Daisy bento box

Recycling again. This time, a bento box - a gift from my friend Emily who asked that I please don't return it to her!

So, I've painted it for a friend I am planning to visit next month, and it will be filled with my sugee (semolina) cake. This friend is someone I've known for almost two years or so now, but we've only ever written to each other, or spoken over the phone. We'll be meeting for the first time next month, and I hope she'll like her present.

The design is not my own - it is Ros Singleton's and you can find it on her blog. It is so simple, really - and because daisies are one of my favourite flowers (and so easy to get all wrong), I have been in love with this design for the longest time.

I don't use a pattern. I just look at her design, and then paint it freehand.

I've only just finished  the box. I'll need to double-coat it with topcoat, and then leave it to cure/dry.

I didn't use any special paint - just ordinary acrylics, which may not prove the best choice, but I've been having problems with painting plastics, so I think I'll just topcoat this and tell my friend not to wash it too often. And, certainly not in a dishwasher. The topcoat will keep it safe: fingers crossed ;)

The bento box is made of shiny, black plastic. Does NOT photograph well :(

 See that little sprig of forget-me-nots on the bottom? That's there because my basket was a little off: tilted to one side. I added the flowers to hide it. Shhhhhhh...!

Two views of the sides of the box:

I painted a small motive all around the four corners.

A lazy susan

... of one-stroke roses, rose-buds, make-believe flowers and forget-me-nots.

Sitting on my kitchen table... it measures about 15 inches/39 cm across - so,
it's one of the larger projects I've painted.

Shot taken in the evening, with the lights on

... and in natural light

above and below: the requisite close-ups

The background is sprayed-on blackboard paint. I've not painted on the topcoat yet - because it has a light gloss, and the light bounces off it and messes up my shots.

Framed!

This is the first time I attempted painting something along with a frame for it as well.

Here are some roses I painted . . .

. . . and when I'd finished, I used the colours left on the palette to add little bits of interest on the frame.

You can see the deep red on the left corner; it's also on the upper right corner.
I also put some green on the the bottom right, and on it's diagonally opposite corner.
This way, I hoped to pull the whole thing together.

The whole caboodle is finished with two coats of Mod Podge, which gives it a nice soft sheen, and protects the surfaces as well. 

Still wet: My 'new' daisy shopping bag!

All of last year, I carried this bag to French class. It said: People r us: Back to nature - and it was a gift from my blogger-buddy and dear friend Ee Lynn. After a year of to-ing and fro-ing from class, it was looking kinda dirty, so into the wash it went. I switched to another bag, and didn't go back to it.

Yesterday, I decided that I'd paint it. I wish I'd taken a picture of the 'before' of the bag, but I didn't. Sorry. Here is the 'after':

Drying on the door of my room

Still wet :(

The requisite close-up of everything I paint ;)

Note to self: Iron the damn fabric before you paint, k. It'll make things soooooo much simpler. Sigh.

More old bottles

From a Johnny Walker, to a small Jack Daniel, to a soy sauce bottle, and an emptied mustard bottle: they're all here :)

... pansies and forget-me-nots

... roses

... another view

... and another

... the biggest bottle: daisies

... drying on the shelf

... drying with the mustard bottle with scrollwork

Yellow and white daisies and forget-me-nots

I have been struggling with daisies for the longest time. You'd think they are a simple flower, and so easy to paint, but they aren't. At least, I am never happy with the way they turn out: always looking stiff and wired and as if they're made of plastic :(

Well, today I tried them again, on an old Nescafe bottle - after watching Rose Stallcup paint them like it was the easiest thing in the world!

I think this is the first time I'm happy with my daisies :)

The daisies are sitting on a bed of green fern - but they don't come out in the pix :(

- a close up -

The other side: I painted the two main faces of the bottle,
leaving the sides clear

Mandala and bookmark doodles

I attempted to 'grow' a peace mandala, and here it is:

I started at the centre, with a seed, and grew the design around that.

Then, I went on to do these, which are just doodles - but they are also called zentangles, and if you just Google that word, you will see lots of patterns and ideas for them.

These are all small - ideal as bookmarks, if I add a little ribbon - and I plan to give them away to friends.

An old glass container made to look older!

This one is actually a glass bowl that we got free with Fernleaf milk. Over the years, we lost the cover, and this has been sitting on a shelf somewhere, gathering dust.

I wanted it to look like it was earthenware - so I slapped on creams and browns for the background, and worked in copper and black for the scroll-work. I quite like the way it's turned out :)

... sitting pretty in my living room 

Bits and pieces

Over the last few days, I have been working on a few projects:

I actually did this one before I did the bottle - I just forgot to photograph
it, I guess.

Two cheap little planters from Ikea.
I decided on matching designs, for a change.