Hakan-Themed Gel Transfer

I’ve been sitting on this project for what feels like FOREVER.  I made it for the Pie’s birthday and despite it being a first attempt I’m nevertheless pretty stoked about how it turned out.

I’ve seen a few blog posts on the internet where people take photos or photocopies and use a medium to transfer them to canvas or wood for a folksy sort of artistic-like thing.  And I wanted to do that.  So I did.  But a bit differently.  You’ll have to forgive the photo quality, as I did most of this at night while the Pie was out.  Playing Street Fighter.

First I took this image, which is Hakan, the Pie’s character of choice in Super Street Fighter 4.  You may remember him from a birthday cake I made a few years back.

From http://streetfighter.wikia.com/wiki/Hakan

Then I ran it through Rasterbator.  Because I like dots.

Then I printed it out. Trimmed it.

Assembled it with tape.  If I did this again I would skip the tape part and just assemble it in situ.

Then I cut it into four pieces and hid them in the closet where the fuse box is and worked on my canvas.

These are four 20″ x 16″ canvases I got at DeSerres.

Hakan’s colours are sort of maroon-y purple and turquoise, so I vaguely mixed some craft paint together in a dish and smeared it across the four canvases.

I’m quite pleased with the effect.

Once it was dry I grabbed my gel medium.

I smeared that generously across the whole surface of each canvas.

I then used my screen printing squeegee to smooth the printout pieces face down onto the gel medium.  It’s important to note here that your image will be reversed from how you originally printed it out.

Then I hid it back in the fuse box closet to dry overnight.

To remove the paper, spray it with water and get it nice and soaked.  Then you can just peel off the other ply of the paper, leaving the ply with the design on it stuck to the medium.

You can use your fingers or a soft towel.  If you pull up some of the design, don’t freak out — this is supposed to look a little weathered.

I used a gentle scrubby for it as well.

This takes for-freaking-EVER, FYI.  And it’s messy.  Paper bits get everywhere.  This is blurry but you can see the scrubbed side versus the non-scrubbed side.

And then once it dries you can still see some white leftover.  So I went over mine a few times.

Eventually I had to give up and just leave it as-is.  It’s not supposed to be perfect, in any case.

Some of my dots are missing.

But the rest looks pretty badass.

Look now neat that is!  I did fill in a few spots with black craft paint where I thought it was necessary.

To get rid of some of the whiteness, I coated the whole thing with glossy polyurethane top coat a few times.

Nice and shiny.

The finished piece, assembled on the floor.

Now to make it hang-able.  Gren stood watch for me while I did this in secret.

You can get little hanging hardware kits from department stores, grocery stores, and hardware stores.  In each kit will be a bunch of these little loops with screw ends.  Measure down from the top of your canvas an equal length on both sides and screw them in.

Then you have this wire stuff.

Cut a length and loop it between the two screwed in hooks.

Pull it tight and wrap the ends around the wire to keep it secure.

Make sure if you’re using multiple canvases that the length of the wire and where it’s situated on the canvas are consistent across the board.

Also make sure when you’re putting in hanging hardware that you can hang the picture without the hook pushing into the surface of the canvas.

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Bulletin Board Beautification

I think I’ve had this bulletin board for twenty-five years, and someone else had it before me.  It’s held up pretty well, I think, but its age is starting to show.

There are certainly a large number of holes in it.

It’s not even made of cork: it’s like burlap and some sponge-y/fibre-y stuff.

And there are weird scraps of whatnot on the frame.

But why buy a new one when I can make this one new again?

I had this pretty fabric stuffed in my crafty closet.  It’s actually a stretch cotton, which will help me to get it very tightly attached to the bulletin board.

I cut it to vaguely fit the size of the board.

Then I pulled out these metal staples with a pair of needle-nosed pliers.  So I’m left with the frame and the board.

I stretched the fabric across the board and used a staple gun to fasten the fabric into place.  You could probably use a hot glue gun as well.

Then I quickly sanded down the frame with fine sandpaper and removed the hanging hardware temporarily. I painted it with this cute metallic teal craft paint.

I reattached the hanging hardware to the top of the frame, and then fit the board back into place with glue.  It’s a tighter squeeze with the fabric covering it.

Tada!  I’m glad I didn’t have to replace something that was still functional, and that I could add a personal touch to my office organization!

It’s hard for me to be artistic in arranging a bulletin board to appeal to the tastes of the internet, and really there’s only so much you can do with license plate renewals, energy cost charts, and a pair of scissors.  Though I did dress it up with a super cute pic of me and Cait that I found while I was looking for something else.  So that’s something.

His & Hers Key Hooks

I love making useful things out of other things.  Especially when you can personalize it so you know that no one else has anything quite like it. This monogrammed key hook is a gift for a friend of mine.

The wood I found in the garage.  I needed to saw off the crooked end to make it straighter.  Little did I know that I am incapable of sawing things in a straight line.  So it’s just as crooked, but in the other direction.  But now it’s QUAINTLY crooked.  On PURPOSE.

The vintage-style brass initials, as well as the little crow with verdigris, I got from Dime Store Emporium’s Etsy shop.  What a neat place!

This aluminum plate I found on the street.  Conveniently it had been pre-weathered and pre-antiqued by the tires of passing cars.

These hooks I got at Wal-Mart.  Not everything can have such glorious beginnings.

Now you want to lay everything out beforehand, just to prove that you have a plan.  Having a plan is good when you don’t have any spare parts leftover if you should happen to mess it up.

After I’d cut the wood and sanded it baby-bottom smooth, I added hanging hardware, right off the bat.  I wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t damage or disturb any of the front stuff, which was why I did it first.

Then I wanted to stain it.  I had the option of three colours of Distress Stain, and one of India ink.

I thought I’d try the stains out first on another piece of wood, to see how they looked.  This was a good idea.  See?  I’m planning ahead again, not just winging it, which seems to lead to trouble sometimes.

I ended up going with the blue stain, and just doing the face of the wood.  Let that dry.

Then I used black acrylic paint around the edges.  Let that dry.

Then I screwed on the hooks. I had to use my world’s oldest drill to get the holes started for me, though.

But the screws went on and looked really good.

Then it was a simple matter to whip out the glue gun and hot glue the metal pieces into place.

And it turned out better than I thought it would, which is always a bonus.