Painter Girl

Daycare Center Window Work

Ugh... I am really behind here with my postings.  The good news is I've been very busy with work.  The bad news is I have yet to finish my taxes and I am taking an online course that saps most of what little free time I do have.  I'm only complaining about the tax part.  I love all the work and am enjoying being a student again!  That said, let me bring you up to date with actual work, since that is the main focus of this blog. 

I enlisted friend and fellow decorative painter, Tasha Cough to help me out with painting some more windows for one of the Learning Zone Daycare Centers.  This is always a fun and easy job, but a bit labor intensive with the layers.  Also, this work has to be done at night, when the kids are not there or else on weekends.  Tasha and I decided we'd rather give up a few evening hourse vs. weekend hours. 

Look who came to help??? Olson joined us one evening to assist Mama Tasha with her painting. 

Other than that, the job was pretty uneventful.  We knocked off 3 rooms of windows in two fairly short nights. Well, not so sure how "short" they were for Tasha, with Olson in tow!  Talk about a working mother, huh?!

 

 

 

So... Why No Blog Posts Recently?

If you are indeed, still checking in to see if I've come around to put up a new post, I whole heartedly thank you for being a faithful follower!  I have a few things on my plate this month that are leaving me with little time to crank out new posts.  Trust me, it's not that I don't want to...but there are just so many hours in a day, as much as I hate to admit to that little fact.

So, what has been consuming all of these hours, you may be asking?  One great time sucking item on my agenda, has been to get myself registered to begin taking some classes online at Lesley University.  It's been a very slow and frustrating process.  Phone calls are not returned, paperwork has been lost.  This results in more paperwork for me and more follow up phone calls.  I wish I had a dime for every time I was put on hold, transferred to another department, or my favorite... disconnected.  I decided some time ago, to return to school for my Masters in Science Education (K-8).  I'm not ready to leave the world of decorative painting, but I do have a deep fascination for the sciences and totally enjoy my after school Mad Science classes I teach twice/week.  I'm thinking I would like to be able to design and implement some after school Science programs for this age group that combine art and science... the science of art, or the art of science... so to speak.  Going back to school is a step in that direction.  Because ALL of the classes will be online, I will be able to keep the same schedule I have now, only more frazzled!

I have also been developing some new concepts for my PetMats.  I had to let the PetMats slide after the holidays so have done no new PetMats nor any promotion.  My former next door neighbor, Lisa Cohen, who is a wonderful photographer, called me with a proposal I could not refuse.  She knew about my PetMats and this fit in nicely with her new foray into pet photography, SnapTails.  She has arranged for us to have a little opening, March 2nd, from 6-8 pm at Durty Harry's in Charlestown, MA.   Durty Harry's  offers  "Do It Yourself" dog wash stations, as well as gifts and treats to further pamper your pooch.

I'm very excited about my new PetMat designs.  While I will still be carrying breed specific PetMats, I am introducing a line of pet quotes PetMats.  Here is a sneak preview of a few:

I will have these, and more, on my Etsy site shortly.  As always, a portion of all sales will be donated to Angel/MSPCA.  More about this event later next week.

 

 

In my studio, I'm up to my eyeballs in mirrors these days!  I have 14 of these huge mirrors from hair salon that I am redoing.  Here is a "before" shot.  The salon owners want them to be a very dark brown now.

 

 

I've rearranged my small, messy studio to be able to accommodate 4 of these mirrors in one room and 1 more in the adjacent room that is normally just used for laundry and household storage.  It's hard to tell from these photos, but the mirrors are about 3' wide by 4' tall. They are lightweight, made of molded styrofoam, but very awkward to move solo.  Luckily, it's school vacation week here and I've been able to recruit a few of my friends who are teachers to give me a hand transporting them.  I'm doing seven at a time, so I don't leave the salon mirror-less!

Of course, the ever ominous task of preparing for my 2010 tax return looms large! Here's where I'm at... still entering numbers into my spreadsheet and hoping for the best. (which would mean I hit the Lottery, a zero in a million chance since I never even play!)

 

 

Frosting Windows

Recently, I had three bathroom windows to etch/frost.  Each bathroom had one single window, identical to the one pictured here to the left.  My client wanted just the bottom six panes of each window to be frosted.  Each window has a similar type Roman shade.

When you frost/etch glass, it is a permanent process, so there is no turning back.  It does allow some light to filter through, while providing you with privacy.  The options are limitless with what you can do with etching.  For this project, no design was desired, just a clean frosting.  I will be doing two glass etching projects in my own home soon, involving some design work.  I will be posting that process here in an upcoming post.  In the meantime, I am struggling with painting the trim and the wall space below the chair rail in my dining room, so that is keeping me from doing some more creative projects! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is another one of the three bathrooms,  with the bottom six panes frosted/etched.  You can see how this really does give the room privacy.  The Roman shade can be kept at a height that just covers the top 6 panes that were left untouched.

For this project, I used my favorite etching project, Etchall Creme.  I cannot find it locally in my area, so I order it directly from the company, online.  If you do try this product or are thinking about trying it, give them a call with any of your questions.  They are very customer friendly and helpful!

Trash Picking Score!

My walk this morning, turned into a Power Walk.  I try to walk most days, alternating between long, slower paced walks and short, fast walks.  This started out being a slower paced, long walk... until... I spied three unbroken windows at curbside.  It was Trash Day for Watertown, and much to my daughter's embarrassment, I am a shameless Trash Picker.  Back in the days when she was younger and I would give her rides to school, she would cringe as I pulled over to check out a trash find.  She would prefer that I do this without her in the car, never quite understanding that if I did not grab that find now and then, it would be gone by the time I dropped her off at school! 

Of course, the dilemma of seeing a good trash find while you are out walking presents a challenge.  If it is something I think someone else will scoff up while I go home to get my car, I will ask the homeowner if I can keep it on their porch for a few minutes until I can return.  These windows were at curbside, in front of an apartment complex, with no good place to stash them for a few minutes.  Thus my leisurely walk turned into a Power Walk as I sprinted the quarter mile or so home for my car!  Within minutes I was happily loading the windows into my car.  A bonus, was finding two more such windows on a side street I happened to take.   One had broken glass, so I left that, but the other was in perfect condition.

Why am hoarding these old windows?  I will use them for "sample boards" when I experiment with some glass techniques in my studio.  More about that in future posts.

 

 

Windows

In my last post, I showed you some finished windows I did at the Weston location of the Learning Zone.  In this post, I thought I'd show you the process, from start to finish, for the Belmont Learning Zone location.

After talking to the owner of these daycare centers, Melissa Ananias, I took a few pictures of the exterior of the building.

          

Next, I did a rough sketch of the concept for Melissa:

See what I mean about 'rough'?!  Thankfully, Melissa knows my finished work! There were 3 sets of windows to work with.

To start, I sketched all the grass and flowers directly on the windows, with a water-based marker.  (All work was done on the interior side of the glass). I then filled in everything with a glass primer, to give my paint layers a tooth to grab onto, and make the paint a little more permanent.  Once the primer had dried, I went back over all my semi-permanent marker lines, with a black paint pen. 

Here you can see the green semi-permanent marker, the frosted looking primer and the black paint pen lines.  When working on glass windows, you have to remember to work in reverse, adding all the details first.

 

 

 
I painted all the grass first, then the flowers.  For paint, I used a combination of latex interior house paints and craft paints.   It took two coats to get a good coverage.

 

 

 

When dry, I sealed with a water-based sealer to protect it a little more. 

This type of painting on windows is semi-permanent.  If the windows are handled a lot, they will scratch and chip, even with the sealer.  Most of the windows are out of reach from little hands, so should hold up quite well for a long time. 

This Belmont location is right up the street from where I live.  The other day when I was driving by and stopped at a red light, I quickly took this photo from inside my car.  The happy flowers "growing" in all the windows really do grab your eye as you drive by! 

 

Laboring on Labor Day

 

Yes, it's true.  I did labor today on this Labor Day Monday.  It's hard to call it "labor" though, when the work was so fun! 

I spent part of my Labor Day painting some whimsical flowers on the entryway windows and doors at one of the Learning Zone Childcare Centers.  Last week I painted these same flowers on street facing windows in another Learning Zone location, which I will feature in my next post. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above, the "Before Pictures", from the outside, looking in.

Below are the "After Pictures" from the inside, looking out:

And here is how the windows look from the outside, looking in:

There are also two doors that got a few flowers too.   One door is the exterior door and the other door is inside the entryway:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I show you the windows I did at the other Learning Zone location last week, I will go into more detail about the process. 

This job did not take me all day, so when I came home I still had time to can the 25lbs of tomatoes I bought yesterday:

 

Hope you enjoyed the long weekend!

 

 

Wedding Centerpieces

I've had three requests for painting on glass surfaces recently.  Two are for storefront windows, which I will tell you more about in future posts.  The third request was to help a bride-to-be with her wedding centerpieces.  The bride and groom are both musically inclined and wanted to incorporate this design:

I was emailed the design, along with this photo, showing the centerpiece set up:

The bride was unsure whether she wanted the design etched or done in black, so I started by creating some samples for her:

 

 

I did them on flat panes of glass.  I shot these pics with the glass sitting on a green fabric, so the designs would show up better.  I tried the design in 2 different sizes, in black and etched.  I also tried a reverse etch.  I liked the reverse etch look the best, but in the end, the bride went with black because she is having a black runner under the centerpiece.

 

Once the design color and size were finalized, I was ready to begin.

My first task was to find a black paint that would cure quickly.  The wedding is August 29th.  I ran around to three different stores and finally found a glass paint I felt would work.

 

 

 

 

 

I had 24 cylinders to work with.  First, they all had to be prepped.

 

 

 

I wiped each cylinder with alcohol.

 

Then taped the image to the inside of the glass.

I used Prime Etch to 'etch' the glass a bit, so the paint would adhere better.

 

 

 

 

 

The paint used, was a black enamel made by Folk Art.  This paint is formulated for glass and will air cure in 30 days or can be heat set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I opted to bake all 24 in my oven.  I was afraid they would shatter in the oven, so did a test, using a sample cylinder I bought.  After consulting with my very helpful,decorative painter friends, and following the directions, I was ready to go.  I baked six cylinders at a time, for 30 minutes, in a 350 degree oven.  You put the glass in a cold oven, turn on the heat, and bake.  After 30 minutes, the oven is turned off, but the glass is left in the oven to cool completely before removing.

 

The temperature numbers wore off my oven dial, long ago.  That is why I have these little white paint pen marks on my dial... and the oven thermometer!

 

 

 

 

I baked some early in the morning and others very late at night. It has been so very hot and humid here that I did not want the additional heat in my kitchen during the warmest parts of the day.   Here they are, all done.  They now need to cure for 72 hours before I can wrap them up and deliver.  By Wednesday they should be ready to go. I hope the bride will send me a picture of one of the tables, all set.  So far, the only change is that the candle will be shorter than the one pictured above; about 3" in height.

 

Mirror, mirror on my wall...

I am experimenting with some mirror and glass techniques, so my own house is providing my blank canvases!  For my first project, I started with this yard sale find I picked up many years ago.  It really was ready for a little makeover...

To begin, I covered my mirror with clear Contact Paper™.

I taped a large border stencil, Italian Ornate Medallion by Royal Design Studios, to the Contact Paper™ on the mirror and traced the design.  Another option, and quicker way to do this, would be to use a Modello™, but since this was just for me and I was in no hurry, I opted to use a stencil I already had on hand.  I cut it out while watching "Dancing With the Stars".

This next step, I'm not so sure it is necessary, but since I had the product on hand, I went ahead and coated all the openings with PrimeEtch.  I thought it might help with the next steps.

Once the PrimeEtch was dry, I applied some sizing for the Tamise Flakes.  I love this Variegated Fall Mix and this small jar has seen me through several projects so far!

With the design complete, I now tackled the frame.

I used a combination of 3 Stain and Seal colors to darken the wood. 

And here it is, back on my wall.

Sorry that some of the text is not lining up with the appropriate pictures!  I repeatedly tried to adjust, obviously with no luck.  I don't know why sometimes it lines up and other times, no matter how I try to adjust, it just will not happen!  Bare with my limited computer skills and patience please. :-)

Glass Etching

This week I experimented with some glass etching.  I tried two different brands.  I had a small etching project to do for a client, so decided I better experiment somewhere in my own home first.  I used a French door that leads from a hallway into my kitchen.  I really need to re-paint this door, so don't look too closely.  It's on my list.

When I placed my Modello order for my client, I ordered extras for my door panes.  I started off using Armour Etch , because that is all I could find locally.    I did 3 panes of my door, using the same small designs I would be using on my clients' window panes.  It was amazingly quick and easy!   When you use Armour Etch, you apply it thickly, with a brush.  This does seem to work well, for a design such as this one, that has fine lines.  The good and bad part is that it only takes 1 minute for this to etch and you're done.  I say it's good and bad because when you are doing a lot of designs, such as 15 panes in a French door, it's too rushed to try to do them all at once and then wash off all of the etching cream in 1 minute.  I only had a few of these small designs to do for my client, so for this project, the Armour Etch worked well.  I could could see that doing larger areas was not going to work using a brush though.

Next, I experimented with Etchall cream.  Again, I used it on my own French door first.  For this type of project, I like the Etchall better than the Armour Etch.  This etching cream is applied with a spatula vs. a brush, which makes for an easier and smoother application for larger areas or when you have several designs to do at once.  This etching cream needs to sit on the glass for 15 minutes and then it's done.  It stops activating after the 15 minutes, so there is no rush to hurry and scrape it off.   A great selling point for this product is that it is reusable.  You scrape it off and return it to the jar to reuse several more times.  A good idea! 

When I was done with my French door, I could tell no difference between the panes I did with Armour Etch and the ones I did with Etchall.   You really have to look closely to see the etched" swirls" on my French door. It's very difficult to photograph a glass door, I quickly found out!   Here is a close up of 2 panes.  I opened the door, so you are seeing a green wall behind the glass, which is makes the etching process look reversed.  Really, the panes are clear glass and the design is the etched part.

Here are my client's window panes in progress.  It is important to shield the glass so the etching cream does not get on any glass that should not be etched!

Again, difficult to photograph, but look closely and you will see the "swirls" in each of the small panes and the number 42 in reverse.  This is a basement entrance door.  Here is a closer look at the number:

I was just amazed at how easy it was to etch glass and will be exploring this art form much more. There is a wealth of information on both the Armour Etch and Etchall websites, as well as on Melanie Royal's Modello website.  Several books are available on this topic and you can find many articles on the Internet if you do a search.