TENseconds Studio

Ver-Day Paints are in the HOUSE!

The next batch is here and we are shipping these babies out this week. If you've already ordered, don't worry your order will be going out in the order it was received.

These paints are still on special or go into your favorite scrapbook/stamp/craft/art store and ask them to carry the best metal paint on the market.

We are busy doing videos on different techniques for this product and can't wait to showcase all these ideas in videoland.

I'm leaving on Tuesday for Phoenix and teaching at Scrap Happy Sisters Tuesday night, Paper Metal on Wednesday and Frenzy Stamper on Thursday. We will be vendors at the Bead True Blue Wholesale show at the Doubletree Reid in Tucson from Jan 29th-Feb 3rd and The Tucson Bead Show at the same location from Feb 4th-6th (retail show.) We will have these paints at these shows.

Since we will be at the Bead Show in Tucson, we won't be at CHA this winter.  We are wholesaling these paints and can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. We are also bringing back one of our product lines Metal Tape Sheets at a fantabulous deal. We came out with this product in 2006 and have done a variety of videos and techniques using these sheets. They are 8x10 and Megan will be posting more info in our newsletter. 

New Ver-Day Paint

We are having the time of our life playing with our new paints. Today's video show's the process for these paints. This simple two step process will breath new life into your art or crafting projects.

 

We were rushing to get this video up last night and had to cut a little off at the end where we show you some samples. So below is the birdhouse.

I've painted the birdhouse with copper and iron paint. Then I sponged on the copper and sprayed the roof...let it dry. Then sponged on the iron and sprayed the house part and let it dry. In the background you can see a plastic frame in the iron/rust and bronze/green. I think this shows the versatility of this product and how you can do much larger surfaces if needed.

This wood frame shows how vibrant the rust looks on the iron paint.

We're getting this up on the website hopefully today, but I have to say that since last week's posting, we have been slammed with calls and preorders.

Hope you love this look as much as I do. Make a comment on this blog posting and someone will get to win this frame.

 

This month is going way too fast. Megan and I seem to be on hyper-drive trying to get everything done. Tuesday's posting is now Wednesday's posting, my theory is better late than never. I'm getting ready for my trip to Arizona next week. Most of the classes are sold out at Paper, Metal and Scrap Happy Sisters. Frenzy Stamper still has a couple of openings left. I'm so looking forward to the warmth of Arizona and the Bead Show at the end of the month.

Guess what we've got?

We have been busy little kick ass broads. We've got a line of Patina's for artists that will take your breath away. I just got my samples in and I've been playing with these on all sorts of surfaces.

People love working on metal and the natural progression is then applying patinas. We have been working over the years on getting new types of colors and This Is It! Ver-Day Paints...there are four base colors of Brass, Copper, Iron and Bronze. These paints have real metal particles suspended in the paint. But the fun part is spraying on our Ver-Day over the tops of the paint and watching as it naturally reacts with the metal in the paint. You've seen what Ver-Day looks like on our pure copper but wait till you see what it does on each one of these colors. It creates a different chemical reaction.

This product doesn't just go on metal, it goes on anything. Did I say anything? Paper, wood, metal, fabric, walls, refrigerators, cabinets, brick....or anything. These letters are chipboard. The paints come in 8oz bottles so you can metalize your world.

Can you paint with regular paints to create this same effect...no, because there is real metal in this paint and is as close to the actual type of natural patina's as you can get.

Can you use acrylic paints and get the same effect? Have you ever painted something and then overdid it and it doesn't look right? With this paint the Ver-Day does all the work and the reaction is random everytime you spray. Plus each color will have two or three other colors in it depending on the thickness of the paint application.

Are we going to do a video on this technique? Does a chicken cluck?

Just as soon as we get the studio cleaned up there will be more filming and we will be putting this stuff on just about everything we can paint. OOOOOOwwww, it would look cool on a car!

The sample here is Brass with Ver-Day sprayed on top. There are about three colors going on here. Don't worry we have the spray bottles too.

Remember, we don't cook so we think of everything for you. Hope you're having a great weekend.

Copper Three Ways

I love copper. What can I say, I can't put it on enough items. Today I took a plain jane box I bought at one of our local stores. It came like this and I immediately thought copper metal on those numbers.

Although this container looks pretty cool just

like

 

 

it

 

is.....

It looks even better with copper metal on the numbers.

So I took pure copper metal and antiqued it One with Ver-Day

Two with liver of sulpher

Three with a industrial heat gun.

Now this heat gun isn't the wussie ass one that crafters use. This is an industrial, peel paint off walls, burn the hell out of your fingers kind. It gets to 1200 degrees. So you can't touch the tip...duh. You could also use a torch but mine was out of butane. I love this piece. I think it may be the best thing I've ever done. If you want to get an up close and personal look at it, we will have it on display at our booth at The Tucson Bead Show in Feb.

To see how we did this watch this video.

Arizona Classes

In a couple of weeks I'm off to Arizona for two weeks of classes and The Tucson Bead Show. My folks lived in Arizona for many years and it will be nice to warm up in January.

I'll be teaching one of my favorite classes Metal 101. This class literally shows you everything you need to know about metal.

What I find helpful is that I can show everyone the techniques and then watch how they do it and offer suggestions and tips.

 

 

 

I'm also teaching our Copper Metal frame with our new Ver-Day. Students will get to create their own unique design using our tools and molds on pure copper and then see how it transforms with this gorgeous patina.

 

 

 

 

 

We will also be using some of Leaky Shed's cool chipboard shapes. I designed these wings for the heart that is collaged with antique papers from an old book, add some copper and a cool glittery fluer de lis and you have a beautiful hanging piece for Valentine's Day.

I hope those of you who live in the area will check out the classes at your favorite store and come join us for "metalizing your world."

I will be at Paper and Metal Scrappers on Jan 25th, Frenzy Stamper on Jan 26th and Craft Fusion on Jan 27th. Please click on these links and join us.

We will also be exhibiting at The Tucson Bead Show from Jan 29th - Feb 6th at the Doubletree by Hilton Reid Park in downtown Tucson. We're working on some cool things that we're selling during this show just for jewelry. So, I hope to see a lot of our friends in Arizona during this trip.

We didn't show a video for this week. We're getting back into the groove after the holidays, doing inventory and all the other fun at the end of a year. We will have a new video next week so stay tooned.

Holiday Cheer

Megan usually makes some of her Christmas gifts and this year was no different.  We love to go and stock up on frames for projects and she used this one for one of her close friends.

This frame is store bought from one of our favorite places. She antiqued our copper metal with Ver-Day and then hung the jewelry piece on top.

We filmed this as a video and for some reason I couldn't figure out how to get the camera in focus for the first part.

This video also ended up being more out-takes than anything else. When we do get to the closeups of the project the focus is much better. 

 

 

 

 

Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas Holiday and you have a Happy New Year. There is still a couple of days to post a comment on our Ver-Day video and win a bottle. Megan will be picking the winner on Wednesday and we'll announce it on Thursday.

Merry Happy Peace

No matter how you say it, I think we all mean the same thing when we give holiday greetings. There is so much talk these days about the correct greeting to give and what companies you should shop with that have the correct greeting...

Really...I don't know why we spend time worrying about minor things when we should be worrying about bigger things than the correct greeting. Maybe, we could all love one another. It's so very simple but seems so complicated to achieve.

I hope everyone slows down this holiday, take a moment to look around you and appreciate what you have rather than what you don't have, help someone to make their day 50% better and most importantly love those close to you.  

I hope you all have a very merry, happy, peace on, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kawansaa and a loving holiday. As for me I'll be doing whatever my Mom wants me to do.

Copper and Ver-Day

People are always asking me what's your favorite color of metal and I have to now say, "it's copper."

I love this stuff. Since we've gotten our huge shipment in, we've been going nuts over copper. This is PURE copper not the art metal.

The second thing I love is painting on copper our new Antiquing Patina Ver-Day. This stuff is so easy to use and the effects are different each time you use it.

We've been playing around with our videos and shot another video on this technique.

A couple of tips before you start with copper. Wash your hands, try and keep the copper clean from oil while you're working, you may want to lightly buff it with a sanding block to give it a little tooth and you will want to give it a light coat of varnish when it's all dry and done. This will seal the color and stop it from continuing to change in color.

  

 

Customer ideas

Peggy Newlen in Maryland sent me this photo of a project she made for Patti at the Queen's Ink in Maryland.

This is made from a box that clay was formed around with metal accents on the bottom.

It looks like she used our Bronze God metal that's been cut out. But it also looks like she used our molds on the clay as a background texture.

I love seeing what customers come up with using our tools in their own art forms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is really creative thinking is lifting the top and little earings are hanging from hooks.

That is brilliant, and our mold was used on the clay earings.

It's refreshing to see more and more people taking their love of crafting and making gifts, than to just go out and buy something made in China.

Thank you Peggy for emailing me your photos and I hope others will send me pictures of what you're making. Try and size it correctly and it helps if it's in focus.

 

 

 

Another customer of ours, JW Ford sent me  a link to her website that has pics of what she does. I was amazed at the talent this woman has and she claims I inspired her. JW, your work inspires me. Please visit her site and check out some of the beautiful pieces she is creating. I've sent her an email asking if she sells her pieces Her piece on Basquiat was fabulous. For those of you who don't know who Basquiat is, google him.

Thanks to all of you who sent us emails about the youtube video this week on the Gelli Art Plates. Wait til you see next week's video on Ver-Day.

The year is quickly winding down and we've got some great ideas for 2012. I'm coming to the Phoenix area the end of January and will post the classes out there next week. I'm going to three stores and then the following week out to the International Bead Show in Tuscon. I'll have more info on all these venues next week.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. My new saying..."I'm on the tollroad to crazy!"

We got youtubed

If you haven't gotten on the Gelli Art Printing Plate bandwagon, well you're missing the boat.

These printing plates are so cool to create all sorts of backgrounds, transparencies, decorative tags and envelopes or transferring images from molds onto paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We shot a quick youtube video this week for everyone to watch for our Tuesday Video. This is just a taste of what you can do with the Gelli Art Printing Plates, we will have an online class available next year showing all sorts of cool ideas that can be done with these plates, our metal and molds.

A little less than two weeks to Christmas and I hope everyone is enjoying the season as much as we are.

My folks are amazing me each day when I come out and listen to some of the crazy things they say. I mentioned to my mom the other day that they may want to go and check out the senior center in our town so they could make new friends and fill their days with something other than hanging out in Walmart. My mom put her hands on her hips and said in her best 'she knows everything and I know squat,' "Cheryl, we are not old enough to go to a senior center and hang out with all those old people." Who knows, maybe she's right.