How-To's Day: Old Book into Wall Art

For this week's How-To, we are sharing a quick transformation of any hardbound book into an origami-style wall art.  Really all we are doing is folding the pages in interesting ways and hanging it up open-faced.  The creativity is in the steps and rules you decide for moving through the book.  Come up with your own and let us know your methods!

A variety of creative directions you can go!

Below are the steps to create this book's design.

Materials

• Hardbound Book
• Plate Hanger (found at Craft or Home Stores)
• Nail or hook for wall mounting

Plate Hanger supports and stretches the book open

Steps 2-5

 Steps

1. Choose a small book with thick pages, open it to the first page
2. Fold the corners of the 2 pages inward to the spine, leaving a half inch in the center of each page unfolded.  This results in 4 triangle corners.  Keep this corner spacing consistent as you continue.
3. Choose two diagonal corners to remain folded inward and leave the rest creased, but open.
4. Join the two pages together.  They should fit flat with the corners flaring out.  
5. Fold the next 3 pages in half inward to the spine.  This will create thickness at the base so the design won't get smashed together.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 until the last page.
7. Hang the book up with a plate hanger attached to the back.

Enjoy the process.  You don't have to follow these steps, come up with new patterns of repetition! 
Check back every Tuesday for the How-To's Day demo to upcycle used items around your home.


--Kevin Sears

CRAFTED - Update on Wall Treatments (Day 2)

Today will be my third day down to San Pedro to work on our market stall walls for our upcoming store at CRAFTED. It has been hard work these past two days and I am very anxious for everything to start coming together. One thing that has taken me the longest is prepping the walls so that I have the best surface for painting. The wood on the walls have knots all over as well as some of the sections of the wood is gashed and gnarled up.  If you paint the wood without filling up these imperfections the dimpling in the walls is very noticeable through the paint unfortunately.

  

Here is the two main walls. Top: Close-up on texture. Bottom: Covered in wood filler.

I did however complete the staining of the two smaller walls that will be behind the cash wrap yesterday, YAY!

Top: Sanded and prepped walls. Bottom: Wall stained with 1 heavy coat of gel stain.

Today I will only be putting in a half day down at the port so that I can get some neglected work done at home. Beforehand I will celebrate my hard work with Sharon by checking out the unveiling of the *NEW* Expo Line Culver City Station which opens today. All the rides are FREE today in celebration, departing from the Culver City Station beginning at Noon! I'll share news of the fun, and will be tweeting away as we check out the opening. 


Hope y'all have a super day!!!
XOXO, KC

Unique Find: Christina Tonges Korn

 Amazing paintings from Christina Tonges Korn:

Kevin and I have been curating an accent wall in our living room with art covering the whole wall. We have a loft  upstairs off the living room that houses my studio so the wall is quite substantial. We still have a few spaces left to fill in to make the wall complete - and I am always on the hunt for some artwork to finish up the collection so I can finally show it off! 

The range of subjects in the art vary. We radiate to city life, favorite movies, and I always melt for a good owl.  Long before owls were "the big thing" I have been obsessed with them because my grandma collects owls. There are so many different types of owls that look so different but all of them look wise and inquisitive, which I really like. Well, my obsession with these beautiful creatures may be taking over the theme of the wall some, and Kevin has strongly encouraged no more owls coming home with us.

When this "mama" owl and I locked eyes as I walked past Christina's booth at Unique LA I had to have it!! I begged and bargained with Kevin and was able to secure her a new home with us :) She is so beautiful and the details painted in her is so dimensional that I feel like she could fly right off the wood and into our living room! I am so happy to have met Christina and score this awesome wall art. Maybe next-go-round I will get a coyote or a  cat - she has a wicked awesome desert series.

XOXO, KC

Quick Wall Art @CRAFTEDport_LA

Added some new art to our display wall leading upstairs to my studio-

Howdy Y'all! It is so crazy living somewhere "without weather" because it seems like the most basic fluctuations in the weather wreck some sort of havoc here in Los Angeles. Coming from the south with hurricanes and thunderstorms you wouldn't think that some light rain and wind would derail your life- but it does in LA!  This morning I had to shake things up and rethink my day after waking up to no internet or phone (Yes, we do still have a landline) and all of the work on my plate involved a computer. It was my initial reaction to pout & pitch a fit, but now that it is back on I am actually kinda glad to have to shake things up.

I have had an empty frame where the glass top was broken but still great for framing a wide variety of things sitting in my to-dos. Since I found myself switching up my plans I decided to put it to good use while I had some time on my hands. When we were at the Mini Maker Faire helping with the CRAFTED at the Port of Los Angeles booth the tables were covered in paper and Alison encouraged people to come "Make Your Mark" with stamps and other marking tools. (as seen on the right)

After the Mini Maker Faire I toted the paper from the table back home with me with the intention of upcycling it into a fun project.

Close up of the great detail everyone put on the paper when making their mark-







By simply cropping a section of the paper that had the best detailing and placing it in the frame I created an instant keepsake that captures & memorializes all the fun we had at the Mini Maker Faire.

There is still a ton of the paper left which is really helpful because while I am spearheading some of my responsibilities for the vendor outreach with CRAFTED I can work in the leftovers giving it that extra personal touch :) Even leftovers can be usable materials if you just look at thinks creatively! 
XOXO, KC

How-To's Day: Make a KEY piece of Art- Sunprints

Did y'all get the clues yesterday to figure out what the project was today? SUNPRINTS! I had so much fun soaking up some vitamin D and making some amazing graphic pieces for our living room.  Usually people like to do ferns and leaves on Sunprints, which comes out really cool. There are endless possibilities for this medium to create some awesome pictures that are not just your average fern prints- Check out the Flickr Sunprint Community Here. 

*New* Embroidery Wall Hanging

All week we have been cleaning and prepping for our parents visit :) I can't believe my Dad comes in this weekend!!!

It is super great to gear up everything for EQUINOX that we went to on Sunday.  It was perfect timing to get everything in its "home" and organize some.  The best part about gearing up for my surgery and our parents coming is checking off things in our to-do list off :)  How great is that, right?!?! My favorite feeling ever is getting things done! 


This picture I wish I had snapped some before and after shots, but alas- none.  I found this frame at Goodwill and spray painted it my favorite color blue.  During the process of going threw some of my "keeper boxes" from college is I found some old projects mostly done but not finished.  My worst, worst trait is for years I started projects and I would leave them unfinished.  I dunno what my hang-up was, but I would get to the last steps and never pull the trigger.  I feel like recently I have been liberated within my process and I don't second guess anymore... I just plan and commit.