More UTEE and Sea Glass--Mama-Style! :)

Okay......Suze Weinberg posted a challenge on her Yahoo Group to "do something a little different" with Sea Glass and UTEE.

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Here is Sea Glass ala Artful Mama:

1) Pick smaller pieces of glass (varied colors, shapes, and finishes) that will fit inside a silicone ice cube tray. (shape of your choice. I have no choice...... I have square! :)

2) Paint the flat side of the glass with metallic acrylic paint. (one color or a combination of colors) I used some Adriondack Acrylics and some Golden Interference and Irridescent Acrylics.

3) Pick some miscellaneous "doo-dads" to put under your glass or glue on top of your glass. Some of the items I used: Beads, findings, charms, punchinella, Angelina Film, and Beadazzles.

4) With Brilliance Ink, stamp a design on the UN-PAINTED side of the Sea Glass. This can be a distinguishable design or just an abstract element.

5) Using super glue, attach whatever "doo-dads" you desire on top of some of your pieces of glass.

6) Layer your creations into the different sections of your ice cube tray.* (Make sure you put your sea glass in paint side down.)

7) Melt clear UTEE in your Melting Pot with a little dash of flex. Once it is completely melted and the flex is gently mixed in, pour SLOWLY over each cube compartment.

8) Allow to harden. If you have some bubbles, you can use your heat gun to gently remove. Or you can leave them for a more interesting design.

* Here are a few "recipes" that I used layered from bottom to top:

a- punchinella, Angelina film, sea glass.

b- Beadazzles, sea glass with charm.

c- Beadazzles, Punchinella, sea glass.

d- Findings, seaglass.

The possibilities are endless!!!

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Here are my results! I think they would be really cool in the middle of a small diorama frame with a white or light metallic backing....... Another use-- to fill a niche in an altered book. Maybe a unique pin! Yah! :)

and a close up!:

Here are a few held up off of the paper so you can see the light come through........

Thanks for the challenge, Suze! This was fun! :)

Okay, now don't lie, don't you expect to find a beetle or some other insect inside one of these?? LOLOLOLOLOL!!

Sea Glass and UTEE fun! :)

My crafting bud, Sherre, and I had a day of Melting Pot play! We viewed a segment from the second Tim Holtz DVD and also a segment from the new Suze Weinberg DVD on Faux Dichroic Glass. We fueled up with coffee and muffins (Thank you, Sherre!! YUM!) and then went to play!

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We used Sea Glass in all of our creations. For these samples below we based our play on the Tim Holtz version of Faux Dichroic Glass:
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1) Heat Melting Pot on high -- empty!!
2) Place Sea Glass in pot and allow to heat through. This doesn't take very long!
3) Sprinkle some clear UTEE over glass. Allow to melt.
4) Scoop out of pot (this is the tricky part! The glass is a slippery little fellow!) and flip UTEE SIDE DOWN onto craft foil*. Press the glass (using the handle of your spatula NOT your fingers) into the foil and allow to cool.
5) Peel glass off of the foil and the foil pattern is now adhered to your glass.
6) Place the glass back into the empty melting pot (still on high) foil side UP.
7) Here is where you get to experiment...... sprinkle some metallic embossing powders on top, then add some other fun opaque colors, and then put on some Alcohol Ink Colored** embossing powders. (These are really great because they are transparent and you get awesome effects)
8) Once your are done applying your embossing powders, place a very generous heap of clear UTEE over the entire piece and let it melt. It will "bleed" out and spread the colors and give your glass a nice smooth finish.
9) Carefully remove your piece with a spatula (tricky part number 2.......the UTEE likes to slide off of the glass ...... try to be quick and careful!!)
10) Place on your craft sheet to cool..........TAAADAAAAAAAA! You are done!
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Here are some sample pieces that I made during our play day. As I always say........ experiment, experiment, experiment!!! Use different glass, foil, and embossing powder color combinations. You just never know what you'll end up with.......and I LIKE it that way! :)



Close up view of a few of the pieces.
On the blue piece on the left, you can see that I sprinkled just a tiny bit of silver metallic embossing powder over the top of the clear UTEE. It sort of looks like it's floating on top.
I tossed in some microbeads on the piece on the lower right.
You can see some breaks in the foil underlayment in the piece on the lower left.


*You can find craft foil in many places. Here are a few:
http://www.schmoozewithsuze.com/product/product.php?pID=060301002342
http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/3747394-AA.shtml
http://www.clayalley.com/jonestones.htm

**You can make the Alcohol Ink Embossing powders by mixing Alcohol inks into Clear UTEE. For rich earthy colors, use the Adirondack colors. For bright colors use the Pinata colors. Just keep mixing up the UTEE/ink mixture until all of the lumps are gone and you have nice smooth BEAUTIFULLY colored UTEE.
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The next toy I played with was my Angelina Fusible Film. I followed similar steps from above, but instead of placing the hot glass w/ UTEE onto craft foil, I placed it glass side down on my craft sheet.
Then I layed some Angelina Film over the hot UTEE. I layered a few different colors. I carefully pressed into the melted UTEE (yes, with my hands.........DON'T TELL! LOL!!!) I let it cool and then trimmed film around the sea glass. (to about 1/4 inch from the edge or so........)
Then I placed the glass back into the hot melting pot (still empty! :) and covered the film with a glazing layer of clear UTEE.
After the top coat of clear UTEE is completely melted, remove from the pot with that tricky spatula again. Lay onto your craft sheet and quickly press a design stamp gently into the hot UTEE.
I tried inking the stamps with metallic pigment ink and just clear embossing ink. I think I like the effect better with the clear ink. I do, however, like how my flying kitty turned out with the metallic gold ink! :) (Third Coast Rubber Stamps)

Here is a photo of the Angelina Film Glass flat on white paper. These are difficult to photograph, but here you can see the different colors and layers of film.

NOW you can see the fabby effect from this film. These next 2 pics are the same pieces tilted slightly so you can see the irredescence from the film under the UTEE. The stamping is a key element here......the patterns in the UTEE break the light against the film and create an incredible effect.

.....cooooooooooooooooooool!!!!

I always welcome comments!! I would love to respond back to you......so, please leave me your email address on your comment!! :)

Trash or Treasure......WE know the answer!! :)

Gizmos and Gadgets and .........huh, what the heck is THAT???? Oh, My!!!!

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Well, I don't think I could have had more fun if I tried!!!! LOL.

My friend, Sherre, and I went "shopping" at the local Scrap Yard! It was an absolute hoot, and we both plan to go back!!

What a riot we had scrounging around barrels and barrels full of ......well, we aren't sure what! Not to mention all of the "ground" finds we had!!!! But check out some of the stuff we totally scored on! Sherre also got some REALLY cool large metal pieces for her garden......!!

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I have to tell you that as we were purchasing our stuff, we were saying things like "well, how much is this?? How much does this weigh?? I'm not sure I need all of those, then" The guy in line behind us was a bit ticked and I'm SURE he felt that his "manly" domain has been infected by "girl germs" LOL!!!!!!!!! Lots of eye rolling and heavy sighing as we sorted through our treasures!! LOL!

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All of these little envies have 1 piece of optically coated glass. We found these pinkish ones and some yellow toned ones.

Computer boards, weird doo dads, and rusty things.

Awesome bent metal circle thing, copper wire (great hair!), patterned copper strips, and weird metallic disc thingies.

Ahhhhhh, yes. Brass findings and such. We found 3 HUGE boxes of

these brass do-hickies outside the main building. As we walked through the

main building, we saw they had at least 3 more inside!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was the most fun I have had spending $11.00 in a LOOOOOONG time!!! :)

Stazon Technique ATCs

Ok......first let me explain that I don't "do" ATCs. Don't know why, but they have never been my thing. LOVE to look at 'em, don't make 'em.

So, I have been reading about the "StazOn" technique. Had to try it......got my new Sailor White Pens in the mail today and here we are!!!!!

Susan's ATCs! Take a loooooooooooooong look. You may not ever see any more! LOL!!! :)

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Simply sponge StazOn ink randomly (or at least I do it randomly) over a stamped image. Highlight with your white pen........voila!

I do love easy..........uh, art-wise, you know...............

String Challenge!!

I have been so busy playing with leaves, that I decided to take a little diversion and join a challenge posted on one of the Yahoo Groups I belong to.

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"Make some art using string!"

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Well, since I LOVE making backgrounds and have been quite smitten with watercolors and spray bottles lately............here is what I came up with! :)

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I started with a piece of watercolor paper and folded it in half. I cut up bits of nylon string and laid the bits over 1/2 of the page. I then took some other pieces of the string and seperated the individual strands. I laid the strands randomly over the other pieces of string.

I then sprayed watercolors over the string. (I just mixed up tube watercolors with water in a spray bottle) I made sure the string and paper were very saturated.

I then folded the watercolor paper in half and weighed the paper down. (you like my very specialized "watercolor paper monoprinter"??) By folding the paper over, I'm hoping to get a negative image on the other 1/2 of the paper. (A negative monoprint)

Taaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaaaa!! Hey!! It actually did what I was hoping for!! How crazy is THAT?!? LOL!!! So, I see the left side as a background and the right side as a piece to stamp over. Pretty nifty!!!!!!!!!

Well, this was a fun challenge........I don't think I would have done this w/out the push to use string!!! I see lots of possibilities ----- using different strings, combining strings, using different colors and mediums! FUN!!