Textile & Fibre Art
Fibre Art: Crocheted PomPom Blanket

Posted on 13th November 2017 by Neil

For my fabric and yarn pieces, there is normally a reason for their creation – they take too much work to be just ‘playing’. So it was for this crocheted pompom blanket, finished just in time for a baby shower and the imminent arrival of ‘Pickle’. Following a pattern, I crocheted a ridiculous number of pompoms, joined them together one by one, row by row. Some might say mindnumbing, others meditative. I plump for labour of love 😉

I used acrylic baby knit yarn to ensure the blanket is washable. That said, I think I would still be washing in a net bag or pillowcase to avoid stretching the joins.

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Zulu

Posted on 12th November 2017 by Neil

Here’s another tangle pattern – this one is based on (apparently) traditional weaving pattern used by Zulus in their hut walls. Whether that’s true or not, it’s a handy filler pattern and looks great with shading to add depth and interest.

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Frozen Fractals

Posted on 9th November 2017 by Neil

Last Monday was my regular art journal session at The Studio. We took the theme ‘baby, it’s cold outside’. Coincidentally, it was one of the coldest evenings of the autumn too. The theme called for cool colours, shimmer and sparkle to evoke frost rime on windows and icy surfaces:

$art journal frozen fractals$

I started with layers of gesso, creating ridged fans/feathering by jittering the edge of a palette knife to make the texture. Sprinkle a little Ultramarine Color Burst. Add more layers of gesso and then iridescent medium. Stamp with archival inks before adding the quote. Smear some Stardust stickles over the page and set aside to dry. I think the quote source is fairly obvious and just fits the theme perfectly!

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: W-Y

Posted on 5th November 2017 by Neil

I’ve revisited the idea of using letters to create new designs for use in zentangle inspired art. My previous patterns in this theme are ABC, KLM, UVW and XY. And this one is W-Y, which gives a rather pleasing kaleidoscope effect when tiled edge to edge.

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3D printing
3D Printing: ‘Will You Be Mine?’ Cuboidroid

Posted on 3rd November 2017 by Neil

I’ve had fun creating my cuboidroids, and as my confidence has grown so have my modelling skills. The third cuboidroid in my series is perhaps the most whimsical to date… ‘will you be mine?’

The arms took a fair number of prototypes to get right, as did the ‘hands’. I eventually settled on the hexagonal shape and added the internal thread. This will give me the opportunity to add props using bolts that screw in. I’ve also added extra elements to reinforce the droid bits:

Now I’ve done the prototypes, I need to perfect the smoothing of the various components, perfect the paint jobs and come up with more characterisations. Not much then…

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3D printing
3D Printing: An Unsure Cuboidroid

Posted on 1st November 2017 by Neil

Another in my series of mini-characters is this unsure cuboidroid with a faux brushed steel finish. By combining various paints and varnishes, the dulled patina plays against the satin clean metal. I am amazed at how small an expression is required to anthropomorphise an otherwise inanimate/non-human object.

This little chap/ess is available to purchase – do contact me if you’re interested. Previous characters are here.

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3D printing
3D Printing: A Rather Sad Cuboidroid

Posted on 30th October 2017 by Neil

I’ve had a little bit more ‘me time’ in the studio and decided out of the blue to create something from scratch using my 3D printer. The second time I created this little chap was a lot quicker than the first. I had learnt how to do it in the preceding four hours and then neglected to save the file before it crashed… I’m in the process of kitting out another two of these mini sculptures and will be making a series, I think. I’m dubbing them ‘cuboidroids’ – cuboid droids. Two reasons: I had to call them something and ‘blockheads’ was already taken; a quick Google search showed no one had concatenated the two words together, ever. If only I had the cash to trademark the name.

This down-in-the-dumps rust bucket stands 9cm/3½” high and is for sale if anyone wants to make me an offer. Or commission a custom cuboidroid…

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Mobius

Posted on 29th October 2017 by Neil

I think this tangle pattern comes into its own with shading to emphasise the layers within the design. And I’m aware the motif is not a Mobius strip, but that’s what it reminded me of. It will work well as a border, and also point to point rather than off-set as I have drawn it.

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Freebies
Organisation: Mini Archival Ink Tins

Posted on 26th October 2017 by Neil

It’s always great to know where things are in your craft space, which requires organisation. It’s even more important in a teaching studio to be able to tell at a glance if anything is missing and for studio guests to know where to put things back. As part of the Creative Chemistry course, Tim Holtz made available inserts for his mini-distress ink pads to fit the storage tins. I’ve just looked for similar for the mini-archival ink tins, and couldn’t find one. So I made some:

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Pick A Stick Challenge #PASC1017

Posted on 25th October 2017 by Neil

I know I haven’t done the Pick A Stick Challenge for a little while but didn’t realise quite how long ago it was… 2015! I’ve decided to try and do at least one ‘me-project’ each month, and this month was the Pick A Stick art journal challenge. For those that have forgotten the format, ten sticks are chosen at random, each with an instruction as to what to put in or a technique to use. The challenge Facebook group can be found here.

The page ended up darker in tone and emotion that I normally do – the quote was inspired by the raven stencil I used. There are many different things that I would call from the poem, but this is perhaps the darkest. As I was writing it onto the page all I could think of was my road with depression, my ‘black dog’.