I painted this for a friend yesterday….just as a reminder for her. She knows why…
Today’s version of T stands for Tuesday will be short and sweet…hopefully.
I’m continuing my effort to eat a good healthy breakfast in hopes of making better choices throughout the day. Especially now that I’m finally. *knock on wood* better…with the exception of a little cough.
I made a few more of my button pendants…
Now if I’d only get around to listing some in my etsy store. As much as I love creating, I hate the time and effort the listing process takes.
I’ve also been working on painting a set of tiles for Settlers of Catan. Here’s a sneak at the work in progress.
I’m trying really hard to remember to take photos as I go with my phone…there will definitely be more to come.
I haven’t forgotten about art journalling either…
You can see the entire post here.
That’s it for today! Time to go shovel. This time I’m determined not to fall. Yikes! My knee is still slightly off colored and that was 2 weeks ago. At least my brain didn’t get scrabbled as well…although I did see stars. ? ? ?
What are you doing today?
Our family enjoys board games especially slightly out of the ordinary board games not made by the typical sources such as Hasbro and Milton Bradley. Most are titles you won’t find at your local discount department store like Target. Heck we’ve even played a game that was totally in German. We borrowed the game from a hobby shop owner who gave us a rough translation of the rules. But I digress…
Recently we played a game from our collection called Jamaica.
It’s basically a racing game that you manage your cargo and occasionally get to battle another player. Strategy and luck both play into the equation.
You keep track of who is “captain” for the turn with this compass piece.
Mr. G found this model of a ships wheel on Thingiverse and thought it might make a great custom edition to the game in place of the chipboard compass. Looks cool but not exactly the right color.
Here’s the wheel in progress, extremely wet with paint. After this completely dried, I sprayed it with walnut ink. I wasn’t sure this was a good choice but what the heck…I live dangerously.
Here’s the completed wheel in play. I sprayed it with a matte spray sealer to protect it from chips and scratches. I tested the durability of it by rubbing it together with the Hand of the King piece I had previously completed. There is no way either object will be as roughly abused as that during regular game play and storage so I think we are good.
I love how the walnut ink settled into the layers of the print giving the appearance of wood grain. So fun!
Currently I’m working on another board game. I had always wanted to make a set of custom tiles for this game but assumed that I’d be scratch building each tiles like I do for miniature terrain pieces. Since the game has 19 tiles…the task was a little daunting. Mr. G is printing the board pieces from files shared on Thingiverse. I am adding custom paint jobs to each piece. More on that project to come…
My focus as of late has shifted from art journals and papercraft to 3D items such as button stack pendants and of course, all the 3D printed goodies that just keep on coming. As much as this variety feeds my art ADD, I find myself missing paper and mixed-media. I start to second guess myself…will I still be able to create? What if I fall out of practice? Self doubt is an evil thing.
So a few weeks ago I dropped in at one of the bigger libraries in the system and got myself an armload of inspiration. Nope still didn’t do it for me. My altered books, journals and one off paper crafts sat idle. I even enlisted Mini-me to help clean and organize our art space. Notice I said our art space. She is taking 2 art classes this trimester. One required and one elective.
After finishing painting a couple 3D printed models, I had extra paint brown and gold on the palette. Not being wasteful I grabbed a journal and wiped it on to a random page. I guess that was all it took. The simple act of doing and not thinking to much about it.
The page quickly came together. As I went looking for words I found this series that really spoke to what I felt at that moment.
Do you hear or listen to that little voice inside? Is it the evil one or the one that lifts you up? Or do you just try to shut her up with cookies?
It’s Tuesday again…time for T stands for Tuesday hosted by Elizabeth. Grab a cup and stay awhile.
The past week is one of those I’d like to forget ever happened. Instead I’m going to talk about some pleasant things like what I’ve been doing with the 3D printed items Mr. G has been creating. There is a fantastic resource out there called Thingiverse. It has CAD files for 3D printing for an ever growing number of things anyone can imagine.
Anyone familiar with Game of Thrones??
Hand of the King…just after I started the sanding process.
a little more smooth…nearly ready to paint.
Did you know that a red base layer makes gold deeper and richer?
What do you think? I think it looks pretty awesome…aw crud… except….
that the photo should have been taken in this orientation. Such as this. DUH!
Oh well…no one is perfect. I blame my everlasting cold virus for my lapse of clear thought.
That’s it for today…more projects to come.
What are you doing today?
As soon as 3D printers came out Mr. G has been wanting one. Here it is…fresh from the box. It came with a little yellow octopus that they print with your particular machine before shipping it. And enough filament and the necessary software to print a second slightly varied model.
I present the finished “roctopus” which it this particular company’s logo/mascot.
It was such a fascinating process to watch.
Next Mr. G moved to the garage and went about printing some calibration units to fine tune the machine…I didn’t document any of that…I got bored. After that process was complete he went about printing a case for the tiny RapsberryPi computer that he has running the machine.
This is the bottom of the case. Amazing isn’t it!!! How a spool of plastic filament can become a 3D object. There is a CAD program involved and a slicing program… I know some of you may be thinking “blah,blah..techie…blah..” but it is a very cool process.
In my next couple posts I’ll be sharing how all this plays into things of an artsy manner as well as super practical things such as….
…gears for the machine itself. All the plastic parts for this 3D printer are…you guessed it….3D printed. WHA?? Super cool. They give the files to create replacement parts with the machine. They recommend that you print certain ones that wear the quickest.
Mr. G also has ideas for household uses…such as the air compressor was in need of a new filter for the air intake…he wanted something more high performance to prolong the life of the compressor itself. He designed this new fitting in a CAD program then printed it out.
Perfect fit for the filter he prefers.
How cool is that!
Okay…I’m sure you’ve had enough of me bragging about my husband.
I’m working on painting some cool pieces for a couple board games and thinking up fun crafty things as well…more to come…I promise!
So what’s a girl to do when she doesn’t want to repaint a wall quite yet…hide the imperfections, of course.
This first one is were my dustbuster hand vacuum formerly hung. It finally “bit the dust” so to speak. Oh man that was bad.
My solution is not too shabby. Totally hides the wall anchors. It’s an awkward little section of wall anyway…might as well try to dress it up.
This UGLY phone jack was truly an eye sore in the kitchen when I took down the wall phone. Just the simple hanging of the painting over the jack gave that wall a fresh new look. I didn’t even have to pound in a nail!
Big J says the painting makes him of cells….and that’s from the kid who says he doesn’t like biology. Me…I just like the colors. LOL