Saturday, May 3, 2014

It's Cool to Paint Cool2Cast!

But now what the heck do I do with them?
I've spent some time the last couple or days painting the previously unpainted pieces that I made in a Michael's sponsored workshop at the NAEA convention in San Diego.  When I took the workshop, we painted some of our pieces with alcohol inks, which worked will.  

You may recall I shared a couple of necklaces that I made from finished pieces in a post you can find here.  Here's one more necklace that wasn't complete when I wrote the prior post.
But anyhow - I don't have alcohol inks at home, so with the rest of the pieces, I experimented with a combo of acrylics, watercolors, and even a a few oddball pens and markers. Some, obviously, worked better than others.  I painted the finished pieces with a hard gloss after the the paints were dry, which blurred some techniques but not others.  It was hit or miss.  The gloss I used is excellent - it's made by DecoArt and it's called Triple Thick Diamond Non-Yellowing Clear Finish.  I've never found anything that compares to it, for the look of depth and the hard glossy shell it provides in one coat.
Anyhow, my problem now is what to do next, and I'm hoping you, my loyal readers, have some brilliant ideas for me.  The bigger leaves (below) are close to 3" long.
There's also two hearts (and I am NOT a hearts and bows sort of gal) that you can see in the center of the top photo. I assume I'll glue bails onto the two pieces directly below, and make them into pendants, (unless you give me a better idea).  They look a bit darker in the iPad photo below than they really are.
Then there's this crazy thing, about 2" across from point to point.  And the two cute little paisley thingies, which are maybe a touch longer than an inch.  Not a clue what to do with any of them.
And these below?  Really? What ARE they?!?
And this hideous thing below, which I keep painting another color, and another, and another...  It's big - almost 3" across, maybe 2" tall,  and perhaps it's headed to the trash can.
I suppose the leaves could maybe get glued on a picture frame or a box or some other decorative item, though that's really not my 'thing', so if you have a better idea, please don't be afraid to say it!
And wait - there's more!  All of these below have been painted with some layers of base coat colors (acrylic craft paints and sample acrylics, and some assorted watercolors), but nothing else.  I can stamp on them, stencil on them (though I suppose it would help if I actually had stamps or stencils, if I want to go that route), or maybe even decoupage something on them?  I could paint little things on them, like I did with the dragonfly a few photos back, but really I'm not a small-brush kinda painter.  I'm more of the 'huge brush slap globs on a canvas' sort of gal when it comes to painting.  These pieces are so tiny that I just don't have the fine motor skills or the will to do something nice. They are probably from about 1/2" long to an inch and a 1/2.  And while some of them have a metallic sheen from paints I used, they do not have the gloss finish on them.
So please, I'd love your ideas!  Thanks!!

2 comments:

  1. So happy to see your adventures! I just had to say that I love triple thick too! I've used it on air-dry and self-hardening clay as a final clear glaze. It makes projects look great!

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    Replies
    1. I bet it's great on air dry clay, but I imagine it could be pricey to use with students. For myself, one little bottle seems to go a long way.

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