Blue & Pink Swirl – Water Marble

It’s been awhile since I’ve done water marble art, and unfortunately, you can tell by how it turned out. Not my best work, but we all have flops sometimes, eh? Still, the nice thing about a marble is that people won’t necessarily realize it went wrong. ;-)

There’s a video at the end of the post...I’m afraid I’m still not all that great with the actual recording video part, and it shows, but it’s not too bad for my first try. The only way to get better is to practice, right? Maybe next time I’ll even keep my fingers in the center of the frame...

I used four polishes for this manicure – shown & labeled above. My “Megawatt?!” is really thick, which is why you won’t see it expand as much as the other colors in the video. Other than that, these colors worked really well, and I think they look pretty nice together too.

Before I started, I coated my fingers under the nail to the first knuckle and around the cuticles with petroleum jelly (next time I’ll probably use a thick homemade salve I normally use on my face). This prevents the polish from sticking to the skin – but as you’ll see, I should have gone farther down on my fingers with it...

I started with one coat of Seche Vite base coat, then added two coats of Finger Paints “Well-Cultured Pearl” as the base color.

Then I started dropping polish in my bowl of warm water. I cycled through Misa “Like It Like That”, OPI “A Rose Before Dawn...Broke by Noon”, and OPI “Megawatt?!”. One drop inside the other, as shown.

I didn’t get any good dipping pics, so you’ll have to watch the video for a slightly blurry demonstration of my amateur technique. This is the after-shot for one hand done.

I cleaned off the excess polish by simply wiping away the petroleum jelly with a paper towel (also show in the video), and then used a nail corrector pen (I generally use Avon) to clean up the rest.

And there you have it – a swirly water marble manicure (don’t mind my poor broken nails – ugh). Here's the video:

So what’s on your nails this week? And what kind of tips on water marbling do you have for me? I think I need to watch more of Colette’s videos...

lessons learned

mary jane dodd

'nature is an endless combination and repetition

of a very few laws.

she hums the old well-known air

through innumerable variations.'

~ ralph waldo emerson

this is how i feel about rings - a few basic techniques needing to be learned well which are then repeated - but after that... well it's about raising the bar to whatever inspires... this week i added small gemstones to them... 

here inspired by conifers... 

here by the promise of spring... 

i was working on a version of a rustic engagement ring - using brass and nickel - soft silk and a raw diamond... 

lessons learned - 

the engagement ring is the second one i made... the first one taught me that even with the heat required to apply patina, soft solder will lose its hold... 

this engagement ring has a circle in the middle of the etching, so it has to be redone... as there is some etched pattern visible, i am thinking it must have sunk to the bottom of my container...

copper is a very friendly metal, it likes to snuggle - when it comes to chemical techniques, keep your brass and copper separate - unless you want plated brass... which is kind of cool, but not what i was looking for... 


** i just want to add here that i know these rings are simple in construction - i marvel at the skill of smiths creating truly magnificent pieces... one of my personal goals is to expand my knowledge in this respect... 

any casualties this week in your work? while they can be frustrating, ultimately we learn from them and keep moving - 

Dotty Purple

This was supposed to be purple with a yellow diamond pattern, per a Twitter poll last night. Needless to say, the diamond pattern didn't work out so well, as you'll see later. But I think the dotted design turned out pretty well.

I started with two coats Urban Decay "Meltdown", a deep, shimmery royal purple.

Then I got out the 3-D Nail Art Pen in Yellow that Nail Art Delights was kind enough to send me free with my last order. I thought it looked like fun.

I used the pen to create a lattice/diamond pattern on my left hand...but I had a hard time controlling both the flow and the application. The paint was very thick, and I think it may be acrylic rather than nail polish. I think you'll agree it didn't turn out well.

Yeah. Needless to say, I grabbed the polish remover and started over. Once I got back to the "purple" stage, I took a bottle of Zoya "Creamy" and my handy dotting tool, and started playing with dots. I tried to make a diamond lattice design, but it jumbled together.

I decided just dotted stripes would be fine, and finished off my nails with those.

Two coats Seche Vite and some cleanup...and voila, dotty purple nails.

This flash photo is true to the actual colors. The photo at the very top is without a flash, and looks a little more blue than it should.

Next week, something gold or green, I think. Until then, happy polishing!

Cherished Toes & Toenail Shaping

I'm still gradually working my toenails back into the proper shape, which is why they look a bit odd. Metallic polish may be somewhat streaky, but it hides a multitude of sins. I did these to match my Porcelain Roses manicure this week - just a simple design with gold bouillon beads on two coats of China Glaze "Cherish". If you look closely at my left big toe there, you'll see that my line of beads has a break in it - that's what I get for heading to bed before everything is properly dried down. Oops!

So what is the proper shape for a toenail? According to one of the major nail polish companies on twitter last week, rounded nails are best. I'd always heard the opposite, so I went to a few online podiatry sites to find out the truth. The nails on my big toes are prone to being ingrown, and I want to prevent that if possible. Every single medical site I visited agreed - toenails should be cut straight across, never curved, and never shorter than the edge of the toe. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons have pictures on their web site of proper toenail shape - check it out here (scroll to the bottom). Interesting, eh? I'll keep cutting my toenails straight across.

Contest announcement tomorrow - stay tuned!

So Not Groovy...Suncoat Polish Removal

First, let me just say that I love the Suncoat eco-friendly polish remover. It does a great job, gently, on almost every nail polish I use.

Except Suncoat polish.

Last night (Sundays are my manicure nights), I spent just over 2 hours - 2 hours - trying to remove the Suncoat water-based polish from my fingernails. This was the result when I finally gave up, and "medicated" my frustrated self with brownies and a romance novel:'Twas a work night, or I may well have gone for something stronger in a glass. Those scrapes/nicks you see on the tops of my nails are the result of my scraping the barely softened polish off after the first hour and a half, when it wouldn't come off with cotton balls.

I tried everything. I held soaked cotton balls on my nails for 5 minutes at a time, I actually soaked my nails in the polish remover, and still ended up using the blunt end of a plastic nail file to scrape away most of the polish after it was softened, but still wouldn't come off. As you can see, I still have several tips to get the polish off of tonight, and some buffing to smooth the tops again. Arg!

My three bottles of Suncoat polish are going in the garbage. With any luck, I'll finish the removal job tonight, and finish with a nice new pink french manicure that will come off when I want it to next week. I'm still in a pink mood, for some reason.

Tune in tomorrow for the results...

Konad Revvvolution

Thanks to Brooke and her insanely detailed Konad tutorial last week, I pulled out the ol’ plates on Sunday, and gave it another try. Oddly enough, my left hand (I’m right-handed) is less than impressive, while my right hand managed to score much straighter stamps. Overall, it went better than it could have, so I’m not complaining. Please excuse the chip down by my cuticle on the left hand (below) – I got a little overzealous when cleaning up…

I’ve gotta say – I absolutely *adore* this black glitter-filled polish from Color Club. The formula is pretty thin, but it’s very easy to apply, goes on opaque in two coats, and dries quickly…*without tip shrinkage*! It’s just packed with micro-glitter in lots of different colors, so it’s very sparkly in the sunshine (or under a camera flash), but it looks more “gunmetal grey” in standard room lighting (so not as “harshly goth” as a straight black would be). It’s really a unique color that actually looks very classy.I used the Konad special polish for the white designs – I picked this ultra-simple one so I wouldn’t have to worry so much about details. As you can see, I have some smearing, a few lines that don’t quite close, and stamps that aren’t centered, but not too bad overall (like most nail art, it looks just fine from farther away).

I used the Sephora by OPI top coat this week - worked great, no tip pull, dried quickly with my Zoya half-time drops.

Stay tuned – Friday I’ll be announcing the very first contest here at Nail Art Tuesday…

Alix goes Bust - Bad Nail Day

I really never should play with loose, sparkly things. It rarely turns out well, and this is no exception. Of course hubby and I have to go to his holiday party this coming Saturday, so I’ll be frantically trying to figure out when I can fit in a second manicure this week to “fix” these.

The base color is Zoya “Alix”, a red crème that I just love. The stuff that looks like straw on top is actually gold holographic mylar, and currently the bane of my existence. It reminds me of the times in high school I tried using the nail striping tape, and the edges kept pulling up. Here’s a closer look at what’s going on at the tops of my nails from the side – see what I mean?

And then there’s the whole “control” issue…that is, me not being able to control where the mylar falls, thus not going where I want it to. And no, this is not the only thing “off” about my week so far, so really, it’s just one of those weeks. I’ll be over it by next week.

So check back later this week for a different (and hopefully party-worthy) polish job featuring “Alix”. I also have a special feature planned for Friday on the PediPaws dog nail grooming tool, as requested (and featuring my own big babies, Gabriel & Lucy).

As for this mylar glitter stuff…I’ll buy a bottle of clear polish to mix it with before I try to use it again. Bah humbug!