More T-shirt Cutting!

Considering that the temp is still above warm out there, I needed a 3/4 sleeve, half-way "cardigan" to go over my tank top. I don't have one. What I did have, though, was this brown buttoned, long-sleeved top by Say What? It's kind of old, and a tiny bit faded. Still a great top, though.

Then: light bulb!! Make that into what I needed using just a pair of scissors! And, by doing so, I've turned one top into four different things. Observe...

Transformation a la moi! ;) Now it has become my light fabric cardigan, two arm warmers, and.. well, the piece in the middle could be my "skank" top, or a mini-skirt over tights. (I'll figure that one out later.) All I did was take my big orange scissors and cut above the second-to-last button -- in the middle of the strip, for a clean look. I'm so happy with the result!

Folks, take out some of your old clothing. Don't throw away that XXL sports shirt just yet! You'd be surprised at what you can do to renew your clothing into stylish, wearable pieces.

Have you transformed anything lately? Got some good tips on shirt-cutting, or changing a skirt into a bag? Please leave a comment here!

(NB: I don't do sewing. So I definitely look for tips that don't require needle and thread, though I hope this'll change in the future!)

Wordless Wednesday.

Printmaking Relief Practice.

Well, I got out my carving tools, my brayer, and the ink. I decided to start with a simple shape that's soon to become relevant: candy corn. I thought that if I came up with some neat little cards, someone would want them for the holiday. ;)

Carving the linoleum is by far the hardest part of the process. Drawing the design and transferring it is pretty easy, but once you get to relieving it's rough. I'd already nicked myself a bit before my honey rushed to get me his super-stuffed skiing glove for protection.

The main thing to remember is a steady hand goes a long way. Also, keeping too much tension from entering your carving hand, otherwise you'll end up hurting your muscles. But I worked with what I had. Here's some pictures of the experiment, which ultimately ending up being fun. Patrick liked watching.

That is the result of a 3x4" linoleum block, painstakingly carved to represent candy corn. I decided to experiment with keeping contour lines and extra nicks to give it a special touch. To the right is the design repeated on orange construction paper. Rice paper is generally the best for printmaking, but I'm not going to buy any until class requires it.

Here are some tools shown. On the bottom left is the brayer, used to roll the ink onto the block. Moving up you can see a glass pan turned upside down: the best object I could find for putting my oil-based ink on and rolling (mostly cleaned off by using cooking oil). At the top, almost cut off, is my cutter, loaded with the C-blade.

Close-up of the orange construction paper print.

These are the little cards I made from the design. I really like how they turned out. The candy shows up well, especially the contours, but the empty spaces and blotches give it a nice style. I tried doing some color on one, pretty neat though messy. Any takers? ;D They're available for purchase now at my Etsy store.

I think, with time and patience, I'll come to enjoy this form of art. The cutting will always be the frustrating part... and inking enough.

My sketchbook from the SB Project will have to wait a while before I pick up on it again.

Giveaway #1 Winner, and an Etsy Seller Feature!

I just want to thank those who participated and/or RT'd my first giveaway; it was a great success! Now, to announce the winner of the fantabulous Pepper Pot journal... [drumroll]...

Tara, or better known as @BoutiqueKarma on Twitter! Congrats! You'll be receiving your journal soon.

For another first, I present to you my Etsy Seller feature. This week's seller: JulieRose! Welcome, Julie!

Along with providing some info on her shop and herself, she's generously giving away this beautiful, silver sun bead ring:


The ring is wire-wrapped with silver-plated wire, featuring a round silver colored bead with a sun design. Julie's shop mainly sells wire-wrapped rings, all of which are available in either silver-plated and sterling silver wire, as well as some necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Visit her shop here. I think her jewelry is amazing. From antique-chic to cutsie designs, I'm definitely a fan. My favorite piece is her Round Green Stone Ring, as well as her Multi Stone Charm Bracelet.

Here's a little bit about Julie: "I've been making and selling jewelry on Etsy for a little over two years now. My husband and I are expecting our first baby in five or six weeks, and my jewelry and Etsy shop will give me the opportunity to work from home while I take care of my son."

That's wonderful, Julie, and congrats on the baby! Now folks, let's begin with her giveaway.

Details:
There are several ways to earn entries, listed below. You must follow the first requirement of entry to be considered. I'll end the giveaway on September 12th (Saturday), at noon CST, or 12:00pm CST. I'll calculate the numbers and throw them into the Random.org's generator to select a winner. Later on that evening, I will announce the winner here and contact them shortly for information.

How To Enter:
1) First, visit Julie's Etsy shop and browse through her items. Come back here and post a comment telling us which item(s) you liked the most, and what more you'd like to see. Include your email/Etsy url/etc. for contact if you win. You MUST do this first to be considered.

Extra Entries, please leave separate comments for EACH:
1) One extra entry if you follow me on Twitter, and one extra entry if you follow @JulieRoseEtsy. Please leave a comment with your username.
2) One extra entry if you tweet about this giveaway. You can use this: "This week's giveaway features @JulieRoseEtsy, hosted by @spektorish: a Silver Sun Bead Ring! Ends 9/12! http://tinyurl.com/lujz3c" Comment with a link back. Spamming tweets will not help you. :P
3) One extra entry if you blog about this giveaway. Please link back to your blog.
4) One extra entry if you heart her Etsy shop. Link back with your Etsy name.
5) A whopping FIVE extra entries if you buy an item from her shop before the giveaway ends. She'll confirm this for me, so no lying! :P

Note: if you already have done something, like follow me or Julie on Twitter, it counts as an entry -- just leave a comment to remind me, I could miss it! :)

Good luck to everyone!

Middle of the first week.

Wow. Needless to say, I am exhausted! Just finished my first week back at school. Drawing II and Printmaking Relief are definitely going to keep me busy during this semester; both teachers expect a lot from us. Photography will be fun, but I've no idea where I'll find a manual camera to borrow.

And this semester will be EXPENSIVE. The most expensive yet. I already pulled out a loan, and I'm still going to rack up quite some debt just on supplies. Not happy. I'm not trying to sustain this 4.0 GPA for nothing, Tech!! I don't have time to even think about getting a part-time job. I won't have much time to make art on the side for income (no bites at the Etsy shop yet). Patrick is trying to get this customer service job, as well as Coast Guard Reserves, to make sure we don't fall into poverty. Education should not be this way...

One good thing about this week, though: my giveaway! I'm so happy with the response, considering this isn't the most popular artist blog and it's my first major traffic post. After this, I'm probably going to host another giveaway thanks to @JulieRoseEtsy. So keep an eye out!

With that, I leave you with a really awesome, fan-made video. Shiny Toy Guns is a great electro band that does wonderful covers, such as Major Tom (coming home) and this song, Stripped, originally by Depeche Mode.