A Few Make overs

It is Spring, or here almost Summer, we don't really have Spring here. Which means all doggies are having a make over :) I've already done 8 of the 10 and Lulu is so funny, before and after, that I thought to show you :)

Lulu has naturally a mohawk, which I find hilarious. She is a sausage/ terrier mix and both sides you can see in the most fun way.

Her under hair is brown, so once trimmed she has a totally different color.

But where the mohawk was, is now black, creating a wide stripe. We find her adorable each way:)

The other make over are these tables.

They had a very tough varnish on them which took ages to remove and they were crooked and wonky.

After they were stabilized I painted them in white with turquoise.

To match marbled paper I had made during my course this Winter.

They are a set of nesting tables and I painted them to match in a fun way.

I love how they turned out, very beach cottage :) They are available at StarHomeStudio.

And in case you wondered what I did with the remaining of the spoon, I turned it into a very cool keychain.

Tile Patterns

I love the artistry of Morrocan tiles, their shapes and patterns are amazing.

You'll be even more amazed by them when you see how much work they put into creating these tiles, please check the video, you'll never look at these tiles the same way.

Inspired by those tiles I wanted to create a mosaic of some of my Ebru (marbled papers) for our end of year exhibition, if you missed it I've been attending a course these past few months. I spray painted an IKEA box cardboard in gold and then glued my hand cute 'tiles' with Mod Podge. I love how it turned out! I did it in the size to fit an old frame that I found in our attic :)

I made another one which is more inspired by the grandmother's garden quilt pattern but looks a bit like tiles too. I do love the Morrocan tile inspired better but I'm happy with both. I used Ebru pieces of those that had mistakes so I cut from the imperfect ones.

It took way longer than anticipated, like always :) I'll be listing them at the shop after the exhibition.

And continuing the tile vibe, we made this smashing ottoman as well, love the outcome and it actually took less time than the paper mosaics :)

Some cool hair pin legs, MDF wood and a tile patterned fabric with fabric buttons to bring it all together.

It is soft, comfortable and colorful and pretty big with a width of 27 1/2'' (70 cm)! Available at StarHomeStudio.

Colorful Ottoman and more Roundness

This ottoman project was fun. Didn't take ages and I love the result.

The feet needed cleaning, a very thick layer of some strong oil paint was not easy but for a good paint result, it needs to be done. The base is a pre-cut round MDF, which we ordered when we ordered a smaller one for the side table I blogged about a few days ago.

I wanted the feet to match the colorful embroideries we picked out for it.

After painting I varnished them and they got felt to protect both floors and the feet. Each foot got fixed firmly into place with 4 long screws each. I painted the wood black for a smooth finishing.

The embroidery was actually a bit too big for the wood but they just had to be together.

I sewed the sides to the round pieces with a slight rimple to make the top smaller, and the foam filling got a special top with soft filling to give it a soft round belly and to fill up the too large embroidery.

I hand sew a colorful vintage cord for a fun finishing touch.
The side embroideries were originally done on wool but the wool had some moth damage so we cut the flowers out and Mum appliqued them to some new strong upholstery fabric.

The entire ottoman is full of colorful handmade details and it makes me all cheerful, I'm sure it will brighten up any room you put it in.

It is available at StarHomeStudio among many other one of a kind furniture and decor piece.

 And one of the side projects sprouting out of the coffee table was this, I used the too small glass to frame a marble painting.

I put the marbled paper between the glass and a metal sheet covered cardboard and soldered it all together. I also soldered loops for hanging and metal leaves for some extra dimension.

You can find this also at StarHomeStudio.

Fool's Spring

We had about a week of 20 degrees Celsius, which is normal here, actually, we had a very wet and cold Winter for our standards, we kind of missed the Sun which is very unusual here!
As a result daisies popped up everywhere, I love the wildflowers around here. Funny enough we learned to make daisies in our marbled paper course as well.

I will have to perfect them this week, I have the flower part under control, the stems and leaves I still need to work on.

Today it is pretty cold again but the daisies are still in the mountains hanging on, in hope for warmer days :)

I found a video on Youtube, so you get a bit of a better idea how it is done.

Marbling Paper

Like almost every Winter, I've been attending some courses that are arranged by the Ministry of Education and are free of charge (except for the materials that you buy yourself). This Winter I'm continuing my two-year Jewelry course for its second and final year. More interestingly, I have been attending a Marbling Paper course, or as they call it in Turkish, Ebru Sanatı.

Something that is not done much anymore in Europe, but is in Turkey a traditional form of art. While in Europe it was a popular thing to use for handbound books (which in itself has almost disappeared), here there are many motives and techniques and are meant for framing.

I missed a few weeks while we were away but I caught up pretty quickly. It is once a week but takes the entire day as it does take time to settle as you need a lot of stuff for it.

It involves art and science as each layer of paint must be prepared differently so that it can push aside the previous layer.

You also can not work hours on it and need to be pretty swift and transfer your piece on paper right away. The water is of course not only water but contains a special seaweed which gives the water a consistency strong enough to let the paint stay on top instead of sinking.

There are many techniques to marble and create motives. Our course is just a few months so won't be enough to learn all but it is a great start.

The brushes are also traditional and are made of rose branches and horse hair.

"A day without learning is a day wasted. There is so much to learn and so little time to learn it."

— from Wisdom from World Religions by Sir John Templeton