Sunday, January 4, 2015

Be It Resolved


A resolution.  That's a scary thing.  I don't like making them.

I had been, however, wanting to start blogging more consistently (duh) and I want to use my huge stash of supplies and tools in the Bat Cave.

So, I am going to attempt to create more.  Hopefully this will happen weekly.  I may need to delete all the games off of my iPad to do it, but by golly, it needs to get done.  If I don't use up some of this stuff, I will have to annex another room in the house.  Say, that's not a bad idea...

To start the New Year off right, I have completed a little project that was totally practical.  I received several gifts from students and I needed some Thank You cards.  What better project to help me use up my stash?

I want to stop here and say that I am going to be giving written instructions right now.  That is because while I know how to use the video cameras that I have, I can't figure out how to get them up above my head to film down on the process.  I probably need some super special little thingy ma bob that I can get for a few bucks.  I don't have that.  I also am not sure what you have to do to post them to your blog.  Hopefully, I will progress to film as I know you all would like that better.

1.  I started with a sketch of what I wanted to do.  I know, I know.  But, in this case it was super helpful.

2.  Next, I slopped some gesso on a piece of plain white cardstock (maybe they call it index?) that you can buy at any office supply store.

3.  After the gesso was dry I cut the cardstock into two 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" pieces.  This is the size of the card I will make.  I also will have an extra if I screw one up.

4.  I then sketched the design onto the card.  I did it portrait style at first, but then felt that a landscape card would fit the design better.  I love my eraser.  Note: you could just copy the sketch onto your gessoed paper if you can get it to run through your copier.  I didn't try it since I need all of the drawing practice that I can get.

5.  I then used my Caran d'Ache Neo Colors to color in the design.  These are very cool watercolor crayons.  I use them all of the time, but I haven't touched them in a while.

6.  After I colored in my design, I chose a watercolor paint brush, wet it and then went to town.  Note that the words aren't on there.  I can't tell you how many times I have finished something and then screwed up the lettering.

7.  I wasn't going to, but I wound up cutting the watercolor off of the rest of the card.  It made it easier for copying.  Yup.  I am crazy, but even I don't want to watercolor 12 thank you notes from scratch.  I had to play with my copier a bit, but I was finally able to copy directly onto the white cardstock so that I could get two cards per sheet.  Each copier is different so you will have to experiment with yours.

8.  Because I am not any good at folding things nicely, I have a little tool called a Scor-It-All.  It helps me make a really nice straight fold.  You do have to know how to divide by 2, which on some days...

All copied and folded.
9.  Still no lettering.  This time I thought that I would get smart and practice a bit.

10.  Now I just need to write the words on each card.  You are probably thinking that I should have written on one of the cards and then copied that.  It would be easier, but I wanted copies from the original, not from a copy of the original.  Got it?  Oh, I used my Faber Castell Pitt pens for this part. I think it was the next to thickest one (medium?).

11.  Ta da!  Finished cards.  I made a few extras so that I have some to grab when I need them.  I will keep the original and make up more as needed.  Just think, if you give me something, you will get an original piece of art, albeit a copy.  


So, there is the process in a nutshell.  Or two.  It wasn't hard to do and I used some of my favorite tools.

My next project is gessoed.  I just have to find time to work on it.  I will give you a hint:  wood and doodles.

Have a Happy and Wonderful New Year.  Time to eat!  Oh, and write 12 Thank Yous.





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