Addicted again

Well, what can I say…once again, I have discovered a new technique I can’t get enough of. Since dabbling with the faux glass technique, I’ve been going through shrink plastic and making pendants like there’s no tomorrow. I’ve had a few unfortunate misses but a whole batch of successes too.

Here are the latest additions to my collection. And just in case you thought one addict in the family is more than enough, I have managed to share the bug with Littleman. He is the proud creator of the heart pendant and has pronounced himself satisfied with my glazing effort. Knowing him, he’ll give the pendant a thorough inspection tomorrow morning just in case. Can’t blame him….like mother like son!

shrink plastic pendants, a set on Flickr.

Faux glass pendant

I have been a busy bee lately, trying to fit as much art as I can in my life.  Last night, I came upon this absolute gem of a tutorial, courtesy of the equally gorgeous Tammy Tutterow:

http://tammytutterow.com/2013/05/tuesday-tutorials-faux-fused-glass-pendants/

I was instantly smitten and itching to try making some of my own.  Tonight, I took the opportunity of littleman having no homework to fish out my shrink plastic, round up a few stamps, my utee and set to play.

I made these two little pendants.  The one on the left is made up of a transparent piece of shrink plastic stamped with writing, and a shrink plastic butterfly coloured with alcohol inks.  The one on the right is made of three butterfly stamped on a clear background and coloured with colour pencils.

Time to play with Utee then.  I must confess that I don’t own a melting pot. I have never seen the need to make such an expense.  I may rethink my position in the future.  For tonight, a little non-stick pan was good enough.  I hooked my pendants to the little chain that normally holds together my tea infuser and dipped my shrink plastic pieces in the hot utee several times, one at a time until it was completely coated.

And boy, am I in love with the result!  The pendants look coated in a thick layer of melted glass, the imperfections of the utee dripping just adding to the overall look.  They are shiny, glassy, glossy and just amazing looking, and all of this literally in the blink of an eye!

And since I hadn’t quite settled on a definite idea for a mothers’ day present, this was the perfect opportunity.  A little jump ring, a ball chain necklace and voilà!  I’m all set to give my mother her present tomorrow.

And this is a tutorial I am going to revisit again and again.  The possibilities are endless…as endless as my supplies of shrink plastic and utee in any case.

Heart Journal Challenge 3

For the 3rd challenge on the Heart Journal blog http://heartjournal2012.blogspot.com/, we had to cover our heart with paper scraps for added texture then stamp into hot UTEE to create imprints.  I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone so I challenged myself not to use my normal colours but to stay with a rather neutral palette this month.  I used text book paper and assorted scraps, the picture of an old watch (Times magazine ad), gesso, walnut ink, distress inks, oil pastels, UTEE, and acrylic paints.  Having used Distress Inks, I didn’t want to tempt fate this time and didn’t varnish it.   In any case, this heart allowed me to make peace with UTEE.  I’ll be using it again soon!

 

Pour le challenge n°3 du Heart Journal http://heartjournal2012.blogspot.com/, nous devons utiliser des chutes de papier ainsi que des empreintes dans l’UTEE.  J’ai décidé de me rajouter une contrainte en n’utilisant aucune de mes couleurs habituelles mais une palette plutôt neutre ce mois ci.  J’ai utilisé des chutes de pages de livres et autres papiers, la photo d’une vielle montre (découpée dans une pub du Times magazine), du gesso, du brou de noix, des encres distress, des pastels gras, de l’UTEE et de l’acrylique.  Comme j’ai utilisé des distress, je n’ai pas voulu tenter ma chance et vernir le coeur.  Me voilà réconciliée avec l’UTEE en tout cas.  Je ne tarderai pas à l’utiliser à nouveau!