Day 54/100 Mandala

Mandala on book page.
New micron pens.

I was pulling pictures from a discarded book I got from work and this one called for a mandala!

A good excuse for a relaxing Friday evening using my new Micron pens.

They draw so smoothly and needed no pressure at all. 😊

Day 52/100 Wire Word Art and Dyed Papers

Mig wire word art.

Had an idea to make some hidden paperclips with wire words on them so that’s my next project.

The wire I used is welding wire; it’s very hard and holds its shape really well – it will break if you bend it too much though.

Coffee dyed papers

The coffee dyed papers didn’t need to go in the oven which was a nice surprise.

Some of the edges are really saturated with coffee, seem a little sticky and have a really strong coffee smell. There are some really pretty ones though.

Coffee and tea dyed papers

Hmmm, since I have some dyed papers I’ll have to assemble a junk journal!

Day 51/100 Paper Dying

Fruit tea dye

I did a fruit tea dye yesterday, leaving the papers in the pan over night then putting them on drying racks through the day. I could tell they weren’t going to be that vibrant – a really pale greyish mauve.

I put them in the oven tonight – at 250 degrees and checked on them every 20 min or so. They dried up really nicely, I could pull a couple of the top papers off every time I checked.

I was a little disappointed in the colors so I decided to try an instant coffee dye.

Instant coffee dye

I may have gone overboard on the coffee – I didn’t measure just poured a few spoonfuls (probably more than 3 heaping!) into a cup and went for it.

I wonder how much caffeine you can absorb through your hands – we’ll see if I can sleep tonight!

The papers were left in the coffee for a couple of hours, when I checked they were VERY dark. I drained the coffee off and rinsed them a bit.

I tried to rush it and put them in the oven before letting them drain over night – it didn’t work out very well.

They were in for about 15 minutes, when I checked the pages were getting sticky and the edges were looking burnt. There is a lovely pattern on the bottom sheet though!

They are going to air dry until tomorrow night then I’ll try them in the oven again. Fingers crossed they aren’t too saturated!

Day 47/100 Watercolor with Crayola Felts

An extra day with family – thank you snow!

I started coloring the feathers with a student grade Steadtler watercolor pencil but they just weren’t blending so I went to an old faithful – Crayola felts.

I’m not really looking forward to cutting these out, I think I might use an blade to get into all the little nooks and crannies.