A Boat a Day (no.32)

A Boat a Day no.32
Curve Stitching

Good day!! I began this project officially a month ago, though I will now count the 1st as a new month as it always exists.

Today's boat is a curved stitched / embroidered skeleton ship on card. Sadly I have just packed away my silk threads (...as I am about to begin the arduous process of moving house) so I only had nylon thread to hand. Still it's fun playing with lines.

A Boat a Day (no.31)

A Boat a Day no.31
Fork Attack!

Today's ships is another attack of plastic cutlery and paper plates! I love the effect of fences and windows from the fork tines.

I love the simple art attacks which only exist for as long as it takes to photograph, as already I'm beginning to fill up my living room with boats!

Ok in two days it will be the 1st of the month and you can expect something a little more spectacular. Fingers crossed! :)

A Boat a Day (no.30)

Phew! I'm so full of today's boat.

I had a nice day off from all forms of work today and so I did dinner and made a lovely cake for pudding. Me and Taz had lots of fun planning and constructing this,  chocolate art is cool! I made a lattice out of chocolate cake covering on grease-proof paper after Taz showed me how it was done (apparently sprinkling a light layer of sugar on the paper makes the chocolate bond better.) While Taz had fun with the windows, portholes, flah anchor and teeny tiny fishes!
The mast is just two cinnamon sticks.)

It lasted for all of a minute as cakes usually do in this house and made a bit of a mess...

A Boat a Day (no.29)

A Boat a Day no.29
Lollipop stick rowing boat!

Another day in the pop-up shop today, I entertained myself this morning with some boat building. I felt like I had to do something abit more epic than previous boats this week, and so I have.

After a false start with wood glue, I finally commandeered the gluegun and work was so much quicker!

So here it is, a fishing boat made from lollipop sticks (and cocktail sticks, my new favourite thing!)

A Boat a Day (no.28)

A Boat a Day no.28
Cyber-junk Boat

Well despite the miserable rain today has been a fab day. I have spent my first proper day in the Pop-up shop on Wine Street, I hosted a workshop this morning making paper beads and putting them on memory wire bangles, which was brilliant fun and quite relaxed. I then (while Tam was busy massaging away) made a ship out of the rubbish left on the table. Namely polystyrene cups and cocktail sticks, which I then spray painted silver...
Only when I had done it did I realize spray paint MELTS polystyrene! So this boat is a somewhat Dali-esque cyberboat! (just imagine it's been shot with lasers!)

(also to add to the slightly failed boat I have begun work on a Minecraft boat (having never really played it) It is huge and awesome, with multiple floors, huge masts and rigging, plenty of nooks and crannies, and oh did I mention I poured boiling hot lava all over it and nearly burnt it to the ground!)

A Boat a Day (no.27)

Hello!!

A Boat a Day no.27
Doodled comic strip

It's just a few days away from one whole month and after a prod from a friend I will be doing something special! For now I had work today and so doodled a little comic strip on some tillroll. Touched up a little on the ol' GIMP and here for your amusement!

A Boat a Day (no.26)

Good evening!

A Boat a Day no.26
Cartoon vintage toy boat (with GIMP)

Today I have been enjoying a bit of sofa time, (besides going to work) so I have done a boat today entirely from my computer, lazy I know but I do enjoy a bit of photo-manipulation. And this picture of a vintage toy boat was a bit sad looking so I had some fun with contrast, render's and took some inspiration from pop art to make my cartoon image. :)

A Boat a Day (no.25)

A Boat a Day no.25
Canal Barge in pencil

Drawing today's boat managed to draw me away from the hectic whirlwind that has been this week! Today we opened the shop for our first full day, we had plenty of visitors coming through including my nieces who took me to finally meet my new nephew!

A Boat a Day (no.24)

Good evening!!!! Today has been a long, mental, epic day of awesomness!!!

Our launch was good fun, some lovely faces came in to see our wonderful traders and the transformation of the Looking Glass. I am finally home and settled in jammies and surrounded by my lovely friends who have allowed me to bend them, twist them, and generally order them around to make me a human boat!! I hope you can see it, there is a figure head, a mast and sail a cabin and of course the token pirate!

A Boat a Day (no.23)

A Boat a Day no.23
Wooden puzzle boat

Phew!! I can't believe it's nearly Thursday already, tomorrow we will be throwing open the doors of our pop-up shop to the public, and we are soooo nearly ready. I am excited and exhausted all at once!

So today's boat is a bit of a simple one, tis a wooden puzzle and a broken piece of the box it fits in!!

A Boat a Day (no.22)

A Boat a Day
Piratical sailboat for three big children!

Once again it's been a long day sprucing up the Looking Glass Bristol ready for the pop-up shop on Thursday! Not only that but my mum is in Bristol dangling on tenterhooks while my sister has gone into labour, she has been banished to my house until baby arrives, but is unable to sit still!

In an effort to keep her sane I roped her and Taz into helping me with today's ship, we basically just turned into kids, pulled my living room apart and dressed up as pirates! Good fun!

As you can see Tormund Giantsbane reached the treasure chest first, but Taz is preparing to harpoon him!

A Boat a Day (no.21)

A Boat a Day no.21
Doodle Boat

I'll be honest, I nearly forgot about boats entirely today, it's been a made one with plenty of ups and downs...but here it is, the first of many Doodle Boats! 

A Boat a Day (no.20)

A Boat a Day no.20
Key Attack!

A skeleton boat of keys! This is the best attack so far just because the keys were heavy enough not to move at every touch, or when a cat lands on it, so nice and simple for me!

A Boat a Day (no.19)

Good morning!

A Boat a Day no.19
Lego Boat!

I am having a much needed break today (well, before I go to work later that is). Yesterday was many hours of hardcore scrubbing and polishing, and not a little grim. But the Looking Glass feels and smells much fresher, another blitz and it will be spick and span, ready for our Pop-up shop!

Anyway I made this boat last night (so please forgive me) from a bountiful collection of Lego my friend owns. I love lego.

It's a sci-fi propellor powered boat! I think the little man is even Darth!

A Boat a Day (no,.18)

A Boat a Day no.18
Nail Boats!

Boats on Nails! They're a bit squiffy, I'm not so good at painting with nail varnish at odd angles. Thanks to Taz who let me torment her with false nails for a little while...

Off to scrub the Looking Glass now ready for next weeks pop-up shop!

A Boat a Day (no.17)

Hello!!

A Ship a Day no.17
Sugar Attack!

Well today I have been out flyering and collecting the key for my pop-up shop next week! I'm so very excited, and just a little fluttery in the tummy. The rain was not on my side! So I stopped for tea and made this with the help of my friend out of the salt and sugar packets!

A Boat a Day (no.16)

A Boat a Day no.16
A viking longboat

A viking longboat with movable rudder and oars, an ocean worthy ship made from rubbish!
The base is a juice carton cut in half, the mast and boons - a straw and skewers, the sail is a brown paper bag, and it's all held together with masking tape and string! Wonderfully simple, here are the original instructions in case you have the urge to make your own (or are finding projects to do with the kids over summer!)

A Boat a Day (no.15)

A Boat a Day no.15
cut into a magazine...

Good evening! I have had a fun day of painting bookshelves for the Bazaar Inspirations pop-up boutique next week. I was going to do something entirely different for todays boat, (in fact I did make something different but I didn't like it, so I'll try again another day.) Instead I cut this boat into a magazine, I only got through half of it before my wrist got tired but I think it was thick enough...

A Boat a Day (no.14)

A Boat a Day no.14
Paper Quilled sail boat

While rummaging around in my paper box I found a paper quilling set I've never used! So I decided to have a go at making a boat, it's a bit abstract! This dinky sailboat is the length of my thumb...

I'm still not convinced with the paper quilling, but it was fun for a little while.

A Boat a Day (no.13)

A Boat a Day no.13
Pen Attack

Wow that was a well needed thunderstorm this morning, I feel nice and refreshed!

Today's boat is another attack, an attack of pens (and other stationary)!! I even found a fishy sharpener and duck eraser to finish it off. This was quite a challenge just because my kitten thinks pens are his to play with! He kept stealing the mast...

A Boat a Day (no.12)

A Boat a Day no.12
Jenga Ferry

Good day to you!

It is once again lovely and sunny and by all rights I should be at the park drinking cider or apple juice with all my friends who have a weekend! Yet woefully I must go to work instead. :(
Today I built a "tour ferry" from Jenga! (among other things!)

A Boat a Day (no.11)

Good Afternoon!

A Ship a Day no.11
Wax and Oil scaping

Today I played with a technique I used to love as a kid, wax and oil scraping. You start with wax crayons, (they are best though pencil crayons work too) I just started with blue and white stripes and the odd yellow circle, in true nautical fashion, make sure its really thickly applied and quite waxy. Then you use oil pastels (or a concoction of poster paint and washing up liquid) and cover your base colours, once again apply thickly, I went over with silver first and then black, with a few hatched layers to avoid smearing the previous layers. Try to cover all of the under-layer so you have a nice stark surface to scratch into.

I used a scraper I have stashed away from one of those foil images which has a nice edge and can make thin and thick lines depending on the angle. The oil pastel should come off smoothly revealing the wax crayon beneath. As you can see I didn't colour the white lines and the silver has taken to the paper in places.
Some of your colour will come off, which is why the thicker it goes on the better it will shine through!

I love this method, it's so simple and you can get some really cool effects, I'm sure you can even use textures to impress on the surface. Lace would be really cool! (I may have to try that.)

Anyway today's ship!

A Boat a Day (no.10)

A Boat a Day no.10
 cut out, rainbow window hanging

No. 10  cut out, rainbow window hanging...

This boat was nice and easy today, in fact I had pretty much finished it before anyone woke up. I managed to use up some black card and old sweet wrappers I had been clutching on to for a few years!
I layered the sweet wrappers to get a few extra colours so it's all pretty rainbow colours! It was even a lovely sunny day to test it out properly. Think this is going to live on the window in my studio.

A Boat a Day (no.9)

Good Afternoon!

A Boat a Day no.9
Cog "Macaroni" Art

Today's boat was inspired by the charity shop window I had to drag myself away from yesterday. I think my creative soul mate must have just moved house or something as not only was there an awesome wooden model of a ship, and a miniature picture of a steam train made up of cogs but there was also a foil image of an antique map!! (I think I might have to go back and grab it if it's still there, I am totally in love!)
So I got home and began gluing the last of my cogs to some cartridge paper. Once again Taz joined in and last night we made a number of "Macaroni Cog Pictures!" Today I have mostly just concentrated on this one, my Pirate Airship! This is the new logo for Moon and Magic too, so part of me wants to keep this one, but no! Be strong Luna!

A Boat a Day (no.8)

Boat no.8
8 Origami Sampan's

As today is day 8 I made 8 origami sampan boats and sailed them in my back garden! Taz (my sister) joined in the making and the sailing which was great and a little more exciting.

I'm not sure where the eighth ship is but it's there! :)

A Boat a Day (no.7)

A Boat a Day no. 7
H.M.S Pennywhale

Another random depiction of a boat made from coins! It is a bit stumpy, though perhaps it is in mid turn. There is an assortment of English shrapnel, old and foreign coins from a collection I have had since my childhood. I think this is the first time they have come out of the jar in about a decade!!!

A Boat a Day (no.6)

A Boat a Day no.6
A Catboat!

Today I made an adventure playground for my cat, it is a boat! I made this before I went to work this afternoon, and since then he has only disembarked the catboat for snacks and toilet breaks!

The ultimate Catboat, complete with scratchMast, Captain's tunnel, climbing frame, sail, forebasket, below deck and many jangling balls!

A Boat a Day (no. 5)

Good evening!

I have spent many hours on today's boat, in truth I started it yesterday thinking it would just take an hour or so....7 hours later I have finally made and tested my Mechanical Paper Sailboat!!

I fear my photos and video do little to show just how much work went into it. 

I found this little kit in the museum gift shop the other day, and of course, I had to have it for my project. I had not expected it to be so complex, but after the first three hours I had just the base and mechanism for the crank. I have to say if it wasn't for my cute little rotary blade scalpel I think I would have given up. Even for my stitching, weaving and typing fingers this was tricky! I can't imagine how my sister is going to get along with her mechanical Samurai and two young girls. but I still think it was worth all the work. What do you think?

A Boat a Day (no.4)

A Boat a Day no.4 Towel Art Attack!

It's late and technically Saturday but I'm still awake so it count's! This is my first attempt at an "art attack" so don't laugh...please, I plan on doing a lot of these and I'm sure they will get better. I've decided this even has a bit of a setting, as the dark stone gives the impression of a heavy storm. It's been arranged from towels, cotton buds and tea lights, basically all the things I could find in my bathroom. 

Not the exciting ship I promised but that is a little more technical than I originally anticipated, so will have to wait until tomorrow. 

Dream sweet...

A Boat a Day (no. 3)

Boat a Day no.3 Ironbridge Coracle from Gloucester Folk Museum

Today's boat is a photograph of a coracle I found in Gloucester Folk Museum. With the help of my nieces and sister we found a number of boats and ships today, but the coracle is my favourite.

I have returned to my home-port for a few days, it's been a long time and everything seems to have changed! I did the tourist trip to two museums which have been transformed since my childhood. We went to the City Museum first where they had really explored Gloucester's Roman heritage in an interactive display with costumes you can try on, audio-points and reconstructions of old ovens and various machinery.
Upstairs, which had always been a bit drab before had much of the same exhibit's except now as I walked through cabinets of skeleton clocks and grandfather clock's I was in Steampunk Heaven! But it got better with the automota exhibition. Fantastic!

Another ship at the Folk Museum,
just because it's cool!

The Folk Museum was much as it had been but better, I always loved it as a child, they have Victorian classrooms and a mock shoe-shop, which are still there, in a building fit for the task. And there was a whole room full of boat's and giant salmon traps!

Oh and I have something quite exciting to make tomorrow...
:)

A Boat a Day (no. 2)

Ship of the day: Stitched from scraps

Today's ship is a squishy soft pillow, it was meant to be a soft toy, but it's a bit floppy. I was inspired by the red and white striped toweling which I've been wanting to use for ages, the sails are made from blue and yellow fleece and the port holes have a small amount of shiny silver inside.
 

I might give this to my sister who is due to have a baby soon, though my cat is rather attached to it. I should probably not keep all the ships I make over the next year, or I'll be over run by boats! I think part of the plan here for me is to try and use up the odd bits and pieces in my studio.


While bumbling along the internet last night I found an instructable for Building a Ship in a Bottle! It looks amazing, but a little bit pro for me, perhaps I can gather all the things I need over the next few months while I learn a bit more about ships in general.