How To Make Watercolour Scarves – Tutorial

by VioletLeBeaux | Dec 1, 2014 | Art, Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial

I think I mentioned to you guys already that I’ve been working on some techniques to make my scarf painting a little more watercolour styled. I think I’ve got it much closer to a point that I’m happy with now and I’m having much more fun with it!

These are two scarves I made as gifts recently.

For all of my fabric painting I use Opulence silk dyes because they dilute really well and are fairly easy to control.

The basic technique is really easy. Just wet the fabric and then squeeze most of the water out. I’m using a basic cheap muslin.

Hang it up somewhere that it doesn’t matter if it gets messy. I used my shower door.

The water all over it will get patchy as it dries. You can add more or less water depending on the design you’re going for.

Slowly drip paint into areas where there is water. You will notice that the paint only travels along the water veins. You can add more water or keep it dry so the paint is quite vibrant.

Add a second colour overlapping the first. I use colours which are similar in tone.

Allow the first layers to dry and then repeat wetting areas and adding paint.

The effects you get depend entirely on your control of the paint and how much/little water it has to move around in. I like to add spots of water after the dye to move it around even more.

As it dries the paint is sucked to the edges of the designs so they look more vibrant.

Keep layering over and over until you’re happy with the designs.

With the blue and purple version I used much larger areas of water.

Once the design is how you like, just heat seal them with an iron and give them a final wash out.

The colours are so vibrant and pretty.

The crushable muslin makes a really nice fabric for a Summer scarf.

So there you go, another technique to add to your arsenal!

Now I need to stock up on some more actual silk and give this a try with that as well!

It Makes Me Happy – Snapshots

by VioletLeBeaux | Nov 29, 2014 | Life

Happy! It’s the end of another week and I feel like a did a lot so yay!

I learned how to make my own rice paper rolls and pho at home. YUM. Ignore the colour, I mis-calibrated it on my camera so everything that day was weirdly orange.

James made me scrambled eggs and cottage cheese on toast, one of my favourites that we never have time for in the morning!

I shopping-spree’d

I ate a lot of white chocolate. It seems when I write down what makes me happy they are all food XD That’s probably not healthy?

I said goodbye to some of the first shoes I ever deco’d and finally admitted that while they were super pretty, they were also CRAZY UNCOMFORTABLE.

I don’t have time for uncomfortable shoes!

These are my new chocolate obsessions btw, I usually hate Lindt chocolate but these white chocolate/strawberry ones don’t leave that waxy after taste. SO GOOD!

I got stationary and got organised with notebooks!

I painted my nails the pinkest of the pinks.

I started using some of the cosmetics I was given for my birthday. LOVE this blush and nail file from Jill Stuart.

I even branched out to try a bright pink eyeliner!

I rearranged my terrarium a bit so the stones were in the right places.

And found some tiny accessories to use in there, I think we need to do tiny macro shoots with these!

When trying to model the pink eyeliner for you guys, I realised winking is something I can’t possibly look cute doing. Seriously this was like the 50th try and it was the only one that didn’t look like I had some kind of eye disease.

I guess James will never know the allure of my powerfully sexy winking XD

But hey, I’m pretty good at applying eyeliner!

You win some you lose some ;P

How’s your week been??

Natural Waves Using Buns – Photo Hair Tutorial

by VioletLeBeaux | Nov 26, 2014 | Hair, Hair-Tutorials, Tutorial

Today’s hair tutorial is another one which can be a bit hit or miss depending on the type of hair you have but it can’t hurt to give it a try because there’s very little effort involved! We’re going to try getting natural waves by sleeping in buns overnight!

To get these overnight styles to work I found that the best thing to begin with was a decent volumising spray. I like the one from Toni&Guy.

So to begin with, spray around the roots and allow to dry. If you want extra hold then activate it with some heat.

Volume! Feel free to stop here if you are on your way to a Whitesnake concert \m/ >_< \m/

Now the buns, divide the hair into 3 sections, one at the top and one on either side. A lot of people will just do two buns but I like a lot of volume at the top so I do the extra one there.

Twist each section tightly into the bun and if you have hard to curl hair then add some more product.

It does look a little bit ridiculous… very much like an alien XD

Now enjoy a good night’s sleep!

And fast forward to the next morning!

Undo the buns…

Not looking like so much right now:

But separate each of the twists with your fingers.

That looks a lot better!

Considering how little effort went into it, I think this is a really great style for mornings that you know are going to be very hectic.

Definitely not going to work for everyone but it’s a good one to try out anyway because if it does work it’s great to be able to use less heat styling tools. Hope you found it helpful!