The Colloid Base

December 21, 2009

Blank Canvas: from Holiday Snaps to Your Artwork

Prints on canvas have become the new art craze over the last few years, mostly due to A0 printers, cheap stretcher bars and canvas and a perennial craving for folk to express themselves in an individual way.

Now you can go to a print shop with your camera, and a short time later stroll out with a canvas of one of your photos. There’s no end to the possibilities regarding what you can grace your living space with : holiday photos, family photos, your own artwork represented as a canvas print, other artist’s works, street scenes, graffiti prints, nature scenes, famous landmarks etc. In a nutshell, it’s possible to determine what you wish on the canvas itself these days, rather than just be limited to a set amount of canvas prints.

So is it possible to create these yourself? That’s not really the case, not if you want a decent canvas decorating your living space. You’re better off going to a dedicated canvas shop - who will have the best canvas, the best stretcher bars, should be skilled in clipping and stretching canvas, and have top-quality software and printers to make it happen. Not only that, they have the experience to know how to tweak your own photos in order to produce the best result on the canvas.

Numerous print shops sell their canvases and canvas service online. Just type in some keywords into a search engine e.g. canvas prints and you’ll find a great many sellers where it’s possible to purchase these types of prints from.

Filed under: Galleries — Admin @ 10:44 pm

October 15, 2009

A Look at Scrapbooking Ribbons and Bows, Embellishments and Other Materials

Like all artwork undertakings, there aren’t any fixed formulas for scrapbooking (that’s the wonderful thing about making a scrapbook!). Even so, if you are a total newbie, being conscious of some common guidelines is helpful:-

Consider the theme of your scrapbook. The theme should influence the presentation and style of the scrapbook. For Instance, if you are creating an album to celebrate a wedding or the birth of a child, then you should pick out papers, embellishments and colours that present one coherent style in relation to that subject.

Now that a theme has been chosen, think about the cloths, fabrics, and papers you wish to apply. For instance, you may want to use scrapbooking ribbons and bows in the scrapbooking projects.

A neat tip to determining the topic of your page is to entitle it. Utilize die cut letters or stickers to spell out the title, or even use a computer and print out the title.

If you’re writing a small journal on the page, write it out on some scrap paper first to make sure the wording is correct.

There’s no fixed regulation about the number of photos to use on any one page, but they ought to have some kind of link to your theme. Select a potpourri of photos that you can apply as you design the page.

The most important aspect is you enjoy the process of making your scrapbook. Making a scrapbook is a pasttime that many individuals love doing and you will find there’s a huge online community willing to share their points and help you in your scrapbooking endeavours.

Filed under: Galleries — Admin @ 9:20 pm

October 10, 2009

Some Lucca Festivals that Can Add Joy to Your Vacation in Italy

If you want a city that offers you a little bit of everything, visit Lucca. When going to central Italy, try the Tuscany area, and you will find Lucca. Located on river Serchio in the Province of Lucca, it has extravagantly rich soil for growing diverse plants and foods. The town has many celebrations and holidays which makes it simple to see how important Lucca Festivals are to their community. You will find Luccan culture well represented in the Lucca Comics and Games, which is held once a year. The areas artists come out of the woodwork, whether or not they are well-known or undiscovered, and the genus of comics, as well as other forms of art, are celebrated.

The Nazionale di Palazo Mansi is just one of the various museums one can visit in Lucca. The museum is filled with bits of Luccan culture, dating all the way back to the 16th century. Well-known artists whose works can be viewed in the museum include Agnolo Bronzino, Domenico Beccafumi, and Correggio. Bronzino may be most celebrated for creating several adaptations of the Cosimo picture, while Correggio is known for the painting of Madonna. This museum offers the best opportunity for any art lover to make contact with Italian artistry and thru possessing a deeper appreciation of the country and its residents. After a visit to the Nazionale di Palazo Mansi, one is certain to come away with a bigger knowledge and love of Italian culture ; and all this info can help to excite great conversation in group settings. For all of those who would like to get a taste of what this phenomenal place has to supply, it is open five days every week to the public.

Of course, the churches of Saint Giovanni and Saint Martino also boast some astoundingly wonderful paintings. Even the church buildings are monuments unto themselves simply due to the period of time they have existed, the people and events they have seen during these many years. Because weddings, baptisms, and funerals play such an important part in the final culture of Lucca, many residents love these buildings for the memories they house. These churches are also the home to a wonderful quantity of design, showing pieces like Trono by Ghirlandaio, and Tintoretto’s Last Summer, that give viewers a taste of Italy’s artwork.

Filed under: Galleries, History Hall, Travel Hub — Admin @ 6:05 am

June 11, 2008

Discover the Stimulation of the City’s Popular Museums

The Capital has some of the greatest museums in the entire world in reality it has many hundreds of museums and shows equally big & small. There are loads to pick from even though for clear reasons a few are more suited than others. A few of the accepted London museums to drop in at incorporate the British Museum, Natural History & Science Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Imperial War Museum and the National Maritime Museum.

The British Museum is now open again with a sizeable face lift and is traditionally seen as being the best museum on earth where incredible 3000 year old Egyptian emperors witness a significantly more exciting life after death than they had ever designed. Sited in the Centre of London this is definitely one of the finest museums in London to take the whole family to visit. There are tons of interesting collections and rooms to take in, some of which incorporate the reading room and the most recent African collection, which experts advertise as being the planet’s biggest & finest in terms of number and quality with more than two hundred thousand historical objects.

The Natural History and Science Museums are fitting for either teenagers and adults. The Natural History Museum structure is spectacular any dinosaur devotee beyond a doubt will relish getting lost in the whole history that escorts this unique museum.

The Science Museum is astonishing, and very advanced in relation of when new breakthroughs are revealed. There are a collection of scientists at the museum setting up real research in which you can take part in if you want. There are numerous exhilarating hands on things to do for either youngsters & adults. If you are looking for essential information on London’s Attraction and Museums then visit http://www.timeout.com.

The Victoria & Albert museum which is also more usually known as the V&A is a vast museum overflowing with history. It’s worth an outing just for the cast quarters alone. The museum itself is free to enter and is the planet’s main decorative & arts and design museum. The Imperial War Museum looks a lot at the history of the war rather than its prosecution. Some great demonstrations like that of the “The Blitz” and “The Holocaust” are vastly moving.

Filed under: Galleries — Admin @ 6:07 pm

May 1, 2008

A Decorator Door Hanger

We use them to enter and exit a room on a continual basis. If you want to brighten them a little more, add some extra design to door knobs and doors with this project. Make several and give as gifts.

MATERIALS

* 1 Piece cardboard 7″ x 12-14″ (or smaller, depending on the size and shape you want it to be)

* Craft felt or fabric (plain or holiday print, but not too flimsy)

* Decoupage or craft glue

* Cord trim 14″ long (or the size of the shape outline and 1/4″ - 1/8″ overlap)

* Various decorative items: flat and/or 3-D plastic or wooden shapes, or holiday items and decorations

* Scissors

* Compass or large glass (for drawing a circle)

INSTRUCTIONS

*Note: Measure how large you want the Door Hang to be, based on each door you’re decorating. Be careful to not make it so wide that opening and closing the door becomes awkward because of it. Do not have the edge of it meet the edge of the door; make it at least an inch more narrow than that.

1) Cut and round the top and bottom corner edges of the cardboard piece that you’re using so they’re not pointed but curved.

2) Using a compass or a large glass, etc., draw a circle on the center top area of the cardboard. Be sure to leave at least a 1 inch rim of cardboard framing the cut out portion of the cardboard in order to be able to hang the item on the door knob. Make sure that the circle you’re cutting out will leave a hole large enough to fit over the door knob so it can be slipped on and off easily.

3) Cut out the circle. It won’t be used, but you can save it for a smaller recycling craft project.

4) Place the finished cardboard shape “pattern” on top of the back of the piece of felt or fabric that you’re using. Trace around the edges of the cardboard, making sure to include drawing around the hole that was just cut out.

5) Cut the fabric to fit the exact shape of the cardboard.

6) If using decoupage, work very quickly to paint the decoupage onto the cardboard and place the fabric or felt on top. Press quickly as you smooth the fabric to remove any air bubbles. (THIS DRIES VERY QUICKLY SO TRY AND GET THE FABRIC IN POSITION BEFORE IT DOES!) You can use a mixture of half craft glue and half water instead of the decoupage. Test a small, extra piece of the fabric first though to see if the glue/water mixture seeps through. It takes longer for this to dry, but it also gives you a little more time to get the fabric or felt placed just right on the shape.

7) When it is dry, glue a piece of the cording around the entire edge of the Door Hang to cover the edge of the cardboard. A hot glue gun works best for this, but craft glue can be used. It just takes the craft glue longer to dry. You can also cover the back of the shape in the same way in which you covered the front. If you do this, wait until it is dry as well before gluing on the cording around the edge rim.

8) Finish decorating the front by gluing on the embellishments you’ve chosen.

9) When dry, hang on the door knob and enjoy or wrap as a gift.

Regenia G. Butcher is an author on a site for Creative Writers ( http://www.Writing.Com ). She is also a crafter and is currently working on a “quirky” word reference book. She usually not only sees the glass half full, but rejoices that there IS a glass. You can visit her portfolio at: http://www.sensity.writing.com

Filed under: Galleries — Admin @ 2:34 pm

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