Some Food for a Patient Mind

            I've been on summer vacation for two days. Even though I had been waiting for these days to begin I have been bored out of my mind. And so today I thought of this small art project. Before I start though I need to say something about the title: I am not patient in the slightest. Although I strive to be I really am not. Doing art like this is one of the very very few things that can keep me interested for a period of time. It is a slow moving project that can't really be rushed and that is why I named it such.

Okay! What are we making today?: You know that quote that flashes through you mind all the time? Or the one that keeps popping up on Facebook, the one that you don't want to forget? Well this project makes it so you can have that special quote somewhere in your house, in a creative way.

What you'll need:

• Large pieces of broken glass or mirror (I used mirror)
• Paint, what ever color(s) you like
• Toothpicks
• Wire
• Sticky Notes
• A dish or plate for the paint to be poured into
• Your (or your friend's) favorite quote

Step One: 

Begin by making sure you have enough room on your pieces of glass or mirror for your quote. Figure out how small the font has to be. Think it all through before starting to write at all. Using some paper and a pencil you can trace the glass and practice how your quote will be arranged. Your quote doesn't have to fit on just one piece of glass. By using wire we will attach multiple pieces at the end.

Step Two: 

Use a sticky note (or how ever many you need, to get all the way across the glass) as a bottom line. This will keep your writing straight and even. 

Step Three:

Hopefully by now you've already figured out how your quote will be arranged. Things to know before painting are: which words will go on what line, how much space between lines, how many pieces of glass will be used, and so on.

Once you have figured that all out, with your sticky note as a guild you can write your first word. I poured my paint onto a little dish. Make sure it doesn't spread too thinly on the dish. You'll need it to cover the tip of your toothpick. The toothpicks serve as  paintbrushes. I was able to write in neat handwriting (VERY SLOWLY) with the toothpick as my tool, and the paint as my ink. I have to re-dip my toothpick maybe two or three times for each letter and as you will see my letters are very small. Now you understand why this is a project for the patient. 

After you've done your first line (in my case it was only one word) you need to let it dry a little. Otherwise it may get goofed up when you remove the sticky note. One thing that I should mention is that for letters that go below the writing line such as 'y', 'q', and 'p' just paint the top of them, and after it has dried and the sticky note has been removed, finish with the stem. 

After your first line is done and dried, move the sticky note down for the next line of script. If you got too much paint on the sticky note from the first line I suggest using a new one otherwise it may smear all over the glass. Make sure when positioning the sticky note that you keep it straight, and parallel with the line of script above it.  I use a ruler for that. 

Two lines done!

Now you need to just repeat these steps until you've got all your quote down on the glass pieces.

Almost done!

Now that the entire quote is written down, arrange the pieces of glass in the right order. At this point you can be creative as to how you attach the pieces. I cut a piece of wire so that it could make a loop on the top and have  length enough to reach the middle of the bottom piece of glass. I attached mine with duck tape. If you have too many pieces, the weight might be too much for duck tape and you need to find a better way to attach them. I only had two pieces of glass to it worked just fine.

The picture didn't come out too well but the actual project did! I ended up adding a little white bow for fun.

My quote of choice:

"It's impossible," said pride.

"It's risky," said experience.

"It's pointless," said reason.

"Give it a try," whispered the heart.

I hope you've enjoyed! If you make this, don't forget to be creative! Add more elements with it. Make it YOU.

As always,

        Moira Jane