Thursday, February 16, 2012

Buttons and Glitter are a Girls Best Friend

I think I speak for all crafty gals when I say, "we love buttons and glitter!" We would sew buttons onto our skin if it didn't hurt.  And glitter, those Martha Stewart's, I wish I could sprinkle them onto ice-cream!   This project I made up a few months ago and have received lots of compliments on it.  It's a bracelet and hair rubber band all in one.  It's so simple but so darn adorable.






Here are the materials you will need:



If you have ever made jewelry with elastic you know that it frays and gets gross pretty quickly.  I love the colorful elastic and knew I needed a way to prevent the fray.  I bought the above elastics at Michael's, the rainbow one is a bit heavier than the solid colors, and I like it better for this project.  Cut your elastic into a 9 inch length.  Feed your button on through both holes and tie it off where it fits your wrists comfortably.   After tying, I cut my ends to different lengths so they are not symmetrical.  

Next, dip your ends into a very thick white glue.  I am using this Ultra Seal from Tap Plastics.  Whatever you use, it should be really thick, you don't want it to drip.  

Next, we glitter them up.  I found that actually the Martha's are too fine for this.  You can experiment with all different glitters to find the ones you like the best.  Dip your glue ends into your glitter, or sprinkle the glitter on.
Figure out a system for propping them up while they dry.  Let them dry for 24 hours.



The next day, give the tip a little squeeze to make sure they are hard.  If they are, we now need to give them a clear coat to make sure the glitter stays put.  I am using a polyurethane.    Give them a dip, and wipe off the excess so it doesn't drip.  Let them dry over night.



And, voila!






  Enjoy your glittery button bands!!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Hurricane Lolo, part 2, The Complete Studio Makeover

Well, a few weeks ago I decided it was time to give my studio, the laboratory, a good cleaning and organizing.  What started off as a weekend task became a 2 week task as "oh, I'll just paint a little pink on this wall" became a HUGE paint job, many new pairs of curtains, and most exciting, a new floor!
I would say my garage studio is looking pretty darn good.  I will not post the before pictures, too embarrassing, but feel free to check them out from a few posts ago...
http://lolodaniellenathanson.blogspot.com/2012/01/hurricane-lolo.html

Behold, the awesomeness...


Like many artists, and I suspect most, I have a lot of stuff.  Years of flea marketing, garage sale-ing,  thrift storing and yes, even Ebay-ing has left me with quite a lot of booty to work with.  It's all basically inspiration and I have always had lots of it surrounding me when I am working and I guess you could say I create little displays with all my stuff.

This is in the corner above the sink.  A combination of found stuff and items I made.

A bulletin board of inspiration and ideas.

New curtains, and a new crazy paint job.

I added curtains to this shelf to hide a bunch of wood and materials.  And of course, more stuff, er, I mean inspiration...



A window between the garage and the other smaller rooms I work in.

The window sill between the 2 rooms, I stash lots of quick studies and experiments here.



And there you have it, all squeaky clean and fresh faced...until hurricane Lolo strikes again...

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The Great Tattoo Cover Up, part 1

In addition to the studio make-over that is underway, (http://lolodaniellenathanson.blogspot.com/2012/01/hurricane-lolo.html) I am also in the process of a complete tattoo make-over!  My little ole tattoo is looking pretty darn shabby and has needed a renovation for a while now.

When I got it, a long time ago, it was pretty cute.  Now....uuuughhhh

I am lucky to live in Oakland California,  the most amazing city in the world, and right in my little neighborhood we happen to have the most amazing tattoo shop in the world as well, like, really...

I entered Lucky 13 (http://www.tattoo13oakland.com) with my cute little design which my artist Sonju said he would only do if we made it bigger, there was just too much detail for how small I had printed in out.   That did freak me out a bit because I was thinking it was pretty big already, but I had heard so many good things about Sonju so I decided to trust him and go with it.  

Sonju tracing over my design.

While Sonju worked on my design and had some tacos, I hung out with the guys and learned a bunch of facinating facts about their lives and what it's like being a tattooist.  (Many of which I swore to them I wouldn't mention here!)  I hung out with Stash, Paul and Dustin and I must tell you they were sweet as can be.  I was kinda nervous about the whole forever thing and the pain, and Stash, with his pirates swagger and a tattoo on his eyelid, was so reassuring when he said, "Don't be scared, we're fucking professionals!"

That's Sonju and Stash working on drawings.




The design transferred on.  Once I saw this, I was feeling pretty excited.

Sonju getting the needle thingy ready.


So it turned out that my design was pretty hard to do, especially the concentric circles at the bottom.  We did the outline and that took 3 hours.  And, yep it hurts...


During the 3 hours Sonju and I talked about everything from art to religion to barfights.  He had such amazing stories and such a unique perspective on art and life, if I weren't in so much pain, I could have stayed for 3 more hours. 

Ta da...the outline is done!!


I have an appointment next week for all the color, and if you know me, you know there will be a lot of crazy color!
I can't say enough great things about the guys and the shop, and what a wonderful tattooist Sonju is.
Stay tuned for part 2, and see it all finished!!