Our friend, Suezu, is having a birthday dinner tonight. She LOVES cute things…think Hello Kitty everything, cartoon sushi pillows, colorful kawaii socks, and you get the idea. My go to for her last few birthdays has been getting her something with Hello Kitty, but I decided to try to do something different (and unfortunately very last minute) this year. She also enjoys the Vietnamese noodle soup, pho, which we try to get at least once a month, and jewelry from craft festivals. And while these things seem to have absolutely nothing in common, I managed to put together all of these interests into one object, with some brain storming help from my husband. A kawaii soup jewelry holder!
Yves had given me an airbrush a while back, so I decided to put it to good use. I first painted the lettering, cheeks and mouths with pink (I added pearlescent pigment…though you can’t see it well here), then I painted the eyes and outlines with black. It took two coats of the black to get good coverage and about 3 coats for the pink.
And this is an example of it being used as a jewelry holder. I’m really happy with how it turned out, and I’m guessing we’ll get a few “squees” of approval tonight . I even managed to finish it with 3 hours left before dinner, so now I can wrap it and relax for a bit!
I’m not sure about the buying either (though they seem to have some good sets at amazon with the compressor, brush and some paints. They are priced anywhere from 80-140 dollars…the kit I have looks a lot like the “Master Airbrush Multi-purpose Gravity Feed Dual-action Airbrush Kit with 6 Foot Hose”). As for the using, they take a little practice, but seem to be relatively easy if you are using with a stencil (or the protective sticker on the proofgrade). The biggest surprise for me, was that you really need a lot of cleaner (you thin out the paint with it, you use it to clean the brush between colors and for the final cleaning of the brush). But you use a lot less paint than you would by brushing, and the paints dry quicker which is a huge plus. If you plan to use lots of colors, I would suggest getting multiple brushes though. I only have one, and doing more than 2 or 3 colors becomes a huge pain.
Using an airbrush for stencil work or spraying over paper mask is relatively easy. Its the cleaning and maintanance that can be a bit more challenging.
I’ve made a few videos but there are loads on youtube.
Depending on what you want to do with them there are several to choose from…from cheap “throw aways” from harbor freight to illustration models that are several hundreds of dollars…
Most of the time I think about reaching for the airbrush, the thought of the cleanup and maintenance makes me stop and reconsider the decision. When it’s just for a small job it feels like the setup and cleanup will take a lot longer than the job itself.
Definitely cute. I’m considering myself lucky I don’t get it. Though I am also lucky I didn’t have a GF when my kids were little. No telling HOW many things would have been made with Barney or the Backstreet Boys… oh how many times in heard about Nick… ha!
. I even managed to finish it with 3 hours left before dinner, so now I can wrap it and relax for a bit!
