How to make a Cover for Mini-displays

Hello Hartians!

As I promised, I'm gonna tell about the cover I made and the challenges I've met with this "simple" art.

Notice that in the pictures below, this was a miniature cake other than the one I made in my previous post.This time it's made up of air-dry clay. If ever you wanted to know more about that clay you can just check my blog in the link below if you're not into scrolling this page up and up! 😄

https://hartiartregina.blogspot.com/…/air-dry-clay-basics.h…

 

About the cover, all you need to prepare is a plastic cover, needle & thread, scissors and double adhesive tape/scotch tape.

Here's the step by step procedure:

1. Estimate the target height measurement of the cover.

2. About finding the measurement of the cover's width, the measurement is based on the board that holds the cake.

Estimate the front side, it should be of the same size as on the back side. (Because it's a rectangular shape we're doing). After getting the desired estimation, you can start cutting. You should give an allowance from the size you estimated so you can just cut out any excess later on. Just don't cut smaller than what you estimated.

You now have two rectangular cut-out covers that will serve as the front and back sides.
NOTE: Consider the height estimated when you begin to cut.

3. Estimate the left and right side and do the same steps as you did in the front and back sides.

4. Set aside the four cut-outs, then start measuring for the top side. In this part you need to base it solely on the size of the board. Cut it out.

5. You now have the five sides. Trim and secure the right measurements before proceeding into stitching them altogether. This task requires patience!

6. Stitch those sides that meets the corners. I prefer the slanted stitch application on this one. Just make sure to place the threads just a fourth of centimeter away from the very edge of the cut-out plastic covers. Start from top to bottom.

7. After every stitches, make a french knot tie to make sure the thread won't loose out.

NOTE: For stitches going downwards make sure you reserve at least a centimeter length. This space was allotted for sticking the cover underneath the board.

8. For a finishing touch you can clean up the covers since you might have blurred them with your sweating palms during the stitching. 😄 

9. To be neat, I suggest to stick the excess parts of the cover using a double adhesive tape. But scotch tape would do. Be careful on this part because the box-shaped cover must look tight when you're putting on the tapes.

Thanks for reading this far!

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Learn How to Make Miniature Cakes (2018)

I remember back when I was a kid, when I was with my mom buying a cake from Baker's Fair. there were cake replicas within the store. I'm naughty enough not to get caught by any of the staffs when I'm touching those cakes. In my hands I feel the texture like a real cake fondant. Pressing that toy cake the bread part was fluffy. I assumed this part was made out of foam.

Now I'll tell another backstory. I got curious about how a baking soda can clean those stained white shoes. I grabbed my old stock of the baking soda, fully aware that this is already expired, and applied it on to the stained sole part of my rubber shoes. I mixed it with water so the paste can stick with the soles. The end result? No whitening magic happened. But my attention was caught by the dried paste I applied, it reminds me of a hardened frosting, leading me to remember the first backstory I just mentioned.

It took me half  a day to finish, just the cakes.

Notice that! It's like a real cake. See and feel the bread

I put a toy decoration on the top in this one.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Memories are still fresh when I combined the following materials: square-cut foams, poster color paintings, baking soda, glue, right amount of water and mini-decors. First, I glued together those layers of foams (serving as a bread). Then I prepared the icing part by making a careful measurement of water in proportion to the baking soda. Remember they should be in a right amount so the icing would be firm enough to stay with the foam. I separated portions of soda paste to their respective colors. I mixed my paint red to some, blue to some, yellow to some and so on.

After assigning colors I now spread the colored paste through different areas of the foam. For the first layer I applied a thin amount of paste, if applicable, do the same for the second layer until you're satisfied then the last layer would be the thick icing part. For a final touch I also put some toy decor on top.
Be careful once the paste is dried, especially for the thick paste, they are very fragile so don't put so much force if you're going to touch it.

Current status of my artworks: They already belong to somebody else. I continually asked myself, what was I thinking?? Why did I gave them as a gift? It's hard to make a miniature cake you know!

You know what, on my upcoming post I'm going to share about how the cover of that cake was created.
Hope you're inspired reading and looking at my crazy creations!
-Hartiart 

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STAGES OF HAVING A CRUSH (UNREQUITED, LADIES POV)

Hi Hartians! Would you allow me to take advantage of the love-month once more? 😄 I'll promise you'll still see something art-related like that posted painting! 😊

For so many times in my crushlife I've figured out the most common occurrence when a girl like me is having a thing on somebody. The list I'll mention below may not apply to everyone, but probably more or less, you encountered them all!

Untitled (2017)

1. WHOOPS! AWKWARD- Imagine when you sneeze a lot of times and feel something rough in your throat then you began concluding: "I'm going to catch a cold!" In the case of the first crushing symptom, it's the same as the sneezing signs! You really don't want to have a cold but the signs wants to trigger them! You don't even think that these signs are "crush-things". Have you noticed the handsome features of that guy, the way he smiles, how he moves, Isn't he awesome? But omhaygash when he comes near me why am I feeling a bit sweaty?

2. DENY AS MUCH AS YOU CAN- There is an inner denial upon having noticing that guy's assets simply because you don't want to see yourself having a crush on him. There's inner dramas like: "Don't you dare to fall for him! I don't want another heartace!" or, "Why bother crushing him I don't even stand a chance!" or "He's not really handsome he's just fair-skinned!"

3. ADMIT IT- "Maybe it's true that I have a crush on him. But just a little crush." From the awkward stage up to this stage, all of those crushing dillemas are only found within yourself. It means that only YOU has the full knowledge that you have a crush on him, not even your closest friend knows about this. In this part you feel very secured about your secret. Your mind tells that whatever happens you're not going to tell this to anyone because you're super-duper afraid that someone might know or that HE might know about it. Just act normal.

4. FRESH CRUSH- Right after the acceptance, you just welcomed the fact that having a crush on him would be totally different than when you don't have that thing. The silly manifestations starts to happen such as:
- Wherever you look you always see his' face.
- You can't get him out of your mind no matter how you kept yourself busy.
And having experienced these signs, a few more moments you'll find them kinda distracting. You'll somehow be out of your mind but this won't last long.

5. HIGH PEAK- Suddenly, that day came where everything seems to be in favor between you and your crush, and because of the heightened emotions of happiness, the fear of somebody knowing your secret begins to subside. You find it somehow impossible to keep it to yourself that's why you started telling about this to your nearest friend or relative, yet still you don't want that guy to have any clue about your feelings. You also begin to become curious about him, and can't tame yourself without searching for his' social media accounts.

6. EXPECTING FOR MORE- It's like a climax in a story. You're quite having a good time with your crush yesterday. "Ohh what's next? Will he talk to me more often?" Whatever you just experienced during the high peak, you're so excited for this good feeling to continue and you expect it would go to the next level. You smile at the random moment and your friends came teasing you cause' you look like crazy.

7. FALLING ACTION- just as when you started expecting for more due to all the "kilig" moments you had with him, this unexpected stage suddenly comes into scene. High peaks begin to fall down. You just visualized what spark the two of you would gonna be in the next days yet today, you just didn't saw him. "Oh why on earth I cannot see him around?".

8. SADNESS- High peaks are totally gone, not only because you miss him, but also because you kept on craving for sparks or what you call "kilig factor" which slowly fades away now. This is the start of hated stage of crushing someone.You want to maintain and sustain the spark but you just can't do something about it knowing that he might never felt the same way all this time. Happy fantasies over. Reality hurts. Now you smile like an idiot because of those happy memories but at the same time, undeniably sad!

9. BORED- You became tired cause' it seems like all the happy side of crushing on him was now replaced by all these sadness and even more. Also, not to mention that you began to find out he's into somebody instead of you. You wished you never had a crush on him from the first place.

10. THE LAST- The spark is about to die and there's now a higher chance to have a crush on somebody else, either to like another and suffer the same process again or just to let life flows the love it offers.

But we all deserve a love, not this sort of temporary silliness.

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"Wildlife" (2019)

My photo reference was taken from my visit in Wildlife last year. This was my third painting for the year. (The second one, wait for it on valentine's day hihi but it's just very simple).

I started by sketching the curved road so if you notice some traces of pencil, never mind it's not that obvious. 😄 I need to determine the distance of the trees or how wide would the sides go on my painting so I painted the road first. I did a wet on wet approach in this part. I just added some gray layers when it dried.

The second priority was the tree branches. they will be the guide to where I would put the leafy and the soily parts of the painting. I am fully aware that it's wise to put on light colors first but I find it hard in this case 'cause they used to follow where the trees are.

Having a few colors in a painting is not so challenging if you put together the similar shades beside each other in your mixing palette. In this way, you'll be able to mix them easily to create a lighter or darker tone.

Hope you learned from this simple technique of mine! 😊

Also a lesson learned: Next time I'll be using a neater washi tape, for the painting is already in a full messy blast.

#hartiart

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POEM #1 (Only Legends Would Know The Meaning)

"LIKE YOU NEVER CAME"

By: Hartiart

I won't admit that I was lonely walking alone in this sick dark road,
Without knowing if there's someone else to take away the isolation,
If there's anyone to bump with on the way to pause the tiresome walking,
Till' I see the other version of myself, the one whom I called "you".

I gaze with wonder, so curious how could someone like you ever invade,
The peace my heart breathes, turned into the fastest beat like music,
Now I don't mind walking without light, as long as I have you,
The journey was still a far way to travel, and I savour every moment.

Slowly as it goes, you're making me smile and made me forget my lonesome walk,
Then I noticed your smile, your beauty, all the things I like about you,
As I watch everything unfold, every steps we take brings us closer,
But I remember with sadness, somewhere in this walk we'll meet the horizon.

Yet before we even set our feet for the last trace we'll make on the left out road,
A strong wind suddenly took me away, my feet can't step where you are,
Now I was on that part of the road twice the gloom than before,
Twice the sorrow like you never came at all.

I would rather take the long journey with you,

Than knowing along the way I'll spend a short walk without you.

"Ecopark" (2018)

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"Hiding What I'm Feeling" (2014)

Hi! Now I'm pausing for a while about the process and will now tell the meaning and the story behind this painting.

Add caption"Hiding What I'm Feeling" (2014)

Like my usual dillema about not-an-artist days, this painting belonged to those days. I don't know the proper techniques but all I know that time is I have something in my heart that I wanted to paint. 

The main focus was the girl (that's me) looking at the leg in the corner that was about to step out. This leg represents the boy she's admiring. The artist wants to keep the boy a mystery so she didn't even reveal small details like the color of his' skin.

The setting was a forest. The leaves are the main help to represent something hidden, so they help the girl to hide herself. That's the end of the story.

It's kinda sounding corny I know, but what I want to share especially for the new artists, that it's all right to start their artist journey not minding about the do's and dont's of the colors, but to know what picture would you want to appear in your own art.

If there were two of myself namely: Angel me and Devil me, the angel one would say: "You are given freedom to make art. Don't be afraid using brushes, papers and mixing colors. You'll eventually learn from your own experience, and to get serious, those technical details about painting will just follow, with an enjoyment in pursuit of these knowledge"

While the devil one would say: "The painting is totally ruined! Don't you see the hideous overlapping of uncomplementary colors? How can you be called an artist if your art doesn't even stand out? How come you use such mediums and self-made techniques such as using a stick for thin stokes? So silly to think of painting another layer while the previous one isn't dry yet. Colors are flat how can you add details?" 

Then all you feel was stress rather than a hobby to enjoy.

Though most artists normally experience both things, but above all else, it is only YOU who knows what you really want to do. My last reminder was, do not limit yourself. Years later you would turn out much better. Have a happy painting!

-Hartiart

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Air-Dry Clay Speaks The Word

Tonight, I'll be sharing about these two cute stone's story.

Front View

This was made out of air-dry clay. I've mentioned about this in my second most recent post so I won't tell the creative process again. 

As soon as the clay hardened, I applied watercolor medium. The first one was combined with warm colors while the other one cool colors.

 Letting it dry, I wrote a bible verse on it using MICRON black fine pen. After this I coated the stone with the max bond glue. If I used an ordinary sign pen, it could've washed off the ink. Thanks to that 0.2 point pen! (Never mind my penmanship hehe)

Back View

Here's the story...

Why bible verse? I could just have written any other thing. But you know what, I've had a good idea about sharing the word of God in my most introvert way. I'm glad I'll be using my talent for God's purpose. So yeah, I'm a Christian. But it wasn't that easy.

Christians in the world outside the church are often perceived as self-righteous people, filled with hypocrisy, pointing fingers to people's sins, religious and whatever they think weird. So if being a Christian is just a heavy mask to wear, then they wouldn't want to be one. 

But it's not this way. It's more than what we all perceive. I experienced it myself. This is no mask to wear. This is no pretending to be an angel. This isn't forcing ourselves to be perfect.

It's not the "Christian" label that makes me good. But from something I could gain inner joy, strength and peace, there's just no word that can describe what it is like to know that God is more than what we all see, feel and perceive about Him. He is alive and so personal and so near!

You feel relaxed travelling to places of nature. You feel entertained with the gatherings you had with your friends. You feel happy getting all that you want, but nothing compares to the joy that comes from God. 

It's everything. It's looking beyond reality. It's about knowing that whatever part of the journey you might be in, Someone is there to guide you towards His' plan. I swear this was THE VERY THING EVERYBODY WOULD WANT TO EXPERIENCE.

Enjoying the imperfect like with the perfect God,

-Hartiart.

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