Small 3-D Home Decor Items Specific to Area
13 Materials
$12
20 Hours
Medium
While on a trip to Southern Florida, we stayed at a quaint little Bed and Breakfast. I was intrigued by the decor that hung on the walls. It was very "beachy". "I can make that," I thought. So I came home and tried it. I wanted something that represented where I lived. But, not being an artist, I knew it was only going to simulate where I lived. After examining the artwork on vacation, I knew how I would go about copying it. I purchased two inexpensive 6"square tiles from a local hardware store. I made up a plaster of 2/3 parts plaster of paris with water. I then added sand to the mixture and applied it to the tile. To build it up into a 3-D picture, I "sculpted" the elements that I wanted in the picture.
This is the park view behind my fence in the back yard. There are lots of trees with lots of Spanish moss on them. The Spanish moss is a used dryer sheet that has been shredded and died an olive green color then attached to the tree. There is a movable park bench by the tree and you can see the detention pond filling in the space behind the neighbors home in the backyard. The sand gives it a rustic texture. I painted the sand with water colors and then sealed it.
Because we live on the street named after a dragonfly, I next wanted to make a plaque that had a large dragonfly on it. So, I started with this picture of a lovely quilt block of a dragon fly.
In this picture, you can see the size of the tiles that I used - just plain, old, brown tiles that were 6" X 6" and as inexpensive as I could find them. Next I made a blue pond out of paper for the lily pads to sit on. I looked up pictures of lily pads and punched out some green circles. I cut out some small "V"s out of the green circles and began working the paper. I scored the paper from the point of the "V" out to the edges of the lily pad and curled the paper to give it a 3-D look. Inking the sides of the paper was necessary as cardstock usually has a white core and I needed the white to be all green. Next I made a miniature lily using some flower punches and some white "Shrink-a-dink" plastic with a little tiny yellow handmade pom-pom for the center out of yellow yarn. The lily fit nicely in-between the lily pads. I wanted to copy the framing of the pond with white yarn that was braided and painted with pastels to give it a softer look. I used greens, yellows and pinks for my colors and the water muted and mottled the colors. I braided the rug yarn around the frame of the tile and then made another braid to stand up for the edge of the pond. Now it was time to make the dragonfly.
I made the dragonfly out of beads and green floral wire. It's wings were a green tulle covered with silver glitter-glue. I gave him feet to stand on so that he could stand on the lily pad and be displayed in all his glory. To hang the tiles on the wall, I glued the tab tops of soda pop cans to the back of the tiles with the circles bent slightly to hold the nail better to the wall. Now, I can hang both of these on any wall I choose and feel like I have a memento of this Florida place that I call home. You can take this same concept and put anything on it for your memento of a special place that you have visited or a place you would like to visit. Using sand in your plaster of paris, or braids of water colored yarns, anything you can think of can be made into tiles of art. Your imagination is the limit. Have fun and be creative!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?