Thursday, October 20, 2016

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1791: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like (Kim) Christmas

I have always been one of those designers that loves to work on designs from others that I admire. I can’t help it. I see something that someone else creates that ‘speaks to me’ and I can’t help but try to make the time to create it. I look at it as helping support the industry that I love so much. It also gives my brain a rest and keeps me feeling like I am having fun. After all – I believe that enjoying what I am doing is linked in a big part to the amount of success that I have.  



Kim Christmas (http://www.kimchristmas.com) has always been one of my favorites. Those of you who have followed me for a while have seen me paint several of her projects over the years and I always look forward to seeing what new things she has in mind. Just recently, I did the “Meow, Meow, Boo!” project of three little kitty head ornaments. They were so much fun! 



A couple of weeks ago, I saw another project that Kim designed for this autumn/Halloween season. It is called “Sittin’ in the Patch” (H16-3) and you can order the pattern on her site here: #1508 - Sittin’ in the Patch



I loved it, but thought that I may have to pass on it because I didn’t know where I would be able to get the ceramic bisque pumpkin that she used for the design. I really thought it was a cool design though. 



Then, as luck would have it, I was in our local Bulk Barn and saw these beautiful clear glass pumpkin jars for sale. They only cost $7 each and I thought I may be able to use them for the project. 



They were slightly larger than Kim’s original design, but I knew it wouldn’t be much trouble to enlarge the pattern to make it suitable. Since my pumpkin was smooth, clear glass and Kim’s was ceramic bisque, I had to think of something to base the pumpkin out that would allow me to paint on it without the paint scraping off or chipping. 



Enter DecoArt Chalkboard Paint for GLASS! 



I followed the instructions on the bottle and heat-set the paint in the oven and I was thrilled and amazed at how “PERMANENT” this paint really was. I tried to scrape it off with my nail (after allowing it to cure) and I couldn’t do it. I even was able to lightly sand it to smooth out some of the brush strokes that I had. I was thrilled! 



I decided to make the base of my pumpkin black, as I wanted to be able to keep it out a bit longer than Halloween – all through Thanksgiving and while I liked the purple that Kim used on her pattern, I thought that something more neutral or autumn-like would suit me better. Here is the result of the base of my pumpkin:



I was ready to go! :)  



I didn’t want my pumpkin sky stark black, so I looked through my supplies to see what would do to make the pumpkin a little nicer. I decided to dry brush some of DecoArt’s Metallic Lustre over the black to give the pumpkin a orange-ish look:



The result was fabulous! The pumpkin looked so cool, I almost wanted to leave it 'as is’! 



I sprayed it with two coats of MATTE finish (no – it didn’t dull the Metallic Lustre – it set it nicely) and I continued to apply my pattern as per Kim’s instructions:



I’ll be honest in that at first I didn’t do all the steps Kim recommended and the result was that I spun my wheels for a while and got nowhere. Last night I took a step back and did what I was supposed to do and made great progress:



I used the Faux Squirrel brush by Dynasty for applying the paint and I did like the softer texture of it. I felt that it left less brush marks than if I used my usual taklon brushes, as the bristles were softer. 



Under the watchful eyes of “Inspector Biggles” (aka Pancakes) I made great progress:



I hope to finish up the project today and have more of it to show you tomorrow. :) 



I liked this method so much that I went back and got a couple additional pumpkins to create my own designs on. In the past, I found that painting on glass or other smooth, non-porous surfaces was difficult because it would seem that the paint would always chip and peel off. I didn’t want to invest my time and energy to something that wouldn’t last. The DecoArt Chalk Paint for Glass really, really holds up beautifully and gives a nice matte surface for a base. I have some additional colors and I plan to use them in design work in the near future. 



In other news, Keith has added a new Christmas pattern to our site:



With everyone gearing up for Christmas, we hope you will enjoy it and add it to your pattern arsenal. You can get to it directly HERE



I hope you enjoy seeing my pumpkin come to life. For more of  Kim’s lovely patterns, please visit her site. You can get the DecoArt products at your favorite craft supplier or go directly to the DecoArt site and order them online. While for this project I used the Chalkboard Paint for glass (which means you can write on it with chalk) for future projects, I am going to use the “Chalky Finish Paint for Glass” (which comes in more colors) and paint over it. I will keep you posted as to how it works. 



It is yet another beautiful and sunny day here in Nova Scotia. After some rain yesterday, there isn’t a cloud in the sky today. We certainly have had some amazing weather this year and the autumn colors are just lovely. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world but where I am! 



Happy Thursday to you all! 



via Tumblr http://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/152069434454

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