Saanich Fair Art Entries

This is one of my most resent works. I created it for entry into the 2d Mixed Media section of the 2012 Saanich Fair. I am proud to say that it earned 3rd place and one of the first pieces of art to place in any of the competitions that I have entered. I even got a few parties interested in it. I should really look at continuing this style (which inspired by a fashion trend known as Steampunk) and see where it takes me.

For this piece, I used print outs of old newspapers as the background, then layered over it tissue paper. Then I painted the white steam with acrylic paint to add a base for the character version of myself. The character version was mainly painted with water colors then edged with black ink. Only the flesh was painted using acrylic. Then the words "of Steam", I penciled in by hand, followed by inking it in with black and silver metallic inks. I also used metallic inks on the rope, parts of clothing, hair and eyes.

My other two art entries are showed below. The drawing of my friends and I enjoying the fair placed 3rd in its category (which sold in the last few hours of the fair!), where as the metallic bird on the hat placed 2nd in the recycled art category. I'm happy with all three and I surely learned what I can improve upon. The drawing and mixed media piece are even sporting my new signature/ logo, which you can see in the blog header.

 

Illusionist's Tools

Today, I decided to photograph some of the tools that magicians may use during their shows as part of this week's photo collection. Since I chose the hat from my Kaito Kid costume to be among the staples of this collection, I decided to use a black spandex and black bristol board as the background materials to really make the objects pop, especially the cards and the hat. Most of the items can be easily identified, but the coins have a special connection to Kaito Kid. That connection is that they are both from Japan. The coins are 1, 10 and 100 yen pieces which I was given to by Japanese tourists and are a small part of the foreign currencies I have collected, thanks to tourists. There is also one playing card that I had purposely placed on top of the hat,also has a connection to Kid. The Ace of Spades also known as the Ace of Swords, represents the start of a journey or battle as well as the champion of duels. And since Kid is always looking forward to being the victor in his mental duels against Kudo Shinichi (the protagonist of Detective Conan), it makes the perfect card to be on top of Kid's hat.

Trick Hat

This hat has a nice place to pull stuff from, but no one will see from where you pulled it from. And best of all, the hat is made to fit your head. I first did the basic part of this hat because I couldn’t find a white top hat for a costume that I was putting together.  I’m not going to lie, it will take a bit of math to build this hat. Items that you will need is:

2 sheets of Craft foam

Bristol board or Cardboard

fabric (optional)

ribbon

tape measure

ruler

pencil & paper

calculator

mirror

math compass

hot glue gun with glue sticks

scissors or an exacto knife

The first thing to do find out the circumference of your head. Take the tape measure and wrap it around your head. The number closest to the end of the tape measure when it reaches back around your head, is your head’s circumference. Best to write down this number and other measurements that you’ll be taking. It will make things easier later on.  Next is to figure out how big of a brim for your hat that you want. Place the end of the tape measure to your forehead and pull the rest out from you head. Looking in a mirror side ways, will help you decide how big of a brim that you want. The final measurement will help you figure out how tall of a hat you want. Place the end of the tape measure on the top of your head and stretch the tape up until you reach the desired height.

Now it’s time for that bit of math. Take the following formula to figure out your head’s radius. This will help you in creating the interior of the hat.

(your head’s circumference ÷ 3.14) ÷ 2 = your head’s radius

The following pictures will help you understand how the measurements will be used.

Radius + extra height = height of hat’s main body

circumference = width of hat’s main body

radius = hat’s top and interior top

radius + extra width = outer edge of brim

Cut out a rectangle of craft foam using the height and width measurements that you just calculated. For me, it took 1 and a bit sheets of craft foam to create the body of my hat. Next cut out a circle with your head’s radius out of craft foam. Down the center, but not quite to either edge, slice a line in the foam. This will allow you to access the hidden compartment that you will create in the hat, but do to shadows in the hat, the audience won’t see it. Next cut out a circle that is the radius plus extra width from bristol board or cardboard for your brim. Remove a hole that is your head’s radius from the center of the brim, to make room for your head. The part that was removed from the brim, now becomes the top part of your hat. 

Take the rectangle and glue the short ends together, forming a tube. Place the tube over the brim, lining up one end of the tube with the interior edge of the brim and glue in place. Take the interior top and place it inside the tube, about an inch or two from the top of the hat and glue in place. Then glue in place your hat’s top. You now have a hidden compartment in your hat, between the interior top and the hat’s top. Now to finish your hat. You can choose to overlay the foam and board with fabric by just using the same measurements for the hat’s top, main body and brim. If you chose coloured foam and bristol board, you may only need to put on a hat band using your choice of ribbon. Have fun with this project.