The Artist in Us – Page 2

Cabinet Pulls And Knobs

In some cases, rubber plumbing washers can enhance cabinet pulls and knobs by providing better bearing on the cabinet, provide more finger space, dramatically reduce scratches due to finger nails and add a splash of color.
When used one cannot tell they are plumbing washers.

Most of the plumbing washers are black but salmon, baby blue and reddish are easily found.
The washers can be flat or beveled, come in different sizes and some of them will easily buff to a luster with a small rag.
Using these washers will require a longer screw to make up for the added depth.
They can be used singly or as a stack of multiple sizes for a pyramidal effect.

Electrical Tip:
These rubber plumbing washers can also be extensively beneficial when used to bring forward a light switch or a plug in the wall so that they can be as flush as possible to the wall surface to receive the decorative plate.
This problem usually happens when the existing wall gets a “new face” and a new thickness added onto it, thus leaving the electrical boxes further back.
Replace the screws on the outlet with longer ones and impale the washers as needed.
It works!

Painting With Coffee

Coffee in conjunction to India ink can produce lovely art works.

Make strong coffee and when cold, brush the coffee on bond paper, water color paper or Strathmore board and apply several layers to build the shade of brown you desire.
The look will be one of water colors and the beauty of the coffee verses other edible liquids such as juices and wines is that it will leave neither pulp nor residue on your canvas.

When using paper for art work it might be wise to obtain acid free paper or museum board. These will keep the paper white for years to come and while there are different kinds of papers, alkaline paper can last 1000 years.

The bamboo artwork shown was not done on acid free paper so yellowing is occurring, but in this case it works.
Would you not rather tell a friend that your painting was done with gourmet coffee rather than water colors?

Whimsical Toad

Problem:
A 6” hole in the exterior garage wall due to a clothes dryer vent that was relocated.

Solution:
Behind the stucco there was wood.
A 1x wood board large enough to cover the hole was glued and screwed to the existing 1x from the garage side.

This left a depth of about 1.5” to the edge of the stucco finish on the exterior.

A hollow garden toad this time proved handy. Part of the toad’s back was sawed off with a hack saw. Various tests occurred to see how the toad sat in the hole and then later with an anchor.

A coat hanger was doubled, bent to 90 degrees +- and cut making a 3”x3” +- anchor. A long sheet rock screw was inserted through the hole opening into the wood. This held the anchor.

Some concrete (cement is OK) was placed in the hole followed by a small piece of wire mesh.
More concrete was applied over the mesh as well as inside the toad.

The toad was pushed against the anchor sticking out of the wall and pushed into its seat.
It was an orchestration of movements but it all worked.

The balance of the hole around the toad was filled, smoothed and a light texture applied. At this point a long board, held by a garbage can, was placed against the toad to insure it would not fall.

Later after the toad had cured, Concrete Fix All over the moistened concrete patch helped achieve a finished texture look.
Chinese bristle brushes or a spray water bottle work well to moisten.

The hooked toad was caulked and primed.

The job took about an hour and a half and at the time, the cost of the toad itself was about $3.00.

Altered Felt Tip Markers

The two sketches were done with an altered felt tip marker.
By altered it is meant that three incisions through the wide felt tip and toward the barrel were made with a utility knife. This generated the look of the triple line brush stroke.

Take the amount of lines you see in parts of the sketches and divide by 3. Those are the number of strokes that produced them.

The sketches have been taken a step further:
1. Photographed and printed in black and white.

2. Developed over 8×10 negative film which means that what would have printed black on paper was actually clear on the film.

3. White and red paper, as well as copper simulated film were applied to the back of the negative film for color.

The technique allows single, multiple colors or even a texture to be used in back of the film.
If the negative film of the swamp had red paper in the back, because of the luster of the film, it would look like red ink.

Tips:
One can easily take a Flair felt tip pen and give it a chisel point either by using a utility knife or a pair of scissors.
One can also alter the felt tips in other creative ways, even getting a spongy effect when the tip is heavily butchered.

Some chisel pointed felt tip pens are available for purchase but the methods above can customize to suit needy situations and will not be found in the art supplies section.

If nothing else we could say “I did it my way”.

Fake Watercolor

• The original watercolor was photographed in Black/White film and printed on high contrast Black/White Agfa paper.
• From the Black/White film an 8×10 was also developed on negative film which means that what would have printed black on paper was actually clear on the film.
• Colors were added to the back of the film with felt tip markers while occasionally blending the colors with the fingers.
• The original watercolor paper texture is visible but the colors are not watercolors.

Tip:
Inserting lighter fluid in the marker, such as the Magic Marker from the old days, will extend its life for some time while at times making the color a bit lighter.