Bottled up!

Painting is a blind man's profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen.
Pablo Picasso 
 

I don't think I'm a awesome painter but then again I don't really want to be awesome at painting. I want to be great at expressing what it is I feel on any material I'm given. 

When I started painting on bottled I simply thought "oh this bottle is good i'll paint on this!" It was a big let down. I didn't know so many things came into play when working on glass. The brushes, paint I used, even the bottle itself! Needless to say my first three projects were a disaster... I won't post them... save you from the nightmare.

I had to do some homework for this project and i'm usually free freestyle type of girl but not this time. going online for the scoop on how to paint a bottle was the most annoying process ever, because everyone has their way of doing it. most said you just need an certain type of paint the others were DIY videos of people showing you a step by step method. I myself like the videos...less stress on unlocking what they are talking about. 

I watched the videos and followed the steps, some supplies had to be purchased of course and then I was off the my lab to paint lol! let me know what you think.

I also put some steps to follow if you want to give it a try.

Step one:Clean the surface of the wine or martini glass with rubbing alcohol and a paper towel. Remove any oil, dirt, or fingerprints that will mess up your paint work. Let the glass sit to dry for about 7-10 minutes after rubbing.

Step two:Sketch your design first on a piece of paper (not mandatory but recommended). If you draw the pattern on a piece of paper or tissue paper, this will allow you to insert it inside the glass, secure it, and use the pattern to transfer and paint over the design.Tissue paper lets you bend it more (so if you had to do a lot of work on the bottom or top it will let you!)

Step three:Sketch the design onto the glass. Use a fine point sharpie (or marker that will not wipe off) to sketch a design on the glass. If you don't like your sketch, you can use a q-tip or cotton ball dipped in rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover to "erase" the marker or paint.

Step four:Fill in the colors. Start painting the colors in as you'd like them.

Step five:Dry. Allow the glass to dry overnight before proceeding to the next step of heat setting. Stand them upside down on a soft surface such as a folded tea towel to allow them to dry. Try to keep them away from the kitchen or bathrooms, where moisture could affect the drying.

Hints:

• Line a cookie sheet with foil.
• Turn oven to 350ºF/180ºC. There is no preheating required. The idea is to put the glass in a cold oven--this will gradually increase heat as opposed to placing the glassware in a hot oven, which might cause the glassware to break.
• Immediately put the glasses on the lined sheet and place in the oven.
• Set a timer for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat after 20 minutes, leave in for a further 10 minutes, and then remove the glasses after the 30 minutes. Or, do as as instructed by the manufacturer on the label of the paints you've used (this is done to make the item washable)

• Use enamels to paint the glass; other paint will chip off after you wash them. Also use the paintbrushes only for this purpose.
• Make sure your paint is not too old. If your paint is too old it will have little tiny hard paint lumps that will make your glass chunky and bumpy.
• You will probably have to do two or three coats to achieve full coverage so make sure to let it dry thoroughly before applying second and third coats. Paint-pens for glass are sold to make it easy to make wonderful looking glasses with less effort.

Always follow the paint manufacturer's directions when using the paints. Most paint bottles recommend leaving a 3/4 to 1-inch space between the paint and the rim of the glass.

Things you need:

• Wax paper to protect work area
• A wine or martini glass
• Rubbing alcohol
• Paper towels
• Q-tips
• Glass paint
• Glass paint thinner
• Sharpie fine points (your color choice)
• Paintbrushes for glass painting
• Oven
• Cookie sheet covered in foil, or a pan used specifically for this purpose so as not to contaminate food with toxic things or paint

WARNINGS:

• Follow the paint bottle directions. Most paint bottles will instruct the artist to allow a minimum space between the glass rim and the paint surface. This is a safety precaution which MUST be followed.
• Be careful - some glass paints have this warning on the back: "This product contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm". There are some glass paints that are considered "non-toxic" if this is of concern to you, so look for them instead.

The age of VEGAN!

VEGAN friendly soaps!
I thought CozyTown could use a refreshing twist, so I went out a picked up some lovely vegan friendly soaps. Read more about these seated beauties on my Cotton blog.

A jewel in her hair

When I finished this hat I jumped up and down yelling "I'm done..." I didn't think it would come out so awesome. I totally had a different plan for it, but everyone who knows me is well aware of my  "I don't follow patterns" rule when designing most of my seasonal projects. The free hand items sort of design themselves. I'm proud of my little jeweled beauty.

Bottle up!

I found out that I'm addicted to yarn! I love it. The way it smells and looks on a yarn spinner thingy, the fresh feeling of plucking out your faves at a studio, or that feeling you get knitting on a park bench.  Everything about yarn makes me want to buy a garbage bag worth when I ransack Smiley's or hit up a nice flea market sale. 
       Now for those who keep a close watch on CozyTown, you may have witnessed the painted CozyTown wine bottles, yeah these sweeties are selling like hot cakes. People seem  to love it, this age old idea of recycling... go figure lol. Anyway I have come up with the ultimate duo... but of course I'm not going to tell you what just yet. I need an unveiling so to speak, an debut if you will. Upon releasing the secret early I feel you could be robbed of the sheer joy one might feel when looking at these master pieces. So stay tuned and I will bring the "The summer craze" from CozyTown.

Making Time All The Time?

Admit to yourself  that there's just not enough time.Not even enough for you to take a deep breathe much less create! I find myself completing one project a week instead of two like I plan, and you know what? thats okay....
Ok now that just made me sound like a "I'll do it tomorrow"-er and I don't care. I find that if you start stressing about your crafts then it not crafts it's work or a chore. So look what you've done you've robbed the craft of it's fun-ness! what the joy in having to cry because you started Thursday and you're not done yet, and it now Tuesday. I say good ridens to calendars and deadlines when it's something you're making for fun. (business is a different story)- but even then pace yourself! Don't destroy the reason why you started your craft journey.
Hi I'm Shamiek Cooper and I finished one tote bag this week!

La Casita review

I would like to thank Vogue and La Casita for welcoming me even though I showed up 30mins late (smh). To all the crocheters and knitters, this is an awesome place to be.  I really enjoyed myself!

The earth was flat

When I started crocheting I wouldn't have thought let me start a business, this could be profitable. I've was simply creating... I always loved being creative, from drawing to sewing patterns I dream about. I remeber taking my school notebooks and writing huge teen romance novels in them. When I would show them to my mom she'd get this look on her face, lol I could tell she was mad but she'd just say very nice and send me on my way.
Alot of people say there creative and art is their life, then these art institutes are filled to the brim and everyone and their mom is fashion designer or painter. I'm not saying the achieving beings at these places aren't good at what they do I'm just saying I think there is a mold that is being filled.
Anyway I'm not going to give you the I didn't grow up with much speech or monologue about my strife because who isn't having strife right. I will say that whenI did think up CozyTown it didn't come to me with a light bulb attached.
I was sitting down and drawing some sketches for this sketch artist assistant job interview. When I got called for this interview I was so nervous, no one had ever viewed my sketches and critiqued them.. no one but family trying to spare my feelings. Sitting at my kitchen table I pulled apart all my top drawings, retouching them with extra color, cleaning up errors I could only see, even redrawing them. At the same time I was crocheting a hat for a friend of mine, a gray merino hat with a tassle. Now off the back I was tired I had just pulled and all nighter fixing my portfolio and with four kiids wanting breakfast and lunch, not to mention out of the four one was about 4 months old. Yeah hectic!
So bright eyed and bushy tailed three days later I went to this interview and needless to say I didn't get the job infact I got schooled on my art style and the interview hated my clothes lol. She said the colors were nice though, so the all nighter paid off in one way. I left not furious but confused on what I thought I knew about fashion design. It was ready to wear.. I thought, Simple but unique... I thought. On the train ride home I pulled out my friends hat and worked on it, determined to at least hand over a pretty piece to her. A German woman and her sister eyeballed me for three or more stops before they asked me what was I making, I replied a hat. They obiviously were hoolers (crocheters) themselves because they admired the way I was holding my hook and yarn,
"that is the right way to do hold it" The small sister said. Later on I found out back home they taught a classes on crocheting and they praised my stitches. Cheered me up? yes it did. They asked me what pattern I was following and I replied I never follow patterns, one being they confuse  me, too much work to check off my rows, and I would have to put on my glasses to read them lol vain I know, but they weren't the frames I wanted. Anyway they saw me pulling this design out of the air and was impressed, for what a gray hat. I should them the rest of the projects in my bag a scarf, a slouch, the start of a glove and some other stuff I carry with me all the time. One of the sisters imformed me to write this down, that what I was doing was creating my own patterns and with ease. To me it was just what I do to escape following patterns lol.
When I got home I dropped off the hat to my friend, I charged $25 for it pinched her sons cheeks and went on my way.  When I got home I started pulling out the unfinished project bag, because nothing made me feel better  then finishing projects. After feeding the kids, bathing them, then sending them off to bed I watched my favorite shows with a hook and yarn in my hand.