When Life is Too Busy

Blogging takes a back seat ... and that's okay if blogging is simply a diary to be shared and not to be monetized.  This one is the former.

Surprisingly, even retirement has its busy times... The usual day -to-day activities such as household chores, bill paying, shopping, etc. all steal away blogging minutes ... add the appearance of out-of-town company and requests for help from friends and even creating and crafting have to settle for "later."

So if anyone is reading this for new entries, be patient. They will come as interference abates.

Finished Fish: Papier Mache

I gotta get some more paints. The ones I have are old and drying out, but they were salvaged from thrifts shops and garage sales so I didn't expect them to last forever. Still, having crappy paint makes a good excuse for how this project turned out.

Remember that little Aleve bottle from the previous post? This is what it looked like after I slathered my home made papier mache all over it. Of course it has some bumps and stuff, partly because the shreded paper I used had some plastic in it, from envelopes, I guess. But, it works.

Here's where the paints come into the picture. I don't have many colors anymore so I went with what I had and here's the (more or less) finished project.

Now, I'm not an artist and I don't expect this is going to win any prizes. But it's a good way to show how you can take salvage some things from the land fil and make something playful out of them. I was going to use a big shampoo bottle but luckily I started small. It gave me plenty of latitude for mistakes and saved me from messing up a better final product. I'll eventually get back to this kind of craft but right now I'm working on what to do with all the empty soda cans in my garage. I have a really clever idea but I think it's going to take a very long time to finish. 

(I gotta do something about that eye... it's kind of frightening.)

Making Papier Mache

You can buy premixed papier mache or you can make your own. Of course, the thrifty crafter chooses the latter. There are a lot of recipes for mixing your own gooey mess and you can find some really good books on the subject.(One of my favorites is Craft Workshop: Papier Mache.)

I know how to make a mixture according to the instructions but this time around I decided to give my own method a try. I started out with the strips of paper from my shredder. Until now, this waste went into my compost pile but since it's the heat of the summer and temperatures are so high even the desert dwellers are hiding under rocks, I don't do much yard and garden work.

The picture at the end of this post shows how few materials I needed.

I gathered a handful of paper, put it in the bowl and slowly added water, enough to soak the paper completely. Don't worry if you get too much water in the bowl, just make sure the paper is completely wet.

Next I squeezed out the excess water and poured it into a container and tossed it out on the grass. (Waste not the water.) Now the damp paper needed to be decreased in size so I just started rolling it around in my hands, the way you might do if you're mixing up a meat loaf. This will crumble the paper and make it more manageable.

Once the paper was the proper consistency, I added two tablespoons of glue. (I use Aileen's Tacky Glue because there was a big sale on it so I have plenty around.)

Now it gets a little messy because you've got to use your hands to get that glue into your wet paper. More rolling and pulling and compacting and rolling. Add a little water if it gets too dry. You want it to stick together like a meat ball.

And that's it! You're ready to use your papier mache. (I don't know how it stores. I used it immediately, on that little empty Aleve bottle. But that's for the next post.

Another Snake Project

I don’t remember where I got this little beauty but like the blacksnake that was getting dumpy looking, this one had seen better days.

Some of my craft paints were not completely dried up so I decided to spiff this little fellow up and transform him with his own coat of many colors (or at least three colors).

The steps were the same as the ones in my previous post except I didn’t use the white paint as a base.

The one thing I neglected to mention before is that eventually I will put a protective coat of polyurethane on both snakes, as soon as I find a cheap source.

Now another thing I neglected to mention is that I haven't put these snakes out in the open air as yet. See, I have this neighbor who is terrified of snakes and I've got to warn her that she'll be seeing these before I scare the daylights out of her.

Black Snake to Rattlesnake

So a few years back I picked up this rubber black snake at a garage sale for a mere twenty-five sense. (Unlike most people, I’m not afraid of snakes, and this beauty was a steal for just a quarter.) I knew just where I was going to put this beauty – coiled up behind my statue of Buddha in the serenity spot that greets me every time I pull into my carport. You see, the snake (naga) has always been a friend and protector to Buddha so naturally he should have one close by in my little plot of tribute.

Now sadly, over the years, having sat in the desert sun for far too long, the snake began to look shabby. His once shiny black coating became dull and he looked far too sad to be on display. My solution was to give him a new wardrobe. But this is the desert after all and as far as I know, we don’t have black snakes among us. We do have rattlesnakes, however, so I decided to transform the little gem by painting him a coat of many colors – well, at least four colors, using half-empty, almost-dry indoor One Stroke craft paints I picked up at one of my local thrift stores for a mere pittance.

First I coated his entire body with a coat of white enamel paint that has been sitting in my garage since I bought my place. (That’s almost seven years ago.) I opted for this because it was the only white I could find at the time.

Next, I began slathering on the different colors on hand. At first I was cautions, trying to get the patterns exactly as they would be on a rattlesnake but I soon realized I wasn’t up to the task of total duplication so I just winged it – and here is what it looks like now. (Okay, so my rattlesnake is missing his rattle but this is arts and crafts, not reality.)

The nice thing about the whole project is that it took just two days to complete.