Artist morgue files are more than just a pile of pattern ideas. Your morgue file is a great place to keep those project ideas that catch your interest.
DIY Gift Pin Cushion Project
Supplies:
a ball of scrap yarn a 3 /12″ clay flower-pot 2 yards of burlap twine acrylic glue 6 rubber bands assorted marking pens assorted glitter gel pens.
Instead of hot glue or white glue, we will be using the rubber bands around the yarn ball to hold the yarn in place against the inside wall of the clay pot. This secures the yarn tightly into the pot, yet allows you to remove and replace the yarn ball if necessary.
For more free LSIrish.com Doodle Patterns type ‘doodle’ into the search box in the header of this page.
Step 1: Using a fine point permanent marking pen, doodle assorted designs onto the lower section of your clay pot.
Step 2: Accent the doodle designs with colored marking pens and with glitter gel pens. Allow the gel pen work to dry for about 10 minutes before you move to the next step.
Step 3: Wrap the burlap twine around the underside of the clay pot rim three times. Tie the ends into a bow and clip the ends to about 2″ long. Use several drops of acrylic glue to secure the bow and to hold the twine to the pot. Allow to dry.
Step 4: Grab those little bits of scrap yarn that you have been saving. Wrap the yarn into a semi-tight ball … tighter than you would normally wrap for knitting or crochet, but not so tight that the ball becomes excessively hard. You want your yarn ball about 1/2″ wider in diameter than the opening of your clay pot. Tie off the end of the yarn.
Step 5: Place five to six rubber bands around the center of your yarn ball. Slid the yarn ball into the top of your clay pot so that the rubber bands are about 1/2″ below the pot rim. Tuck in any loose yarn loops with your scissors.
Step 6: Your loose straight pins, needles, and safety pins will sit nicely in the yarn ball, while your doodling will add a little sparkle and decoration to your sewing table.
Step 7: Make another one for your favorite sewing friend!
Altered Art is the fun of taking an item as an old book and re-purposing it as the base for your craft arts. The sample to the right is a pen and ink, pencil, and colored pencil drawing worked on the page of an old law dictionary.
A second interruption of altered art is when we cross-craft by combining multiple crafting skills to create a unique work. In this sample a relief carving becomes the base for decoupage, pen and ink designs, and even gold and copper gilding.
Sometimes I love being concise, careful, and controlled in my art … and then sometimes I just want to get down dirty, messy, slimy, anything goes, and hands-on. This String House is one of those ‘dirty up to the elbow’ fun projects from my newest book, Crafting with Gourds.
Introduction Any natural fiber material can easily be collage to the surface of your gourd using archival white water-based glue. This fun bird house uses paper coffee filters, cotton cheese cloth, burlap, garden twine, and cotton cord to create a riot of texture. When the collage work is dry we will use oil pastels to brightly color the high ridges of the texture.
Preparation Wash, clean, and cut a 10” high, 8” diameter, 23” circumference kettle gourd following the general preparation instructions.
Supplies 10” high, 8” diameter, 23” circumference kettle gourd #2 to #6 graphite pencil wax-coated paper cups archival white water-based glue plastic mixing spoon bowl of water for dipping large #6 to #12 square brush latex gloves coffee filters cheesecloth burlap assorted string, cords, and twine scissors
Acrylic craft paint dark brown – bird house black – mobile
set of 12 to 24 oil pastel sticks spray sealer
Step #1 Divide the gourd into three sections.
Divide the outside of your gourd house into three sections using a pencil to create the guidelines. The top section will be worked with coffee filters, the second section with cheesecloth, and the bottom section with burlap.
Step #2 Mix your glue
In a wax-coated paper cup mix three tablespoons of archival white water-based glue. Add one tablespoon of water, mix well.
Work the top section with coffee filters. Work one coffee filter at a time. Dip the filter into clean water, then wring out any the excess water. You want the filter damp, but not dripping.
Step #3 Gluing the coffee filters into place
Apply one coat of glue mix the top section. With a large square brush, apply one coat of the glue mix to the top section of your gourd. Place the filter onto the glue and press firmly with your brush.
Add more glue if needed. Apply more glue with your brush to the filter as necessary to secure the coffee filter into place. Use the palm of your hand to press the thickest wrinkles into place.
Step #4 Add the cheesecloth
Work the middle section with cheese cloth. Mix a second batch of archival white water-based glue if necessary. Cut your cheesecloth into small 3” to 4” squares. You can work several overlapping layers of cheesecloth at a time to increase the texture for this area.
Dip the cheesecloth squares in clean water, then blot well on paper towels. Brush a coat of the glue mixture to the central area of the gourd. Place several layers of cheesecloth onto the glued area and use your brush to press it into place.
Step#5 Work the top half of the bottom section with burlap.
The bottom section of the gourd is covered with 3” squares of burlap. Dampen and blot the burlap pieces on a paper towel. Coat the bottom section of the gourd with your glue mix. Lay one piece of burlap onto the gourd and apply a second coat of glue mix over the burlap. Continue working along the pencil line for this section, overlapping each new burlap piece on the last piece applied. Work just one ring of burlap pieces along the bottom.
Step#6 Leave an area of the gourd un-worked.
Visual contrast is important when you want to artistically emphasize texture. The un-worked bottom area for this bird house gives your eye an area of smooth gourd surface to compare to the textures you have created.
Step #7 Gather a variety of cotton and twin strings.
While you can use just one type of string, using a variety adds to the textured effect of this collage.Cut and tie a string at each intersection of the textures.
Lay a long piece of twine around your gourd. Move the twin to an intersection between two of your textured areas. Tie a square knot and cut the excess twine from the knot to about 1” long. Brush a generous coat of the glue mix to the twine to hold it into place. The twine wrapping does not have to fall exactly on the joint, let it fall where ever it may.
Let your strings go over the bird house hole as you add then. Glue the string, including that area that is over the hole. After the glue has dried overnight you can cut the small sections of the string that cover the hole without effecting the string at the hole sides.
Step #8 Add one more, even coat of glue mix.
Let your gourd dry for about an hour, then apply one more glue and water mix to all of the textured areas. Dry overnight. Even though the glue is well dried it will have a slightly tacky feeling to the surface. This will diminish with the spray sealer step at the end of the project.
Apply one to two coats of burnt umber brown or black acrylic paint to the entire surface of the decoupaged gourd. This creates a dark background for the color that will lie on the high texture in the next step.
Step #9 Playing with oil pastels.
Oil pastels are ground pigment that is compressed in an oil-based stick. They are available in set that have a full color range.
Using one oil pastel stick at a time, rub your pastel over one of the textured areas. The pastel will adhere to just the highest areas of your texture, leaving the deep areas in the dark brown paint.
Although not shown in this project you can blend oil pastels by laying one color over another lightly. This lets a little of both colors show and creates the new blended color.
You can clean off any pastel color that has gotten into the next area by rubbing the area with your fingers.
Step #10 Apply oil pastel to the strings.
Use contrasting colors for your strings by rubbing the oil stick along the top edge of the string.
Finish this bird house with two to three light coats of spray sealer.
Step #11 Making a wind chime Shown in the top photo
If you are a pyrographer and a journalist you will have fun working today’s projects. We have been exploring the Artist’s Morgue File this week and our habit as artists to keep stacks, folders, and file boxes of scrap paper or digital images that spark our imagination.
Handmade, DIY Leather Journals are a great way to organize those little bits of inspiration. Your front and back leather cover make a great media for your pyrography, the pages can be made with bullet journal pages, watercolor paper, or scrapbook paper. Since the journal uses an easy lacing pattern, worked with twine or raffia, it is easy to open and refill the pages of your journal at any time.
The front two leather DIY Artist Journal patterns are available in the Great Book of Celtic Patterns, available on Amazon.com. The back journal is worked on chipboard, covered with scrap paper, watercolor paper, and glitter tape. It is a kettle stitched bound book.
And here are two more free doodle patterns –
Free Doodle Pattern 011Free Doodle Pattern 012
By now you should have 11 free Lora S. Irish patterns stashed away in your craft folder on your desktop. Three from Day #1, three from Day #2, and five for today. See you on Monday, Jan 6th with more …
Bullet Journals let you keep track of your day to day activities and to add personal notes, shopping lists, and appointment calendars. The pages are worked on a dot grid pattern which is used as your guide to create your tables, lists, and highlighted comments.
Bullet Journal Blank Page
This basic bullet journal page will print on an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper. When folded it creates two facing printed dot grid pages. You can print several copies of this bullet journal page. Then put those pages back into your printer tray, face up so that you see the printed grid, and then printed a second time to create the dot grid on the back of your paper.
Free Doodle Pattern 008
Click on the image, right, to open a full-sized copy in a new window. Right hand click on the image and chose ‘save image’ to keep a copy on your computer for easy printing. This page is pre-set to print in portrait mode, no adjustment is needed.
The Stapled Bookbinding link, below, shows you how to take multiple printed pages and staple them into a small booklet.
Bullet Journal Header PageBullet Journal List PageBullet Journal Design Page
Here are a few samples of DIY Hand Bound Bullet Journal, decorated with scrap booking paper, a watercolor paper design, paper twist strings, a few glass beads, and worked with leather covers. Stop by tomorrow for the links to how to design, burn, and bind your own leather journal.
The patterns for the large background dragon journal, and the small Celtic journal, front left, are available in the Great Book of Celtic Patterns, available on Amazon.com. The Greenman Journal, front right, is a free project here on LSIrish.com.
Free Doodle Pattern 009
Stop by Reddit/r/bulletjournal to discover a fun community of journalist that share lots and lots of ideas.
If you haven’t played with bookbinding yet, these links will get you stared.
