Crafted By Colette

The other week, whilst scrolling through Instagram I came across this post by Megan Weller.

Megan is one of my favourite YouTubers.  She posts lots of videos of art and craft content.  This one looked really fun and easy to do, and I happened to have everything I’d need.

Step 1 – grab a canvas

Step 2 – add a stripe of painters tape

Step 3 – get out your purple mayonnaise

(Spoiler: it’s not mayonnaise.  It’s poster paint – also called tempura paint I believe.  The bottle it came in broke during delivery.)

Step 4 – paint.

Step 5 – paint a squillion layers cos it’s the wrong type of paint to be using.  Get out the heat gun to help dry between layers because you’re impatient.

Step 6 – don’t forget to make a mess and go slightly too far.

Step 7 – peel back tape and realise that the paint seeped through.

Step 8 – pick out some paint pens and swatch to decide what to use.

Step 9 – apply washi tape creating a thick-ish band between the purple and the white.

Step 10 – use paint pen to fill in the thick-ish band

Step 11 – remove washi tape, and realise you still don’t have a nice crisp line.

Step 12 – attempt it by hand, and fail.

Step 13 – give in and get out a ruler.

Step 14 – totally freehand the edges because you’re getting frustrated.

Step 15 – print out a template the right size, and spend a minute or two lining it up.

Step 16 –  realise that it’s too big and that thanks to the thick frame you need to have a smaller image.

Step 17 – print a smaller version and tape into place.

Step 18 – use a pointy tool to punch holes at intervals around the image.

Step 19 – rummage through tub of embroidery floss and dig out the colours you need.

Step 20 – start to sew.

Step 21 – stop to pet interrupting cat.

Step 22 – complete the sewing and admire your wall art.

I really enjoyed doing this.  It was simple, relatively quick.  A nice distraction.  And it creates a really effective result.  I might do another one at some point soon though.  There are a few things I wasn’t happy with.

The poster paint was the wrong paint to use.  It cracked everytime I pushed the needle through.  Next time I might just use paint pens – the dark purple stripe was fine.

I’ll probably use something thinner to punch the holes too, so I can use thinner thread.

Maybe I’ll use a canvas with more space to sew, get more detail in.

But that’s a future project.