TENseconds Studio

Winners and updates

I wanted to show how our ICE Resin giveaways turned out. I finished these two pieces with some wire and chain for our giveaway. I can't just pick one winner so for today's winning blog comments the winners are Ray L. and Marianna C. Thank you for your comments and let us know where you live and we will get one of these two pieces to you. You don't get to pick which one, I'll choose. 

I noticed quite a few comments on the ICE posting regarding how long it should set up. Someone...you know who you are...waited just three hours and then stuck her fingers into it. RECAP: It sets up overnight but is CURED in THREE DAYS. Now, how do you get it off your itchie little fingers if you can't wait overnight??? Use some nail polish remover. Now you could also use gloves when you work with any resins and that is probably a good idea, however, I can't find anything in my "STUDIO" so I doubt I could find gloves...I could probably find a Thong...but not gloves!

I assume all of you artists out in wackoland use some common sense when making your art, but it may be all the fumes we've inhaled over the years. That brings me to the next thought "is it toxic". When using anything (even water) I would be in a well ventilated room. That means open the windows or have some fans blowing everything around. This stuff really doesn't have any smell and they advertise that it is non-toxic. But, I wouldn't put my head in it and suck deeply either.

It was amazing how many of you have it but haven't played with it yet. People, get it out and create something. This isn't brain surgery.

Suzanne Raifhad this brilliant idea of attaching metal to binder clips. When I saw this I thought "what a great idea" and I just had to share with all of you a rather creative cover for a common object. I wouldn't have thought of that, so thanks Suzanne for sending me your pics.

Jeanette Wilson sent this in showing a page layout she had created.

Hello Kitty never looked so cool. I like how she layered the metal and then used die cuts or punches for the flowers

Too cute and thanks Jeanette for sharing.

I really do like to see what everyone has created and will try and share as much as I can.

Our friend, Susan Chong, has been commenting for quite some time on our blog and sending in her pics of what she and her son have created in metal. A couple of weeks ago she asked if we were going to have a Yahoo Group.

I always have the best intentions of joining groups but when you're running a company and trying to come up with new ideas all the time...well you get the idea not enough time in a day. So Susan has started a Yahoo Group about Ten Seconds and metal.  If you would like to join, just click on the link and you're on your way to metalizing your brain!

We will be at Great American Scrapbook show next Thursday - Saturday. Hope to see all of you there. Carolyn from The Crafty Scrapper and I are teaching two classes that are totally "kickass cool". We're using a bunch of stuff from Maya Road and we're being green, we are really looking forward to seeing everyone. We've got our wonderful friend and designer Trisha Conlon doing our cool MITI project, so you've got to come by just to see her cool samples. Trisha teaches at The Crafty Scrapper and wait til you see her samples.

I've been busy making samples with our new canvas and wait til you see what you can create. We even did a video which I think will be next week's Taco Tuesday. So much to do and not enough time...but I hope all of you have a great holiday, enjoy the outdoors, grill some tacos and enjoy your families.

Ice, Ice, Baby

I love Ice Resin, in fact I wish I had invented it. I guess I'll have to settle for selling it. If you have ever used resins in your art you will definitely want to use this. This stuff is so wonderful it makes you weep.

Weep, because you no longer have to worry about crazy bubbles just appearing, it's easy, it's non-toxic, it's easy, it never yellows and it is jewelry grade resin. Did I say it was easy?

On today's TTV we show just how easy it is. This video is rather involved and I had to mess with Megan getting in my way but for the most part you will know everything I know about this stuff.

Now, your probably wondering what's so wonderful about it? Well, it can be applied to paper and it will turn translucent. Other resins can't do that. This sample shows a piece I did that was done on copy paper and you can see how "see throughie" it is. (Lolly is puking right now as she reads this because she's a linguist and knows the proper way to talk, spell and write and I've probably just slaughtered the English language.)

This is so easy to do and it will make you weep and pee your pants all at the same time.

Try using it on molds. This stuff will pop out of the pliable molds. The one on the left was just popped out and the one on the right has alcohol ink on the backside of it and then a little white acrylic paint rubbed on the front. When you hold it up to the light you can still see through it. So, making your own embellishments out of resin is super easy.

Make your own molds from Ranger's Mold and Pour and then pop them out after they've dried overnight. The fluer de lis has white acrylic paint on the back of it and then a little Stickles rubbed over the top. The crown is just clear resin.

These are some of the samples we did on the video and I wanted to show how crystal clear this stuff is when it is cured.

It will dry overnight and is cured in 3 days. But you can drill, sand, paint, rivet...well, the list is endless. 

I like using it on various bezels that are see through. I think the wired piece really turned out great and is really unique for use with your art or just to wear.

I hope you get some creative ideas with this video. We have Ice Resin in our online store. It comes in two sizes: 4oz kit or 8oz refills.

This is the type of project that you want to plan out what you're going to make, get everything ready and then pour the resin all at one time. DO NOT USE OUR MOLDS AS A MOLD. THE RESIN WILL NOT POP OUT BUT WILL COAT THE TOP OF THE MOLD WITH RESIN! But, you could make a mold with Mold and Pour and then use the resin in that. I've been going nuts making molds and pouring all sorts of cool things in resin. And yes, you can use our metal in a base and pour over it. That's what I did in the first photo with the bracelet. The nice thing about this stuff is it doesn't tend you discolor most things like other resins do.

There was a class at Inspired and everyone went nuts with this stuff, so if you're interested in a cool unique product give this a try. Post a comment and on Friday I'll draw a winner for one of these pieces. I've got to finish them with more cool stuff, but I'll post a picture when I announce the winner.

  

Here?

So, I'm watching my favorite show on earth LOST last night and trying to stay awake so I don't miss one second, because if you do that's the second that something is revealed. I've maintained for the last couple of seasons that they were dead and didn't know it.

Megan and I were taking bets on how the show would end. I thought it should end with everyone walking into the valley...fade to black....and then Betty White is shown in bed and rolls over and says "you'll never believe the dream I just had" to her boy toy. Megan's thought was that Jack would be the only one left and 100 years into the future it would all start over again as he was the keeper of the island...not a bad ending.

Anyway, we're talking about the ending this morning and why some of the people were in the church but were not on the plane, as I thought only the people on the plane were the ones dead, and I ask Megan, "well how do we know that's not where we are right now". How do any of us really know that we aren't in the same "middle" waiting to go to the next place? Are we here?

And then she says, "we've got to be really here because we have the IRS."

And I say, "but that could mean we are in middle hell." In fact, I think I'm just going to go sit on a beach, drink a fruity drink, and wait for someone to come touch me, I'll get that zapped feeling, and then finally realize WTH "I see the light!"

Something to ponder.  Where do you think you are?

My baby's older

Today is Megan's birthday and she's over 30! Don't tell her that because she thinks she's 25.

I bought this hand out in North Carolina and thought this would make the perfect base for my gift to her.

Every year I try and do a piece of art for her, so I took a couple of Maya Road Acrylic wings, cut them apart and applied Ranger's alcohol ink (I love this stuff), then did my magic on a die cut heart with our Barn Red Metal.

Add some adhesive, foam core and more adhesive and I think this turned out pretty darn cute. I was going to collage the hand and put all sorts of "crapola" on it but it's such a cool surface and has that aged look, I just decided to leave it alone.

For our blog giveaway this week I promised to show a picture of the finished piece. I added some beads, wire, chain and you've got a finished necklace.

I bought this little box several years ago and the top slides off, which is pretty cool for a pure copper box.

The winner is: Sheryl H.

   Great video and love the patina look of the copper. This brings back a couple of memories -- I remember seeing the Carol Duvall show that Cheryl did (can't believe it was 10 years ago) and also remember my father using liver of sulfur when he did copper embossed pictures eons ago (and I can still smell the LOS).

It's funny that Sheryl remembered that episode of Carol Duval, I totally forgot about it. I'll have people email me that they saw it on TV or I think you can look it up on HGTV and see little videos. I've been using LOS for about 20 years on various projects. When I had my stamp store in Dallas, we sold LOS for our copper and I did a lot of stamping on metal with the vaseline. Hey, it just shows great ideas just get recycled.

For those who were concerned about the toxicity of LOS, it actually evaporates over a couple of days and is gone from the water. So, don't think you can save it. As some mentioned, you can put baking soda in it to neutralize it. If you do this make sure you swish the baking soda around with a Thong. I keep a box of them in my studio and when I need Thongs, I've got them...I don't know if you ever have enough Thongs!

Hope y'all have a great weekend.

Copper & Liver of Sulfur

How do you take a plain piece of pure copper metal 

to turn into this? Well, you'll have to watch today's TTV and we will show you how easy it is to do. 

You just need to have some Liver of Sulfur. Now you're probably wondering what that is and how do you get it. Just click on the link and you're on your way.

 

After I had done the metal in the bath, I then wrote "ART" on the back and refined and then wrote "lives" on the front for a debossed look.  Then just sand off the black and you get this gorgeous patina.

You can spray with a finishing spray from Krylon that will seal the patina on it. You can just sand all of it off if you decide you want more copper to be exposed. This is very close to how copper will naturally age over time.

I also did a stamping using my Big Daddy mold for the "laugh" piece, decorative wheel and ball & cups for the next piece. The gear piece was embossed and then submerged in the bath. The giant heart is from our Sawing 101 class and I hammered it for texture and then dipped it into the bath and lightly buffed.

Liver of Sulfur works well with copper and pure silver for blackening. However, you need to take care in using it in a well ventilated room, wear gloves and use thongs for dipping.

Disposal is easy and LOS can be neutralized with baking soda. After a couple of days it breaks down (it has a rapid decomposition) and can be disposed of in the garden on weeds...(I'm not talking about weed, but weeds). If you google Liver of Sulfur, you'll find some funny ways that people have gotten rid of the stuff. But this stuff does stink like rotten eggs, so use your brains and don't be stupid. And, if you're wondering if you're stupid...you probably don't want to use it!

This is the piece that will be this week's giveaway. Post a comment and I'll be picking a winner on Saturday morning. This will be finished into a necklace and I'll post another picture when I have it completed. The winner will have one week to get me their address. I've had a couple of people contact me 2 months later giving me their addresses and I'm scrambling to figure out what they won, so one week girls. One or two of you have contacted us that you never got your piece, and what happened was we never got your email with the address.

Hope you get lots of inspiration from this weeks video and I promise we will never chew gum again in a video or at least I won't... I can't control Megan.

  

I'm BAD, I know it

Another week has passed and I didn't pick a winner on Friday for our giveaway. I'm hitting myself with a wet noodle right now and I'm thinking of eating it because I'm hungry! Got back yesterday from North Carolina and it was so good to sleep in my own bed. Although the bed at the Embassy Suites is very nice, it's always nice to have your own pillow. I shot lots of video for a Taco Tuesday so we will get that edited and air it next month. For those of you who were wondering "why is Cheryl doing what she's doing that was stupid looking" well that's the answer.

Last weeks blog posting winners are Laurie Hunt and Dani Larcom, so girls email me your address and we will get your artwork out to you. Wait til you see what tomorrow's video is about and you'll definitely want to make a comment as the giveaway is really cool.

My friend Lolly, is always sending me emails about interesting things and this one was just too cool not to post about. I'm always talking about "being an artist" and most of the time I'm joking...ok, I'm never joking. Well boys and girls this is an artist.

This is talent beyond belief. I hope he gets a lot of money for these types of pieces. Not only is this amazingly creative but it has to weigh about 800lbs. I would love to have a wall that this could hang on. I can't imagine the amount of time it takes to complete this but how many nails did he have to pull out? Amazing work by Saimir Strati. Check out all the things he's done.   

Transfers on Metal

I'm always getting asked if you can do transfers onto our metal...and...the answer is "heck yes." They work great and are easy to do. We show you how to do this on today's TTV.

Does this mean that I'll never be asked this question again? "Heck no." I'll still be asked how to do this technique. Seriously, this is very easy to do using Ranger's Mat Medium. So, if you don't have this stuff, get some because you can't call yourself an artist unless you have mat medium. Don't worry you don't have to use it, you just have to own it to be called an artist.

This sample shows our Dijon metal with a transfer in the middle and as you can see they really do turn out quite nice.

But, then I took this a step further and added to one of the canvas boards I always have "at the ready" which means painted and ready to be completed. So this turned into....

 this! Tear up some paper, add some more mat medium, stick it all together and you've got a finished piece.

This is one of the pieces we will be giving away for this week's blog posting.

  This shows closeups of the other pieces that Megan did on the video. Adding Ranger's Glossy Accents to the top after they are dried really gives a nice finished coating to the entire piece.

so, I took the middle piece and mounted it to mat board and wrapped it then attached it to one of my other canvas pieces that I also have at the ready.

and this is what it became floated on the back of the canvas. Remember, I don't think there's a front or back to canvas. Add some large tacks and I think you have a nice finished piece.

This will become the second piece we will be giving away for this week's posting.

Yes, that's right there are two giveaways this week. I'll pick two winners on Friday evening.

All of you have been great about giving us your tips and sharing your pieces that you've been doing and we love seeing what you're creating.

We had quite a few questions about Vivian's flowers from last week's postings and how it was done. These are Vivian's own words in her email.

So I'm sitting at my desk at work adding numbers or whatever it is that I do all day and I had a total brainstorm!  I had watched Taco Tuesday last night and was thinking about the flowers.  As soon as I got off work I tested it and this is how it turned out.
I call it my Crazy Quick Carnation.  I only took about 10 minutes to make. 
Four circles, different sizes cut with the funny scissors, squish each one like cupcake papers and stack them inside each other.
Hope you like it.
Vivian

I thought this was brilliant! And it turned out so pretty. You could use almost any kind of punch to create the same cool look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eileen sent this in because she wanted the posey head to go all around the bottle cap and it looks fab.

 

Remember, just let loose and have fun. If it doesn't work out, throw it into your excess bin (I have around 5 of these) and look at it on another day or for another project. I'm always reusing something from my bin in other projects.

 

On Wednesday I'm off to Inspired in North Carolina. I'm charging the video camera now and you never know what I may film. I've got a great idea for .... I guess I can't tell you as that would ruin the surprise.

 

For those of you who will be at the event, I would suggest you sleep in your clothes, who knows I may knock on your door!

Posey Head vs. Kick Ass Flower

I have to say that the Kick Ass Flower was slightly ahead of my Posey Head Flower in our little challenge. I had to laugh at how many thought Megan had created the Kick Ass Flower as I MADE BOTH OF THEM! Yes, I agree that my little gold creation, I did on the video, did look like a car had run over a tin can. But, who's to say what art is?

Vivian Qatpaw sent me this photo of what she created from our inspiration, which of course, is beautiful.

I always love seeing what all of you come up with, and many of you will send in photos of what your children have made which is always cool to see.

Check out what Susan Chong did on her blog with the same idea and morphed it into another idea which is very cool.

For this week's blog post winners Megan has chosen:

Posey Heads - sweet social little dears
Kick Ass Flower - a rebel standing alone
Posey Heads - ready to attend a garden party together and dance on the table
Kick Ass Flower - perched on the cover of a journal yelling...Hey! Look Here!
Who's to say which is better, the sweet pea or the rose?
Depends on the occasion.

Written by Vivan

and

Robin had this to say: Well Cheryl, while yours are cute, and I too thought of attaching two per head to make a well rounded flower, I am going with Megan's Kick ASS flower. And Megan, your group can be the Kick Ass Flower Ass Kickers.
There, I said it.
Megan, I can see yours made little and all over shrines... they would be so cool!!

So Girls, email me your address and we'll get you some metal to create your very own Posey Headed Kick Ass flower of your own!

Wanted to announce that I'll be teaching at CREATE this August. You can sign up and see what is being offered for this new event. It's being held in Rosemont, Illinois so I hope all my Posey Heads will come and attend for an end of summer event. I should have our new release stuff for this event. Yes, we have new goodies coming this summer that will rock your world.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and be kind to your momma's!

 

Flower Mania

It's been a hectic week around the studio and we scrambled to get caught up on our Taco Tuesday Videos. We try to film around four videos at a time, but then we blink and the month is over and we need more. Today's video is a fun one that I came up with a while back and then Megan told me about this other technique that she found, so we combined both ideas into one fabulous video (if I do say so) for all of you to enjoy.

 I call this my Posey Head Flower (right side) and Megan calls her's Kick Ass Cool Flower (left side).

We used out Pink Diamond and Plum Metal for these two samples.

The two part epoxy that I used is called Mighty Putty. You can purchase this stuff from Lowe's. It's located in the paint section where they carry all the adhesive stuff. Or you can order it online by clicking on the name above. I use it when I need to adhere heavy things together and you can mold it into shapes, let dry, paint and have your own dimensional ephemera. It really is pretty cool stuff. Wash your hands right away as it's sticky, or wear gloves when you mix the two parts together.

Here's my entire collection of my little Posies. They really do look quite cute in the little jar or made into pins.

We want to thank Christine from Scrap Time for doing the video at Glitz Designs MITI at CHA. Watch their video and you'll see how to make cool flowers with paper.

Post a comment to this blog posting and we will pick a winner on Friday. Vote for either the Kick Ass flower or my very cute, God's creation...Posey Head. Megan will pick two winners and they will receive their own stash of metal to make your own "posey heads!"