They're un-finished, which gave me a world of options for how to personalize them. Do I paint and lacquer them? Do I make vinyl decals? Ultimately I knew I wanted these boxes to be heirlooms; treasures for these kids to have forever to remind them of their awesome grandma. After all, I'm a huge sucker for sentimentality. My grandparents supported my artistic side when I was a child, so this really struck the right chord.
I did a little bit of brainstorming and my assistant Hayley (she's the best), suggested I get the wood burning tools out! Of course! It's permanent, doesn't need to be lacquered and relatively quick to do. I love when I get a win like that. Here's what I used:
Watch the video above to see the process from beginning to end for both of them, but let me walk you through it here, too.
I lightly sketched out my design using the white charcoal pencil (erased any stray lines as needed) and allowed my wood burning tool to warm up. I put it on just shy of the hottest setting. I originally started it out at a low setting, but it just wasn't getting uniform lines. The uniformity in the lines was an issue throughout this project, and I think it's a limitation of the burning tool in general. It's a very entry-level tool, so it's bound to have it's drawbacks.
From the videos I've watched on pyrography (they're quite dry, wow) and my own personal experience; I found that the screw-on "nibs" don't heat up as uniformly as the nibs that are built in to the pyrography tool. FYI: pyrography is a fancy word for wood-burning. ;) That said, this tool is priced in the mid $30s. Whereas the next level in pyrography tools jumps up to the $170s+. It's a pretty big financial commitment to get the next level up, so there's that. I won't likely be upgrading my set up any time soon as I'm only ever getting it out every 6 months or so.
I followed along my drawn lines, but the nib kept cooling down considerably because of the debris it would pick up in the burning process. I ended up getting a scratch piece of wood to help clean it off every once in a while. That helped me achieve cleaner lines once I figured that one out.
As far as style inspiration goes, Ella is quite a girly-girl. I added girly flourishes and embellishments to the already traditional style for an elegant "princess" look. Liam is a fun-loving boy, so I made his more of a whimsical foundational style.
I feel like I do some of the same things day in day out, so this was a nice little challenge and switch up from the norm! Have you ever tried pyrography before?
Affiliate links are used, your support by purchasing through these links allows for more great content. Thank you!!Art Supply Organizers + Process Video
July 16, 2018A few weeks ago, a neighbor of mine dropped these art supply boxes off and asked me to personalize them with her grandchildren's names on them. Easy, right?
They're un-finished, which gave me a world of options for how to personalize them. Do I paint and lacquer them? Do I make vinyl decals? Ultimately I knew I wanted these boxes to be heirlooms; treasures for these kids to have forever to remind them of their awesome grandma. After all, I'm a huge sucker for sentimentality. My grandparents supported my artistic side when I was a child, so this really struck the right chord.
I did a little bit of brainstorming and my assistant Hayley (she's the best), suggested I get the wood burning tools out! Of course! It's permanent, doesn't need to be lacquered and relatively quick to do. I love when I get a win like that. Here's what I used:
Watch the video above to see the process from beginning to end for both of them, but let me walk you through it here, too.
I lightly sketched out my design using the white charcoal pencil (erased any stray lines as needed) and allowed my wood burning tool to warm up. I put it on just shy of the hottest setting. I originally started it out at a low setting, but it just wasn't getting uniform lines. The uniformity in the lines was an issue throughout this project, and I think it's a limitation of the burning tool in general. It's a very entry-level tool, so it's bound to have it's drawbacks.
From the videos I've watched on pyrography (they're quite dry, wow) and my own personal experience; I found that the screw-on "nibs" don't heat up as uniformly as the nibs that are built in to the pyrography tool. FYI: pyrography is a fancy word for wood-burning. ;) That said, this tool is priced in the mid $30s. Whereas the next level in pyrography tools jumps up to the $170s+. It's a pretty big financial commitment to get the next level up, so there's that. I won't likely be upgrading my set up any time soon as I'm only ever getting it out every 6 months or so.
I followed along my drawn lines, but the nib kept cooling down considerably because of the debris it would pick up in the burning process. I ended up getting a scratch piece of wood to help clean it off every once in a while. That helped me achieve cleaner lines once I figured that one out.
As far as style inspiration goes, Ella is quite a girly-girl. I added girly flourishes and embellishments to the already traditional style for an elegant "princess" look. Liam is a fun-loving boy, so I made his more of a whimsical foundational style.
I feel like I do some of the same things day in day out, so this was a nice little challenge and switch up from the norm! Have you ever tried pyrography before?
Affiliate links are used, your support by purchasing through these links allows for more great content. Thank you!!
They're un-finished, which gave me a world of options for how to personalize them. Do I paint and lacquer them? Do I make vinyl decals? Ultimately I knew I wanted these boxes to be heirlooms; treasures for these kids to have forever to remind them of their awesome grandma. After all, I'm a huge sucker for sentimentality. My grandparents supported my artistic side when I was a child, so this really struck the right chord.
I did a little bit of brainstorming and my assistant Hayley (she's the best), suggested I get the wood burning tools out! Of course! It's permanent, doesn't need to be lacquered and relatively quick to do. I love when I get a win like that. Here's what I used:
Watch the video above to see the process from beginning to end for both of them, but let me walk you through it here, too.
I lightly sketched out my design using the white charcoal pencil (erased any stray lines as needed) and allowed my wood burning tool to warm up. I put it on just shy of the hottest setting. I originally started it out at a low setting, but it just wasn't getting uniform lines. The uniformity in the lines was an issue throughout this project, and I think it's a limitation of the burning tool in general. It's a very entry-level tool, so it's bound to have it's drawbacks.
From the videos I've watched on pyrography (they're quite dry, wow) and my own personal experience; I found that the screw-on "nibs" don't heat up as uniformly as the nibs that are built in to the pyrography tool. FYI: pyrography is a fancy word for wood-burning. ;) That said, this tool is priced in the mid $30s. Whereas the next level in pyrography tools jumps up to the $170s+. It's a pretty big financial commitment to get the next level up, so there's that. I won't likely be upgrading my set up any time soon as I'm only ever getting it out every 6 months or so.
I followed along my drawn lines, but the nib kept cooling down considerably because of the debris it would pick up in the burning process. I ended up getting a scratch piece of wood to help clean it off every once in a while. That helped me achieve cleaner lines once I figured that one out.
As far as style inspiration goes, Ella is quite a girly-girl. I added girly flourishes and embellishments to the already traditional style for an elegant "princess" look. Liam is a fun-loving boy, so I made his more of a whimsical foundational style.
I feel like I do some of the same things day in day out, so this was a nice little challenge and switch up from the norm! Have you ever tried pyrography before?
Affiliate links are used, your support by purchasing through these links allows for more great content. Thank you!!Sakura CAC Neons & Metallics Review
July 3, 2018Hey friends!! Welcome here. I've got 3 upcoming workshops this summer (more in the works, fingers crossed). I hope to see you there!
Beginning Brush Lettering Workshop | DRAPER, UT | JULY 19
Learn brush lettering based on more traditional foundations and how to manipulate those foundations to write some funky letters! All skill levels welcome, but it is geared more toward beginners. Lefties welcome!
Penmanship Workshop | PROVO, UT | AUGUST 16
Learn the art of beautiful penmanship and how to harness your own style to tell your story. This is perfect for beginners, lefties and future brides! We'll go through foundations, style and how to address an envelope.
2-Day Brush Lettering/Digitization Intensive | NASHVILLE, TN | AUG 25-26
Join me in Nashville for a whole lot of fun with a 2-day lettering intensive with the pointed brush. We'll dig deeper than in any other class in the two days. We'll go letter-by-letter through variant options, work on word and compositional structure and style structure. At the end of the class, we'll work on the beginning essentials of digitization by making our own personalized stamps with our artwork. All skill levels welcome.
I hope I can see you at one of the above workshops this summer. We always have a blast and I try to pack as much information as possible so you leave the workshop motivated, empowered and ready to continue your calligraphy journey.
Sakura sent me their BRAND-NEW CAC (Creative Art Colors) 24 pan watercolor set to play around with. It's just like their regular 24 pan field sketch set, but with nothing but neons, metallics and pearlescent colors. Uhhhhhhmmmmmmm yes please! I love how bright these pigments are and it's a real pity that they're not captured fully with these photos. The colors just JUMP off the page. So I made a review video (above). Give it a watch or you can scroll down below to see the pros and cons list:
Pros:
I personally like more opaque metallics. Don't get me wrong, these metallics are beautiful, but if you're going to try and do fine linework like use the pointed pen with the metallics, you're not going to get the opacity you need to get the metallic to jump off the page. You'll want to switch over to the pearlescent pigments for pointed pen linework. The pearlescents have watercolor pigment and metallic in them so the pigment soaks into the page while the metallic shimmers at the top of the page. It's lovely.
Overall: I really love these watercolors! They're really great! I hope you give them a try some time.
I've been using the medium waterbrush that came with the kit, but then also adding in fun details with the Gillott 404 to bring in those finer details. It's a lot of fun to bridge the gap of brush lettering and pointed pen modern calligraphy with this neon set. Overall, I'm a fan.
Sakura of America provided me with the materials for this review. All opinions are my own. Affiliate links are used, your support by purchasing through these links supports more content like this!
I hope I can see you at one of the above workshops this summer. We always have a blast and I try to pack as much information as possible so you leave the workshop motivated, empowered and ready to continue your calligraphy journey.
Sakura sent me their BRAND-NEW CAC (Creative Art Colors) 24 pan watercolor set to play around with. It's just like their regular 24 pan field sketch set, but with nothing but neons, metallics and pearlescent colors. Uhhhhhhmmmmmmm yes please! I love how bright these pigments are and it's a real pity that they're not captured fully with these photos. The colors just JUMP off the page. So I made a review video (above). Give it a watch or you can scroll down below to see the pros and cons list:
Pros:
- SUUUPER bright pigments
- Smooth blending (even with regular colors)
- Zero chalkiness
- Portable size palette
- Generous wells for mixing pigments
- Shimmery pearlescents
- Student grade
- Not lightfast
- Metallics not opaque
I personally like more opaque metallics. Don't get me wrong, these metallics are beautiful, but if you're going to try and do fine linework like use the pointed pen with the metallics, you're not going to get the opacity you need to get the metallic to jump off the page. You'll want to switch over to the pearlescent pigments for pointed pen linework. The pearlescents have watercolor pigment and metallic in them so the pigment soaks into the page while the metallic shimmers at the top of the page. It's lovely.
Overall: I really love these watercolors! They're really great! I hope you give them a try some time.
I've been using the medium waterbrush that came with the kit, but then also adding in fun details with the Gillott 404 to bring in those finer details. It's a lot of fun to bridge the gap of brush lettering and pointed pen modern calligraphy with this neon set. Overall, I'm a fan.
Sakura of America provided me with the materials for this review. All opinions are my own. Affiliate links are used, your support by purchasing through these links supports more content like this!