Tamborines No Longer in Waiting

Sometime back I brought home 4 Tamborines that were found at different yard sales on the same day.    They sat in the corner of my studio for awhile and then, after awhile, I hung them on the wall to get them out of the way.   I often glanced at them awaiting inspiration.   And, yesterday, it did !

Back in 1991 Beau and I took out first vacation.    Beau was taking me to the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon and Carlsbad Canyon.    I thought we were going on a vacation, but, in reality, it was more like three weeks to physical fitness .... I never realized that he intended that we were hiking in all these places and I certainly wasn't in that level of condition.  (love can be so blind).   Anyway, while we were out on a stretch of highway leading towards Carlsbad, we kept seeing signs about an upcoming attraction.   You know, these signs every couple miles that tell you 'X place' is just ahead .... rock candy in 50 miles ... snakes is 48 miles ... hamburgers in 46 miles, etc. etc. etc.   And, we got to talking about how we could go to the middle of nowhere and build a 'Beau Town' and sell Gumbo and Jambalaya and post signs for 50 or more miles in all directions.   The conversation was a lot of fun.     It came to me as I was looking at the largest tamborine ... and well ... eat at Beau Ville will now, and for many years to come, grace the wall over my studio doors.

And, while I was at it; decided I might as well do the other three empty tamborines (or knockers) while I was at it !

Two Sets of Morraccas .. continued

The morraccas have patiently been sitting on my side table ... waiting ...
I'd been planning on putting the paints away, some soldering practice is calling me, but there they were ... patiently waiting.

So, took them outside, set up the spray paint area and added some spray stencils.    Let dry for a couple hours then brought in and put some writings on the larger red set.   I felt the orange were so small that writing would be overkill.   I'll plan on finishing Thursday.

Two Sets of Morraccas

Heck, it's not like I don't already have about 4 different projects in progress ... but since :

1. these two sets of Morraccas have been hanging around for quite awhile, and
2. they require paint, and
3. I have paint bottles spread all over my room ..

Might as well work on these as well. 

Both sets were picked up at different Yard Sales somewhere in the past (not worth researching), and were tucked away in a cabinet.  I'd forgotten about them, but went looking for a couple tamborines that I know are around here somewhere, and found these instead. 

The small set are mini's; about 6" long.   They were obviously used by a small child as a teether; the teeth marks are apparent.   The larger set is 13".   Both are nice, sturdy wood.   I fetched a piece of sandpaper out of the shed and sanded them down.   I'll work on these with the other items and report back !!!

Art Guitars : Painting In Progress

I've been dabbling with these abit here and there over the last two days.   It's dappling, because, since I have the paints out, I'm also working on more painted pages and 6 sets of placemats.  Needless to say, the studio is back to disaster zone .... work on this, set aside to dry and work on the next thing; set aside to dry ... over and over again times about 12.    It's alot of fun. 

So, added some poetry / writings to each of the guitar using a black permenant marker.   Then, brought out the stamps and a variety of paint colors and stamped them up.  

At this stage, I'll seperate them and work them seperately as each may take a different design angle.   So, they'll be set up on the workbench, perhaps a couple; maybe more while I decide on the rest of the individual design features that will give them unique personality. 

Art Guitars : Acrylic & Spray Paint

I picked my colors; a shade of purple for one guitar and shed red for the second.   Painted two coats on each guitar, front, back & sides.   Painted the neck and string bracket a deep blue on the red Guitar.    This takes a good bit of time as I like to let the paint dry a couple hours between coats.

Today I added Gold Oil Paint to the Neck of the Purple guitar, a little acrylic highlights to both and took outside to spray paint some stencils on both. 

Stamps are next, but will have to wait; heading to an OctoberFest event. 

Art Guitars : The Beginning

For the last couple days I've been thinking of painting, been finishing off a few things laying around, cleaning off the table tops and such.   When I finished the Crown this morning ... todays' the day.   Current thinking is I'll paint for the next week or so.  

Starting point is these two child size guitars.   Both are yard sale finds; one from 5 months or so ago and one from last weekend.    

Removed the strings, hardware, and decals.   Took outside and sanded.   It not necessary to strip them, but the current paint needs roughed up to hold the new layers of paint.    I'll start working them tomorrow.

Once I ruled out fabrics, I acknowledged the closest to mint green that I could get in color would be with paint. I considered creating a paper quilt wall hanging, but then remembered the waiting Tamborine and the decision was reached.

I received this large red tamborine from a fellow free-use person early December and it's been hanging on the wall with the guitars. I leafed through my books of painted pages and since nothing struck my fancy, I'll have to start from scratch.

-- Selected a red paint for the base (to somewhat correspond with the red on the tamborine).
-- Mixed two paints to arrive at my interpretation of mint green.
-- Blended the two together onto a large sheet of book paper.
-- Marked my template.
-- Added writings with gold permenant marker
-- Added stencils in white & blue
-- Rolled on groups of yellow drops
-- Took outside and added gold spray paint circles
-- Removed page from the book and cut out template.
-- Adhered to a backup black sheet and cut out.
-- Measured and cut hand space.
-- Added wording using white & black acrylic paints

Housework willing (yuck), I'll finish putting this one together tomorrow.

Mint Green Challenge .... Hummmm ... Is there really no mint green in my life?

The FireQueen group, here on 'We Love ArtFire" is having a 'Mint Green' Challenge for 1st half of January and I'm planning on participating.

So, I wasted a good 20 minutes online trying to decide just what color is Mint Green anyway. Boy, is that one subject to interpretation !!! Just put in 'mint green' over at Etsy and you'll arrive with an ever ongoing assortment of pale greens.

Anyway, last night I got to thinking about making another hat. (Not that the first one was a great success, but what the heck, it was fun). So, hit my studio, pulled out that huge garbage container of fabrics, pulled them all out and started searching for mint green. Nothing. So, off to bed in a quandry.

Got up this morning and faced the big mess in my studio, which, of course, I'd not put away before going to bed. Then, while putting away the fabrics (read that as tossing them back into the big garbage storage container) I came across the package of 1" styrofoam balls that I'd picked up at (the hated) Michaels awhile back. Oh yea ... I was gng to try one of those fabric necklaces. Great idea ... so off to the garage to bring the 2 containers of collected scarves (mostly yard sales finds) into the studio. Well ... another big mess ... but not a single scarf with a hint of what I'd consider to be mint green. (( I did, however, put two on one of the doorhandles for an upcoming necklace).

Alas ... is there no mint green in life? Guess I'm going to have to step back and take this no quite so literally,

Tamborine ... 2nd, and all is well

The 2nd tamborine has been sitting on the side table for the last few days and I've decided that it's perfect just the way it is ... beads or anything else would be overkill. I've also decided to keep this one for myself ... along with the first tamborine (which I was thinking of giving to Pam). There's a small section of space over the French doors in the studio and these are the perfect size. In fact, hope I can find some more out there on the yard sale circuit. Anyway, this piece is finished.

Tamborine : Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength

Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.

I choose this particular Dali Lami saying, versus writing up my own. I've been enjoying looking over some of these, as well as some of the Budha sayings.

Added these words to the tops & sides of the tamborine using a black sharpie. United is written into the middle; no particular reason, it just is. Selected and applied a few stencils. Let dry and took outside for a little more silver and a touch of red spray paint. Let set a couple hours and then signed and applied two coats of polyacrylic. I'm considering adding beads or further ornaments ... will evaluate again tomorrow.

2nd Tamborine -- Still pending personality

Took the tamborine out to the paint box and added a couple spray painted stencils.

2nd Tamborine -Another mixed media piece

This is the tamborine I picked up at the Gardens yard sale yesterday for a dollar. I liked the way the 1st tamborine turned out and wanted to give it another go. Decided to leave it intact, versus switching the the head to paper. Taped off the metal jangles (unofficial name). Selected a slate blue color of acrylic paint and applied two layers to top and sides, inside and out.

Ode // Painted Guitar

Added tiny gems on the tuning pins and at the bottom of the guitar. Installed a drawer knob on the bottom to act as the stand. I'm quite happy with this piece and am going to consider it completed.

This piece, along with the Summer Nights will be posted for sale over at Etsy.

http://www.ctstudios.etsy.com

Guitar 2 / Ode

Came out to the studio this morning and started playing with some beads. Then, noticed Guitar 2 hanging unfinished on the wall and decided to was time to move on .... Moved the beads aside and brought down the guitar.

Put the original tuners (sprayed with gold) back on using clear silicone, versus the screws. There are only 4 tuners, versus 6, so layed in a gold medallion over the space of the missing two. Searched through a couple boxes of stuff to cover the tuner posts; settled on clear bobbins. Choose textured yarn for the strings. Secured and wrapped the yarn through the bobins, randomly strung with beads and secured at the base. Using a rug needle, pulled the yarn fibers from under the beads to create a soft texture. Choose a winged metal ornament from inventory, polished and secured at the strings base with the silicone.

Should have taken pictures before it got dark ... they didn't turn out well. I'll take a couple tomorrow ... as I decide how to finish this one off.

Oh ... I'm going to call this one 'Ode' Something may get added to that ... or not.

Summer Nights - Guitar

Stringing the beads on wire did not work well. When layed on the side, the beads bowed down .. did not hold taught enough. So, after a bit of hemming and hawing, took the strands off one by one, layed out and restrung on jewelry thread. Much better !

I'm going to hang this one on the wall for a couple weeks; at least while I finish the other guitar. During that time, I'll decide if it needs something more, or if it is finished. At that time, I'll take front & back completion photos and whether this piece will be given away, sold, or remain on my wall.

Guitar 1 / Summer Nights

I've decided to call this piece ' Summer Nights'.

Went through my container of washers. Selected three 5" shims, placed into a triangle type position and adhered over the round opening. Choice 6 standard washers with openings the same size as the pegheads; attached. Cut silver and gold bead wire to function as faux guitar strings. Originally I was going to randomly place beads on the strings, however, as a second thought, decided to use very small beads and string the area of the strand that runs the neck. Strung the 6 strands of beads ... which was quite a time consuming task.

Took apart a couple necklaces bought awhile back that had large know type beads. Adhered over the first two pegheads.

We are taking a week holiday starting Saturday. I'd hoped to get these two pieces finished prior to that, however, there's quite a few tasks that have to be accomplished around the house. So, perhaps just this one will get finished.

Tamborine

• Applied two coats of polyacrylic to tamborine base.
• Selected a piece of braided lace.
• Selected and made 7 strands of beads.
• Sewed the beads onto the braided lace.
• Attached the lace to the top rim of the tamporine using E6000
• Attached the new top using E6000.
• Applied two coats of polyacrylic to the top, and over the lace

Although the beads hang over two of the cymbols, they do not interfer with the functionality. This piece was not rebuilt to be functional, however, it I tapped out a couple tunes with my new Alejandro Escovedo CD, and its quite sturdy.

I'm considering this one finished. It's going to be packaged up and sent to Pam as a housewarming present (probably with one of the guitars).

Two Guitars

As indicated on the totes, these pieces have moved together until this point. Last night and today, applied stamps, spray paint, etc. Tomorrow I'll start choosing mixed media ornamentation for these pieces, apply poly acryclic, etc. etc. etc. As they begin to take on personality, I'll also assign them names.

Tamborine

I picked up this tamborine back before Jazz Fest and it's been sitting on top of the glass cabinet ever since. Thought that since I was working on the guitars, I might as well make this an instrument week, and do the Tamborine as well.

Removed the torn top and tossed out, along with the side braide. Removed the pins and the cymbols (put in a seperate envelope since I have a tendency to loose parts). Took out to the garage and lightly sanded to remove the finish.

Pulled out the Book Pages and selected a painted page for the new drum. The circular area is 7". Cut two 7" circles and attached together (back sides of course) with adhesive spray. The two sheets will make the drum more durable (in case someone should not realize it is decorative and use it), as well as make it equally interesting from the bottom side.

Selected a shade of orange acrylic paint that was probably used in this particular Book Page. Applied two coats of paint to all but the top edge of the wood base. Allowed to dry well between coats. Will continue (probably) tomorrow.

Two Guitars

Applied the second coat to the green guitar and let dry. Took both out to the back porch. Set up the paint box, and spray painted stencils, splatters and such. I'm growing ever more fond of spray paints ... I'm going to have to come up with some more needs to go to The Box or Walmart so I can add some more colors.