Weekend project - diy chalkboard

Since we moved into our cave  townhouse, we've been trying to figure out what to do with the long wall that stretches from the entry, past the kitchen, and leads to the living room. It's dark, and it would be nice to put some lamps or a little table, but the hallway is narrow, there's a heater smack in the middle of it, and no plugs.

A couple of weeks ago when I joined Pinterest, I noticed a chalkboard trend emerging, and I immediately knew I must jump on board and have a chalkboard on that wall. Davis, of course, had to be practical.

"We can't hang anything really heavy from that wall," he said.

I found chalkboard contact paper.

"We live in a cave," he said. "We can't put that much black anywhere."

Finally I triumphed, with Martha Stewart's help: custom colour chalkboard paint. Davis had no more rebuttals, and on Saturday afternoon we went to Home Depot to buy the following supplies:

• thin wooden board
• unsanded tile grout
• paint
• painting supplies (roller, tray, drop sheets)
• sand paper
• screws and anchors to hang
• chalk

Our paint colour is called Ships At Sea - not black, and picked to complement the Hokusai prints we have hanging in the kitchen.


Martha recommended a ratio of 1 cup of paint to 2 tablespoons of tile grout. In retrospect, I would recommend sifting the grout to get the chunkies out, but we found another way to deal with them. Because we thought we'd use a fair amount of paint, we poured it into an empty container which made it easier to stir the grout in.

Then we got to painting!








We did four coats - we sanded after the second coat and found some of those grout chunkies I told you about, and they made nasty white streaks across the paint. For the next two coats, Davis just rolled the paint really hard and squished down the chunks and then painted over them right away - but it probably would have been easier to sift the grout at the beginning.

We also didn't want to leave out the wet board overnight (see above picture) so after the third coat was dry we wrapped up the board in drop sheets and started the last coat Sunday morning.

Once the last coat was dry and sanded (no more streaks!), we had to prime the chalkboard - which is something you're supposed to do even with pre-made chalkboards - by rubbing a piece of chalk over the entire surface and wiping it off.


Et voila! Davis hung the chalkboard, and we were done.


I'm very happy with my chalkboard - it works really well, although it doesn't wipe quite as clean as a normal chalkboard would. But it's totally worth it to have a blue chalkboard.


All together, the materials cost about $60. This was a little pricey, when a pre-made chalkboard that was a few feet larger was the same price. I think the biggest cost was the tile grout at $20 - because it only came in a giant box, and I only needed a few tablespoons. If they'd had it in a smaller size, that would have saved some money. The boxes of screws and anchors were probably about $15 together too, so if you already had four screws lying around you could also save that amount as well. Otherwise, the rest of it was pretty cheap - $5 for the board, $13 for the paint, and less than $10 for the painting supplies. Even with the $60, I still think it's worth it - paintings can cost that much, and this will be a constantly evolving creative space - like having a different artwork every day!

Light! Box!

Between the fact that I get home at sunset most days and the gloomy quality of our recent weekends, photographing my trinkets has been a challenge since I came back east. I've wanted to make a light tent for a few weeks now but I wasn't able to find the time to go shopping until today, but wow I'm glad I did.

There are a billion tutorials on how to make a light box on the Internet - I mostly referenced ones from Lars and Addie, Strobist, Digital Photography School, and DIY Photography.

Step 1: Find an appropriately sized box. One of the websites above suggests one with of no less than 15 inches per side. I used a small moving box.


Step 2: Remove cat from box.


Step 3: Begin cutting squares out of three sides of the box, leaving 2" borders around each window.

Step 4: Remove cat from box.


Step 5: You should now have three windows cut out of your box.


Step 6: Cut three pieces of white tissue paper or very thin white fabric to fit your windows and tape them to the sides. I used tissue paper and I was happy with that, plus it was easier to find.


Step 7: Cut a crinkle-free piece of white bristol board to fit the width of your box. I used two looped pieces of duct tape to adhere it to the top of the box at the back.


Step 8: Find two or three adjustable desk lamps preferably with daylight bulbs. This was the most expensive part of the project because we're living with Davis's parents at the moment, and they are big on mood lighting and not so big on functional lighting, so I couldn't scrounge up any lamps from anywhere. I bought 60 watt equivalent bulbs, but I think that was too low - next time I go out I'll try to find some 100 watt ones.


Honestly, this project took me less than an hour to make, but it think it'll be one of the better investments I've made for my shop (that and the steel punch that I am anxiously awaiting delivery of...). It was easy, relatively cheap (and could be cheaper), but it made such a huge difference in my photography. I found it so difficult to judge good lighting conditions outside, and I'd end up with either harsh lighting or dull lighting (according to craftgawker). But, I am pretty happy with the quick test pictures I took!





I also made some cool discoveries about my camera - I have never shot in full manual mode before - the most I have done is aperture control or shutter control. But my photos were still coming out dark even in these settings, so I figured there must be a way to increase the light coming into my camera. I don't think I did it correctly, but I did discover that the little meter on my camera - the one with a plus and minus on either end - doesn't have to be at 0 to take a satisfying photo. I was shooting many of my photos somewhere between 0 and + and they were coming out bright and happy. I'm sure there's a way to fix the aperture and shutter speed so that they're still bright enough at 0, but it worked for me! Also, the tripod I got as a belated birthday present was a godsend - it meant that I could set up the shot and focus it, then make all the adjustments I wanted from the back of my camera and shoot over and over without having to squish my face up to the viewfinder each time.

Between the tripod and the lightbox, I'm actually looking forward to photographing my jewelry now!

DIY Papier Mache Necklace Form (mannequin!)

After hearing from a few people that it's helpful as a buyer to see how a necklace lies on a human neck, instead of just having photographs of the necklace lying flat, I decided I needed one of those mannequin necks to photograph my new jewelry on. Well, I had two problems with this: 1) I'm poor and 2) I had no idea where to buy one even if I had money. What I did have was a hot, breezy Saturday morning and a strong desire to procrastinate studying for the MCAT, which I'm writing in a month. So I decided to get messy and make a papier mache mannequin neck.

I think my method works pretty well because it only uses things you can probably find in your recycling bins, and doesn't necessitate going out and buying sharp, poke-y chicken wire.

You will need:
Two kinds of cardboard, thicker and thinner
Stapler
Scotch tape or masking tape
Flour
Water
Newspaper
Paint

I started by cutting a strip of thick cardboard about an inch wide. I wrapped it around the top of my neck to get a rough idea of the circumference, then stapled it in a circle. The thick cardboard can be quite stiff; you may have to work it over with your fingers in the direction you want it to go, sort of like curling gift ribbon.





Then I made a second circle, slightly wider, for the bottom of the neck.



Incidentally, this cardboard came from a box of M&M back ribs. They're really, really good.



Next I cut two long strips an inch wide - maybe 15-18 inches long, and attached them to the two neck rings. These will form the shoulders.





To make the chest, I used the thinner cardboard (from a case of Granville Island honey brown lager, I think - ribs and beer, we have classy recycling) and cut two wide U-shapes. I formed them a bit with my hands to make them curve nicely, and stapled them to the shoulder pieces. You can trim off any excess from the shoulders at this time.





You will find at this point that your mannequin is a little saggy. To help correct this, I cut another strip from the thick cardboard. You can cut it as long as you like - try and measure it by propping up your mannequin and seeing how far you want it to splay out.



To attach it, I folded the strip over a bit at the ends and stapled it to the base of the U-shaped chest piece. Incidentally, you can staple or Scotch tape - I preferred stapling because my first prototype didn't seem to stick to the tape very well and pieces were always coming undone. But it's up to you! The staples won't show up later under the papier mache.





Next to give the form more stability, I cut a few strut-like pieces and attached them across the chest, as well as one long piece going down the neck and attaching to the neck rings.



A few more strips of cardboard at the clavicles... I tried two different angles, on one side of the mannequin I attached the strips straight across, the other side I attached them at an angle. In retrospect, I think the angled collarbones were better, it was easier to attach the papier mache to.





Even with the strip of cardboard along the bottom, I still felt the piece was a little too wobbly, and I knew from previous attempts that if the form wasn't stable enough, it would collapse under the weight of the papier mache. So I took a wide piece of thick cardboard maybe 4 inches across and 8 inches long.



I then bent it into the rectangular or triangular tube.





...and cut out a square from all but one side and bent it over.





This flap was used to staple the support piece to the underside of the shoulder of the mannequin.



It just helped prop it up a bit. I did the same on both sides.



It was still a little slippery, so I added a long piece of cardboard going crosswise, and attached the base of the support tubes to that.





Ta da! The form is finished, now it's time to get messy! You can use whatever recipe for papier mache that floats your boat. Personally, I use 1 part flour to 2 parts COLD water, whisked together in a bowl with some cinnamon for good smell. I think I used a half cup of flour and a cup of water, and it was more than enough for two layers.



Here is the form after it's first layer, You can actually see there are some holes around the clavicles - I think this was the side where I used the straight collarbones instead of the angled ones, and there just wasn't enough structure to apply the newspaper strips to, so I had to wait to build up some papier mache first and let it dry before I could patch over the holes.





Here is the straight-collarbone side after patching up the gaps.



And here is the form after the second layer of papier mache! Each layer only took about 30-45 minutes to dry, since it was about 30C out with a nice breeze!



I also decided to layer over the support pieces, to make them a little stronger.



To finish up, I covered the mannequin with two layers of matte white paint.





It's not perfect, uniform, or smooth like a store-bought mass-produced mannequin would be, but it's original and unique and a fun weekend afternoon project! There are also so many different variations of this that would be fun - you could use cool paper, like sheet music or patterned wrapping paper or old-style letters. You could soak them in tea or coffee first or use coffee in your papier mache mix to give it an aged, vintage look. You could also spray paint in all sorts of different colours, or use paints or felts to write or draw patterns or your logo on the mannequin. For me though, a basic matte white was perfect!