Polyvore Collage Play!
Tag: fun
Sisal Christmas Trees DIY
Inspired by another artist I decided to make some of those little sisal Christmas trees this year. Of course you can buy bags of sisal trees but I needed to make them from scratch. (of course)
So I headed off to Home Depot for some ingredients:
Based on my inspiration tutorial, which you can find here: DIY Bottle Brush Trees, these are all the necessary things.
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sisal natural rope
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heavy duty scissors (I went with serrated blades)
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18 gauge wire
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vise
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drill
I added safety glasses and a cup hook to this list. Also the above picture shows my household drill that doesn’t have an adjustable chuck (the thing that holds the bit) so I needed to upgrade into this…
It has three movable parts where the bit is held so I could do this with the cup hook…
I stuck that in there for twirling of the wire necessary to make the tree. But let’s back up a little and start with the sisal. First you want to cut some lengths of the rope to work with. I cut 6 inch pieces, about 20 to start, then untwirled all the fibers. You will have to untwirl two times. The first will take apart the rope. The second will take apart the fibers and look the picture below. At least this is what you are shooting for.
Looks like my hair! Keep doing this until you have a nice full pile. Mine were about 6 undone strands of rope each but you can really do more or less depending on your aesthetic.
Next you will need to cut the wire.
I started with 12 inch pieces which then are folded in half.
Now take your pile of fibers and fit them in between one of the folded wires. Take a second wire and place it over the fibers in the opposite direction. Slip these to each side of your fiber pile and it should look like this.
Trust me…at this point you’ve made a big mess and you’re wondering if this is even going to work. But be patient because it’s slowly coming together.
Get your scissors and we are going to cut diagonally in between the wires like so…
Then go back to each side and make some more diagonal cuts so you have basic tree shapes.
Here’s where that cup hook and larger drill come into play. Placing the bottom of the wires, the open end, into your vise screw it down hard so they will stay put.
Then take your drill with the cup hook and place the hook like so in the folded portion of the wire…
Pulling up slightly with the drill start to allow the wire to twirl. The hook will probably catch a bit more wire here than you would like but keep twirling with the drill moving slowly until you get the hang of it. The wire will be very twisted when it’s done but not so twisted that it breaks or twirls over on itself. This took me a few tries before I felt comfortable. AND WEAR YOUR SAFETY GLASSES! You don’t want things spinning through the air to hit you in the eyes!
So here is the pay off…
A messy tree like thing…but wait! Take your scissors or, I used a needle tool, and brush out the fibers. I found it best to work in one direction. Then using your scissors trim into a tree shape. Keep trimming…and trimming….and trimming and a tree will appear!
Miraculous! All of a sudden you really have a mini sisal Christmas trees….but they’re beige. And now the real fun begins!
Don’t hate me but I’m not going to show you until tomorrow!
See you back here then!
Susan
Ice Resin Play: Molding Putty Part 2
So last time we found out what molding putty is and the very basics of how you use it. Now let’s get a little more in depth.
How can I make the molding putty into something I can use? How does the molding putty make a mold?
Well…let’s see…we left off with mixed molding putty ready to go so say hello my zoo…
I’m starting to hoard small cute plastic animals. Yes, I can’t help myself. But they make the perfect molding subject matter…let’s start with the big piggy there on the left…
Now you have to work pretty fast but you also want to make sure that the parts of the animals, the ears and snout in this case, are covered well to get a good mold. The molding putty will adhere to itself as you go but, again, you have to work quickly.
Here is Mr. Piggy with his whole head covered and ready to cure.
…and my sheep was done in the same manner.
Now comes the hard part…you have to wait. Only about 15 minutes or once you can’t leave an imprint with a finger nail pressed into the molding putty. He’s curing so leave him alone!
After the time has passed just gently wiggle the molding putty to loosen it around the head. If necessary pull it back from the sides and slide it off around the ears and nose. Careful! You don’t want to tear the mold. I’ve done that from being too anxious to see what I’ve molded. And here is what my sheep mold look like!
See all that detail? All the fur swirls and eyes? Next time we will pour some resin in it!
Happy cre8ing!!
Part 1 can be found here:
https://www.susansartcircus.com/ice-resin-play-molding-putty/
Ice Resin Play: Molding Putty Part 1
Have you played with silicone putty or molding putty? Do you know what that is? Ooh…you’re in for a fun surprise!
Silicone putty comes in two parts that you mix together to make one uniform color putty. Sometimes it’s dark and light purple labelled part A and part B. Or it’s yellow and white like my favorite molding putty from Ice Resin.
What you do take equal parts of the each color, no need to measure just eyeball it, and mix them to make a uniform blended color. It only takes about 30-45 seconds.
Once the molding putty is blended together you can press just about any object you want into it…buttons, small dolls, utensils, vintage parts, beads, your finger, use your imagination. Wait 10-15 minutes and you have a mold that is an exact replica of whatever you stuck into the putty. Really…it’s that simple.
The applications for this stuff are crazy! If you’re a mixed media artist your head will swim with ideas. I swear the first time I was introduced to this stuff I ran around the house and tried to mold everything that wasn’t alive!
If you haven’t tried it you need to! Come back by for another step in molding putty and see what I’m molding!!
Until then!
