Monthly Archives: April 2024

Apr29

Yupo is Useful, but Crab Cake Box is Cheaper!

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Yupo is Useful, but Crab Cake Box is Cheaper!
Image licensed from shutterstock.com
Image cut from a clean crab cake box
Black acrylic paint on gel plate

Pulled with ArtSmith acrylic in medium magenta on copy paper

Inspired by Patricia Carmichael of PM Artist Studio’s use of a Marie Calendar pot pie box, I decided to try cutting a stencil from a washed piece of Phillips crab cake box.

I used my ScanNCut, and lengthened the blade a notch (5.) It worked beautifully, both the cutting and the printing.

But then the paint dried on the blank side of the box, and it puckered, making the stencil bowed and pretty useless. Maybe, I could wash the paint off, immediately, or maybe I could put the dried stencil between heavy books.

I’d still call it a success, for stencils you only need to use once!

Apr17

Eye of the Peacock

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Eye of the Peacock

I was shopping online for photos of peacock feathers, and thought, “I have a couple of peacock feathers, upstairs. Let’s see what I can get with the iPhone.”

These aren’t all, but I’m keeping all of them for now. Even the blurry ones can be blurred more and faded for backgrounds.

My old iPhone 6 seemed to take better macros. I still have it. I wonder if I charged it up, I could try a few super close shots? Another experiment for another day!

#the100dayproject2024, #fix,finishandfind Day 48

Apr15

My First Big Stencil!

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My First Big Stencil!

I had copied several Japanese family crests, or Kamon, to turn into stencils for gel printing. I found them at Encyclopedia Japan.

I printed this one to make a large stencil.

I realized that I needed to connect the round circle to the white areas, or my Scan N Cut would cut the entire outer circle in one piece and would leave me the insides as a round stencil.

I got out my white Posca acrylic paint pen and a ruler. I made several white marks across the outer circle before I scanned it. I had to go over them several times, letting them dry between. It looked like this:

I scanned this image into the machine and saved it. I removed the image and added a sheet of thin Yupo plastic paper to the cutting mat.

I pulled up the saved image and began cutting. I realized I had misjudged the placement of the image and the cutting knife went off the Yupo. I hit the Stop/Start button, and removed the mat. It appeared I had enough uncut Yupo to cut the stencil. I could even turn the mat around and start again! But First, I had to adjust the position of the image in the machine. The display screen is very small.

This is what I got:

I was able to cut the bottom off:

Not perfect, but not bad for a first!

#the100dayproject2024, #fix,finishandfind Day 47

Apr13

Scan 2 Cut Data

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Scan 2 Cut Data

One of the special features of the Brother Scan N Cut is a built in scanner! One of the functions is scanning images to saved data that can be recalled at another time. I practiced that function yesterday and today. These are some of the images I scanned and saved as cutting files:

I found these images on a poster-making app called Free Form.

#the100dayproject2024, #fix,finishandfind Day 46

Apr12

5×7” Gel Plate!

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5×7” Gel Plate!

I found where I had buried my new 5×7”gel plate! I got it out if the package and put it to work!

New gel plates are oily, so I expected bubbles in the paint.

I test drove my newly cut Japanese stencil!
Metallic gold Craft Smart paint pulled with Art Smith acrylic in medium magenta. The gold, “celled,” as expected. The magenta was thick, smooth and opaque.

I let both layers dry before pulling them. I used copy paper to pull, and a new brayer to paint! I am well pleased!

#the100dayproject2024, #fix,finishandfind Day 45

Apr8

Star Gazing

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Star Gazing

The star was the sun, and we had on our protective glasses, of course.

That’s my neighbor, Mary, and me. The glasses were compliments of our neighbor, Tom Huber. That’s him and his wife, Jane, behind us. Here they are:
That’s their dog, Lou, (Thelma Lou.)

Lots of other neighbors came out. I’ll add pictures when I get copies.

I had given my glasses to Vivi to take to school. I knew Peter’s school would provide them. I used some homemade gadgets until Tom shared glasses.

I made a pinhole camera from a cardboard box. The box had another small hole in a corner, so I got Two images with it!

I also used a colander, and got lots of images!

I fixed that box, so I’m counting today. It was great fun!

#the100dayproject2025, #fix,finishandfind, Day 44

Apr8

Extending My Challenge

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Extending My Challenge

I have decided to extend my challenge tag to, “fix, finish and FIND!” Look what I found, yesterday!

This is a Carol Doak paper piecing box that I do not have! I found it in a thrift shop in Matthews, NC. $2! It’s in new condition and still has its CD of patterns in adjustable sizes.

I also found this:

It was $4 but has three full page circus posters like this one:

Despite the title, there’s really not much else worth harvesting. I still thought 3 prints were worth the money. I feel a triptych coming on!

#the100daychallenge2024, #fix,finishandfind, Day43

Apr6

Nice Try!

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Nice Try!

Tonight, I tried combining images to form a “scene” with my stencils. One boat, though, sailed too far down stream! I can fix that by moving the stencil slightly when I print.

#the100dayproject2024, #fixandfinish, Day 42