Another Favorite Tool For Silk Painting And Other Art Mediums

-
A frog in a flower, NOT a floral frog! Thank you to Pat Tracy for 
sharing this lovely photo on Paint My Photo's website
This next favorite tool is probably my hands-down favorite!  I've had them for YEARS and never known what to do with them.  They're floral frogs. 

WHAT are floral frogs you ask?  Well they are NOT critters that live in ponds with flowers and go "ribbet, ribbet".  Floral frogs are actually what our parents and grandparents (etc) used to use before floral foam appeared on the horizon. 

I've had mine sitting around in a drawer for years (like 20+!!).  As I started to get into silk painting, I listened to what other artists used tool-wise..and many use cups or vases to hold their paintbrushes.  I ran across my frogs and had an "ah-ha!" moment.  And ever since, I've become even more passionate about my frogs.  

Plastic, metal, and glass floral frogs
I LOVE THEM!!!!  They are vintage, they are funky and cool, and they are pretty easy to find at antique stores and flea markets (usually for not much money... most of the ones I've purchased, I've paid less than $4 for them).


I use them for EVERYTHING I can!  In my studio, they hold my paintbrushes, my pens and pencils, and my sharps (like scissors and x-acto knives).  I went from having too many, to not having enough.  I began to seek them out and covet ones I don't yet have.  I now have another set of them in my craft/scrapbooking room. Bigger ones can hold pretty good-sized markers.  Small ones can hold little items like chalk, toothpicks, and q-tips. 

I have metal-wire frogs, plastic-wire-looking frogs, and glass frogs.  I'm still coveting a few more (for instance I ran across a HUGE metal-wire frog..but it was too expensive for me - but someday .. it's MINE!!).

(By the way, the magnolia painting in the background of the grouped-floral-frogs picture, is my latest silk painting... an exercise in frustration that I may or may not blog about later).

E6000 - another favorite tool!

I will say that many of the frogs have open bottoms...so you do need to slightly modify the frogs if you want to be able to move them around without the items in them slipping out.  I simply cut out cardboard slightly smaller than the shape of the frog and glued it on with E-6000 glue which is yet another favorite tool - how did I ever craft without it??).  Did you know that E-6000 can be removed if necessary? It's strong and flexible and removable (unless you're gluing super-porous things together). Hmm..I think I see another favorite tool post starting!

Anyways...   I've thought about painting the metal floral frogs (and I think they'd be cool painted a fun color), but I love how they look as-is.  So for now, I'm leaving them alone.  


 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You Grew Up Near Renton Washington, Maybe You'd Remember This!

-
Image
Vintage Sears photo courtesy of Anne Garber's Pinterest page . I grew up in the Seattle area - moving around a bit, but staying within the general area.  One of the things my family liked to do, was visit Newberry's and Sears in Renton, WA.  I have VERY fond memories of the candy counter at Sears - where a kid with a quarter could buy a little bag of candies...yum! Newberry's Soda Fountain Photo courtesy of The Daily Journal.com Newberrys had a soda fountain (cafe) which was my mother's favorite place to get a hot dog - because they made buns out of folded, toasted bread.  But my very favorite thing to do - was to play on the cement turtles outside.  There were little turtles and big turtles.  You could step from turtle to turtle and climb the big ones.  They were there for years, after newberry's left..and even after Sears left.  Then they disappeared. BUT guess who I found on the grounds of the Renton Highland's Library??  YUP! One
Read more

So You Want To Make Your Own Vertical Stovepipe Steamer?

-
Image
I wrote a post on my other blog several years ago, but was just asked to create a new document for the Silk Painters group on Facebook.  So I thought I'd share it here! Making your own Stovepipe Steamer is relatively easy to do and certainly cost effective!  To buy one new (and made specifically for silk paintings) will easily cost you over $1000 bucks.... but making one yourself can cost under $100 (mine was less than $50!). I've had several people ask: Why do you want a Stovepipe Steamer?  Can't you just use a pot and steaming basket on your stove? Both are good questions! Yes you can use a pot and steaming basket on your stove.  But I personally, don't care for the idea of the chemicals/dyes/etc being in my kitchen. They are NOT good eats (to borrow from Alton Brown). Plus if you use a steaming basket in a pot, you have to constantly watch the water levels.  And you don't have a lot of space, which means you're probably only steaming 1 item at a time.
Read more

So you're thinking of making your own World Globe Bowl or Lampshade?

-
Image
World Globe Bowl So you're thinking of making your own World Globe Bowl or Lampshade? (a series of 3 tutorial posts explaining how to select a World Globe, make a lampshade, and make a bowl). I've done alright making World Globe Lampshades and Bowls for my business Re-covered Treasures (see my blog  www.Re-coveredTreasures.com and my Etsy store ReCoveredTreasures4U ).    But over the years I've received lots of questions about how to make them, so I thought I would share that information. World Globe Lampshade with crystal trim So this post will be the beginning of a basic tutorial on how to choose World Globes to make World Globe Lampshades and Bowls,  which I will then do a follow-up posts on how to actually make the lampshades and bowls. The first question I always get is "where do you find all of your globes?"   There are a ton of places to find globes:  Garage Sales, Thrift Stores, Friends & Family, Antique Stores, Flea Markets,
Read more