Trying something new.
I'm still having terrible problems with the camera. Soooo Blurry. I'll have to take it in I think, some things you just have to get a bit of help with and this is one of them. I'm admitting defeat.
I've decided to try to add video to the Blog. Thought it might help with future tutorials. Let me know what you think. I'll add some voice overs and written instruction to help make things clearer. Pictures are great but it helps to read what I did too I think.
I have also just realized that I stopped with the thing a week, week count. I think it's a good thing. I'll just post when I get an idea. It'll probably be more often than four times a month but it will also mean posts at irregular intervals.
So here is the first one.......
Here are the pictures. I'm hoping you can see the steps better by looking at them.
Wet your brush (I used a #6 round sable) with monomer (acrylic liquid) and pick up a small ball of white acrylic powder. Place the ball on your nail. Dry your brush a bit on some paper towel. Push the ball flat with the belly of your brush and then pull it into an oblong shape hollowing out the bottom edge. The outside edge of the petal should be thicker than the inside.
Add another small ball beside the previous petal. Make the same kind of shape overlapping one side of the first petal.
Make a third petal.
The fourth petal will be inside the previous three, with the center outside of this petal on top of an outside petal end. (The middle of the inner petals will hide the place where two outside petals meet.)
Add more petals until there is only enough room left for a little ball of acrylic in the flower center. Add a tiny ball of acrylic to the middle of the flower and with the tip of your brush push a hole in the ball. (Or add a rhinestone.)
Make leaves (one on each side) by placing a small ball of acrylic beside the flower and pulling a line through it with the tip of your brush. You can flatten out your brush and use it to clean up the leaf edges before they harden.
I wish I could get a clear shot of this for you. I added rhinestones and thin white twiggy lines with a nail art brush. I also coated the nail and rhinestones with two coats of insta dry clear polish.
Here's a pic of me being exasperated at the camera. Poor poor camera. This face is probably what broke it!
Wet your brush (I used a #6 round sable) with monomer (acrylic liquid) and pick up a small ball of white acrylic powder. Place the ball on your nail. Dry your brush a bit on some paper towel. Push the ball flat with the belly of your brush and then pull it into an oblong shape hollowing out the bottom edge. The outside edge of the petal should be thicker than the inside.
Add another small ball beside the previous petal. Make the same kind of shape overlapping one side of the first petal.
Make a third petal.
The fourth petal will be inside the previous three, with the center outside of this petal on top of an outside petal end. (The middle of the inner petals will hide the place where two outside petals meet.)
Add more petals until there is only enough room left for a little ball of acrylic in the flower center. Add a tiny ball of acrylic to the middle of the flower and with the tip of your brush push a hole in the ball. (Or add a rhinestone.)
I wish I could get a clear shot of this for you. I added rhinestones and thin white twiggy lines with a nail art brush. I also coated the nail and rhinestones with two coats of insta dry clear polish.
I did clear sparkle tips with dark pink roses on the thumbs and ring fingers and a white rose on the pinkie of my left hand.
I'm still trying to get the acrylic mix right for sculpting flowers. It's pretty easy to make it either too runny or too dry and clumpy. It's going to take much more practice to perfect. I'm kind of waiting for warm weather so I can move the nail stuff to the garage. The smell of the acrylic is strong and it will be more bearable out in the fresh air. Thinking of going to gel nails. No smell, but it looks harder to control. We'll see.
I scored a bunch of new nail stuff from Sally's Beauty Supply in Waterloo last weekend. My Best buddy in the whole world helped me hunt down the shop! I acquired all kinds of polishes and shiny bits. Even got white acrylic powder there. But alas.... no monomer or gel supplies.
This shot is so blurry but I thought it might give you a basic idea of what I did. I sculpted the roses, added a pink thin smile line to the rest of the nails and then covered them in clear acrylic before filling and shaping them. I added lines and dots with my new white striper polish. Cool thin long brush in a white fast drying polish! I also couldn't resist some bling. I added rhinestones to the sides of each nail where the white lines intersect. I finished the nails with two coats of Insta-dry clear. I love the stuff. Nice thick durable coat that dries in literally minutes.
I can't wait to experiment with different shapes and ways to construct earrings, necklaces rings and bracelets. I'm pretty stoked about this
