Trollface Stickers galore

Behold... my homemade trollface stickers!

U mad bro?

I made them over the weekend after a sudden strike of inspiration. I don't know why I didn't get to this idea sooner. The Trollface meme is at the height of its popularity, and I for one still find it hilarious. Obviously, I didn't create these characters, but my process on making them into stickers is completely my own. Besides...wouldn't it be cool to be a troll IRL sometimes?

I made a few various styles of these stickers. I added a few Me Gusta and Forever Alone into the bunch, as well as 2 different sizes of "classic" troll faces.

I chose not to use printable adhesive labels/paper to make these stickers. Instead, I opted for putting industrial double stick tape on the back of each print. It takes a little longer, and probably costs a bit more, but I really like how the double stick tape works for stickers. Previous test stickers I've made with this stuff were definitely not easy to peel off of surfaces. The trollfaces will be no exception- They're pretty much impossible to be completely removed from something once they're stuck down. Trololol!

There was one more thing I had to do with this project before I could be satisfied. These trolls need a fancy place to be kept while they await use, so I went ahead and made special tiny troll envelopes. I printed them out and assembled each individually by hand. They turned out really great, and definitely add value to the stickers over all. In fact, I think I ended up liking the envelopes more than the stickers themselves!

 

 

These guys turned out being a hit at a recent birthday party I attended. As a result, my first batch of stickers was pretty much depleted in one night! Fortunately they're super fun to make so I won't have any problem generating more. My next batch will be improved- I'm adding the "Y U NO?" character in the bunch.






Get a pack for yourself! This pack includes 3 medium classics, 5 small classics, 1 forever alone, 1 y u no and 1 me gusta. But we can mix and match if you'd prefer. Feel free to contact me with any questions or requests.

$5.00

Deliciously cute cookie pops for Yule

Happy new years everyone! I'm feeling especially festive today. To celebrate the holiday seasons, I made some cute cookie pops for everyone to enjoy during my family's little yule-tide festivites. They're really simple to make, so as a little gift from me to you, I'm gonna share the recipe for these artsy treats:

 Ingredients-

1. Cookie Dough (pre-cut squares will work the best)
2. Vanilla frosting
3. Popsicle sticks
4. Food coloring
5. Sprinkles and other edible embellishments (optional)

All you need to do is insert a popsicle stick horizontally (not sticking straight up) in the cookie dough, pointing towards the middle of the cookie. Arrange them on a pan like normal, except try to keep the cookies and sticks from touching each other. Bake the cookies by the directions of their regular recipe. While they're baking, the sticks shouldn't burn in the oven, but it's probably a good idea to check on them now and then anyways.

How to make a lollypop cookie...

 The decorating is the fun part. This is where you can be creative. All you need is some vanilla frosting and your favorite color food dye. I was lazy and just used a butter knife and a paper plate to mix and decorate my cookies. I finished them off by putting some colorful sprinkles on top. You can use just about any edible topping as an embellishment to your cookie. The options are endless.. you can use granulated sugar sprinkles, m&m's, chocolate chips, or even jelly beans. It's up for you to decide.

By the way these, were a hit at all the family get-together's this year. I think people enjoyed the creative twist on such a holiday classic. It's such a simple thing to do, there's no reason you shouldn't give it a try one day! These would be perfect for events besides Christmas. Give them out at kid's parties or as birthday presents. They'd probably sell out at bake sales if packaged nicely.

My mom helped me set up this impromptu Christmas scene featuring Santa towels and our awesome cookie pops.

If anyone tries out this idea leave me a comment! Preferably with some cute pics of the results. I just love this idea, I cant get enough of it :P

The skeleton man

Skeleton Man- India ink

I did this piece a while back but I'm still pretty attached to it. You can imagine why, since it has all of my favorite obsessions wrapped up into one package. Naturally, the things you feel passionately about always inspire more intriguing works of art. For me, was skeletons, sunglasses, and Ralph Steadman. If you haven't heard of this guy before, he's an incredible political cartoonist that did most of the illustrations for Hunter S Thompson. He was called to my attention when I watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on DVD. On the menu screen it shows a clip of him scrawling out the title of the movie with pen and ink. He's completely mastered the skill of haphazardly slinging ink everywhere. After seeing this video, I had to try it for myself.

So, this piece is definitely channeling Steadman. It was also one of my very first experiences using india ink, so it was nice getting to be so loose and reckless with my pen strokes.  To keep motivated in learning this new media (which is now one of my strongest and most favorite to work with) I kept a quote from my newly favorite artist in mind:

Concept sketches surrounded by doodles.

By Ralph Steadman

"There's a saying: 'In art there is no such thing as a mistake -- a mistake is an excuse to do something else. That's how I feel about drawing and writing. I couldn't draw very well. I kept blotting things by accident, so I decided to make mistakes part of my work."

  Some artists (especially me) always strive for perfection in their work. Tiny stray lines, smeared colors, a crinkle in the paper spells failure in the eyes of some. But who's to say that these mistakes cant be embraced? After many projects where I tried to be perfect, this idea was exciting to me. I allowed myself to make mistakes as I carved out the Skeleton Man in ink. It was very freeing. And of course, you can't really pinpoint any of the areas I messed up, can you?

An eerie closeup of his bony face...

Salt used on india ink

Another cool trick I experimented with in this work was using table salt on the wet inks. Allowing salt to dry on newly applied paint will absorb some of the moisture and pigment, leaving a beautifully speckled design on your piece.
For my skeleton man, I think it's the specks that really bring the whole piece together. It gives an extra sense of color and textured in areas that otherwise would've been plain.





Since this piece was featured in a local art show, it's already professionally matted and ready to hang. If you're interested in buying the original, contact me for a negotiation of price.

Prints are also available. Each print is signed personally by me and come in a clear plastic sheet protector.

$10.00

By the way, Skeleton Man returns in my other infamous piece, Death's Designer Shoes. I can't get enough of this kid.

Makin' skeletons for the Christmas party

 So I've just been busy the past week or so whipping up a new project for the local comic shop's Christmas get-together. They always hold a massive auction of all sorts of oddities, this time including my cool skull art! I'm anxious to see how much my work will bid up to. The proceeds from some of the pieces will go towards buying my mom "The Walking Dead" comic series for Christmas. She loves the TV show and said she wanted to eventually read the real story. So hopefully, I'll make some money off of the whole thing. Here's what I'm entering:

This is what I like to call my disco skull. It's been floating around since last year's Christmas, when I made it for a charity art show ran by so called "local punk artists."  Unfortunately, they didn't appreciate my donation enough to even schedule a pick up, so consequently it was never sold. However, this year it's going off to a good home  and I'll (hopefully) never have to see it again!

It's actually a pretty interesting piece because it's purely pieced together with fabric and thread but it isn't soft or "quilty" at all; the whole thing was mounted to a tiny scrap of wooden board.

For the eyes, nose and mouth I got to use one of my favorite techniques, which is reverse applique. I discovered this method when a fellow artist introduced me to the Mola art form, done by Kuna women in Panama City.

I could never quite pull off the same intricate details that they do in a real mola, but I like to think that this piece was inspired by the style. The top fabric is cut away to reveal my shiny sequin fabric remnant (which just so happened to be the exact perfect size for this piece, go figure!)


The other item I'm putting into the auction is this cool little bag I've styled. Yes, I did use a blank tote bag instead of making my own, but I feel like I added at least some value to to it because I bedazzled the crap out of it. Well, technically, they aren't bedazzles, they're studs. Much cooler looking. 

I also had some extra big pyramid studs left over from an old belt, which are always a nice touch to an otherwise boring accessory.

The hands were done with gesso, which ensures that the print will not fade or degrade much over time. I also really like how gesso is such a strong white color. It doesn't take many layers at all to get a nice bright coat, especially against dark colors.

To bring the whole bag together (literally!) I added a closure made of ribbon, beads and elastic. I also added a little tag with my contact information and a message to the new owner:

The tag doesn't lie. This bag is going towards a genuine walking dead charity.. also don't be shy, if you're the owner of this bag leave me a comment and tell me what you think!

Of course I added a few "oldies but goodies" into the mix. Also up for sale are my fishy, mustaches and skulls keychains. I'm hoping that they'll bring in a few last minute impulse buys at the checkout aisle. Speaking of which, if you're interested in purchasing an awesome keychain for yourself, be sure to check out my craft shop! ;)





The auction is tomorrow, and I'll post my results then. I hope I make something off all my hard work! For the record, I'm starting my auctions for the disco skull and bag at $5 a piece. Wish me luck. It's gonna be a gruesome Christmas.

On my own two feet

"My own two feet" - Acrylics on burlap

This piece really has a presence in real life. It's modeled directly from observation of my own feet and was done with acrylics and india ink. My favorite part is the harsh texture of the surface. I achieved this by piecing burlap scraps onto particle board.

Also, the board is a somewhat unusual shape. It's not perfectly square around the sides but instead crooked and frayed. I wanted the work to mimic an old weathered scrap of fabric, while the inside details looked more like patchwork.
Another special thing about this piece is that it can be turned any which way and still "work." It all depends on your personal preference which direction you want the feet to be facing,



This piece was also featured in my post about getting art supplies on a budget. I can proudly say everything besides the paint and glue is a recycled material!

If you're interested in buying the original, contact me for a negotiation of price.
Prints are also available. Each print is signed personally by me and come in a clear plastic sheet protector.

 $10.00

Death's Designer Shoes

I will admit that this is one of my favorite artworks I have ever done. There's just something about it that seems to speak to me. I think I relate to it... perhaps it's even a self portrait?
When I designed it I imagined an trendy "modern kid" lurking in his favorite indie coffee shop, doing what they do best ( which is drinking over priced lattes and chain smoking). And of course since this guy is malnourished and "dead inside," I made him a skeleton.

The lines were done with india ink, and I believe the browns and red are watercolor pigment. The whole thing was done on a tiny piece of scrapped wood that was likely a piece of a cabinet or furniture at one point.

I guess this is a "successful" piece because it was stolen from me shortly after it was created. Naively, I allowed it to be displayed on the wall during a school function, and the day after that it was gone. Whoever has the original, I hope you're enjoying it! The funny thing is, I probably would've made them something equally as good and free of charge just so that they wouldn't have taken this piece.

The concept sketch behind the coffee shop skeleton.

Even so, I still wonder about who has the original. I would love to meet this person. I'm not even mad, I take it as a compliment! I just wanna know what happened to it, where did it end up? Is it in a college dorm room now?  Was it a gift to an ironic hipster who has it hanging on the wall in his living room? Is it in the city dump? One day I hope this person is brave enough to step forward and admit that they liked my work so much they stole it straight off a wall. I would be tickled pink.





This piece was also featured in my post about getting art supplies on a budget because of my awesome scrapped wood find.


High resolution 8 1/2 x 11" glossy prints are available. Contact me for more details if you'd like a larger size.

$10.00

Revamping a raggedy pillow (Harry Potter edition!)

I would say that most people have a favorite pillow. Imagine yours..It's the comfiest to sit on, it gets you to sleep at night, and its probably the best food tray you've ever used. And like most of our favorite things, it's immortal. Well, so we'd like to assume at least. Unfortunately, years of wear and tear will eventually deteriorate any item you use every day, even old faithful pillows. So what happens then? Do you dare throw out your tattered but uber comfy pillow? Don't do it! That would be a waste of a wonderful opportunity to give your loyal friend a brand new makeover. All you need is a seam ripper and a little bit of sewing magic and your pillow will keep kickin' for another 10 years or more.

 My mom inspired me to do this project when she pointed out that our living room pillow was in bad shape. And honestly, that was an understatement. Firstly, I must say it's the raddest of pillows..(Geek out time!) It's an exclusive and official Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone pillow, one you can only order from those "fancy pants" magazines. It features a very young Harry Potter, right when his zany wizardy adventure was just starting. We acquired this in the heat of the first Harry Potter craze, nearly 14 years ago. This thing has history attatched to it, so there's certainly no way we were getting rid of it!

Anyways, this pillow had seen its better days. Here are the pics from right after I gutted it. It was seriously this bad before I even opened it up:

As you can see, the cool Harry Potter print is still in amazing quality but the back is dry rotten and full of holes

The corners and edges were completely shredded. 

Holes where the print was poking through the back! The horror..

 So, clearly I had to start from scratch when it came to the back of the pillow. Fortunately, the gorgeously weaved Harry Potter print on the front was still in really great shape, so I didn't have to worry about repairing it. All I needed to do was separate the trashy back fabric from the print.

I used my little tool called the Seam Ripper to do this. You could easily just use scissors and cut away the edging to your pillow, but carefully ripping out the thread seams improves the likelihood that your print wouldn't be damaged or cut off in any way.

Admittedly, I am still somewhat a novice at sewing and only recently discovered the seam ripper.

My trusty mini seam ripper.

 How did I ever possibly undo stitches without one before?  Oh right, usually I just tried to rip out the unwanted stitches by hand, tore my project and had to start over. The seam ripper has saved me many of times now since I "discovered" it. It would've been especially useful when I first started machine sewing and was constantly having zany mishaps. If you're just starting out sewing, I definitely recommend keeping one of these near by. If you don't already have one lying around, you can get them from any craft store, wal-mart or even a decent dollar store.

With my seam ripper, separating the pillow was a piece of cake.

After that, it was simply a matter of selecting some new fabrics for the back and putting it together.

That, and of course ironing.

Personally, it isn't my favorite thing to do, but ironing out the wrinkles in your fabrics before you sew them onto your project will make a world of difference in the quality of your work.
The iron is beneficial in many ways. For example, if you added any dyes or paint, it will permanently heat set it and make it washer machine friendly. Using an iron will also improve the neatness of your sewing. You can achieve nice flat and crisp seams and a professional finish to your work. Some of my projects require me to iron at least 3 or 4 different times to get the look I want... It's a pain, but it's totally worth it.

 Once ironing is complete, all you have to do is cut out the new fabric in the size you want and assemble your brand new pillow. All that technical stuff will have to wait for another blog post... In the mean time I'm assuming all of you already know how to sew together a pillow. I would strongly recommend using a sewing machine to do this kind of project. In fact, a project like this would be perfect for practicing your sewing machine skills if you're still a beginner. Sewing machines provide faster and stronger stitch work. A project like this, which would take hours to hand sew, took me only 45 minutes or so with the machine to completely finish the sewing process.  If you don't know how to use a sewing machine yet, it's never too late to learn! It may seem like a daunting task but it isn't as hard to learn as you might think. It's a skill you can use for the rest of your life.

Anyways, here are the finished results, in all their Harry Potter Glory:

GET THE SNITCH HARRY!! (front)

I had a lot of this fabric and it goes perfect with the print. (back)

Look out for that demonic beast!!

I think it looks much more neater and clean with the make over! My family members agreed that it was an improvement.  In fact, they can attest to you how comfy it is now....


As always, if you did this project for yourself, I want to see the results!