Pet Memorial Stone

Years ago I made a memorial stone for one of our beloved dogs named Foxy. The first time I made it was not properly sealed. I don't remember what sealer I used, but it didn't work. Unfortunately, being out in the elements had caused parts of the grout to crumble off. Needless to say, the stone needed a fresh application of grout. Taking advantage of a very warm December day (in the 70s y'all!), I got to work. First, the grout was applied (use gloves, folks, 'cause this is messy stuff)...

I used Jennifer's Mosaics Indoor/Outdoor Powdered Grout in black. Honestly, I wish I had used a lighter color but this was my first mosaic and I'm still learning about aesthetics. I feel that the mosaic design would have been more noticeable had I used a lighter grout color.

Next, I let it set for about 15 minutes. After that comes the fun part - wiping off the grout to see your mosaic underneath!

When the stone dried completely, the sealer was applied. This time I used Minwax Indoor/Outdoor Helmsman Spar Urethane in Clear Semi-Gloss. Two coats were applied. Honestly, I don't know if this will be ample protection. Only time will tell. In my internet research I could not find any information on how to properly seal mosaics, especially those that will be outdoors. The result looks beautiful so let's just hope it works.

Volume Pedal

I painted a homemade Guitar Volume pedal I built as a Christmas present. If you would like to read and see the build process click here

A black pedal is pretty common, and this one is not different. I spray primer and painted the pedal black. I'm thinking it would get some non-slip tape put on it at some point anyway.

The body is a flavor or red. I knew I needed to paint "IN" and "OUT" to show which cable to plug into which jack. So I did that first and looked at it. Then I just started drawing arrows. I originally was thinking that the letters would be in Yellow, and "VOLUME" along each side. I may do something like that on the next one.
This one I also put Volume on it, but I wrapped it around the front. The input side has "VO", the front has "LU", and the output has "ME". The V is not prominent as I would have liked.

I think it came out good, I was searching for an abstract appearance, and I think I got it.

Kalimba

I made a Kalimba as a gift for Christmas. I really enjoyed painting it. If you would like to see and read about the build, click here.

One part of the Kalimba was the picture inside. I sprayed the wood with gray primer and white paint. I marked the wood so I would know where to put the picture under the sound hole.

I really like how the grain showed up in a few of the places after I painted the wood white. Gave me some ideas of painting a winter scene. I will keep my eye out for any other wood that shows that it would.

You can see the grain better in this picture.
It wold make for a nice winter scene.

Obviously I'm a real beginner at painting. Ive spent more time drawing than anything. During this project I learned that you can take the brush, and go over where I wanted the highlights. I look forward to learning more of these types of things when painting.

Photo of Kalimba build

Keys

I built this to give as a Christmas present this year. Years ago I found the idea on Pinterest. We had an old piano that the harp was warped and could not be tuned. I kept a lot of the parts.


If you are interested in reading and seeing the build click here

I still have some more piano parts. I hope to build some more "Piano Art"
There are some really cool things I've seen with the hammers.

BW Keys

shape it

Piano Keys

Drawing rectangles, then decided to draw the keys on a piano.
Why not label them?

Simple Shapes - TRISquare

Experimenting with Triangles.
Meet "TRISquare"

Our Stained Glass Journey

This is where our Stained Glass Journey Began

We have been talking about getting back into Stained Glass. Never seems to be enough time in the day.

Over the years my wife has made a number of stained glass things, I've only made a few.

In the Beginning...

Many years ago, when we moved into our house, we were not happy with the plain front door. We looked at doors in different stores and just did not think they were worth the prices they were charging. Besides, nothing was wrong with our door, we just wanted it to look different.

We decided to just make it ourselves.

Well to be honest, my wife wanted a stained glass door, and after a while I said well if you want a stained glass door make one, because I'm not paying  over $1000 to replace a good working door.

So classes, tools, glass.... Surely that was not a grand worth of stuff. 😳

Other than the cuts on fingers, the feeling of accomplishment is way better anyway.

Besides one year we made stained glass Christmas Gifts for family members. I think they liked them. We'll post about them at another time.

Stained Glass is fun and a rewarding hobby.

Simple Shape - Rhombus

I like arranging and drawing simple shapes. There is no pressure on trying it to make it look like something really. Put some shapes together move them around some and voila!










The more I look at them the more I see things.

Simple Shapes - Tree

In the Spirit of Christmas, figured on a simple Christmas Tree with Triangles, Rectangle and Circles. Few straight lines for the ribbons on the presents, and a little free hand for the bows, but all very easy and fast.