Other Art 6: Fruit Mug

Fruit Mug

Created at 'All Fired Up' - a pot painting place

April 2015

I made this mug for my mom for mother's day. I wanted to incorporate some fruit (since our kitchen has a lot of fruit pictures and things), and the bordering that is on our china (Mikasa Italian countryside). I had a bunch of fun planning and making this (so there are a lot of pictures...).

Note: I had to do a lot of planning since I would have less than two hours to choose a mug, draw, and paint everything! (And after choosing my mug I ended up having only around an hour to do everything but I got it all done!!!)

Enjoy!

Planning the fruit layout and thinking about how I am going to paint them. Using glazes at the pottery place is totally different from painting with acrylics. I had only done this once before (with the Dragon Bowl), so I still didn't quite understand how to use the glazes.

Originally I was going to make a plate.

 And then I wanted to make another bowl. Notice I wanted the inside to be rings of colors which I ended up adapting to the mug.

Finally I was able to convert my design into a mug. The fancy border is adapted from the Mikasa Italian countryside china.

 I made a layout of my design and tried to figure out my colors.

 This is the border color scheme I ended up choosing, but I wish I would've went with a darker green in the stripes, but I wasn't sure how the yellow would look over a darker green since I wasn't sure how the glazes would act.

 Before being fired up!

 I tried to add a border around the lemon last minute so it didn't fade into the border.

 Note: the names around the rim are my families (since it's a mother's day mug but I didn't exactly want to write 'Happy Mother's day' - I just wanted to make it cute and something my mom would like) [though in retrospect I wish I would've at least written happy mother's day on the bottom]

Frankie is my puppy.

Inside.

Final mug! Note: since I was rushing I only did two layers of glaze instead of the recommended three so my mug was a bit blotchier than I expected it to be but I'm still quite happy with it. Also note the shadows on the orange needed to be much darker but I couldn't anticipate how layering the glazes would look... 

The handle for some reason turned out really nice even though I definitely only put two layers of glaze...

The inside was pretty blotchy but you can't really tell in the picture. But that part doesn't matter as much as the outside at least.

Overall this was a super fun project, and it makes me want to paint more mugs and bowls and things!!! I had a blast and I hope my mom is enjoying her mug! Happy Mother's Day!!! :D

Other Art 5: Dragon Bowl

Dragon Bowl

Created at 'All Fired Up' - a pot painting place

November 2013

I made this a while ago at a pottery event with my floor at my dorm. I wanted to make a bowl and (inspired by recently completing the Haku dragon crochet) I decided to put a bunch of dragons on it. I wanted it to be like the (wingless) dragons were flying in the sky (the white lines were supposed to be cloud lines...), and I wanted the inside of the bowl to be a cool jade green color and really swirly (although I went a bit over-swirly putting swirls on top of swirls on top of swirls).

This was a super fun project to make, and I definitely want to do more with ceramics and glassware in the future (hint hint nudge nudge).

Side note: My mom always uses this bowl now! (And by always I mean sometimes but more than I thought it would be used). It makes things extra special. :) It's an especially good strawberry bowl. :D

Way too many pictures:

Cute dragon:

Inside: [super swirls]

I think I probably should've just left it with just the big multi-swirls and not gone over it with all of the little swirls that just make it look messy and take away from the big mega-swirl.

 Another cute dragon.

 Bowl

Bottom: 

That's all!

Crochet Pattern 2: Mini Kuriboh Amigurumi

Mini Kuriboh Amigurumi Pattern

Size: 9ish inches high

Time: A bit (most of the time is in the fur)

Basic Sphere Pattern: Crochet Spheres (Note: following pattern is based off of 26 Row Sphere but can be adjusted for different sizes)

Materials:

3 colors of 4 ply acrylic yarn (Pictured Brown, Green, and Light Yellow) 

Crochet hook

Yarn needle

Stuffing (acrylic or other)

Crafting felt and Super glue (for eyes) [or alternately can use clay, plastic, embroidered or needle felted eyes]

Abbreviations: 

ch - chain

sc - single crochet

inc - increase

sc2tog - single crochet two together (decrease)

sc3tog - single crochet three together (extra decrease)

st - stitch

(#) - signifies total number of stitches facing up around the loop by the end of the row

Body: Using Brown (begin stuffing as you start decreasing)

1- ch 2. 6 sc in second ch from hook. (6)

2- inc in each stitch around. (12)

3- (1 sc, inc) repeat 6 times (18)

4- 1 sc, inc, 2 sc, inc, 3 sc, inc, 2 sc, inc, 3 sc, inc, 2 sc (23)

5- 2 sc, inc, 3 sc, inc, 4 sc, inc, 3 sc, inc, 4 sc, inc, 2 sc (28)

6- 1 sc, inc, 4 sc, inc, 5 sc, inc, 4 sc, inc, 5 sc, inc, 4 sc (33)

7- 3 sc, inc, 5 sc, inc, 6 sc, inc, 5 sc, inc, 6 sc, inc, 3 sc (38)

8- 8 sc, inc, 9 sc, inc, 8 sc, inc, 9 sc, inc (42)

9- 6 sc, inc, 13 sc, inc, 13 sc, inc, 7 sc (45)

10- 9 sc, inc, 14 sc, inc, 14 sc, inc, 5 sc (48)

11- 15 sc, inc, 23 sc, inc, 8 sc (50)

12- 24 sc, inc, 25 sc (51)

13- inc, 50 sc (52)

14- sc in each st around (52)

15- 50 sc, sc2tog (51)

16- 25 sc, sc2tog, 24 sc (50)

17- 8 sc, sc2tog, 23 sc, sc2tog, 15 sc (48)

18- 5 sc, sc2tog, 14 sc, sc2tog, 14 sc, sc2tog, 9 sc (45)

19- 7 sc, sc2tog, 13 sc, sc2tog, 13 sc, sc2tog, 6 sc (42)

20- sc2tog, 9 sc, sc2tog, 8 sc, sc2tog, 9 sc, sc2tog, 8 sc (38)

21- 3 sc, sc2tog, 6 sc, sc2tog, 5 sc, sc2tog, 6 sc, sc2tog, 5 sc, sc2tog, 3 sc (33)

22- 4 sc, sc2tog, 5 sc, sc2tog, 4 sc, sc2tog, 5 sc, sc2tog, 4 sc, sc2tog, 1 sc (28)

23- 2 sc, sc2tog, 4 sc, sc2tog, 3 sc, sc2tog, 4 sc, sc2tog, 3 sc, sc2tog, 2 sc (23)

24- 2 sc, sc2tog, 3 sc, sc2tog, 2 sc, sc2tog, 3 sc, sc2tog, 2 sc, sc2tog, 1 sc (18)

25- (sc2tog, 1 sc) repeat 6 times (12)

26- 4 sc3tog. Fasten off. Weave loose end through each stitch in the opening and pull tightly to close.

(What the body should look like minus the couple of hairs at the top)

Limbs (x4): Using Green

1- Ch 6, sl first chain (6)
2- Sc around (6)
3- Again (6)
4- Sc, inc, 2sc inc sc (8)
5 - Sc inc inc 2sc inc inc sc (12)
6 - 2sc inc inc 4sc inc inc 2sc (16)
7 - Sc around (16)
8 - Again (16)
9 - Again (16)
10 - Slip 3, cast off

(What one limb looks like)

Making claws: Using Yellow Yarn

Mentally separate top of foot into three sections of 5-6-5 stitches

Start at left section, then do middle, then right

Left and right sections:

1- Sc in each st around (5)

2- sc2tog, sc2tog, sc (3)

3- sc2tog, sc (2)

4- sc2tog (1)

5- ch, cast off

Middle section:

1- Sc in each st around (6)

2- sc2tog, sc2tog, sc2tog (3)

3- sc2tog, sc (2)

4- sc2tog (1)

5- ch, cast off

Attaching limbs, eyes: (Ignore the hair that was already started in these pictures - fur will be explained more below)

I cut my eyes out of felt and both super-glued and sewed them on (with regular needle and thread).

Using yarn needle attach limbs, two on sides slightly to the front and two on bottom with the toes sticking out. Remember the fur will cover a lot of the limbs depending on how long you make it so make sure the toes are sticking out far enough.

Making him Fluffy:

 Start latch hooking yarn (using either latch hook or crochet hook and fingers) from the top. When cutting all of your yarn up make sure you cut it all approximately the same length. I wrapped it around my same (I think three?) fingers a bunch of times and cut large bunches of yarn at once. It's okay to have some longer and shorter strands since they will all be separated or brushed out later and they can also be trimmed.

 Note: I latch-hooked pieces of yarn to every stitch but you can just as well do every other if you want less fur.

 Continue latch hooking around his eyes and limbs. Note, after you are finished, you probably want to trim the hairs around his eyes to be a little shorter so that his eyes don't get too covered up. Start separating the strands of yarn. I separated a lot of the strands by hand so that he didn't get too frizzy (although he would also look good frizzy if you used a wire brush), and later on I used my hair brush a bit to make him a little fluffier.

He's finished!!! :D

Crochet 5: Mini Kuriboh

Mini Kuriboh Amigurumi

Size: 9ish inches high

Materials: Brown, Green, Light Yellow 4 ply acrylic yarn, crochet hook, yarn needle, crafting felt,    

        super glue (for eyes)

Time: A while (working just a little bit at a time)

Pattern: here!

About the Project: This was another Super belated birthday present for a friend of mine. I really wanted to crochet a Kuriboh since he was such a simple concept: just a ball body and 4 limbs. Plus I was really excited to crochet something quick and easy while also using (mostly) my own pattern (more details about pattern to be posted soon).

First thing first: I never want to latch hook/crochet fuzzy yarn on a project ever again. I know I said as much after doing the Haku dragon, but I could not resist trying it again since Kuriboh is just so darn fuzzy (Although if I ever crochet Flareon [Pokemon] or Ikkakumon [Digimon] then yes, bring on the fuzz! ). I think the effect is far superior to just using fuzzy yarn (mainly just because it's a fuller type of fuzzy plus you can control the amount of fuzz you want, but I'm sure there are probably some awesome fuzzy yarns that can achieve a similar effect). Plus it can look super professional if you brush it out a bunch with a wire brush, or you can brush it out less (which I do since I mostly use my hair brush or my fingers) which gives it more of a homemade feel (which I thought would look especially good for Kuriboh since he has crazy animation hair). However, the process of actually putting all of the yarn on takes FOREVER, and it is not nearly as kindly on the hands as simply knitting or crocheting is, especially it you are trying to do it as fast as humanly possible to get it over with. This is the reason I made a "mini" Kuriboh rather than a decent sized one. Actually crocheting Kuriboh probably took a couple hours at most. Adding all of the fuzz took days and weeks and days upon weeks and weeks upon days [plus being a college student, so really it probably did not take as long as I think it did].

My other main problem with Kuriboh was his eyes. I wanted him to have those big ol' anime eyes, but I knew if I tried to replicate that with yarn then it would probably end up looking too messy. Ideally I would have found a way to embroider eyes for him on one of those fancy sewing machines like one of my grandmas has. I also looked into painting eyes for him, but I had no idea where to find pieces of wood, plastic, or flat buttons that would be the exact right size to paint on. I have recently seen a lot of people use needle felting in their projects and I have concluded that this is definitely something I need to learn how to do, but for now I opted to just use cheap craft felt. Since this was such a simple project and I was kind of going for the 'homemade' look more than the 'professional' look anyways I think the craft felt eyes worked out 'well enough.' They are a little lopsided, a little mis-sized, a little bit of everything slightly goofy, but it just gives Kuriboh some character :) . 

Overall, this project was super fun to do because it is simple, easy. and (besides for the fuzz) quick. I was able to see the project progress very quickly even when I was not doing a lot of work on it (which was nice for a change - small amigurumi projects are so nice :D - I have sooo many ideas for Christmas :D :D :D). I will soon be posting the pattern for this project (which basically just consists of his limbs and a basic ball design).

Side note: Kuriboh is happily chilling out the rest of his life with his pal, a winged Kuriboh plush.

Side side note: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

[I'm a crocheter for Halloween this year... Just kidding, I'm a Trekkie... or at least a Trekkie crocheter]

And now a thousand and ten pictures of a ball growing fuzz:

Work in Progress:

The first strands of fuzz growth have begun. 

At this point Kuriboh very much represents the plant seen behind him [not intentional I swear]. He also looks a bit like a pineapple (not really) or an Oddish (also not really). 

Laying out the goofy cheap felt eyes. I ended up cutting out holes for the top shapes into the bottom shapes so that the entire eye was on level. Then I (somehow, kind of, magically) super-glued the felt together to create one solid (kind of) felt eye (well actually 2 felt eyes...).

Kuriboh now has a mullet. At this point he looked scarily like a goofy cartoon human head or something. You can tell by the squiggliness of the white part of his eyes that I sewed them on (very carefully and rather poorly since the super glue was not holding the eyes together very well. I super-glued each eye together, but I sewed the eyes to the body (for some reason it seems "sacri-crochet-gious" to use super glue at all so I try to minimize my use). 

 It's a limb! By my very own design! It's all of an inch and a half big! Took me fifteen hours (minutes) of painstakingly cautious (messy and impulsive) crocheting to develop this super complicated (...no) pattern. [but it will take me that long to finally post said pattern :P ]

 Kuriboh has Arms and Legs!!!!!!!! Or maybe just hand and feet... If he didn't already, this is when he starts to look super cute. :D

 Action pose to show off those giant claws!!!

 Kuriboh has a widow's peak! And a Frankenstein ('s monster) like hairstyle.

The fuzz growth has increased rapidly!!! Now he resembles a Seedot (Pokemon). Notice the fuzz on the top is already brushed out and wavy, and the fuzz around his eyes and nose is still in 'yarn form.' I debated possibly leaving his hair in total yarn form to mimic the anime style of Kuriboh's hair, but ultimately I decided I just wanted him to be fuzzy!

Yay!!! All of the fuzz has finally come in! Now he just needs a thorough brushing and Kuriboh will have the foofy flowing locks we love him for! [as seen below ;) ]

Crochet Pattern 1: Mini Pokeball / Pokeball Shift Knob Cover

About this Pattern: Pokeball Shift Knob Cover
Size: ~2 in. in diameter

Materials: Red, Black, and White 4 ply acrylic yarn; crochet hook and yarn needle

Time: ~1 hr.

Car pictured: 2012 Honda Civic Si

Basic Sphere Pattern: Crochet Spheres (Note: following pattern is based off of 12 Row Sphere but can be adjusted for larger sizes)

This pattern is crocheted in the round. Also I prefer the "wrong-side-out" look for the pokeball, but the pattern can be adjusted for "right-side-out" by changing front loop crochet stitches to back post stitches.

For a mini pokeball, stuff ball as you crochet. Shift Knob Cover requires no stuffing.

Abbreviations:

ch - chain

FL - front loop

inc - 2 single crochet into next stitch

sc - single crochet

sc2tog - single crochet 2 stitches together

sc3tog - single crochet 3 stitches together

st - stitch

Mini Pokeball

Start with Red yarn:

Row 1: Ch 2; 6 sc in second ch from hook. (6)

Row 2: 2 sc in each st around. (12)

Row 3: [1 sc, inc, 2 sc, inc] Repeat. 1 sc, inc. (17)

Row 4: 2 sc, inc, 3 sc, inc, 3 sc, inc, 3 sc, inc, 2 sc. (21)

Row 5: 3 sc, inc, 6 sc, inc, 6 sc, inc, 3 sc. (24)

Row 6: 10 sc, inc, 10 sc. Change to White sc. 1 sc. Change to Black sc. (25)

Row 7: 22 sc into FL of st, Change to White sc into FL of st, 2 sc. (25)

Row 8: 13 sc into FL of st, sc2tog into FL of st, 8 sc into FL of st, 2 sc. (24)

Row 9: 3 sc, sc2tog, 6 sc, sc2tog, 6 sc, sc2tog, 3 sc. (21)

Row 10: 2 sc, sc2tog, [3 sc, sc2tog]x3, 2 sc. (17)

Row 11: [sc2tog, 1 sc, sc2tog, 2 sc] Repeat. sc2tog, 1 sc. (12)

Row 12: [sc3tog]x4. Fasten off. Weave end through each stitch and pull tightly to close.

Using Yarn Needle and black yarn stitch black circle for pokeball opening button.

Shift Knob Cover Variation

Row 1-10 as is.

Row 11: sc in each st around (17)

Fasten off. Weave in loose ends.

Using Yarn Needle and black yarn stitch black circle for pokeball opening button.

Complete pokeball before yarn needle stitching.

Complete pokeball after yarn needle stitching. [but before ends tucked in...]

Crochet 4: Pokeball Shift Knob Cover

Pokeball Shift Knob Cover

Size: ~2 in. in diameter

Materials: Red, Black, and White 4 ply acrylic yarn; crochet hook and yarn needle

Time: ~1 hr.

Car: 2012 Honda Civic Si

Pattern: Mini Pokeball Pattern

Pattern influences: Ideal Crochet Sphere Patterns (by Ms Premise-Conclusion)

                            Ms Premise-Conclusion's info on spheres

About the Project: My brother has recently been making a lot of small improvements to his car, and he came to me with a great idea of a pokeball cover for his shift knob. At work, his car would sit in the sun all day, and thus the knob would burn his hand when he drove home. He saw some ideas of knitted and crocheted knob covers online and instantly took it a notch further and came up with the pokeball knob cover idea.

I was super excited about this project because I love pokemon, and I also love short, quick projects that are useful and make people happy. I modified a basic sphere pattern (see pattern influences) mainly just by leaving the bottom open (so that it fits over a shift knob) and incorporating back loop single crochet stitching to achieve a nice, straight looking black line on the pokeball.

This project was super quick and easy (I made 2 in one 2 hr. car ride), and it has spawned a whole slew of pokemon related ideas that I am dieing to try (one being a pokemon themed Christmas tree with amigurumi pokemon and pokeballs decorating it).

Note: I have a habit of crocheting 3D projects wrong-side out but for this project I did it on purpose so that the black line (where the ball would open) has a better (straighter) effect from stitching into the back half of the stitch. Otherwise I would have had to stitch into the back of the stitch and I did not like that effect as much. Plus I kind of like the wrong side of crochet better than the right side...

Work in Progress:

Finished crochet ball before the black stitching was added. I put a golf ball inside the pokeball to better see the shape and also to test for size for the shift knob in my brother's car.

Finished pokeball with stitching. I just needed to finish off the stitching, tuck all the yarn ends in, and put it on the shift knob in my brother's car. 

Previous pokeball prototype with final. First prototype was slightly bigger than final. Also I tried using crochet slip-stitching for the pokeball button instead of just sew-stitching (running stitch-like) with a yarn needle. For a bigger pokeball I think the slip-stitch method could be really effective and look super cool, but on this small of a pokeball just using a yarn needle looks much better.



Other Art 4: Melted Crayon Art

1: Blue and Yellow

04/24/2014

Size: 8in x 12in

Melted Crayon (Crayola) on canvas

Colors: Blue, Yellow, Black, White

2: Placid Water

04/24/2014

Size: 8in x 12in

Melted Crayon (Crayola) on canvas

Colors: Blue Green, Black, White

3: Storm

04/24/2014

Size: 8in x 12in

Melted Crayon (Crayola) on canvas

Colors: Blue Violet, Black, White

4: Ocean

04/24/2014

Size: 8in x 12in

Melted Crayon (Crayola) on canvas

Colors: Blue, Blue Green, Blue Violet, Black, White

These were my first attempts (in order) at melted crayon art. Melted crayon art is super easy and fun to do, but it does make a mess (well only if you do it how I did :D - I still am speckled with blue and yellow crayon). It's also really quick; I made all of these in one evening. All you need are some old crayons, and canvas, and a hair dryer. There are tons of demos on youtube of how to do a rainbow melted crayon art or you can just go freestyle like I did.

Blue and Yellow: The concept for this one was that my favorite combination of two colors is blue and yellow because they are really vibrant and I really like their contrast (think blue and yellow Macaw [it is also one of my life goals to do a series of paintings only using blue and yellow]). This piece took me the longest because I did not know what I was doing at all, and it is also the piece I am least happy with. My main problem was that I kept getting a big glob of icky greenish color in the middle of the piece since the melted crayons did not mix into a nice vibrant green like paints do. I ended up scraping most of it off and redoing it until it got to a point where it was okay. I wish there was a little bit more interaction between the yellow and blue sides of the painting. In retrospect I should have tried to also use the green crayon to get the ideal green color in the middle.

Placid Water: For this piece I took a blue green crayon and melted it until it covered the entire canvas (not smoothly but in blotches similar to the final). Then I went in and melted a little bit of white in the top right corner and some black in the bottom left corner. The concept for this piece was that the blue green color looked really pretty and I was still recovering from my first piece so I only wanted to use one main color since blending the yellow and blue was so difficult. I decided then to due a turquoise piece with dramatic black shadows and white highlights. As I started making the piece however, it looked a lot like water so I changed my initial concept and went for more subtle uses of black and white. My main problem with this one was that I ended up with a huge blob of black in the bottom left corner where I wanted dark turquoise mixed with black. So I went back in to try to add more blue on top of the black and it just turned into a mess. Eventually I finagled it enough to where I was happy with it.

Storm: My concept for this one was to due the same thing I did with Placid Water except for with blue violet and using more white than black. However it turned out quite differently which was a pleasant surprise, and it actually looks like rainclouds. Technique-wise I started by melting the black in the corner. Next I melted the purple in the middle and fading into the black, and lastly the white in the upper corner. Some of the white spattered down into the black which at first I wasn't too happy about but now I think is really cool because it looks like it's raining. This one took me the shortest amount of time and I am generally happy with it.

Ocean: The concept for this one was actually a bag that I have that has a castle surrounded by a deep purple fading to turquoise sky. Well, it was supposed to be a sky until the white at the top gave it the perfect ocean wave effect that I wish I could replicate with acrylics. Anyways I did this one much the same as Storm only with more colors. First I did the white corner, then turquoise, blue, purple, black. Afterwards I went back to add more white at the top and more blue to blend the colors a little bit better.

Overall I had a ton of fun. This was especially fun because I have recently been thinking about experimenting with a couple abstract designs with acrylics, so this gave me a lot of ideas. :D