Wall Art

This week Gloria Bastos is joined by

Michelle Holtzhausen, editor of Creative Hobbies Magazine and they’ll be showing how to use plain canvases and embellishments to make interesting Wall Art. First they make a functional wall art project and then later make a Jewellery Wall Hanging.

Jewellery frames

Materials:

  • Acrylic paint in the following colours:
  • Earl Green, Aubergine, Maroon, Mustard
  • Rub-offs in a design of your choice
  • 4 x Jumbo sized photo frames
  • 8 x Pine Wood door knobs
  • A variety of buttons
  • Litho stamp in the design of your choice
  • White spray paint
  • Printed ribbon *
  • 20cm x 20cm Hessian
  • 20cm x 30cm Raw linen
  • A selection of Washi tape to match the colour scheme
  • Chandelier scrapbookblank
  • 2 x eyelets
  • 20cm x 50cm Chip board (16mm thick)
  • Glue gun
  • 20mm Holesaw (must correspond to the doorknobs) and a piece of scrap pine wood (20 x 20cm)
  • 3mm Wood drill bit
  • 60mm (3mm) and 20mm (3mm) screws for wood

Instructions:

  1. Paint the chip board in a colour of your choice, we used aubergine.  Paint all the door knobs with Earl Green.   Remove the backing boards of the frames and spray paint the frames white, you will need several layers for an opaque finish.  Take two of the wooden backings from two of the frames and paint one mustard and one maroon and leave them to dry.
  2. For the Washi Tape frame: Take a selection of Washi tape and tape the whole wooden backing of the corresponding frame in alternating patterns and designs.  Trim the excess if necessary and then put the backing back into the frame.
  3. For the Maroon frame:  Paint the chandelier scrapbook blank in the colour mustard. Tie a rather large bow around the frame.  This is how we tied our perfect bow (you need an extra pair of hands for this one):  have someone hold out their index fingers about 12-15cm apart.  Take the ribbon place it over both index fingers with the pattern facing up.  Fold the ribbon downwards, then criss-cross the two ends.  Turn the ends so that they are perpendicular to the ribbon on the fingers.  Now proceed to tie a normal knot over the flat part, fold the tail part of the ribbon in half for a neat flat-looking knot. Fluff the bow and place over top third of the frame.  Cut off the excess ribbon and glue the short tails at the back of the frame with a hot glue gun.  Glue the chandelier just under the ribbon in the frame.
  4. For the mustard frame: Decide where you want the buttons to be before you glue them down.Use the glue gun to stick the buttons to the frame.
  5. For the raw linen frame.  Iron out the fabric, Apply the maroon paint with a roller on thelitho paisley design stamp, then press the painted side down firmly on the cloth.  You can use a rubber roller to roll over the back of the stamp – that way you ensure that the whole surface of the stamp is covering the fabric.  Remove the stamp and repeat until the whole cloth is printed with the design and allow it to dry. Fold the fabric over the wooden backing and glue the edges down.  Place back into the corresponding frame.
  6. Take the square of hessian and ruffle the edges a little by removing a few loose threads.  Paint the cloth in the Earl Green paint and leave it to dry completely. Decide where you want the eyelets and then crimp them into position.Take the 20cm Hemp cord, push each end through an eyelet hole you can cut a little hole in the hessian if necessary.  Tie a single knot at each end of the cord, this will be used to hang the earrings.
  7. Take the Aubergine board and plan the position of each frame.  Now take some of the mustard paint and paint rough swatches in between the frames and leave it to dry.  Select the rub-offs you’d like to use and proceed to rub off the lettering on the mustard paint.
  8. Take a piece of scrap pine wood 20mm thick.  Drill 8 holes into the pine wood with the holesaw.  This will be the spacers to use between the doorknobs and the mounting surface so that there is enough space to hook the jewellery.  Paint all of the door knobs in Earl Green.
  9. Use 60mm screws and 20mm screws.  Reposition your layout as in step 7 and glue the frames down with a glue gun.  Drill the holes where you would like the doorknobs, keep in mind that you have to drill through the frame and the chip board.  In other words, slow and steady.  Push the screws from the back of the chip board to the front.  Add the spacer and screw down the door knob, use the long screws where you had to drill through frame and chip board and 20mm where you only had to drill through the chip board.  Affix the portrait hooks to the back of the chip board, then portrait wire and hang. Your jewellery frame is now ready to be used.

Tip:

* If you can’t find printed ribbon in the design of your choice you can always make your own printed ribbon by doing the following:  measure 0.5m x 5cm wide white ribbon.  Paint it with acrylic paint and leave it to dry.  Use a rubber stamp with a pattern or shape of your choice and a contrasting colour to stamp the ribbon.  We used a ribbon from the Pretty ribbon range by Creative Hobbies available online from www.shopcreativehobbies.co.za.

Wall Art

Materials:

  • 1 x 203 x 203mm Stretched canvas
  • 1 x Black acrylic paint
  • 1 x Red acrylic paint
  • 1 x Foam brush (or roller)
  • 1 x Flat paint brush
  • 3 x Wooden blanks in various heart designs
  • 1 x Wooden blank word: Home
  • 1 x Scrapbook sheet in red with bird design
  • 3 x Scrapbook sheets in black ‘n white designs
  • Decoupage glue
  • 25cm Tulle or bridal net
  • Hobby drill with a 3mm drill bit
  • Craft Knife
  • Beading needle*
  • Beads, ribbon and small scrapbook wooden hearts
  • Craft glue

Instructions:

  1. Trace the hearts onto the sheets of scrapbook paper, each heart in a different motif.  Cut the hearts out with a sharp pair of scissors, then take the sheet of red paper and cut it 5mm smaller than the canvas.  Do the same for the word “Home”.  Distress the edges of two of the heart motifs and the red paper using the craft knife.  Gently scrape along the edges to remove bits of the paper, in a long, light and steady motion.
  2. Using a sponge roller paint the hearts and the canvas in black acrylic paint and paint the tiny wooden hearts front and back in red paint.
  3.  Glue two hearts to each other so they overlap slightly.  With the hobby drill, drill a hole in the top corner where the two hearts overlap and also at the bottom of the hearts.  These holes will be used to string the hearts onto the netting/tulle and to connect everything together.  Remember to drill holes at the centre top and bottom of the canvas.
  4.  Use decoupage glue, to glue the paper to the various painted wooden blanks.  Ensure that you have removed any air bubbles from under the paper.  You can use a rubber roller to help remove the air bubbles and excess glue.
  5. Cut a 10cm piece tulle.  Use the beading needle to thread the tulle through the holes drilled in the hearts.  Tie the ends together.  This loop will be used to hang the wall art.  Thread a 15cm piece of tulle through the bottom hole of the heart and make a knot at the back this will prevent it from pulling loose from the heart and thread 1 x black bead and 1 x transparent bead.  Proceed to thread the tulle through the top hole in the canvas.  Leave a very small space between the beads and the edge of the canvas, now tie a knot.  Cut 3 pieces of tulle: 10 x 20cm, 10 x 15cm, 10 x 10cm.  Stack it on top of each other and tie a knot with it in the small space you left between the frame and the beads.
  6. Fluff the bow.  Use tulle in the same manner to hook up the last heart at the centre bottom hole of the canvas and thread a transparent bead.  Tie a black ribbon around the net between the heart and the bead.  Use some left over tulle to make a similar bow between the bead and the heart.  Fluff the bow.
  7. Glue the word “home” onto the canvas and arrange the little red hearts onto the scrapbook paper.  Use craft glue for this.

*How to make your own beading needle:

Take craft wire (0.4 gauge).  Cut 10-15cm, fold the wire around a pen and twist the ends together making a round loop.  Remove the pen revealing a flexible and sturdy beading needle, now you have an eye big enough for the tulle.  The eye will collapse as soon as you thread a bead,  just re-open it with the pen when you need to thread another piece of tulle.