| Tips And Techniques |
| Home-Made Glycerin Soap - Learn to make this beautiful and colorful soap right from you house. Give them as gifts or try and sell them at local stores.
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| Wind Chimes from Utensils - Make this fun and unique wind chime with barely any effort. Click Here |
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| Transfer Important Papers - Transfer paper comes in many colors. Take advantage of this to save yourself time. Use light colors on dark surfaces and vice versa. Baby wipes can be used to remove graphite, chalk, dust and chacopaper lines. Click Here |
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| Backpack ID Tags - This is a great way for children to show off their creative side. These do-it-yourself ID tags can be put on backpacks, gym bags and even purses. Soon we will be seeing them everywhere. Click Here |
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| Paper Tearing for Scrapbooks - Use this easy technique to create whole-page images or to tie your photos together on one page. Paper tearing is easy and can have some great results. See some examples here.
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| Conversion Chart from J&PCoats to DMC floss - If you click on the DMC or the J&P Coats it takes you to more conversions. Click Here |
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| Quick Fix for Mistakes - To erase stray paint marks in an oil painting, use the chisel edge of the brush dipped into turpentine to lift away the unwanted paint. To do this in acrylics try covering with the basecoat color. Click Here |
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| Card Holder Picks - This one's been around the block a few times, but in case you haven't come across it: Save the cardholder picks that come with your flower arrangements. When painting from a photo, just insert the photo in the cardholder and stand the cardholder in the jar with your brushes. This not only keeps your picture at eye level but also keeps it from getting messy with paint. Click Here |
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| Inexpensive Paint Mixers - Next time you're at the grocery store, pick up a box of plastic coffee stirrers for stirring paint. They're inexpensive and perfect for the job. Click Here |
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| Surface Preparation - A well prepared surface is the key to a successful project. Sand and tack rag the surface. Seal the wood, let dry, and sand the raised grain. Lightly tack rag again. Use a sponge roller to apply acrylic background. Roll in all directions until the shine begins to turn matte. Apply one coat, check for raised areas, lightly sand and tack. Apply a second coat when the first coat feels room temperature. If a third coat is needed, wait for a while till the surface dries. Ideally, pattern should not be applied till the paint is cured. Click Here |
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| Transfer of Design - Tape the traced design in the appropriate place, slip transfer paper underneath and transfer the design with a stylus. Get in the habit of always starting in the same place and proceeding from that point. Do not press hard into the wood as this could cause indentation. If the transfer is too harsh, I use masking tape to remove some of the transfer. Click Here |
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| Brushes - Decorative Artists who paint in oils should maintain a separate set of brushes from those that they use for other mediums. They should be cleaned carefully and stored in a suitable manner. If your tools are in perfect shape, the achievement of results will be less frustrating. Click Here |
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| Clearly Helpful - For projects that you will paint many times, use acetate, which is a clear plastic transparency, for a more durable tracing paper.
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| Basic Paper Glossary - Learn the basic lingo of stamping to help with other projects or finding what you need in stores. Click Here |
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| Basic Heat Embossing - Learn how to emboss your stamps to add more dimension and beauty to basic images. Click Here |
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| Important Paper - Transfer paper comes in many colors. Take advantage of this to save yourself time. Use light colors on dark surfaces and vice versa. Baby wipes can be used to remove graphite, chalk, dust and chacopaper lines.
Click Here |
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| Transferring Patterns - Click Here |
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