Of Geeks and Goals...

Need something unique for your special little (or big) ones?

These Superhero names were a lot of work, but sooo worth it! My whole family is into superheroes (excluding me, of course). I made "Mason" for a friend who was having her first baby and she was decorating the nursery with superheroes.

Mason

Let me tell you, I learned more about superheroes than I ever thought possible! You have to know your audience, right? I didn't know what the difference was between Marvel and DC comics. Yes! There is a difference! I was told by Hubby in no uncertain terms could I mix heroes from both "worlds." This led to research on who came from what "universe." 

Britton (Marvel Universe)

You absolutely cannot put Hulk with, say, Batman. BIG no no. Iron Man with

Superman? Fuh-get-about-it. Thor and Aquaman? You're kidding, right?

Madsen (DC Universe)

What if your little (or big) ones aren't nerds or geeks? What if they are into sports? I hear lots of people are these days.

Ethan

Or how about:

Jaxon

These must be easier to create, right? Wrong! I know nothing about sports either! But, I love how these turned out. 

Just don't ask me how to get a touchdown in basketball...

Shading...

I don't have a tutorial for this creation...yet. This was my first attempt at shading with wood stain, and I really didn't know how it would turn out. Or how I would finish it. Or if I would do it again.

I've been drooling over some gorgeous flower table tops done with stain. They are so beautiful! I don't pretend to be an artist, but I'm willing to try something at least once. I knew I needed to test my ability on something smaller than a table, however.

My super sweet aunt asked me to come up with something for her dinning room. She told me it needed to be the size of an open calendar and have the colors of rust and tan. Okay...That leaves the field of ideas WIDE open! 

Enter: wood stain flower art! I cut some wood scraps to about 17" long. I laid 3 side by side, which came out to close to 11". That's about the size of a calendar, right? I lightly painted the wood with rust colored paint. I knew I wanted some of the natural wood to show. 

Next, I stared looked at a picture of a dahlia. It looked simple, but I didn't want to mess it up! I free-handed the petals and got out my stain. I used a very small sponge brush to apply the stain. Next time, I will use a detail bristle brush for better control to paint the stain. That, and a different type of wood.

This process is time consuming, but hey, I happen to love the smell of wood stain. Like, if it tasted as good as it smells, I would probably try to drink it. I know. I'm strange, weird, crazy, etc. Yes, I know it's not good for you to inhale. No, I don't "huff" the stuff. I just really enjoy using stain. 

(Side-note: if someone really smart could pretty please develop air freshener or perfume that is non-toxic and smells like wood stain, I would be so very grateful!)

Anyhoo, once the stain was good and dry, I painted the petal outlines with a sand color paint. I also added more rust color to the base of the petals to give them depth. 

I cut some 1 x 2"s to frame up the finished art and stained them. After the framing was done, it still didn't look right, so I lightly sanded the edges for that ever popular "worn" look. 

It still didn't look done, so I looked through my treasure box and found some corner protectors. That's what was missing. Perfect! 

Sooo... it looks more like a chrysanthemum than a dahlia, but that's okay. It looks like a flower, which was the point. FYI, I know it looks like a flower because I asked my kiddos what it was and they responded, "a flower." Score!

I kinda' like it. More importantly, my aunt liked it! I will definitely be making more of these types of wood art. The possibilities are endless!  

A Quandry...

So, I have a bit of a problem. I have been making certain wood creations for a while now, and I think I have been calling them the wrong name. Not unlike when you want the attention of one child and end up saying the names of all their siblings first. "Hey, Brayden, Chase, Faith, I mean Lilly!"

Side story: my father-in-law had 3 boys and struggled with calling them by their names. Just to cover his bases, he would call out, "Ryan, Scott, Kelly, Mary, Ellen, Jane!"

Well, I have been using the wrong name to describe a type of art. The object looks like this:

This is what I have been calling "3D" art. Many times. For several years. Written down. On price tags.

"3D" Tree

It recently occurred to me that it might not be correct!

I really want to name my babies wood creations the right name. If you spend a lot of time creating something, it deserves the right name. I didn't spend 9 (8, really) months creating my first born child only to look at him and say, "I shall call him Dexter." Nope. He was definitely a "Brayden!"

So, I Googled it, and ya' know what? It's hard to google the word for something when you don't know what word to google! What is the correct name? I don't know. I searched and asked Hubby what he thought. Here are some of their ideas:

A relief is a sculptural technique where the sculpted elements remain attached to a solid background of the same material. (source)

"Relief" Home Sweet Home?

A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. (source)

"Shadow" Home Sweet Home?

Intaglio, in sculpture, engraving or incised figure in stone or other hard material such that all lines appear below the surface; it is thus the opposite of relief sculpture and is sometimes called “hollow relief.” (source)

"Intaglio" Love at Home?

None of these sound like the right fit. How 'bout the definition for "3D" art?

Three-dimensional definition, having, or seeming to have, the dimension of depth as well as width and height. (source) 

Huh. Maybe "3D" does work. What do you think?

"3D" Love at Home