Wednesday, July 13, 2011

bird brooches

I think about making stuff a lot, I suppose. And sometimes it takes me years to getting around to finally executing an idea, and sometimes something just gets done. So, last weekend was one of those 'just do it' kinds of weekends.

I decided I wanted to make brooches. Now, I'm not exactly sure precisely how I arrived at this conclusion, but I found myself standing in an aisle at the craft store buying a baggy of wooden shapes and then standing in the jewelry findings aisle looking for pin backs...
and well, now I have brooches:




Yes, so, I opened my baggy of wooden pieces and sorted them... and then picked the biggest ones and measured those... and then made a file of that size... and then spent a good hour opening files and copying and pasting and combining until I had at least 30 bird portraits...
And then I printed those out and cut them apart and began the odyssey of production... I painted the fronts and sides of my wooden pieces with black acrylic paint... and then I found my snazzy Elmer's craft bond glue stick (because I have used a lot of glue sticks - and unless it's paper to paper - glue sticks are a nice idea but not a great adhesive) and got to work gluing my printed pictures onto the front of my wooden pieces... and then I pulled out my jar of satin varnish (because, honestly, satin is the most desirable finish — not matte, not high gloss) and gave each tile a good 2 coats of varnish...
Amusingly, okay, so maybe it's really only funny to me - while I was doing all this I was sitting there at my desk watching "The Nine Lives of Chloe King" via the internet.

And then I took them outside on the back porch and proceeded to apply pin backs with a generous helping of E-6000 glue. Oh, yeah, it's industrial strength - and so is it's odor. E-6000 must be used in a well ventilated area and whatever it has been applied to should be left in a well ventilated (or open) area for at least 24 hours for some of that pungent odor to dissipate. Yes, not everything about craft projects is all sunshine and sparkles.



And then, of course, I had to photograph them... Now, as it turns out, I made 30 brooches, since 30 is the number of picture fronts I could fit onto a sheet of paper (and there happened to be at least 30 of the same sized pieces of wood in my little baggy). I mean, when I started I was just going to make like 3 to see if they turned out well enough to be viable... and yeah, by the end of the day I had made all 30.

Apparently, I cannot do things in moderation.

So... I have them listed on Etsy at sarahkdesigns


and on Artfire at "SunshineSight"


So, get some art on that lapel : )

15 comments:

Montanagirl said...

Now those are very cool! You did good to make 30 of them!

Lili said...

Hello. I just wanted to let you know that I fell in love with your blog at the moment that I found it.
<3 xx

Marguerite (Tina) Smith Hart said...

Those turned out fabulous Sarah and bravo to you for making all 30 of them! You have patience, something I need to learn, :)
Tina xo

Erica Lea said...

They're beautiful, and I see you've already sold a couple. Well done!

Sueann said...

Sounds like something I would do...!!
Love the birds!
Hugs
SueAnn

TUSEN VASER said...

Wow, found your blog today! I really like your pictures and creative ways of doing things. The birds are sooooo nice! Cinna in Stockholm

Lisa Gordon said...

Sarah, these are absolutely beautiful, and truly a labor of love. I have to smile when I read what you say about the glue sticks :-) It took me a very, very long time to figure out that they were not the best for much other than paper!!

I absolutely love your work!

Have a fantastic day!

Out on the prairie said...

What a fun idea, glad you survived the fumes. They really get to me bad, I think it is from overexposure to a variety of paint thinners and glues I have used through the years.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

How neat, Sarah.... I love them all and recognize most all of those little birds... Hope you sell them all... I don't wear things like that anymore --but IF I did, I'd buy one from you.. Good Luck.
Hugs,
Betsy

S. Etole said...

moderation and creativity just aren't compatible!

these turned out really great ...

Catherine said...

These are so pretty Sarah. You always come up with the best ideas! Lovely!
xo Catherine

Raquel said...

These are very nice!

Dave said...

Good work Sarah. You are a very capable handygirl - Dave

tinajo said...

They are way pretty! :-)

R. J. said...

What a fantastic idea. I hope you sell lots of them on Etsy.