Nothing Special But ...

Now, I want to start by saying that Mary Nasser --

http://www.marycnasser.com/blog.html

-- is going to come out with something a lot more spectacular than this, when she starts using her own coasters made from compressed paper.  Her art rocks!

These blank coasters come in plain-Jane form, just begging to be backgrounds for stencil-art.  They are available at Amazon.com and many other online venues.  They come in assorted shapes -- square, round, flower-petal-like; and maybe more.

I'm going to show two (one round and one square) that I've used to make stocking-stuffer Christmas gifts; I decided that they will enter their next  life as coasters, rather than refrigerator magnets, altho I had the option of veering in either direction.  And, if I were into book-arts, they could also become the covers of a small, round handmade book.  (I admire book-arts but don't dabble there.)

Click on the above image to get a closer look.

Here are the two coasters, having just received their first red acrylic coat, inside the spray-box.  (My current camera makes all reds come out with a yellowish tinge, like Chinese red; the actual color is much closer to a Christmas red.  And yes, there is likely some way of adjusting my camera, but only God can understand the directions that come with that camera ...!)

Once upon a time, I would just let loose with spray paints, telling myself to be careful, but that never worked.  Then I learned, during my SpinArt phase, that spray-boxes are a huge blessing!

I make most of my own sprays, including this one, using spray bottles from beauty supply stores and filling them with a mix of roughly 2/3 water and 1/3 acrylic liquid paint, with a few drops of airbrush medium to keep the pain spray nozzle from clogging.

I sprayed the coasters twice, once from each direction, to make the tops moisture-resistant and to coat the edges, all the way around, with matching color.

In a newer post, I will show what comes next...