9 in 5 by 23: Wild @ Art

Hello friends!

I am sorry that I have been absent for a while. We've been busy bees getting Mr. Kyle all graduated from university and moved from his apartment. It has been a busy busy couple of weeks! But fear not, I have not forgotten you!

In fact, I have been trying to keep in mind my 9 in 5 by 23 list! I have been working away at these.

This past week, Kyle and I were able to go to a small, privately owned and operated ceramic painting studio in Moscow, ID, Wild @ Art. It was a lot of fun! :D Kyle and I spent a good few hours painting away on a couple of tall mugs.

It was so fun!  It was a beautiful day and we a had a great time being creative and laughing at one another's silly slip-ups in painting.

Something that's really exciting about painting the unfinished ceramic and leaving it to be glazed and fired is seeing the results in the end! I love it! The paint dries pastel-y and it's hard to picture how the colors will look until you get the final piece, when you pick it up!

Kyle painted his mug a mixture of white "Cottontail" and a blue "Blue Yonder." Then he painted "#1 MOM" and "Happy Birthday, Happy Day of Mother" since the two occasions fall so close to one another. :D

My background color on my mug was a gray called "Silver Lining" and I used all sorts of colors for the dots.
Here's what it looked like all finished, when we picked it up a week later!

Awesomeness!!
So that's one of the nine items on my list. But I've got a few others that are in progress and one that is complete! I'll tell ya about that one next time, friends!

Until then, stay excellent!

- Jenny -

Hakuna Matata

As you might have guessed from my To Infinity & Beyond post, I am a Disney kid. I love me some Disney. My favorite movie of all time (not just favorite Disney movie) is The Lion King. It is closely followed by another Disney movie, The Nightmare before Christmas. I can't get enough of them.

I have been to Disneyland twice and Disney World is on the life to-do list.

Not only do I love the movies and the amusement parks, I love the lessons and attitude of Walt Disney and those that were instilled in the classic movies. It's truly inspired.

I stumbled upon a Hakuna Matata ring on Etsy. I pre-ordered because it was so reasonably priced. I received it this week! Look!

Adorable, right?

Ever since I fell in love with The Lion King, I have made hakuna matata one of my life mottos. I adore this ring and the seller was gracious enough to indulge my indecisive nature and give me both the infinity symbol and the heart. The ring usually only comes with one symbol on the inside of the band. It was a great Etsy experience. :)

Here are some other Disney items that I have been gawking at on Etsy:

1. 8 X 10" Walt Disney and Pixar posters set
2. Disney pillow
3. The Lion King minimalist poster
4. Disney Pixar Up Themed greeting card

And of course, in keeping with my last Etsy post, here are some great Disney inspired tattoos. I don't know if I'd ever seriously consider a Nightmare before Christmas tattoo, but I have considered the "Remember who you are" tattoo. :) 

(link)

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From Winnie the Pooh and Snow White to WALL-E and Mulan, I love Disney. 

Hope you are doing well, wherever you are! 

Stay excellent! 

- Jenny -

Calendar Journal Update & Tips for Pyrography

Hello all!
Remember the calendar journal that I started this year and the ideas I had for decorating it? Well, I have finally found the time to decorate it! I have finished the woodburning and now all that is left is to pick a stain, stain it, and layer on the poly! Below are some photos of the calendar journal box, followed by some tips that I have picked up and learned while exploring this neat form of art.

So, I have been exploring the art of woodburning or pyrography for about a year now and here are a few tips that I have picked up along the way:

• Sketch out your designs first. Try out shapes and lines and ideas on paper and once you've decided on a design, pencil it out on the wood. 
• Keep a piece of scrap wood nearby to practice burn strokes, to check the temperature of the tip, and to practice a particular shape.
• Have a piece of sandpaper nearby to run the tip of your pen on periodically. I found that carbon builds up on the tip and makes it more difficult to work with. It often makes it so you must be slower with your strokes to get the darkness you aim for. 
• Be sure the wood surface is smooth and free of roughness. Sand prior to burning. 
• Be aware of the characteristics of your burning surface. Something that still plagues me when I burn is softer grains in the wood. They burn more quickly and cause darker spots in lines, as shown below: 

• As you can see along the darker wood grain, I found a softness that caused these indentations and dark spots. Another way to avoid this is to remember that it's not about the pressure that you apply to the pen, it's the length of time it contacts the wood surface. I have yet to master pen to wood contact and it shows. :P 
• The type of wood used will affect the experience and the result. Lighter-colored woods like sycamore, basswood, beech, and birch are better for pyrography because the markings show are more visible. And some woods have much longer contact times for contrasting burn marks than others. 
• Be creative. Don't be afraid to have long contact times. It gives a really nice contrast between the dark burn marks and the untouched wood surface. Experiment with different tips and woods. And even try a wire-nib burner (more on this below).

Those are just a few things that I have picked up along the way - I am definitely not an expert on the matter. I have yet to use a wire-nib burner which has variable temperature and as for the solid-point burner (constant temperature) that I use, I have only used two tips extensively. I have a lot to learn and a lot of practice to go, but this is something that I have enjoyed so far! 

Hope these tips were helpful to anyone looking to try it out! If you have any other tips or tricks to share, please feel free! 

Until next time, have a good day and stay excellent! 

- Jenny - 

Doodling: Dreaming of Spring & Things

Hello again! Nothing super noteworthy has been going on with me as of late. Just some boring engineering stuff. Haha. But with March just around the corner and the sudden onset of even more cold weather including snow this past weekend, I have been dreaming of spring and summer. I love the warm months. I don't really have a favorite season. My favorite thing about them is that they change; so if one has been around longer than it should, I start itching for the next!

Here are some doodles of mine; some are spring inspired and others just are. I'd call 'em sketches, but I think "doodle" fits these better. :) Below, I have also shared some artwork that I have been admiring lately. One day, I'll share of the stuff that I do that I would label more as "art," but for now have some "doodles." :) Enjoy!
- Jenny -

This one really is a doodle. I drew it in my Biomass Conversion class hence the ruled paper... ha!

Now for some inspiring art!

"Tree Zero Three" by Matei Apostolescu (http://013a.com/html/tree_zero_three.htm)

"We Were Together" by meeralee (http://www.cargoh.com/product/we-were-together)