Hand painted pots

 My little pots that I use for my crochet cacti have gone through a few developments since I first started using them. I originally started painting them using a bronze metallic acrylic paint which I sealed using a yacht varnish. Although I really liked the result i didn’t like the amount of time it took for the paint and varnish to dry. It needed a couple of layers (at least) and there needed to be a few hours in between as otherwise the paint wanted to try and peel back off again. The varnish as well would take at least a day before it was really dry. 

To do that method back then I really needed to have multiple pots on the go so that by the time the last one was painted it was time to start on the first one again. However, back then I wasn’t making the number of cacti that I am now. I wanted to experiment with different colours of pots, especially as my cacti themselves were starting to be made in different colours themselves.

I then discovered paint pens. As most of my pots are quite small in size I could use these to “colour in” my terracotta pots. I tended to work with choosing a colour of wool for the cacti and then the colour to compliment for the pot. Early days of using these paint pens I tended to do them all one colour unlike my more recent iterations where the rim is a different colour. A couple of layers was also adequate and dried really quickly which was essential as I was very limited on time. 

Recently I have been experimenting with patterns as I have loved how I could paint the faces onto the pots to give them a different character. First attempts have been to see if I could give a leopard print effect and then to play around with different colour versions. I have also starting to seal them using a PVA based product with a matt finish which I prefer to the high gloss, although there will be pots that I do add a gloss finish too. 

I am really enjoying playing with patterns and now want to play with the types of cacti that these could house. 

Facebook: @dark kitty crochet

Instagram: @dark_kitty_crochet

Twitter: @darkittycrochet


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interlocking filet afghan

Image
So having finally found the perfect colour blue and being able to get enough of this and the black yarn to complete it I have been busy the last couple of weeks on making my fourth version of the interlocking filet afghan. It has been a very welcome distraction to be working on this in the times that we are going through at the moment in the world. I have always used craft to help with my mental well being and I feel I have never needed them more than I do at the moment. I have always loved maths ever since I was a small child and I think that is one of the reasons I like to crochet. The structure and patterns along with making sure you get the stitch count correct or else the pattern, particularly with interlocking filet, will go wrong and it will be very obvious. Another reason I like to crochet is that it gives your mind something to focus on which helps shut out all the other things that might be going on in your own world. A time to breathe so to speak. This is the fourth vers
Read more

Tinsel squishies

Image
So Christmas is nearly here and I have whilst looking through my yarn stash lots of “tinsel” yarn. I was really hoping nature what to make with it so I thought that I would keep it simple and just make a sphere. Well that was the first mistake I made right there. There is nothing simple about working with this type of yarn. To start f with I used the classic magic circle and thought I would increase from there every other row until I got the diameter I thought would be the perfect size. The problem is, and anyone else who has used this type of yarn can probably relate to is that it is very tricky to see where on earth the stitches are. The first size hook that I picked up was far too small. This is the size hook that I always use for my amigurumi but it proved to be too tricky so I tried the next size up and this again was too small. I repeated the process until I was happy enough to see the stitches and then I was away. I don’t normally use stitch markers but it was essential as wel
Read more

Floral elegance - a mystery CAL in interlocking filet crochet

Image
So, this time last year I was browsing through social media, as you do in the time between Christmas break and going back to work, and came across this new way of crochet. Interlocking filet. I say new, well it was new to me but not to others. I had only ever done what I would call standard crochet to make a blanket. The usual stitches that are just switched up to create a design. Here was something that used the same stitch throughout the pattern but to make the design it depended on whether or not you created the stitch through the front of the gap or behind. I was intrigued and am always on the lookout for ways to expand my crochet knowledge being self taught (apart from being shown how to do a granny square and the basic couple of stitches when small). When I am first learning anything I need to be shown, either in person or by something like you tube. I was so pleased to see that there was samples to make and a you tube video so that I could “see” how it was done. I was really p
Read more