Thursday, August 4, 2011

This post almost didn't happen, because I worked out yesterday for the once a week workout that I do and I didn't want to get up, sit down, get up, paint, sit down, wait for the paint to dry, get up, crouch.  What can I say, though.  Today I'm a limping artist with a mission.

Check out these pen caps.  They look pretty uglytastic, huh?  The first thing you want to do is snip off the bottom, either with scissors you don't mind ruining or a pocketknife (but be super careful).  Look for caps you can imagine as vases or lamps.  Ones that are fluted, or ones that have a nice shape.  The white blurry blob is fluted, and I think it would look pretty elegant as a vase, with a few modifications.


You don't want to try painting it with regular acrylic paint.  A long strip will peel off just when you think you're finished and then you will throw a mondo fit.  Trust me.  I've done it so you don't have to.  And if you paint it thick enough to cover, it'll look lumpy.  I know, I know, the first thing they teach you in Artist 101 is that you don't put acrylic paint on slick plastic because it won't take, but I wanted to try it anyway.
Then I tried covering it with paper, and I did make a workable paper bottom, but overall it looked schlocky, not the professional-looking stuff I promised.

My mom had a brilliant idea.  Nail polish!  It sticks like a dream.  I wanted to try a different kind of fake lightbulb so I dipped a q-tip in pale yellow paint and then this incredibly shiny gloss.  The picture doesn't look that great because, well... camera phone I AM SO SORRY GUYS I'LL GET MORE BATTERIES ONE DAY. 


And the final picture, with my brother watching tv in the background.  The base looks kind of blocky, but I guarantee that in real life the cap tapers up just slightly and it actually looks pretty neat.  It's this really deep blue enamel with a neato sheen to it.  I might add a pale ribbon to break up the space about two-thirds of the way up.  I still need to work on the bottom a little.  But hey, not too bad for a first experiment!  I imagine Doctor Frankenstein said the same thing.
Happy arting!

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