Monday, August 14, 2006

I am too easily distracted...!

While working on the second paper doll I need for the Doll Street swap, I came to a point where I had to let some glue dry.

I am having fun with this one -- she was a bit of an engineering challenge, but now all her pieces fit together and move properly. I am quite satisfied. I need to finish her hair style yet, and add some clothing by way of embellishments. I have some interesting fibers in my stash that should work well.

OK, so... while waiting for the glue to dry, I decided to clean my studio a bit. I came across a box of dominoes I bought intending to make pendants out of them. I stalled out working on them because drilling the holes for the bails was annoying.

Hmmmmm... how to drill those holes without drilling any holes in ME... A drill press maybe? Do we have one out in the shop? No, darn it. Back to cleaning...

Later that day we went to town. We just happened (honest!) to be walking through the Sears store so I thought I would just *look* at the drill presses. Gads -- those monsters would need a whole room of their own! A salesman happened by and asked if there was anything in particular we were looking for, so I asked if they had drill presses in a bench top size. Well, yes they did, but did I have a Dremel tool? There is a press attachment available for the Dremel tool! How cool is that???

I didn't actually buy the press attachment, but it did give me the idea to try the Dremel instead of my power drill to make the holes. HUGE improvement. The dremel goes through the acrylic like butter. I am happy now!

I drilled holes to my heart's content. There is something very satisfying at an elemental level in operating power tools.

By now the glue on my paper doll was long dry, but I was on a roll with the dominoes. I got out my inks and started stamping. Then embossing. Stamping some more. More embossing. (Heat guns aren't *quite* as much fun as drills, but they come close.) These are turning out pretty cool.

I am going to make these into pendants to sell at our church's Holiday Bazaar in November. I have been doing jewelry the last few years, but a bunch of others have sort of jumped on that bandwagon as well, so I am looking to add something new and a little different.

I also want something I can sell cheap to impulse shoppers. My friend Judi Wellnitz wrote a tutorial a while back for doing Altered Business Card magnets and posted it to her blog here . I think they might sell pretty well in a bazaar setting. Hope so anyway... I'll try a few this year to see how they do.

These are what I have so far. The colors aren't very true in this picture -- my camera didn't capture the "halo" effect of the paint I used. Can't wait for the paint to dry!

I have one last photo to share. This is the view from my back door the other evening. It has taken me a while to figure out how to load a panoramic photo to Blogger. But can you believe that sky? I wish I could paint like that!

4 comments:

Judi W. said...

Oh my gosh - you HAVE been busy! I love the paper doll, she is just awesome! I love the dominos and I can't wait to see how the magnets come out! Thanks for the tip about the Dremel - I use the drill press but everything in my husband's garage is soooo dirty and greasy that I hate to use it.

Can't beat Mother Nature for artistic endeavours, can we?

Jacque Uetz said...

Judi love your paper doll and dominos.You are a very busy gorl. and my goodness where do you live what a beautiful sky, it remind me of New Mexico..

Kai said...

Your blog is ALWAYS soooooo worth visiting, my friend! I do NOT think your paper doll needs a THING more! Perfect as is, Judi! And you went craaaaaaazy with those domino designs! They'll be great sellers at ANY event! Finally, the view - wow, wow, wow! I hope that open invitation still stands! I'll be right there! LOL!

Anonymous said...

Wowee! Love the paper doll, it's awesome and the dominoes are pretty cool too, will have to try that myself and the sky is just gorgeous thanks for sharing the picture!