Tricks of the Trade

[Ransom]

Thought it would be nice to have a thread where we could all share tips, finds, and, like in the title, accidents that turned out to be kinda kewl.

In the sketchbook thread, Patrick described how he saw the reflection of leaves on a cloth, digi-photoed it, then turned it into paper for a Mother's Day card.

I mentioned how I scan my favorite scrapbook papers, so I can use them over and over again. This works really well for papers that have a design on both sides. Actually, I scan all kinds of things to use in my artwork. For example, pages from calenders that have old maps on them, or astronomical charts, and all four sides of an old Chinese tea tin, among many others. All of which I've used in the journal rounds and PTCs.

So, what little things have you discovered that work really well? Tricks of your trade that you'd like to pass on? This could include things you've scored at, say, Walmart or Michael's, that you can alert everyone to — or just brag about.

[gunner Gordon]

I like the look of homespun cloth or linen, but don't want to handstitch all of it, I have an old new home machine that won;t die so i tried to get a hand stitched sailor look by setting the zig zag to it's least width and the stich length to it's longest, on my machine that produced a mildly erratic hand sewn look.

[Ransom]

I needed to paint the lock on my flintlock cap pistol in gold (it's for my airship pyrate garb). I didn't want to spray paint it, because I was afraid it would gum up the works. Solution? The Krylon Short Cuts Paint Pen. It worked like a charm. The gold color looks really good, and the pen is wedge-shaped, so you can do wide areas or use the thin edge for tight spots. It would also work nicely in the sketchbooks or the PTCs.

[Pew]

I know I'm always looking for new or different designs, mostly for background or filler around a picture or object. Sounds simple but since I'm not a freehand artist, I use tracing paper to 'pirate' designs, pictures, etc. Especially when I need intricate designs that can't be cut from their original source.

Also, whenever we travel I grab a few of those brochures you always see outside the hotel lobby for ideas or even to cut out some of the appropriate pictures/ drawing for the sketchbooks. I guess we're lucky enough to live in a predominately colonial historic area....