READY FOR THE DEMO!

Friday I will be doing two classes at the Presidio Officer's Club in San Francisco  for the California Watercolor Association's Outreach Program.  We are going to have lots of fun making wallets out of a single Tyvek Envelope.  The instructions are on a YouTube video by tkellerman.  I had to create a diagram and written instructions because everyone will have to put the wallet together at home.  My son, Kevin, the graphic designer, took my rough drawing and made it look so professional.   It took me awhile, but I have the folding technique down cold!  Now I can relax and look forward to sharing this project  with everyone.  I hope there will be a lot of kids in the morning but with school already starting in lots of places, it will probably be mostly adults.

This is the design I have painted with regular watercolor and a Micron 05 pen.  I started another design today using letters to spell out my name.  I thought it would be good to have a design idea everyone could relate to.  This design was done entirely with Extra Fine colored Sharpie pens.  

ADDING TO THE MIX!

I saw this idea of tissue collage on Tyvek.  Normally, I don't alter the surface of Tyvek because it is the surface that I find interesting to work on.  The wallet project, however, might make a good Tyvek collage.  In fact, it creates a more substantial feel to the finished product.  I already  had my drawing in place.  I tore patterned tissue and stuck it down with Elmer's glue (according to the instructions I had)  It works fine!  After it dried, I went over part of my lines with the Sharpie pen I had drawn with.  I put a glaze coat of Orange Interference Acrylic over the whole piece.  I added some Inktense Watercolor Pencil and used a gold metallic pen to fill in around the heads.  It turned out quite snazzy!  I love metallic sheen and shimmer.  The finished wallet has a leather like feel to it with more body.   Want to try one?  Send me a photo to share.

TOO MUCH FUN!

I went to the office supply store today and found the Tyvek Envelopes.  The only ones they had were slightly larger than what was recommended in the video, but it works just fine.  You have to make some slight adjustments in the numbers he mentions, but that was easy even for me and I am very math challenged.  So, this is the front of the envelope which is 10 x 13 inches.  I made the first wallet without painting it just to see how it works.  Then I made a second wallet and painted the area he shows in the video.  That one was alright but I wanted to try stamping and painting with an ink drawing (be sure the ink is permanent so it won't run and bleed when you paint over it), so I made a third one.  I decided to paint the entire front of the envelope instead of just half (as in the video)  Now that it is put together, I see that the bottom half should be facing the other direction because it gets folded up and looks upside down in the finished wallet.  So, if you use a pattern or image that has a definite direction, keep that in mind.

 

I will also place the image better, knowing the final outcome.  Here the heads get slightly cut off on the bottom and the middle head winds up in the fold.  Better to have just two heads, one on either side of the center line.  

Once you get the hang of it, the actual  folding, cutting and taping goes fairly quickly.  

This was so much fun to do.  The box has 50 envelopes, enough to share with friends or make little gifts.  I think I shall make some up and sell them in the Gallery.  Tyvek is a wonderful surface.  You can stamp on it, draw with ink, use colored pencil lines, paint with watercolor or acrylic, collage some tissue paper on part of it and glue down with 50/50 matt medium and water mixture.  If you make one or more, be sure and send me a photo.  I would love to see what you come up with.

My final challenge is to figure out how to safely manage the cutting part with younger children.  Maybe I will send them home with instructions and a link to the video and their parents can supervise.

EXCITING NEW IDEAS FOR TYVEK!

Those of you who are regular followers know that : 1. love to paint on Tyvek and 2. I am always looking for ways to recycle failed paintings.


I also have been invited to give a short demo and art lesson during the California Watercolor National Exhibit this summer. The morning session will be young kids and the afternoon session will be adults (many who are not artists, I think)


Tonight I was looking at Nancy Standlee's blog and found new ideas for Tyek. By following the links on here blog, I found this video on how to make a wallet from a Tyvek envelope. I didn't know they sold these envelopes unprinted at the office supply store! I can't wait to try it. This will be my art project for the CWA art lesson. How fun is this going to be? Thanks, Nancy, for all the inspiration. Be sure and check out her blog at http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com/ She has shared a wonderful workshop she attended recently with wonderful slide shows.