Tips and Hints for Tuesday!

• Dip your brush in refrigerated distilled water when floating your shading and highlighting. Your floats will go farther and be much smoother than they would be with tap water.
• Use toothpicks for applying fine details, making tiny dots, or applying color in hard-to-reach areas of your project.
• Keep the card-holder stand that comes with flower arrangements. When painting from a photo, insert the photo in the card holder and place the holder in your brush jar. This not only keeps your picture at eye level but also keeps it from getting messy with paint.
• Ever been in doubt about how a certain color or stroke will look on your painting? Place a piece of clear acetate over the painting, then apply the stroke or color to the acetate. Voilà! It’s just like having a crystal ball.
• When setting up your painting space, keep a bar of soap on top of a paper towel, next to your water container, for washing out your brushes as you finish using them. This saves you many trips to the sink, plus it keeps brushes clean and helps you avoid paint buildup.

These tips were from the June newsletter of the Society of Decorative Painters.  An organization that many painters from the OFG Team belong too.

Tips and Hints from a Multi-Talented Artist

Jody of Sweet Bear Creek Whims has been crafting for many years and has a list of Tips and Hints for all crafters.

Here is a sampling:

1: Prevent thread from tangling- Run a threaded needle through a sheet of Bounce to eliminate the static cling on the thread.

2: Do you ever wonder how an artist will get such fine painted detail on a piece? They own a magnifying head piece. Yes, you do look like an alien from another planet, but it is a must when painting fine details such as eyes, eyelashes and more. The magnifyer fits right on your head, can be tightened and bring the item right up close! I wouldn't be without one... There are times when you may be caught by company or the UPS man unexpectidly with this thing on, yes it is a bit embarrassing!! 

3: My absolute most favorite sculpting tool ever are the Forsline And Starr Shapers, I do not know what I would do without them! They are perfect tools for so many sculpting applications...JMHO 

4: Stuffing is an art, not always easy to get a nice smooth job done, but with practice it does come! My must have tool for this is the Barbara Willis stuffing tools, this makes the job way easier! 

5: I am a glue fan, have glue for every application, I have tried them all and the winners are: Gripp, Fabri Tac and Beacon clear glue and E6000, these can always be found in my craft room.

Thank you Jody for sharing a few of your tips here. 

Jody can be found here:

http://sweetbearcreekwhims.blogspot.com

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetBearCreekWhims