Ask Krissi's Art Studio: Easy/Quick DIY for Cleaning Silver

Union Riveter Krissi Sandvik is back with another tutorial. This one would be fun to do with the kids over the summer - it's housework disguised as a science project!
Here is a DIY on how to quickly clean that pesky tarnished silver without any elbow grease using stuff you have around the kitchen.

Krissi Sandvik is the artist and owner of Krissi's Art Studio, home of Skelekitty and Friends in Folsom (yes, like the prison) California, where she resides with her husband, cats, tortoise and Jack Russell Terrier, Abby. Krissi, claims to have been raised by a pack of wild attorneys, was unofficially named "best tutorialer on the web" by her friend Rachelle Rose .

Recipe: Vegetarian Indian Paneer Butter Masala

Union Riveter Krissi is switching from studio-mode to kitchen-mode today for a recipe! 

Long time, no see, fellow riveters!!!  Once again, my pal and neighbor Bindavi comes through with a tasty and authentic vegetarian recipe - this time it's on her blog and it's called Paneer Butter Masala.

BUT WAIT!!!!  Before you run off to attempt the recipe yourself, let me fill you in on a few of  'Krissi's white-girl tips for cooking Indian food.'


First, let me answer the "what the heck is paneer?" question:
Paneer is basically Indian cottage cheese - however, instead of being a globs of curds in milky whey, the moisture is squeezed out and the curds are formed into a block.  Paneer has a similar texture to very firm tofu, but has a bit more flavor and has a melted consistency when fried properly.  You can find it in most markets near the tofu, in your local Indian grocery and even at Costco!  Paneer can be served in various curries and is even found in some rice and salad recipes. It is low fat, high protein and did I mention, while it's a "cheese," it is made without rennet.  There are also quite a few easy recipes on the internet for making your own paneer.  When I try it, I'll be sure to let you all know!


Next - some ingredient clarification.  British-English from India is NOT the same as American English in many situations.  For example, in America, when we see "chili powder" in a recipe, we reach for this:

Ingredients: Chili Pepper, Cumin, Oregano, Salt, Garlic

But in an Indian recipe/grocery, it means this:

Ingredients: Red Chili Peppers

Bindavi and I had a good laugh at that.  I did have some Cayenne Powder in my pantry that was unopened, so I grabbed that!

More on spices: do yourself a favor and if your cumin/coriander, etc. have been open for a while, toss them and replace them.  Seriously.  If you have any questions, find your local Indian Grocery and ask questions.  I've always found local small shopkeepers to be infinitely helpful.  While my containers of spice were new, we ended up doubling most of the spices to achieve the right taste.

Bindavi grinds her cashews in a coffee/spice grinder to a very find powder, but I used my small Cuisinart and it came out with a corn meal consistency.  My gravy came out less creamy, but had a nice ground beef texture.  It takes a little practice.

When you deep fry the paneer, it's messy unless you have a well seasoned cast iron pan or a non-stick pot.  Otherwise, just go with it.  Make sure the oil is HOT before you fry your paneer so it will soak up as little oil as possible.

Final tip: when cooking down the tomatoes, look for the oil and tomato to 'separate' a little.

you can see the oil 'separating' in the center of the pan
when you see this, the tomatoes are finished cooking down

Paneer is fast becoming one of my meal staples.  It's low fat, high in protein, low in carbohydrates and tastes YUMTASTIC!  Expect a link to a spinach paneer recipe from Bindavi in the near future!

Well??  What are you waiting for???  Go try that recipe now!


Bindavi's blog, KurtiTown.blogspot.com features authentic Indian recipes, cultural tidbits and fashion.  Visit her shop on ArtFire to see her collection of Indian style tunics called kurtis. These tunics are rich in embroidery, brocade work and embellishments designed on high quality fabric. Kurtis can be paired with your favourite jeans, pants or leggings and by interchanging the kurti with different pants, you can create a completely new look every time you wear one of our creations.


Krissi Sandvik is a mixed-media artist, DIY group Corporate Rejects member and the owner of Krissi's Art Studio, home of Skelekitty and Friends. She was recently named "best tutorialer on the web" by her friend Rachelle Rose.  She loves Indian food.  And Mexican food.  And Thai food.  And....

Ask Krissi's Art Studio: Funkified Tea Tins Tutorial

Union Riveter Krissi Sandvik is back with another fun and very colorful tutorial.  This one would be fun to do with older kids, and these tins make great gifts!

I'm a tea addict.  I picked the habit up in the UK and have since collected tea cups, kettles and pots.  I buy my teas loose and in bulk from a local shop, the owner of which keeps me supplied with all my favorite black teas.  A tin is great way to keep your teas fresh and tasty, while showing off your personal taste! Here's what you'll need to get started:

• tea tin or airtight container
• appropriate glue for your choice of materials
• decorative paper
• varnish of your choice
• acrylic paint (optional)
• sandpaper (optional)
• tea (duh!) or coffee or cocoa or ... you get the drift

The Tins:

I found some great tins on clearance at a local craft store
You can also re-use tea tins or other airtight canisters

Measure:

• the height of the tin from the bottom of the lid. There is a little lip on the Twinings container showing where the lid is positioned when on.  You want to make sure you don't cover above that point (it would make the tin too "fat" for the lid to fit).
• around the tin
• Alternatively, you could make a template with some newspaper, a pen and some scissors.

Mark the lid position using a fine-point permanent marker just to be sure you don't glue the paper up too far, unless your tin has an existing guide (like the Twinings tin).

The Ephemera:

Even though I don't papercraft often, I have a HUGE collection

Gather your decorative papers. You can use scrapbooking papers, Loteria tablas (as I did), junk mail, catalogs or just about anything flexible enough to glue to a tin!  Remember, use only images in the public domain or that you have permission to use.  Even if you're not selling these items, you may not use someone else's art or images.

Trim your papers to fit within the measurements you took in step 2.


The Adhesive:

Choose an adhesive that works best with your materials. For metal tins, use a solvent based gel glue like E6000 or Liquid Nails. If you have a foil-lined paper canister (like a cocoa container), you can use a tacky white glue or my new personal fave, YES! paste.

One of these days, I'm gonna hafta write me a blog post on adhesives

Spread adhesive evenly over the surface to be covered. DO NOT spread glue over the lid-line. If you are using an industrial-strength solvent glue, you will need to work quickly and in a ventilated space (you twisted little glue-sniffer).


DO IT ALREADY!

Apply your pretty papers and let your glue dry.

Repeat the process with your lid.  I chose to sand off the existing finish and paint the sides of my lid in a color that I matched to one of my papers. You could also use spray paint, tiny scraps of paper or a thin paper that would easily wrap from the top to the sides.

The Finishing Touch:

VARNISH it baby! You want to protect your work, don't ya?

There are a plethora of varnishes from which to choose, so pick your favorite whether it's gloss, satin or matte.  My personal favorite is Golden Acrylic's polymer varnish in gloss (not shown)

Wipe off any varnish that creeps up over the lid-line of the tin or under the lid. Ensure that the varnish is not just dry, but allow plenty of time for it to cure before you handle - some varnishes take days to cure in cool or humid weather.



Use:

Start rockin' the Earl Grey with your awesomely cool tin!

My tea tin, tea and my favorite mug - design by Ladi Loera

I agree to look the other way if you were inclined to use your tin of awesomeness to hold office supplies, sugar cubes, spices, doggie treats or other tiny necessities of life.


Krissi Sandvik is a mixed-media artist and the owner of Krissi's Art Studio, home of Skelekitty and Friends. She was recently named "best tutorialer on the web" by her friend Rachelle Rose and she publishes a tutorial or "Ask Krissi's Art Studio" feature on Fridays here at Modern Rosies.

Krissi's Art Studio: Sugar Skull Masks!

Union Riveter Krissi Sandvik created some fun masks this week modeled on Mexican Día de los Muertos sugar skulls, and now she's going to show you how to make your own!

My friend and hairdresser, Betty, and I talk about Mexican folk art and culture constantly.  Her heritage is Mexican, while I first became enamored with all things Mexico when I lived in San Francisco's Mission District, a vibrant neighborhood with a large Latino population. I really love Day of the Dead, which mixes both Aztec and Spanish beliefs and cultures into something new and wonderful. This holiday particularly appealed to me as it focuses on death as a part of life and not as something to be feared.  Well this year, Betty is teaching a series of classes (she teaches for Paul Mitchell) with a hair/fashion show.  In Mexico City. On Dia de los Muertos, and she asked me to make some sugar skull masks for the models!  Woo hoo! Here's what I came up with:

You will need:

• Mask - plastic, Papier-mâché, or even ceramic if you are creating a wall decoration
• Rubbing alcohol
• Glue - choose one that is appropriate to the substrate of your mask
• GLITTER! - lots of it in lots of colors!   You can use just about any type of glitter (loose or glitter-glue).  DO NOT USE antique German glass glitter or any glitter made of glass.  It will be near your face (and eyes), so let's not go blind, m'kay?
• Paintbrushes for glue, water, toothpicks, paper towels, fluffy paintbrush for brushing away loose glitter

Optional supplies:

• Plastic primer
• Clear/white glitter spray (I didn't use this, but will point out where you could)
• Glitter tray or folded paper to return loose glitter to jars
• Dryer sheets <--- secret weapon when using glitter!

Betty chose some 1/2 face 'Phantom of the Opera' style masks, but you could use eye masks or full face masks if you prefer.  You could use plastic, papier mache, fabric masks or even ceramic ones for a cool wall hanging.

unprimed mask (left) and mask with adhesion
promoter and matte white primer (right)

1.  Remove the elastics and set them aside, then clean the masks with some rubbing alcohol to remove any residue or fingerprints.

1a.  OPTIONAL STEP - skip if you just need the mask for one night.  Since these masks will be packed and taken with Betty to Mexico, I chose to prep my masks to ensure the best contact between the products and the mask.  I started with an adhesion promoter for plastics (from the auto section of my local hardware store) and then added a layer of matte white primer for plastics (don't use gloss or you'll be back where you started).

1b. OPTIONAL STEP: You could spray your entire mask with clear glitter spray at this point to give the entire face a "sugary" look!

2.  Paint or sketch an outline of the shapes you want to create.  Painting your shapes first helps to make sure the glue goes where you want (working with white glue on a white mask is a bit confusing).  Also, pre-painting helps to prevent the white from peeking through the spaces in the glitter, I painted the nose and around the eyes with black paint (I tried at first with sharpies, but they were a bit trickier on the "topography" of the mask - a brush is more forgiving).

IMPORTANT TIPS! 

• If using loose glitter and glitter glue, START WITH LOOSE GLITTER first
• WORK FROM DARK TO LIGHT COLORS!  It's much easier to get a grain or two of yellow out of your black sections than to get black out of your yellow, etc.  Trust me on this one.

3.  Brush your glue over the DRY painted area (a brush gives you more control and precision than squeezing from the bottle).  I chose a flexible fabric glue for gems and beads, because I expect the masks to flex a bit during travel.  Most people would get great results just using a good quality white craft glue.

IMPORTANT TIP!  WORK WITH ONE COLOR OF LOOSE GLITTER AT A TIME.  Don't paint glue on for more than one color of glitter.

4.  Pour that glitter on!

Crafty Chica Be-Bob Black glitter
by Duncan Crafts

Tips - using a glitter funnel/tray is very helpful (mine is a Tidy Tray which I scored for a few bucks at a craft show), but if you don't have one, you can use a piece of paper, folded in the center to return unused glitter to the bottle.  Want another tip?  Rub a dryer sheet over the surface of your funnel tray or paper before sprinkling glitter - it will keep the glitter from sticking and return more to the bottle for you to use later!

5.  Repeat for each color of loose glitter.

pattern traced with a silver Sharpie

Glue painted over spiderweb pattern

Pour that glitter!
This is Tulip (by Duncan) superfine holographic silver washable glitter.
I could NOT live without this product.

6.  Did you miss a spot?  No worries!  Just pick up some glue on a toothpick or bamboo skewer and fill in the blank spots, then add more glitter.

I love bamboo skewers and keep them in my craft drawer at all times.
This glitter is Crafty Chica's Pop Star Purple by Duncan

Let the loose glitter set/dry between layers OR if using glitter glue next, you can move on immediately.

8.  When you re finished with your loose glitter application for the day, you can start applying glitter glues.

I love glitter glues and swear by Ranger's "Stickles" glitters;
while the bottles are small, they last a long time and are very fine
 and acid-free.  You can find them at most crafting or scrapbooking shops.

Sometimes I like to blend colors together, like the yellow, orange and red in the flames.
Once again, toothpicks and bamboo skewers are VERY helpful!  Just run them back and forth in the glitter and you end up with an artsy fartsy look.

9.  After everything dries (I let it dry overnight), brush off the loose glitter with a fluffy paintbrush.

10.  If you like, you can add some silk or crepe paper flowers.  I attached these with a little hot glue and some E6000 (because they were traveling to Mexico - yours will be fine if you use hot glue).

A few flowers from the Dollar Store and a plastic skull from the Halloween section at my local craft shop!

Leaves and flowers from the Dollar Store, and a plastic skull bead glued to a butterfly from my local craft store.

THAT'S IT!  Now you can just reattach your elastics and rock the party!

Let me know if you have any questions - I'm happy to answer them here.

If you make one, please post a picture on our Facebook page or drop me a note.


Krissi Sandvik is a mixed-media artist and the owner of Krissi's Art Studio, home of Skelekitty and Friends. She was recently named "best tutorialer on the web" by her friend Rachelle Rose and she publishes a tutorial or answers a question from "Ask Krissi's Art Studio" every Friday.

Krissi's Packing Tape Image Transfer Tutorial

Union Riveter Krissi Sandvik is sharing her most popular tutorial of all time today! "Image Transfers" are a great way to layer ghostly images in your mixed media pieces, collages and polymer clay, they can be used as inclusions in resin jewelry and are a great way to transfer printed text to your work.  There are multitudes of image transfer techniques that use various printers, transparencies, solvents, Polaroid photos... the list continues to grow.  This is one of Krissi's favorite techniques - it's cheap, quick and easy! (originally published by Krissi's Art Studio on 2/17/2010)

 

Almost every single one of my mixed-media pieces has some kind of an image transfer in it.  Some are gel medium transfers (we'll do that another day, OK?), but most are packing tape transfers.  I prefer them because they are FAST and really easy.  If you goof up, you don't have to wait hours to fix your mistake.  Packing tape is also great for transferring text onto just about any surface you can imagine.

You will need:

• laser printed* graphics** or text
• brushes/spatulas
• clear packing tape
• a bone folder or spoon
• gloss gel medium in soft or regular (I prefer regular for uneven surfaces)
• scissors
• a small bowl with water
• paper towels

*NOTE:  I use a pigment inkjet printer by Epson.  Pigment inks give an image transfer that is nearly as crisp as a laser jet or photocopier. If you use a printer with water soluble inks, you will get a faint transfer, if any, when using this technique.
**IMPORTANT:  NEVER EVER use copyrighted images (especially if they're mine).


Place a piece of packing tape carefully over your printed image. Avoid getting wrinkles or bubbles in or under your tape.

Using your bone folder or the smooth side of a spoon, burnish (rub!) the tape to ensure complete contact between the ink/paper and the adhesive.

Tear away the extra paper from the edges of your tape, turn your image over and peel away some of the paper from the back.  You do not need to peel off all of the paper, but removing some will help the water to penetrate and will make your life a lot easier about 2 steps down....

Submerge your image in a small bowl of room temp/cool water for a few minutes (5 to 10 is usually good, but if you forget it for a couple of hours, don't panic - it's all good).

Using only your fingers, gently rub the paper until it starts to pill up.  Continue to rub at all of the paper residue until it is completely gone.  Your tape will not be crystal clear, but you should not feel any rough spots or bits of paper left.

Once you have removed all of the paper residue, let your tape dry on a paper towel.

Trim up your image and do a dry fitting. Trim more if needed.

Spread a generous amount of gel medium on your working surface and brush some on the back of your image/tape.

The tricks (and the part where you get messy!):

• Place your image on your working surface and put a little gel medium over the top to reduce friction.   
• Using your fingers and starting from near the center of your image, press down gently, but firmly and rub out any bubbles.  
• Continue to press and rub firmly working outward so that all of the gel medium is pressed out from under the tape (you'll be able to tell when there are no white spots under the tape).  
• Run your fingers around the edges to ensure complete contact. You are going for as close to 100% contact between the tape and your working surface as you can achieve.  

This little trick will not only help eliminate the appearance of "bumps" around the edges of the tape, but will also reduce your drying time!

Troubleshooting tips for working on an uneven surface (like this lovely plaster heart here carved and mold poured by my pal and all around nice dude, Cesco). If you are working on an undulating surface, you may not be able to achieve 100% contact between the tape and your piece. So, here's what you do:

• Lifting beneath the image
1. Change your uneven surface into an even surface by adding gel medium and leveling it with a credit card or the edge of a spatula.  Let it dry, then start over with a new transfer (you don't want all the old gel medium gunking it up).
2. Follow the instructions above, but use the side of your finger to press out the extra gel medium from beneath your image.  You will see white spots of gel medium where your image was previously lifting.  Pretend you don't see them.  Your drying time will be increased, but your image will be perfectly adhered in the end.
• Lifting at the edges
1. Since tape will not stretch to follow curves, try trimming the edges of your image if that is where the lifting is occurring
2. A trick I learned for sewing curves: Rather than trimming away excess tape, try snipping inward toward your image in the problem area.  
3. Use a trick similar to #2 under Lifting beneath the image - use light pressure around the edges and allow gel medium to take up the space between your tape edges and your working surface.
4. Did you do a dry fitting?  Really?  Are you sure?  I don't think you did.  Either that, or you were in denial and thought this would fit (silly you).  Go back and resize your image and try again WITH A DRY FITTING THIS TIME.

Trick #2 for keeping the edges from lifting:

snip inward toward (not into) your image

To finish: Add a generous layer of gel medium over the top of the image to blend away the edges of the tape.  Your image will look cloudy/milky at first. Let it dry. Drying time can vary from a few minutes to a day or two depending on thickness of gel layers, porosity of your working surface, temperature and humidity.

Now GO FORTH AND TRANSFER THY IMAGES!

Here's a pic of the winged sacred heart I'm creating for my ol' school pal, Sam.  It's still in progress, but you can see several other tape image transfers (my apologies for the messy photo background).

Other stuff you can do with packing tape (I'll continue to update this as ideas come to me):

• Using rubber stamps and Staz On (solvent based) or Archival inks, stamp onto the clear side of the tape and then follow the application instructions above (you know to let your ink dry fully first, right?  I didn't need to tell you that, did I?)  Oh, and you do stamp/transfers with tissue paper too, but you get a much different look.
• For a "ghostly" looking transfer, use an inkjet printer to create your images.
• To transfer larger images, you can "butt" the tape edges up against each to pull the ink, then do it again when putting down your image(s).  Or, if you're lucky and you can find it...
• You can use the above techniques with clear CON-tact® paper for larger images!
• Oh, and YES, you can do this technique with colored copies for a really cool effect.

Krissi Sandvik is a mixed-media artist and the owner of Krissi's Art Studio, home of Skelekitty and Friends. She was recently named "best tutorialer on the web" by her friend Rachelle Rose and she publishes a tutorial or "Ask Krissi's Art Studio" feature every Friday.

Krissi's Favorite Sewing Project: Inside-Out Pillowcase Tutorial!

Union Riveter Krissi Sandvik is back with another tutorial, this time in response to the overwhelming requests Modern Rosies has received for sewing tutorials!  Here is one that is easy enough for beginners, but gives such professional looking results that we bet you'll be giving these for gifts this winter!

This was my very first tutorial from way back in 2007 when I was still working entirely in fabric, making quilts, fiber art and goodies like this awesome pillowcase!  This tutorial assumes a basic level of sewing machine knowledge and ability to use a rotary cutter.  If you don't have that yet, don't worry.  Start by reading your machine's manual and head over to YouTube and look through the videos on sewing a straight line with your machine and rotary cutting basics. This is the perfect pattern to hone your skills! You can dooo eeet!  

INSIDE-OUT PILLOWCASE

This inside-out pattern (also called a "hot dog" or "roll-sew-pull" pillowcase pattern) makes a very professional looking pillowcase and is one of the easiest ways to make pillowcases, once you've seen how it's done.

Mouse and Gracie LOVE a freshly made guest bed

For one standard pillowcase you'll need:
(just double the measurements if you're making 2)

• Fabric A (body): ¾ yd
  (washed, pressed, trimmed & squared to 41"high x 27"wide) watch those directional patterns!
• Fabric B: (cuff): ¼ yd
  (washed, pressed, trimmed & squared to 41" high x 10" wide)
• Fabric C: (trim): ⅛ yd
  (washed, pressed, trimmed & squared to 41" high x 3" wide)
• coordiating construction thread (ALWAYS use 100% cotton thread on cotton fabric!)
• more advanced option: decorative rayon thread(s) & disolvable stabilizer for decorative stitching

FYI: I almost never use pins in my sewing but trust me, you will need pins for this project!

1. Trim fabrics to the measurements indicated above. Even if your fabric measures correctly, you will want to square up the fabric with your rotary cutter, mat and ruler. If your measurements are off by a tiny bit, don't worry -- just make sure that pillow pairs match (so if you have 26.5" for one pillow, cut the second to 26.5" -- you can make up for the lost half inch by adding it to your cuffs!)
2. Fold and press the trim fabric (3" x 41") in half longwise; wrong sides (WS) together
   
   set aside
3. Spread out fabric for your cuff (41"x10") right side (RS) up
   
4. Place body fabric RS up on top of cuff fabric and line up edges (pin if desired)
   
5. Place folded and pressed trim fabric on top of body fabric, raw edges matching
   
   remove pins and repin all three fabrics (it will be four layers) together - don't even consider trying step 6 until you pin!
   
   
6. Roll body fabric (this is the cool part!):
   
   stop when about 4 or 5" of the cuff fabric is exposed. DO NOT ROLL CUFF FABRIC.
7. Fold cuff fabric over "roll" and match raw edges
   |
8. Remove and replace pins (yes, you have to)
   
   and Voila! You have a fabric "wrap."
   
9. Sew a 3/8" straight seam along the long edge
   
10. Always SET YOUR SEAMS by pressing (lift and press with your iron on all newly stitched area - don't "rub" it on the fabric) Don't ask why you should set your seams, just do it - you'll love me for it later when you get amazing, professional results.
    
    Apologies for the state of my iron. I got it as a b-day present and dropped it a week later, but it still works! It's a Rowenta Powerglide2 WITHOUT the annoying auto-shutoff and it's the only iron for me!  
11. Flip It, Baby!  
    
    The super-keeno reason to use this technique is that the four raw edges where the fabrics meet is now enclosed inside of the cuff! No unraveling, no seams to finish!
12. Press your seams open and flat, using the tip of your iron and steam, if desired. Watch your fingers!
    
13. Fold WS (yes, wrong sides!) together and match all raw edges for a French seam!**
    
14. Beginning at cuffed edge, stitch down the long side of the pillow case using a 1/4" seam allowance, turn at corner and sew along the short side to folded edge
    
15. Set your seams!!!!!!
16. Press seams open
17. Turn your pillowcase inside out and press
18. Using a 5/8" seam allowance, sew around the case side and bottom, encasing the raw edges (this is the inside of your pillowcase and will not be seen)
    
    
    here's what the seam looks like inside the finished pillowcase:
    
19. Flip it right side out (I didn't need to remind you to set your seams first, right?) Put it on a pillow and enjoy!
    

If you have a fancy machine, you can add decorative stitches to the trim fabric in between steps 11 and 12. One x-mas I made my nieces each a pillow case in their favorite colors and stitched their names along the trim fabric (yay for programmable machines with text stitches!) I've found that one or two layers of light to medium weight dissolvable stabilizer works well for me.

Here are a couple of the pillowcases I've made for our home (can you tell that my color choices are a little different than my mother-in-law's, for whom I made the above pillowcase?).


If you don't want to do a French Seam (and frankly, I don't know why you wouldn't), a zig zag stitch may also be used to finish the raw edges and prevent unraveling, but it's a lot more work and is still results in a pretty messy pillowcase interior.


This case was made using a different pattern and is a testimonial to why (1) you MUST finish your raw edges and (2) this inside-out technique ROCKS!

Krissi Sandvik is a mixed-media artist and the owner of Krissi's Art Studio, home of Skelekitty and Friends.  She was recently named "best tutorialer on the web" by her friend Rachelle Rose.  She publishes a tutorial or "Ask Krissi's Art Studio" column every Friday on Modern Rosies.