazyness of buying our first home – we had to do some somewhat minor renovations to make the place livable – but isn’t that the fun part?! Yes it is!
All this thinking about furniture and design and decorating has made me want to craft something bad… that combined with the fact that all my art/craft supplies have been packed away for over two months and I’ve got one big craft itch.
I’ve scratched it a bit today with my Ikea Fira Chest craft. I’ve seen this around on various design blogs: Ikea Hacker, Chez Larsson, Decor8… and they all looked great, so I decided to try it.
I use my fira chest to store makeup and jewlery and other skin care/toiletries. The inside of the drawer can get really messy from the makeup, so I’m trying to figure out how to best protect it.
I got some fancy scrapbook paper from the store Essence Du Papier, some spray adhesive and spray gloss from the art store and set to it.
The supplies
I’ve never really done a craft like this before, so I wasn’t 100% sure on what materials to use… I decided to paint the edge of the box white using acrylic paint
Fira gets painted White
White Paint
I traced the edges of the box on to the backs of the papers I selected and cut them out using the knife. I used spray adhesive on both the wood and the back of the paper and stuck them on. That seemed to work alright. I’ve experimented with the spray gloss – I wanted something to protect the surface from dirt and what not. So far it seems like the spray gloss just soaks through the paper – but does provide some what of a finish. Maybe Mod Podge would have been a better option! (I chose spray gloss because I thought it would provide a more even finish. hrm)
I also covered both sides of the small drawers in paper – different colours/patterns, as I couldn’t decide what I wanted it to look like. This is great because all I have to do to change it up is put the drawers in the other way 
Anywho, here is the finished result:
Finished Fira Chest
Finished Fira
Or, finished so far. I am not sure if I should add paper to the entire insides of the box (the side walls, and back), and of course I’m still not sure exactly how to ‘finish’ it.. but this is what it looks like and I’m quite pleased with it.
tweet tweet| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Jan | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | ||||