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The Perks of Being an Artist

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The Perks of Being an Artist

Category Archives: DIY

How I DIY’ed a Tattoo Studio

12 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by emilypageart in art, DIY, tattooing, Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

commercial renovation, DIY, DIY countertop makeover, DIY stucco, DIY wall treatment, faux concrete wall, giani countertops, home makeover, home renovation, how to make a wall look like concrete, renovation, studio makeover, tattoo studio, tattoo studio renovation, vasari plaster

I realized that, after months worth of renovation work, I never posted pictures of the inside of the studio. I managed to do a lot of the work myself, but did have to hire contractors for some stuff like the floors and some electrical work. Anyway, here are some transformation pics for your viewing pleasure.

Here are a few before pics of the lobby:

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Note the strange carpet and tile combo.

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The space was weirdly divided down the center because the previous owner had taken 2 spaces and combined them into one.

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After tearing out the non-rated wall splitting up the room, we put down vinyl flooring, and used a product called marmarino that’s kind of like an interior stucco treatment. It makes the walls feel like concrete and can be done in just about any color. Applying it for the texture I wanted took a little getting used to, and I learned that you have to mix huge batches if you want the colors to be consistent throughout the room. Were I to do it again, I might just go with white plaster and then do a lime wash over it. I didn’t want the walls to be uniform, so I’m okay with the color transitions, but I do wish the first layer had been consistently one color instead of some ending up dark and some ending up light. Luckily, I figured that out for the 2nd coat, so it looks pretty matched. Still, the overall effect is great and I’m a little in love with them.

lobby

lobby 3lobby 2lobby 1

The countertop for the check-in desk is really just plywood that I painted using a countertop faux finish. It’s the second time I’ve used their products, and overall, I like them. Just be aware that essential oils can strip the paint. Found that out the hard way in our half bath at home. Luckily, I had leftover paint (it really goes a long way) and was able to repair it.

We got the barnwood for the check-in desk and the coffee table from a guy we know who deals antiques. I love the barnwood because it’s real, not uniform faux finished wood like you find at Lowe’s or Home Depot. The coffee table is an old tool chest that we attached some legs to.

We changed out the solid white doors and installed glass doors that we stained to match the floors and the shelving we put in each studio room. The shelves are just 1″x6″ boards that I stained with a walnut color and attached with brackets.

There are 4 studio rooms that we’re letting the artists decorate themselves. Here’s what I did with mine:

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Yes, those are hundreds of handmade butterflies on my ceiling.

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And yes, that is a tree in the corner of the room.

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I made the tree out of leftover styrofoam from the haunt.

my room 3

my-room-4.jpg

And that’s that!

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Author Offerings

05 Sunday Mar 2017

Posted by emilypageart in blog, book, culture, DIY, karma, kindness, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

blogging, find new authors, inspiration, marketing, self publish, self-publishing, Sunday Authors Offering, writers

As I dive into the world of promoting my own book, I’m discovering tons of other authors who are in the midst of the same insanity. Like with my art, the writing was the easy part. The promotion? That’s definitely the hard part. In an effort to help other writers who could use a little bump in sales, I’m going to start periodically sharing links to their blogs (so you can get a feel for their writing) as well as a link to their books in case you’re interested in supporting an indie author.

Here’s a wrap-up of the ones I’ve found this week:

SC Skillman’s blog https://scskillman.com/ and book Perilous Path: A Writer’s Journey

Cendrine Marrouat’s blog https://positivityhut.wordpress.com/ She’s got several titles available on Amazon here

Allie Potts’ blog https://alliepottswrites.com/ and books An Uncertain Faith and Fair and Foul

Claire Wong’s blog https://clairewongwriting.wordpress.com/ and book The Runaway

Lori Holden’s blog http://lavenderluz.com/ and book The Open Hearted Way To Open Adoption

Hugh Roberts’ blog https://hughsviewsandnews.com/ and book Glimpses

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Thanks so much for reading my ridiculous thoughts! If you’d like to see my ridiculous thoughts translated into art, visit my website, or follow me on Facebook and Twitter. Know a caregiver, or someone with dementia, or someone who knows someone with dementia, or someone who knows someone who knows someone else who’s a caregiver? Or heck, do you know a person? Well, you should tell them about my book, Fractured Memories: Because Demented People Need Love, Too. Part memoir and part coffee table art book, I recount my family’s heartbreaking and hilarious journey through my father’s dementia. Available to purchase here (this is my favorite way if you live in the U.S.), here or here if you’d rather get the eBook than a print copy, and here (especially if you want a hard cover copy).

 

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More Creepy Trees, Y’All

16 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by emilypageart in DIY, Haunt, Uncategorized

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

carving foam, creepy tree, DIY, Eerieville, foam, halloween, Haunt, haunted attraction, haunted trail, sculpting, sculpting in foam, skeleton tree, skull, skulls, styrofoam, tree

It’s time to reveal another creepy tree for the haunt! Woohoo! Just in case you missed it, here’s the first one. This one was kind of a different process. I used the corners from the first block of foam that I’d trimmed off to shape the original tree. I glued them together, then sculpted a bunch of skulls from some other waste pieces of foam from that first tree. Then I got messy. I adhered the skulls to the core with spray foam, and once that had dried, covered the whole thing with foam coat. Then I slapped a few layers of paint on that bad boy and now we’ve got ourselves another fun set dressing!

Because I love you dearly, I documented the process along the way:

skull-tree-6

On the right, you see just the foam core, skulls, and spray. On the left, you see the foam coat that’s applied on top.

skull-tree

First, I painted the whole thing dark brown.

skull-tree-2

Then I added lighter browns and greens on top to make it look more like bark and bring out the skulls.

skull-tree-4

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Dem Creepy, Creepy Trees

25 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by emilypageart in art, DIY, Eerieville, Haunt, humor, painting, Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

carving, carving foam, corn maze, creepy tree, Eerieville, foam, foam coat, Haunt, haunted attraction, haunted trail, hot wire, hot wire foam, hot wire sculpting, sculpting, sculpting in foam, skeleton, skeleton tree, styrofoam

Okay, I finally – FINALLY – finished one of the creepy trees that will be set dressing at Eerieville (the 21 acres we’re transforming into a haunted attraction). This was my first time working with foam, hot wires, and foam coat. Paint, though, I am obviously familiar with. This is the total opposite way for my brain to create, as it involves whittling away as opposed to building up. I’ve done very little carving since college, and I’ve certainly never done it with hot wires, so it was incredibly challenging (especially since I’m accident prone). I’m also not working with the ideal tools because they’re hella expensive and out of my budget, so it’s taking me way longer than it would otherwise. I’ve been documenting the steps along the way, specifically for you, dear reader. So here is our first creepy tree:

foam-stacks

First, we had to unload these 8’x 3′ x 4′ blocks of foam. Yes, I injured myself doing this.

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Then I had to carve the block into the basic shape of a round tree. Yes, I injured myself doing this.

foam-tree-skeleton-drawing

Then I drew on the skeleton that I wanted to be emerging from the tree. No, I didn’t injure myself doing this, but I did lose the cap to the pen, which hurt my heart.

foam-tree-skeleton-early

Then I got to carve in the skeleton and add texture so that it resembled bark a little more. Yes, I injured myself doing this. 

foam-skeleton-tree

Next, I coated the tree with a product called Foam Coat that dries to a concrete-like finish. Yes, I injured myself doing this.

foam-tree-skeleton-final-2

Then I painted it dark brown, let that dry, and dry brushed on two lighter shades of brown and some green. Yes, I injured myself doing this.

foam-tree-skeleton-final

Then I stood back and was proud of myself. I did not injure myself doing this, but I did trip over a bottle of paint while I was backing up to take this picture.

And there you have it. Several more trees to go, along with a whole bunch of other props, and I’ll try to remember to take pics for you but I don’t have the best memory (too many fumes from the burning foam), so I’m not making any promises.

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Powering Through *Now With Styrofoam!*

08 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by emilypageart in art, DIY, Eerieville, endometriosis, Haunt, health, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

art, artist, creepy trees, Eerieville, foam, Haunt, haunted attraction, haunted trail, sculpting, styrofoam

It’s been a rough few days in my body, folks. Last week, I started going into a fibromyalgia flare, which means I’m stiff and sore and feel like I have the flu all day, every day. My joints  ache and my brain gets fuzzy and full of lint. Then the fibromyalgia exacerbated a endometriosis flare. And now I’m a hot mess. We got a shipment of styrofoam in at the haunted screampark and I was super excited to start sculpting it, so on Monday, I loaded up on Advil and Aleve and headed out, intending just to start working on a piece for a couple hours. It was going really well, though, so I kept going, and going, and going. Six and a half hours later, I finally called it quits because it was getting dark. And then I realized that I am a stupid, stupid human. When will I learn that pushing through  a couple extra hours will mean days of inability to function?

Yes, powering through is sometimes necessary. In fact, in this body, most days it’s necessary. Around these here parts, it’s called life. But I need to learn not to pretend I’m a superhero. So after a couple rough days, today I’m back in the studio, but I only painted for a couple hours in hopes that I’ll be able to paint again tomorrow. And I’m limiting my time on the computer, which is equally frustrating, but which gives my hands a break.

The worst part about all this ouchiness, though, is that I’m so loaded up on Advil and Aleve that I can’t have bourbon. I haven’t had bourbon in almost two weeks. TWO WEEKS! I know. Feel free to feel sorry for me. I feel sorry for myself. And I can’t even cry into my bourbon.

Lest you think that I callously abandoned you while limiting my computer time, I thought I’d share a couple photos from what is quickly becoming styrofoam land. I’m working on trees that will have creepy faces, some skeletons emerging from them, etc. Still a looooong way to go just on this first one, but still, progress:

styrofoam-blocks

tree-skeleton-beginning

tree-skeleton-drawn-on

tree-skeleton-initial-carving

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Stoopid Farming Equipment

22 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by emilypageart in art, dance, DIY, Eerieville, Haunt, humor, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

attaching tractor implements, corn maze, deadly jazz hands, drive shaft, farming, first position, flooding, Haunt, haunted attraction, haunted trail, planting corn, shaft, tiller, yoga

As any of my regular readers know, we’re building a haunted attraction south of Raleigh. My regular readers also know we’ve faced tons of flooding issues on the property. We were supposed to be open about 3 years ago, but still aren’t because of various issues like the flooding. Last year, we had planned to just open during the day with a corn maze and other family friendly activities on the part of the property that doesn’t flood, but the guy who was supposed to plant our corn bailed at the last minute, screwing us.

This year, we bought the equipment and are going to try it ourselves, so on Tuesday, we tromped out to the tractor to disconnect the bush hog equipment from the tractor and connect the new tiller. Five hours later and more cursing than I care to admit to, we gave up when we realized that the damned drive shaft they gave us was too long. That’s right, I know what a drive shaft is. And it’s not nearly as much fun as it sounds (can you imagine how disappointed people are going to be when they google “shaft” and come across this post?). Fuuuuuuuuuuck. So S went to the place we purchased it from yesterday and one of the workers is going to come out and hacksaw the blasted thing to the right length so we can actually use it.

The only thing that kept me from killing someone (and by someone, I mean S, since he was the only person around) was the laughter I got every time I looked at the warning labels on the equipment. I want my new job to be creating the drawings for warning labels. Here are two of my favorites from Tuesday:

tractor bucket warning

Warning! Do not bop naked dancing hippies on the head with the front end bucket! They can’t help it. They’ve just dropped too much acid.

drive shaft warning

If I was this flexible, I would teach yoga. But I’m not. So fuck you, Yoga. Also, if I die a horrible death via rotating driveline, I hope I have the wherewithal to flash jazz hands and keep my feet in perfect first position.

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Master Bathroom Makeover

27 Wednesday Jan 2016

Posted by emilypageart in DIY, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

bathroom, bathroom makeover, DIY, home makeover, home renovation

I realized yesterday that back when I was posting all the photos from renovating my house this summer (pics here, here, here, here, and here), that I never posted pics of the master bath. I’d still like to frame out the mirrors, and I ran out of steam before I got to the bathroom, so I haven’t yet scraped and painted the popcorn ceilings, but the rest I’m happy with. I painted the walls and cabinets, and added faux wainscotting. Pretty simple, really. Here’s the before and after:

Master bath makeover

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The Coffee Table My Mom Made

29 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by emilypageart in art, DIY, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

carpentry, coffee table, custom cabinetry, Logs to Lumber, Rick Miller, wood shop, wood turning, woodworking

My mom has been working on making a coffee table for me for the last couple months. I gave her some sketches of what I wanted, and she interpreted and created from there. She had the help of Rick Miller, who owns Logs to Lumber in Faber, VA. He is, truly, more than just a carpenter or woodworker, he’s an artist. His wood turning is stunning – he gets the wood paper-thin. Anyway, he helped my mom build the table correctly, mortise and tenon and all.

Today, I got to visit the wood shop to pick it up. I love visiting there. There’s just so much to see and smell and I pretty much have to force myself to keep my hands in my pockets because I want to play with it all! Here are pics from my visit:

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Here are the pics of the table itself:

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If anyone needs any custom carpentry/woodworking, I can’t recommend Logs to Lumber enough. Feel free to contact me for Rick’s contact info.

 

 

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Bedroom Makeover

27 Tuesday Oct 2015

Posted by emilypageart in DIY

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bedroom makeover, before and after, home makeover, home renovation, moulding

I’m finally getting around to posting the before and after photos for the bedroom makeover that I completed when I was renovating the house we bought. Do a search for DIY or home makeover on the blog here and you can see the other rooms I completed. For the bedroom, I wanted to include a soft lavender because…wait for it…it’s my husband’s favorite color. I know. Don’t get me started. But I also know that we’ll be most likely selling the house within the next 10 years and I didn’t want to have to repaint the whole room, so I decided to put up some moulding and just paint lavender inside the boxes, keeping the rest a nice, light, neutral gray.

I started by scraping and painting the popcorn ceiling:

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Then I taped off and painted lavender in the squares and grey everywhere else:

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Next, I put up the moulding around the squares:

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I also added crown moulding, which nearly killed me. Lastly, we changed out the light fixture and put in bamboo flooring, then decorated. I still want to frame the painting over the bed, and I need to make a piece of art for the wall you can’t see, but the rest I’m pretty happy with:

Master bedroom makeover

One more shot:

master bedroom 3

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Dining Room Makeover

22 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by emilypageart in DIY

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

art, dining room makeover, DIY, home makeover, home renovation, how to make artwork match, removing wallpaper

More of the renovation pics for your viewing pleasure. The dining room had really hideous faux red marble wallpaper below the chair rail, which was already peeling a little, so it came off easily. Then I discovered that there was another layer of wallpaper underneath that one, and this layer was adhered directly onto the sheetrock without priming it first, so trying to get it off resulted in major damage to the walls. After a small section I opted to just prime over the bastard. Then I installed faux wainscoting and painted everything below the chair rail white.

20150622_201848

Next, I had someone close up the wall behind the kitchen cabinets. While I liked the little bit of extra light that it let into the kitchen, it was pretty minimal and I hated seeing the back of the cabinets. It was just weird. So I had drywall put in to just make it a normal wall (which also allowed me to hang more art – a major priority for me, obviously):

Dining room makeover 2

I went for a slightly darker, bluer grey for this room and the kitchen than the living room. The contrast with the white wainscoting and the dark frames works nicely. I really like all the textures in this room. It took forever to find chairs that I both liked and could afford. I had the table in storage and really wanted to make it work even though it’s so different from the floors, but finding the chairs we did kept things light and helped the table and floors work together. Plus, they’re super comfy. We’ll change out the light fixture eventually.

Dining room makeover 1

I rematted some artwork and photography to keep everything clean and white, which allowed me to hang a bunch of different pieces and still make them look good together:

Dining Room 3

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