Sunday, March 28, 2010

Inlayed Rose Nail.


Did another rose last night on a practice nail. I think I'm making improvements. It's frustrating not being able to show you step by steps. Here is a scan of the finished nail. I used pink on the nail plate and black sparkles on the free edge. The rose was white powder and then clear powder to cover it and make the nail smooth. I filed it then added two coats of insta dry and some rhinestones. I like this one. The roses are getting better.
:)

Saturday, March 27, 2010

No Camera! :(

I took the camera to Bill at The Source today. He's gonna send it away to get fixed. He said the focus seems to be broken. He'll call me with an estimate as soon as he can. Maybe I can use the scanner to do instructions............... I'll figure something out.

Here's a pic of me being exasperated at the camera. Poor poor camera. This face is probably what broke it!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

3D Acrylic Nail Art, Rose Tutorial

Trying something new.
I'm still having terrible problems with the camera. Soooo Blurry. I'll have to take it in I think, some things you just have to get a bit of help with and this is one of them. I'm admitting defeat.

I've decided to try to add video to the Blog. Thought it might help with future tutorials. Let me know what you think. I'll add some voice overs and written instruction to help make things clearer. Pictures are great but it helps to read what I did too I think.

I have also just realized that I stopped with the thing a week, week count. I think it's a good thing. I'll just post when I get an idea. It'll probably be more often than four times a month but it will also mean posts at irregular intervals.

So here is the first one.......




Here are the pictures. I'm hoping you can see the steps better by looking at them.


Wet your brush (I used a #6 round sable) with monomer (acrylic liquid) and pick up a small ball of white acrylic powder. Place the ball on your nail. Dry your brush a bit on some paper towel. Push the ball flat with the belly of your brush and then pull it into an oblong shape hollowing out the bottom edge. The outside edge of the petal should be thicker than the inside.

Add another small ball beside the previous petal. Make the same kind of shape overlapping one side of the first petal.

Make a third petal.

The fourth petal will be inside the previous three, with the center outside of this petal on top of an outside petal end. (The middle of the inner petals will hide the place where two outside petals meet.)

Add more petals until there is only enough room left for a little ball of acrylic in the flower center. Add a tiny ball of acrylic to the middle of the flower and with the tip of your brush push a hole in the ball. (Or add a rhinestone.)
Make leaves (one on each side) by placing a small ball of acrylic beside the flower and pulling a line through it with the tip of your brush. You can flatten out your brush and use it to clean up the leaf edges before they harden.

I wish I could get a clear shot of this for you. I added rhinestones and thin white twiggy lines with a nail art brush. I also coated the nail and rhinestones with two coats of insta dry clear polish.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

More Nails Pink Roses on Clear Glitter Tips

It's been getting much harder to get a clear shot of anything with my camera. I might have to switch to video for the tutorials if I can't get it figured out. I'll keep trying.

I did clear sparkle tips with dark pink roses on the thumbs and ring fingers and a white rose on the pinkie of my left hand.

I'm still trying to get the acrylic mix right for sculpting flowers. It's pretty easy to make it either too runny or too dry and clumpy. It's going to take much more practice to perfect. I'm kind of waiting for warm weather so I can move the nail stuff to the garage. The smell of the acrylic is strong and it will be more bearable out in the fresh air. Thinking of going to gel nails. No smell, but it looks harder to control. We'll see.

I scored a bunch of new nail stuff from Sally's Beauty Supply in Waterloo last weekend. My Best buddy in the whole world helped me hunt down the shop! I acquired all kinds of polishes and shiny bits. Even got white acrylic powder there. But alas.... no monomer or gel supplies.

This shot is so blurry but I thought it might give you a basic idea of what I did. I sculpted the roses, added a pink thin smile line to the rest of the nails and then covered them in clear acrylic before filling and shaping them. I added lines and dots with my new white striper polish. Cool thin long brush in a white fast drying polish! I also couldn't resist some bling. I added rhinestones to the sides of each nail where the white lines intersect. I finished the nails with two coats of Insta-dry clear. I love the stuff. Nice thick durable coat that dries in literally minutes.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Spring Toes!

Having some camera difficulties lately. I think I have the settings all wrong. Have to find the manual and re read how to set the darn thing up. In the meantime, here are my spring toes. A bit blurry I know. I made my own coloured acrylic powder using eyeshadow powder. Works pretty well.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Matchy Ear Bling

Sorry about the craptastic photo quality. I was all excited to show you these. I'll have to try to get better pics so you can actually see them. I'm pretty pleased with the way they turned out. I made jewlery to match my nails using the same products I used to sculpt the nail tips.

I can't wait to experiment with different shapes and ways to construct earrings, necklaces rings and bracelets. I'm pretty stoked about this
(don't know if you can tell ;P).
They look like glass but are as light as a feather. Now I won't be able to sleep, too many ideas rattling around up there.
Good night!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Spring Nails

Ok, so.....

Still no new craft projects to post. I have been hit by the bad luck buss. Seems to be never ending. A conspiracy of mammoth proportion aimed straight at my crafting time.

I'm sure I'll get over it soon. Latest wrench in the crafting machine..... The fridge just stopped working today. After we purchased about three hundred bucks worth of groceries of course.

But look, My nails are FABULOUS!!!!


I made the flower and leaf canes out of polymer clay and embedded them into the clear acrylic.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

I may have an addiction.


So I think I may have a slight nail addiction. Is there a nail painters anonymous anywhere out there?
I'll get back to the craft track soon enough. There has been a never ending string of bad news and series of unfortunate events, painting nails seems to cheer a fella up. I highly recommend it!