Category Archives: tips

TOP TEN STUDIO ESSENTIALS

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Lyn Belisle Studio: TOP TEN NON-ART Studio Essentials That I Can’t Live Without

Here’s my list – what’s yours? Share these with a friend 🙂 Next week I’ll have a list of the 10 ART PRODUCTS that I can’t live without.

1. Baby powder

babypowderI use this to dust the inside of air-dry clay molds to keep them from sticking, to “de-stick” my hands temporarily when I’ve been using spray adhesive, to dull down a shiny gel acrylic surface, among other things – Johnson’s smells the best to me – makes me all nostalgic

2. Blue Painter’s tape

blueMasks the edges of watercolor paper, makes irregular stencils for stamping and painting, use to tape around unfolder paperclip to make a handle for a quick cutting tool, put strips sticky-side-up on work table to keep cat from stepping on work in progress (sorta works as a distraction when they try to shake it off their feet) – and so much more – available in bulk from Uline

3. Canvas clay cloth

clothI can turn my painting worktable into an earthenware clay workspace in an instant with this – it unrolls and has a great canvas non-stick surface for rolling out clay slabs. It also makes an instant “clean” surface for projects of any kind of you keep the back side un-clay-y – available at ClayWorld

4. Cheap white washcloths

wahclothsI really could not do without these – clean-up, texturing, wiping walnut ink off clay – it goes on and on. I wash them and use them over and over, and they are cheaper than paper towels and more ecologically responsible – $4 buys a bundle of 18 at Walmart

5. Drinking straws

strawsLet me count the ways I use these – hmm, ok, to poke holes in clay face shards and adornments, to cut into 2” sections and use as channels for cord backing on pendants, as cores for paper beads, drinking Diet Dr. Pepper – and so on. Get both sizes, the standard ones for big holes and the little coffee ones for smaller holes. Available at delis and coffee shops everywhere. If you happen to need 900 of them, get ‘em at Uline for less than $4.

6. E6000 adhesive

e600A sculptor in Colorado Springs told me about this, and the stuff can stick metal to glass and glass to rock, paper and scissors – you get the idea. It’s good stuff, kinda looks like silicone gel. Most artists and jewelers know about it, but just in case you didn’t, you can get it many places, including Michaels.

7. Heavy-duty hole punch

holepunchThis is the only semi-specialty item on the list. I use it for punching holes for stringing beads, for book binding thread, for tags – it’s great. It will punch through thin metal and heavy mat board easily. Mine is from EK Tools. Worth the $15 price tag over and over, and you can get it in two different hole sizes. I have both.

8. Lavender Essential Oil

lavYou guys know that I’ve studied aromatherapy since the 80’s – and lavender oil is great for balancing your frantic mood when things aren’t going well in the studio – just a sniff will calm and refocus. But it’s also the best thing for burns, and I keep a bottle right next to my hot-glue gun. It’s saved me from having more than a few blisters. It works for mosquito bites, too, and can take off gummy residue better than goo-gone. You should have lavender essential oil just as a general principle in your life – great stuff! I recommend Aura Cacia, and you can read about it here.

9. Nashua Clear Duct Tape

nashuaThe perfect tape for book-binding, labelling, tape transfer – it tears cleanly and is super strong. I must go through a roll a week at the Studio. I used it to attach the covers for my custom e-reader covers and have been using it and recommending it ever since. It’s made by Nashua and is available at Home Depot.

10. Quart Mason jars

masonI hear my ancestors might have drunk whiskey out of these – now *that* would be an instant tranquilizer and work-stopper – but I use these for water jars, bead storage, feather storage (the cats paw at the sides trying to get to the feathers), brush storage, clay slip, glazes, spools of thread – chances are I don’t have to tell you how useful these big jars are – and they are recyclable and reusable and work as a nice vase for just-picked bunches of herbs and flowers for the Studio table. I have a friend who uses a meditation jar – she cuts strips of paper with favorite quotes and thoughts on them and keeps them in a clear Mason jar to pull out when she needs inspiration.  Better even than whiskey? I imagine so.

 

Altar Update: The Guardian of the Golden Bough

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Done and delivered to Celebration Circle! Here is the finished altar for their silent auction during the month of September, and now I know why I needed to use the moss. The figure represents The King of the Wood from Sir James Frazer’s book, The Golden Bough (pub. 1890), which seeks to explain the roots of human religion, science and magic. Being an eccentric spiritual eclectic, it made sense to me to reflect my own private musings through this guy, The Guardian of the Golden Bough.

The completed piece

The completed piece

I had fun constructing him, and when I took him down to the collection place in Blue Star Art Complex, I got to see some of the other altars. They’ll all be photographed soon, so you can see them, too. Hope you can come to the fundraising event on Sept. 30th! Here are some other photos of Mr. Guardian (or maybe it’s Ms. Guardian?) And here’s a tip – if you have a Kindle and want to read The Golden Bough, it’s on Amazon for a free download!

 

How (not to) fire a kiln

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Being away from the Studio for two weeks meant playing catch-up when I got back. There were a lot of things I could do art-wise while I was gone, but creating earthenware and firing it was not one of them. Sunday was Clay Day – I made about 60 small and large face shards and small sculpture pieces such as pendants. Monday was hurry-up-and-dry-so-I-can-fire-the-kiln day. I loaded the kiln Monday afternoon even though some larger pieces were still damp (gulp). This is a huge NO-NO. I don’t want to see you guys trying this.

Do you see the little face on top of the big face? It’s completely dry – you can tell because it’s white, but the big piece underneath is gray. It’s damp, and anyone with any sense wouldn’t fire it at this point, but I propped the kiln lid open, let it stay on Low for a few hours, and crossed my fingers that it would dry out and not shatter in the firing.kiln1

There’s really nothing mysterious about loading and firing a kiln. Most electric kilns like my Skutt have a kiln-sitter that uses a pyrometric cone made of clay. The cone is designed to melt at a specific temperature (in this case, about 1800F). When it melts, a three-prong device trips and turns the kiln off. That metal rectangular thingy has dropped down, indicating that the #05 cone on the inside has melted.

kiln2

The Kiln Gods were kind – nothing broke, amazingly enough. Here’s the first tray just out of the kiln, still very warm.

kiln3

Here’s the bottom layer, waiting to be unloaded. If you look on the right, you can see the slumped cone and the tripping device with the middle pin in the down position.

kiln4

So despite my Bad Practice of loading damp greenware, I got away with it – this time. These pieces are now ready for me to figure out how to use them – as Scent Shards? Sculpture pieces? Stay tuned 🙂

kiln5 kiln6

 

 

New camera!

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I’d been thinking about researching and buying a new camera for the last year or so – and today – wham! I walked into a Boston Radio Shack on Boylston Street with my friend Danny and saw this Nikon CoolPix L820 on sale for less than $250 – OK, so not totally cheap, but not $1000 either (and I did make a little money at the Beacon Hill Art Walk):

nikon copy

So far, this is an amazing camera. I set it up, zipped across the street to the Boston Public Garden, and gave the 30X Zoom a try. Check out these pics from waaaayyy far away:

And last but not least, a sleeping kitty’s ear two rooms away when I got back to the apartment (yeah, yeah, the rest of him was asleep too):

As usual, I don’t have any stock in Nikon (it would be nice), but I’m impressed with this camera. Danny bought one too, so we will be comparing notes. Sometimes people in my Digital Photo classes ask what kind of camera they should buy,  and I would not hesitate to recommend this little Nikon. So far, it’s a winner.

 

 

 

Pins R FUN

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Dunno why I don’t make more of these cool little magnetic collage pins – they are really fun to put together, they come together quickly, make unique gifts,and you get to try different embellishment techniques. For example, on these I used a non-fire ceramic finish from Duncan glazes called Red Granite that I found at my earthenware supplier, Clay World. You can brush it on heavy watercolor paper and it looks all granite-y. Nice!

pinone pintwo

Anybody interested in a  pin-making workshop when I get back from Boston? We could do it some weekday evening at the Studio. Email me if you’re up for it. Speaking of Boston, the link is up for the Beacon Hill Art Walk’s participating artists, including me – betcha I’m the only one from Texas.  I sorta fudged and said I had a “summer home” there so I could get in. Gulp. But I guess it counts if I visit the kids in Boston in the summer. OK, go forth, Y’all, and be creative.

Share the love of chocolate chewies . . .

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patriciaOne of the nice things that happens at workshops, even serious ones like the one Bill Kurtin and I presented to ABODE yesterday on Contemplative Care, is networking – in this case, chocolate cookie networking. ABODE co-founder Patsy Sasek (left) brought some amazing cookies for workshop participants. They were, light, glossy, and chocolatey with chocolate chips and walnuts – and chipotle powder. And – get this- they are gluten free and practically fat-free (except for the chocolate chips – ahem). I asked Patsy if I could share the recipe with you guys, and she obliged – get ready for a chewy, chocolatey chipotle treat – thanks, Patsy:

chewies

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mexican Chocolate Chewies

Chocolate chewies are light, crisp, and, yes, chewy chocolate cookies that are studded with chocolate chips and pecans. You see them at bakeries all over Texas, and yet not too many people make them at home. There’s really no reason for this, especially as they are a snap to make. I’ve added a bit of cinnamon and chipotle chile powder to give them a bit of spice and heat.

Ingredients

2 cups pecans, roughly chopped (Patsy says she sometimes uses walnuts)

2½ cups powdered sugar

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. chipotle chile powder (Patsy says she doubles this – you should, too!)

¼ tsp. kosher salt

3 large egg whites

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Steps: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

While the oven is heating, arrange the chopped pecans in a skillet and place in the oven for 5 minutes or until they’ve turned a bit darker brown (but not black) and smell fragrant. Mix roasted pecans with the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, chipotle chile powder, and salt. Stir the egg whites into the dry mixture by hand (or beat with a stand mixer on low) just until the batter is well mixed. Stir in the vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Drop tablespoon-size portions of batter on the sheet an inch apart, about six per sheet, as these cookies will spread while baking. Bake for 15 minutes or until crackling on the surface.

Remove sheet from oven, lift parchment paper with the cookies still on it off the sheet, and cool on a rack. Allow cookies to cool for 20 minutes before removing from paper, as they’re very delicate. They will keep for a few days in an airtight container.

This content is from the book The Homesick Texan Cookbook by Lisa Fain.

 

Discovery: The Blue Stuff

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I am passing on to you a tip about something which, until this morning, I had never tried and is pretty amazing – it’s blue (and white) stuff. I ordered it from a place called Cool Tools, which specializes in supplies for metal clay artists. This is a mold-making compound – technically it’s called Mega-Mold Silicone RTV Molding Compound and it uses a process called RTV, which means room temperature vulcanizing. Vulcanizing is a chemical process that converts polymer into durable material. Who knew??

So, you squish the blue part with the white part and push it against something you want to make a mold of. I swear, five minutes later it’s ready to go! Jan Longfellow told me that she has used it to make molds for her silver clay jewelry. it’s pretty amazing – here are some photos – I don’t know quite where I’m going with it, but it is sooooo much fun to play with! You could make a mold of your big toe, or your car key or a favorite brooch – the possibilities are positively goofy!

The Kit - one blue, one white - squish together equal amounts

The Kit – one blue, one white – squish together equal amounts

 

The mold after five minutes, the original object, and the clay copy

The mold after five minutes, the original object, and the clay copy

The mold setting up on a sculpture's hand

The mold setting up on a sculpture’s hand

Taking off the mold

Taking off the mold

A molded wing off the same sculpture

A molded wing off the same sculpture

More molded clay objects - the mold makes the clay oily - weird

More molded clay objects – the mold makes the clay oily – weird

 

 

 

 

Tell and Show

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The “tell” part: I keep remembering great tips from artist Sherrill Kahn when I saw her presentation at FASA on Monday. One that I’m going to try today is mixing cheap hair gel, the kind you can get at dollar stores in a pump bottle, with acrylic paint to make a glaze for fabric, collage, whatever. Another technique that she uses is Styrofoam plate printing. It’s fun to watch her do this. Breaking news: there’s a pretty good possibility that Sherrill will be at my Studio in August for several workshops (or you can go to Italy to see her in September <wistful sigh>)

The “show” part: Lesta Frank, Jan Longfellow, Alison Schockner and I are reuniting for a Fiesta Show at the Studio this Sunday – whoopee! Here’s a sneak preview of the cool stuff – there will be food and freebies and Fiesta fun, so come by and celebrate from 11-5!

 

 

Mac Fonts 101

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By special request, here’s the Mac version of my last post:

Finding new fonts to use on your Mac is just as easy as it is with Windows computers, just a little different. Again, I start with Fontspace just because I can usually find something I like there.

Screen Shot 2013-03-19 at 11.36.35 AMI found one that I want called “Celtic.” I clicked on the Download button directly below the font.

Screen Shot 2013-03-19 at 11.37.12 AMMy download window opens and I double-click in the folder that has the name of the font.

Screen Shot 2013-03-19 at 11.37.42 AMWhen the folder opens, I double click on the font itself, the file that ends in .ttf (true type font)

Screen Shot 2013-03-19 at 11.38.39 AMI click on the Install Font button and  – voila – the next time I open a word editing program or any other application that uses fonts, it’s there (see below).

Screen Shot 2013-03-19 at 11.42.20 AM

 

Fonts 101

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Ever want to add a new font to use in your designs? It’s really easy – here’s how. These directions are for Windows but I can do a Mac version later if you like.

If I’m looking for a new fort for a particular project (or just for fun) I start at Fontspace. Lots of designers contribute to it and you’ll see fonts from beautiful to weird.

fontspace1I found one I like called Wallflower.

fontspace2I clicked on the Download button (be careful here to click the correct arrow because sometimes ads for software slip their download links in and you end up with something you didn’t want – ads are the way fontspace keeps it free)

fontspace3You font will download as a Zipped file:

fontspace4When you see it in the window, double-click on it.

fontspace5A page will open with every letter and variation of the font – and if you look at the top, there’s an “Install” button.

fontspace6And, voila! The next time you open a word document or a program like Illustrator, it will be available for you to choose from in your font list!

fontspace7Happy Fonting!