SwarDrawS

Special Projects

Marble Magnets
DVD
Magnetic Photo Gallery
Stained Glass
Handmade Books
Kaleidoscope Art

Marble Magnets

An online friend on one of the forums I frequent posted a link to make marble magnets. I couldn't resist so I ran out and bought supplies, re-prioritized my other projects and went to work.

I had just collected a bunch of photos of flowers I took at a nursery the last time we were in Fort Wayne so I started by making a set of flower magnets. There are a few people at work now who are all inspired to make their own, including the boss who wants to make some with her kids.

They make great gifts and I can't wait to give some out. I guess my sisters are getting a Fourth of July present this year. If you want to purchase some of these shown below click here. You will also find my desktop calendars there as well.

DVD

I took 3 years of video footage (got the camcorder when Hollace was almost 1) and authored them to full featured DVDs with custom menus, animation and music.

The DVD starts with an animated kaleidoscope pattern set to music by They Might Be Giants. The main menu items then animate on.

Disk one and three are similar in where I have multiple menu screens with 10 clips each on them. Disk one is the favorite clips and disk three is everything I couldn't fit on the other 2 disks. Disk two is a special events disc with the 4 birthdays and Christmases celebrated. On the Birthday section, I have a slide show of the the early days going back as far as the 10 week ultrasound and birth annoucement. The Christmas section also features my famous Christmas cards. All menus and slide shows are set to music, mostly from They Might Be Giants kids album "No!", John Lithgow's Singing in the Bathtub and the Channel Sisters which was a favorite kids album of mine.

This was authored in DVD Studio Pro on the Mac.

Here are the main menus from all three DVDs. Click here to see all the screens and menus for all three discs.

Magnetic Photo Gallery

I have been bugging everyone I know for those AOL tin boxes. I only got one in the mail myself but got excited that I had to get more. Most people I asked had just thrown one out. I have since got about 4 from people and about 7 from Artworks where they take donation of stuff you throw away for their Recreation Station and then about 3 from the mail room at work.

Here is one use of the boxes. I spray painted the all white then couldn't get the darn lids off when I put them on. I had to sand down the corners. I printed some of my favorite photos on magnetic paper and put a sticker on the box. I gave these to my sisters and a few friends.

Stained Glass

I took a class on how to do stained glass so I could eventually make stained glass kaleidoscopes. For my summer class at the College of Lake County, I designed my own pattern (left). On the right you will see the finished product as a leaded window. This photo doesn't do it justice, because it sucked! I am not very good at this but with practice I am sure I will become mediocre. The small one was my feeble attempt at the copper foil technique.

Once I get the chance I will try and do more projects before I am ready to try my first kaleidoscope but first I got to get my sodering skills down.

Handmade Books

What a better way to showcase the gazillion of photos I take, then to make my own books. I started by accumulating some of my favorite artsy fartsy photos and printed them on my Epson 1280 printer with the heavy mat paper that is my favorite and supposedly has a 25 year archival rate.

After this book I went on to make a couple little books featuring Hollace.

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