How to make a simple magnifying glass in Illustrator

The trick to this illusion is to make 2 copies of the text; one is larger than the other. Use object->clipping mask->make to make a clipped version of the word and move the smaller version of the word to the back.

Carved Basswood Cat and Mouse

My cousin, Liz, passed away and we went up North for her funeral. It was rather cold at our cabin this weekend so this is the fruit of a captive artist.

The mouse hangs from the cat's mouth by a strip of leather and the whiskers are white covered wire. The finish is acrylic paint that was sanded to mimic wear.

Table Made From A Display Case

I've been reducing the clutter in my house and one of the first victims was my antiques. After I sold the contents of this case it occurred to me that it would make a good display case table.

The display case was a wall hung deep shadow box with a sliding glass cover. I painted it black and attached 4 wooden legs that I found at the hardware store. I filled the case with the beads from leis I made on a Hawaiian cruise.

I had two of these cases so I made 2 tables and filled the other one with Kukui nuts. The tables looked nicer separated into different styles. The darker Kukui nut lei table is my favorite but it doesn't photograph well.

Bearded Dragon Charcoal Drawing

This is a value study for a future painting that I went a little crazy with; his feet will rest on another surface.

I used compressed charcoal.

Marker Thumbnail Drawings of Ads Class Assignment

These thumbnail sketches were done from/or were inspired by existing print ads. Each thumbnail drawing is 2.25" wide.
 

Scanner Art Scanner Photography

Scanner photography, scanography, is the process of capturing digital images using a scanner. You can achieve a significantly higher degree of detail with a scanner than you can with a digital camera but it has a lower depth of field.

I recently attempted artistic images with my scanner. The dog didn't care for it much when we put her paws on it and covered her eyes (the light is very bright and we were very careful to protect her) so I changed to more willing subjects.

It's a fascinating medium since unlike digital photography you work in reverse and curved objects respond in unpredictable ways. You'll want to protect the scanning surface with a plastic film if you are scanning objects that are messy or could scratch the glass. Also be cautious about putting too much weight on the glass since it was not designed to support heavy objects.

Here are my favorites and I plan to play with the images more in Photoshop.

Hand Thrown Tea Pot With Twining Vines and Leaves

My daughter Nissa makes all sorts of items out of clay. She prefers the wheel to slab work and this tea pot is only 5.5 inches high.

Handmade Jewelry With Semi Precious Stones

Alethea makes jewelry from semi precious stones and sells them on Etsy.

Wisteria Stained Glass Lamp and Geese in Tulips Window

These are two of my husband's many stained glass pieces.

The stained glass geese window is our bathroom window treatment. I don't care for drapes and this gives us privacy and spares the neighbors from getting to know us too well.

The stained glass wisteria lamp was Bryce's most ambitious project; every piece of glass was wrapped with copper foil and soldered. Many of the glass pieces are smaller than a pinky finger nail; they were all cut and fit to make this lovely lamp.

Continuous Line Drawing of a Philodendron

I did this drawing with a black gel pen and the goal was to do the entire drawing without breaking the pen line. I would put a post-it on the paper to remind me where I left off and the only way to move backwards was to trace over the existing line (hence the heavier line weight in areas). This is a fun little exercise that would be interesting for figure drawing since you really need to concentrate on composition and line.

Found Alphabet Letter Made From 2 Paintings

I used two different textured paintings to make a K. You can use almost any medium to make an alphabet—photos of buildings, tree branches, found objects, or even illustration.

The paintings are from a series of 9 that are grouped in the dining room. I took 6" square canvases and gessoed different objects to them and then painted everything black. The red is the cover of an Ikea storage box.

Typography Trivia

What is the small dot over a lower case i or j called? It's a tittle.

If trivia makes you go If trivia makes you go If trivia makes you go If trivia makes you go $&@#!, those symbols are called a grawlixes.

Mort Walker, the creator of Beetle Bailey, gave profanity a new name in his book The Lexicon of Comicana.

Agitrons are wiggly lines indicating that something is shaking
Briffits are clouds of dust indicating that a character left in a rush.
Emanata are straight lines rising from around a character's head indicating surprise
Plewds are drops of sweat indicating that a character is hot or stressed
Squeans are asterisks with an empty center indicating drunkenness or dizziness
Solrads are radiating lines drawn from something luminous like a light bulb or the sun.
Waftaroms are wavy lines rising from something indicating a strong smell or heat.