~ Creating Lovely Primitive Background Art~ Proxxon Design Team Project By Sherri Welser

~ Creating Lovely  Primitive Background Art~

Being an artist I enjoy creating from the simplest of things! This week's project is created from a simple block of wood and Proxxon Power Carver tool! The tool was easy to use and had a variety of cutting gouges. I wanted to create wood blocks with texture such as a  rubber stamp would offer, to then add some background interest for my artwork. Here is where using the Power Carver tool came in handy! So let's get started and below please find a list of supplies.

~Supplies~

A handful of wooden block scraps ( about 3 x 4 ")

Proxxon Power Carver Tool

Luminere Fabric paints

Stamps

Stamp Pad

Distress Stains

Gel pens

Markers

File folders or cardboard stock paper

Vise

I began by putting my wooden blocks in a vise to keep them steady and to provide a safe working environment.

 Start by figuring out the designs you might want and either free hand them or draw ourt pattern on the wood

  When using the tool be careful not to place your fingers or hands anywhere around/in front of the tool when it's on. Basically you would use it like a pen for drawing but pressing firmly to cut out the designs in the wood.

  After cutting out the primitive designs on the wood ,grab some fabric paint ( highly pigmented and well suited for this next step)

 The reason you want to coat the cut side of the block with paint is to create some color diversity and a layering effect with color.

 Let the paint dry for a minute and then add the Distress Stain on top ( generously) to coat the block. From this process you will get a 2 tone effect when stamping your stamp on the file folder or card stock paper.

 Below you can see the different stamps and color patterns that was created

 It is fun to add stamped quotes,sayings and words along with extra color with markers, gel pens and paint!

  Here you can see the final finished little  pieces of artwork!

Hope you have had fun with  this little project and the Proxxon Power Carver tool!

Enjoy!

More Alcohol Ink Play with a Gourd and my Proxxon Tools!

I did a little safety blog on my post, but one thing I want to tell or remind anyone that is working with gourds is to always wear a respirator and goggles. More over on my blog lol. I had such a fun time working with the alcohol inks on my gourds that I wanted to do it again. Hopefully I learned from the first couple of tries!

The items needed for this project are: 

Proxxon MicroMot Jigsaw
Proxxon MicroMot Drill
Twisted Paper
Alcohol Inks ( three colors that go together ) + Copper Mixative
Black Acrylic Paint
White Spray Paint
Small foam paintbrush
Krylon Kamar Varnish
Lint free material to apply ink with (some people use felt applicators but I like to use the wedge shaped make up sponges)
Latex gloves
Waxed Linen Thread
Leather Needle
Something to make a level circle around your gourd

Okay, as you now probably know you start off with a gourd cleaned on the outside and draw a level line around the gourd where you want to cut it.

After that take out your trusty Proxxon MicroMot Jigsaw   and cut that baby! I won't show the part where you clean out all the yucky insides until it's smooth with no loose pieces that could possibly come off later.

Then you want to spray paint the outside of the gourd with the white spray paint and paint the interior with the black acrylic paint. (Being very careful not to get the black paint on the outside of the gourd!)

Then get busy with your inks! I pick pieces out of the top of the sponges so that it doesn't cover all of the gourd. I started with the yellow ink, dried it, continued with the orange, dried it and then finished with the red. After, my colors were on, I then used the copper scattered around the gourd and it made everything just go together and pop!

I then used a sharpie marker to go around the top with black and I got out my Proxxon MicoMot Drill and drilled holes 1/4 in. down and 1/2 in. apart all the way around the gourd and used  my needle and thread to coil the twisted paper all around the gourd.

I used a chocolate brown  twisted paper and thread and coiled five layers around.

  It turned out really pretty didn't it?

This picture really doesn't do it justice. I loved the way it turned out though. Make sure you check out the Proxxon Tools website and the tools that they have there. Awesome tools!

Barbara

Lacemaking Tools Turned on Micro Lathe

Besides working with mixed media and papercrafting projects, I also make bobbin lace. Bobbin lace is made by hand, and is one of the ways lace was made before machines. And, just like papercrafting and mixed media work, I love the tools!! I used my Proxxon Micro Woodturning Lathe to make these lace tools.

These are two varieties of needlepins—one with a straight needle and one with a bent needle. They each began as a 1/2" oak dowel rod.

Here you can see the dowel mounted on my lathe, and the beginning shaping of one of the needlepins. I'm using a roughing gouge to establish the basic shape that I want.

Next, I fine tune the piece with a spindle gouge and a skew tool. Here I'm using the spindle gouge.

When the piece is completely shaped, I move on to sanding, which is done with the piece on the lathe. I hold a small piece of sandpaper in my hand and gently move it over and under the wood. To achieve a satin smooth finish, I use progressively finer grits of sandpaper, generally started with 150 or 220 and ending with 440. 

After the sanding process, I remove the finished piece from the lathe with the end pieces still attached. I then use my Proxxon Scroll Saw to part off the scrap. Using the scroll saw rather than completely parting off on the lathe eliminates any torn end grain.

I finished these lace tools with a tinted resin coating. Now they're on my lace pillow ready to go to work.

Carole

Stroll upon the beach

Hi everyone Steph Ackerman here today and I've created a beach wallhanging using the Delta Sander and the Complete Model Building and Engraving Set from Proxxon Tools.

 

I had 3 small wood panels that needed small holes.  I found the Complete Model Building and Engraving Set was the perfect tool for this project.  The small bits easily created the holes I needed and did not split the wood.

I painted the wood panels then used the Delta Sander to smooth the panels.

I added gauze along the edges of each panel, then made shells from white, brown and earth tones clay using the Sea Shell push mold from Makin's Clay®.

 

 

I added some blue ink around the panels and added a sentiment from Rubber Dance Art Stamps on the top panel.

On the center panel I added some scrabble letters spelling out beach.

On the bottom panel, I added an anchor with a brad through one of the holes made with the Complete Model Building and Engraving Set.   I tied some twine through the panels.

This really is the perfect tool for all the small projects you are working on.

Steph

 

A New Gourd Project (Surprise!)

I have needed to make a small bowl for a few weeks now, actually I need to make several of different designs because I was in a show last week and will be in another this next weekend. Sometimes you just need smaller, popular pieces that are a bit less expensive than what you have.

Items needed for this project are:

Micromot Jigsaw STS 12/E
Micromot Precision Drill FBS 12/EF w/flexshaft
Variable Speed Woodburner
Gesso/Black
Alcohol Inks (Fall colors)
Kamar Varnish
Leather Needle
Fiber Rush
Artificial Sinew
Blow dryer
Foam brush
Q-tips
paint brushes (small)
alcohol

To begin with my gourd looked like this:

Just a small mottled gourd

 Not the prettiest thing is it? And this is after I washed all of the mold off the outside! I ended up with three different circles drawn around the gourd for a pattern because I couldn't decide at what level I wanted to cut the gourd off. As you can see in this next picture I decided on the bottom ring and cut it out with my Micromot Jigsaw STS 12/E. I gotta tell ya this is one handy little tool!

Yes the rings were level but the gourd was crooked/leaning lol.

Once the gourd was cut, I then cleaned out the inside until it was smooth and used my black gesso to paint the inside. I used a foam brush to do that. After letting the gesso dry, (I left it overnight) I placed my pattern of leaves around the outside of the gourd, woodburned them on and then used my inks to put the color onto the gourd. I blended the colors on the leaves but used a brown for around the leaves. I heat set the inks with my blow dryer and then used the Kamar Varnish to seal it. I also cleaned my paint brush out with alcohol. Basically you have to have your gourd finished before you drill your holes and coil your rush.

After finishing your gourd off with the sealer you then need to drill holes around 1/2-1 inch apart and 1/4 inch down from the rim all around the gourd.

I used my Micromot Precision Drill FBS 12/EF with a flexshaft attached. All of the Micromot tools that are used in my posts have to be hooked up to either a Micromot AC Adapter NG 2/S or a Micromot AC Adapter NG 5/E. I use the larger one in the shop and take the smaller one with me, unless I've got several things plugged into the big one lol.

Once I got all of the holes drilled into the top of the gourd I then coiled the fiber rush around the top of the gourd with the artificial sinew and TaDa!

Cute isn't it and can be used for several things or nothing at all. I hope you liked this project and that you definitely check out www.proxxon.com for all of the tiny tools you might not know you needed.

Barbara

~Leaving You Puzzled ~Proxxon Design Team Project~

~Leaving You Puzzled~

Earring Project

Here is a very fun idea that would be perfect for a small project you and your daughter/granddaughter can do together.  Depending on the age and if they are old enough to use the drill press supervised, it is a great time to spend together creatively! If they are too young you can handle the tool part of the project and they can have the fun of decorating! This is also a great opportunity to use up the puzzle pieces from those puzzles where  the pieces have been lost! So go grab some puzzle pieces and lets have some fun!!

~SUPPLIES~

Proxxon Drill Press

A handful of puzzle pieces

White Glue

Glitter

Fish Hook  ear wires ( 2 per set)

 8 mm jump rings (2 per set)

Polyurethane sealer

 Here you can see where the hole is being drilled for the jump ring and ear wire. I have found that by applying the glue and glitter first and letting it dry,it provides a more solid base to drill into.

  Assortment of Puzzle pieces

To finish off each earring piece you would add the glue where you would like the glitter to adhere.. sometimes dipping just the edges in is interesting, this way you can still see the puzzle pieces too!

Add the jump ring through the hole in the top and then add the fish hook ear wire.

To add a protective coat ,spray with polyurethane and let dry. And there you have it a very fun and interesting way to "play" with your puzzles!

 Some fun examples of finished earrings

Happy Creating!!

Honey Dippers

I have a new favorite tool in my studio—the Proxxon Micro Woodturning Lathe DB 250. I've always been fascinated with woodturning, and am thrilled to finally get to try my hand at it. I began by practicing a bit on some generic hardware store dowels to learn about the lathe and the tools. My first real project was honey dippers.

For this project I used 5/8" oak dowels. The first step was cutting the 3' dowel into 12" lengths using my Proxxon scroll saw.

Next, I marked the center of the end of the dowel.

I drilled a small pilot hole at this center point to anchor the dowel at the tail.

With the oak dowel in place on the lathe, I used a pencil to mark guidelines to indicate the sections of the honey dipper—dipper section, mid section, handle, and top.

I used the parting tool to make the grooves for dipping the honey. The roughing gouge was used to establish the basic shape of the honey dipper, while the detail gouge was used to define design elements. The skew tool was used to smooth the turned shapes.

The piece was sanded while it was still on the lathe. Here is one of the honey dippers ready to part off.

After parting off—cutting away the waste dowel on either end—I sanded the top and bottom of the honey dipper. The last step in the project was to treat the honey dippers with a food-safe oil; I used coconut oil. 

I'm totally pleased with my first lathe project and excited to turn more projects on this remarkable micro tool.

Carole