Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Fishy Jamboree


fishyThese are my fishy keychains. I just find them so vibrant and full of personality. The inspiration came to me when I was searching for stencils on the web and found this very interesting fish bone design. It was easily adapted for practical use, and I was quickly stenciling a bunch of felt ready for my first "school of fish." The print turned out beautiful. I used just regular black acrylics and the paint is as solid and crisp as any expensive screen printing ink. Plus when they got heat pressed by the iron, the paint turned all shiny and smooth. It kind of bugs me that companies sell this overpriced "fabric paint" and "screen printing ink" when you can get the job done with half the price and hassle with a regular cheap batch of acrylic paint. But I digress. I ended up doing some experimentation and stuffed the entire batch of fish with sand. I think it works out GREAT. The sand is kind of squishy and coarse but still soft and flexible enough to use for a keychain. Although I will admit it was a pain in the ass to sew those poor fishies shut once they were full of sand. Erm, I hope sand won't ruin my sewing machine...
Anyways It would be totally worth it.

Oh, by the way, do you dig the new lightbox? Check out the pictures I was able to capture. GAH the lighting is Sooo much better. Note the first image was done outside and the harsh light from the sun kind of washes out all the details. But the second image was taken in my lightbox and it picks up every tiny hair on the felt.



Get a fishy keychain for yourself...
$7.00

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