Recycled Projects - Promarker Pen holder

When ever I walk into an art shop and see all the great supplies one of the things that I have wanted (needed) is a holder for my pens.  In the past I have dabbled with pro-marker pens and I must do a review on them as they are really great to use.

I have a good supply of them but they were always hidden in my draws and I didn't always make enough use of them because they were out of sight.

They originally came with a set of holders/stands like these - 

but they are not practical for the space that I have taking up too much space on my desk.  I am going to have to find an alternative use for them at some point.

Armed with my new skill for making things out of cardboard and recycling, I decided to make myself one of the stands that I normally see in art supply stores.

I selected the supplies that I had to hand and worked out what I would need.  I ended up using 4 almond milk containers and 4 juice drink containers - obviously you can use the size and dimensions that suit you.

It took a bit of thought to get it to stand the way that would enable me to see the pens clearly while not taking up a lot of space, and I decided to go with the flow and let the final shape evolve rather than being prescriptive as to the look.

I created a section where I could place odd shaped items or pens that I was using at the time on a particular project.  Once I set the intention of what I wanted I began to figure out how it needed to be constructed.  You can literally make so many things out of recycled materials that can be of use around your studio.

I decided to put an additional shelf on the top and then added paper tubes to create a rounded effect on the edges.  It was then covered with paper mache

  I covered it with gesso first then painted it with white paint.  I obtained a great crackling effect using the white household paint

Where I added more paint I got a greater effect.

I then applied gold rub- on in selected places, and then covered it all with pva glue

Here is the side view of the stand with the pens

The top shelf houses the most used pens or the ones that I am using on a particular project.  Because it is made from cardboard it isn't heavy but it is sturdy, which is very important.

Some of the promarker pens came already labeled with the colour at the end, and some didn't so I am in the process of adding the colour stickers at the end of the rest of the pens.

This holder can be designed to fit any sized pen, you just have to decide the length that you require.  All in all I am really pleased, it takes up hardly any room, all the pens are accessible and being made from recycled materials means that it didn't cost a penny apart from the glue and paint....why don't you try it yourself.!

Tutorial Tuesday - A6 Quinoa and Toilet Roll Journal

 Today we focus on the A6 Journal made out of Toilet roll for inner pockets and quinoa for decoration, I showed you on Saturday the journal with lots of pockets for tags, and cards to write on HERE

Because the journal is made pretty much in the same way as the chunky toilet roll journal you can go HERE to get the instructions and what I will show you is how I used the quinoa to decorate the front of the journal.

When you get to this point of making the journal you need to add a larger piece of cardboard covered in your favorite paper, or paint.  You then need to proceed to the next stage with tools that you have in your stash.

So this is what my finished journal looked like.  On the front I used a glue gun to write the words and make the outline around the front and back of the journal. and used a number which had been recycled from scrap paper with paint from other projects.

 Here is a closer look at the glue gun detail.  When applying the glue gun you need to work fast as it dries really quickly.

 These are the tools I used below and will be making a couple a tags but using the same techniques.

 On a couple of pieces of card, stamped and with some hearts punched at the bottom.

 Taking the glue gun on one of the tags I wrote out the word Joy and drew two hearts and on the other one I stuck the number 7 made from recycled paper.

Around the number 7 tag I drew a border around the edge using the  glue gun, and allowed both tags to dry.

Filling the selected spaces with pva glue I got the quinoa ready

 My plain quinoa was passed its' sell by date for consumption, so I thought it would be great to add a bit of texture on some of my pieces.  The one above has a few linseeds in them from an earlier experiment, you can use them in their natural state, or as in the little bags you can colour the quinoa using acrylic paint.

 Pour the quinoa onto the glue and allow to dry.

After they both had dried I used goldfinger metallic paste around the dried glue words and borders and on some of the quinoa in the spaces.

I then attached some ribbon to finish off.

So you can see, we can use the quinoa to add texture within quite a few projects, it is very versatile and holds well once glued.  For a high used journal I would coat the quinoa with an additional layer of pva glue which would seal it.  Looking forward to sharing next weeks recycled project.