Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Book!!

   I managed to find time to post them today! Hooray! I'm still super excited about this! :) Here are pictures of the second section:



   Like I mentioned in this post, basically this section is Jo scribbling away. Coming 'out of her head' are a bunch of ideas. The ideas are made up of some of my favorite illustrations and some snippets from some stories that I've written.

   Hope you guys like it!

Hooray for Projects!

   This is my nail project I was telling you guys about yesterday! I made this for a history project. We read a book (Life in the Third Reich) and had to do a project/paper on at least 2 chapters. I made them on stiletto nails mostly just because, even though I would never wear them, I've always had this secret desire to paint some of them. But also because it alludes to the violent nature of the Nazi Party. Sort of. Here are some pictures (and descriptions)!


  The nail on the far left is from a chapter that talked about how kids were in the Hitler Youth programs, so I looked online and found some posters for those groups. The can and flowers are from a poster for the Jugendherbergen (a group for younger girls). The braid is representative of new opportunities for girls, and the bugle is from a poster about the Hitler Youth.
    The middle nail is from a chapter about life in general in the Third Reich. I researched a bunch of propaganda posters that Hitler distributed. The snake was part of an anti-Jewish poster (a Nazi sword was stabbing a snake with the Jewish star on its head). Another poster I found was describing Hitler as the sower of peace, so that's what the wheat represents. The train is there because in the early years (1930s) there were a lot of posters encouraging tourism, especially by train.
   The nail on the far right represents various forms of resistance the people implemented during the Nazi reign. The bike is from this instance where a guy in charge of the communist cycling club refused to give up his bikes to the Nazi storm troopers by claiming part ownership. After the war, he gave all the bikes back to the original owners. The flag is the Wiemar Republic's flag, which a woman hoisted during the Nazi's first May Day parade.


   The nail on the left in this picture represents the swing groups that the 'rebellious youth' were a part of. Swing music and dancing was outlawed by Hitler because, well, he didn't like it! And it was American (hence the American flag). The swing youth, as they were called, could only get the music through records, since swing music wasn't played on the radio, so that's why there is a record player.
  The nail on the right is supposed to be showing the friction between schools and homes in the early years (1930s). The schools were teaching Nazi everything and trying to take over the role of parent, which caused major problems at home, and not just because of the Nazi teachings. It kind of ruptured their entire society in rural areas. I did some research on 30s homes and schools, so the pictures on the nails are based of actual buildings from the period.


   The nail on the left in this picture represents how in the early years (1920-30s, again), many families were moving into the cities to make a living. They couldn't live off just agriculture anymore, so they would send a family member or two to the city, hoping that they could get a decent job to help out.
   The nail on the right represents the gangs. There were two major gangs in Nazi Germany - the White Rose and the Edelweiss Pirates. After doing some more research, I painted their symbols on the nail to represent them (a white rose for the White Rose, and an edelweiss flower for the Edelweiss Pirates). To try and control these groups, the SA would generally beat them or something, but sometimes they were hanged, which is the reason for the noose that's running down the middle of the nail.

   It was a kind of depressing book, but very interesting at the same time! It gives a good insight as to how the average German lived in Nazi Germany, which is something we rarely (if ever) hear about.


As for book project news, it's finished!!!!! It looks really cool (I think so, anyway)! I haven't taken any pictures of it yet though, so I probably won't have them up until tomorrow. Maybe tonight. Maybe.... I can't wait to show you guys!!





Monday, April 29, 2013

Sneaky Peeks!

  No new nails today, I'm too busy running around doing projects (after today I have a project due every day!). I do, however, have a cool sneak peek for you! Remember that book project I was telling you about a couple weeks ago? Well I'm halfway done with it! And I have some photos for you... :)
  Here's a picture of my book. It's an antique copy of Little Women (1896).

             
   I thought this was cool. I love it when there are inscriptions in the covers!


  So I have two 'sections' in my book sculpture. The first section is done! It's an illustration of the March family reading a letter from their father. (For those of you that don't know, Mr March is in the Civil War). Behind this illustration are two scanned postcards that my dad sent me when I was younger. (He's a pilot and used to go on trips all the time. He'd always send my brother and I postcards from nearly every place he went).



    The second section is the one I'm working on now. It's going to be an illustration of Jo March scribbling away in the attic. Coming 'out of her head' are illustrations from my favorite stories and snippets from some stories that I have written. So far I have most of the illustrations cut out, and I still have to hollow out the second section. Here's a rough draft of what the second section is going to look like. (The black lines are where story snippets are supposed to go).


    I still can't believe that I've done this to a book! Especially an antique book. Me, the one that never dog-ears pages and takes the utmost care of her books. Who buys antique books and treasures them... It took me forever to make the first cut on this book. I probably set there and stared at it for at least five minutes before I cut it!
    I am really excited about it though! As long as it looks like it's supposed to, It'll be ok that I've 'ruined' an amazing book. Mostly. :)  It'll be done by Wednesday, so I'll post some more pictures when it's done!!


I also have an amazing nail project..! It's pretty much done, so I'll post pictures of it too!!


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Triangle Manicure

  This is another crazy week, so I did another tape manicure! This time I tried out a triangular manicure. I can't quite bring myself to like half-moons, so I thought I could like some triangles better!
  I used Nina Ultra Pro Tangerine Dream for the triangle, Stripe Rite White for the white outline, and China Glaze Recycle is the grey. My topcoat is Revlon Multi Care Base+Top Coat.
  Here are the pictures. Enjoy!






Thursday, April 18, 2013

Tape Manicure

 Well this past weekend I was not feeling very inspired. Of course, I didn't feel like doing anything any way. I was swamped with school work and I was just feeling plain lazy. It happens. I have to have something on my nails though, so I just did an easy tape manicure. Here are some pictures!



 And yes, my left thumb and right pointer finger are not showing... For some reason the tape pulled half the polish off when I took it off! It was really weird. This shows you how lazy I was feeling that day; I didn't redo them!



 Now for some random school news, I have a really awesome final project for one of my art classes! I'm super excited about it!! I'm making a book sculpture of sorts. I'm going to hollow out 2 different sections (kind of like a book box) and make different scenes inside of them! It'll look something like this, except not quite. :)


 I'm using an antique copy of Little Women and the scenes are going to be made from the illustrations and things I've got lying around in my room (like postcards and whatnot). For example, one of the scenes is going to use the illustration where they're reading their father's letter. I'm going to cut it out, and set it up kind of like the picture on the far left. Then as the 'backdrop' (or whatever you want to call it) I'm going to put scanned copies of postcards that my dad sent me when I was younger! I'm super excited!! :)



These are the polishes I used on my nails this week:
     Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Pumping Iron
     Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Plume
     Revlon Multi-Care Base+Top Coat

Monday, April 8, 2013

Roses, Lavender, and Toes

 Weird title, I know... It makes sense, I promise! :)

 I just had to revisit that rose from last week's Easter nails, so here they are! I added a bit more to them because I saw this pin on Pinterest and really liked the dots. :) I put the purple-y blue dots on there and called it lavender! (It kind of works...) There's a difference in the two pictures (obviously! :P ). The top picture has the more accurate colors, but the second shows the details a bit better.



 And now for the second part of the title... Toes! These are something you won't see very often. I nearly always have a design on my toes, but I don't usually post them unless I really really like the design. Toes are just... well, weird. I don't really know why, they just are.
 Anyway, I'm not really sure what kind of design this is, but I like it!


 This is some more Pinterest inspiration (I love that site)! Pinterest is probably my one downfall with nail art. I rely too much (in my opinion, anyway) on 'inspiration' instead of my own creativity. I don't blatantly steal a design that someone else has created (usually, anyway; I think I might have once at the beginning), but I do take bits and pieces quite often. Maybe one week I'll just not look at Pinterest.... :P

Enjoy!


Here's my list of polishes again!
  Fingers:
       Covergirl Outlast Snow Storm
       Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Sheer Vanilla
       Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Cherry Red
       Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear  Mint Sorbet
       L. A. Colors Color Craze In A Flash
       L'Oreal Royalty Reinvented
       Nina Ultra Pro Tangerine Dream
       Revlon Multi-Care Base+Top Coat
  Toes:
       Essie Sugar Daddy
       Covergirl Outlast Snow Storm
       Stripe Rite Black
       Nina Ultra Pro Tangerine Dream
       Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear yellow
       Revlon Multi-Care Base+Top Coat

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Easter Nails!

 These are my nails for Easter! Sorry they're so late, school go the better of me this week! I've had about two fairly time consuming projects to work on, and the usual amount of getting distracted! :) Anyways, there's  not really a lot to say about these... they have Easter things on them! Here are some pictures (my hands look really weird in the first one for some reason).....



 As you can see, I have two Easter eggs (a green on and a pink one), two glitter 'gradient' nails, a cute bunny and a hatching chick, a cross (that doesn't look like it was supposed to), and three different flowers. The rose, chick, and bunny are my favorites! I'm definitely going to have to revisit the rose and do all of my nails like that.

I hope you like them!


Here's my list of polishes. I used a billion of them again!
       Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away
       Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Cherry Red
       Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed
       Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mint Sorbet
       Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City
       Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Sheer Vanilla 
       Sinful Colors Professional Snow Me White
       Finger Paints Sketch N Etch
       Finger Paints Sketchy Character
       China Glaze Recycle
       L.A. Colors Art Deco Bright Pink (7090)
       Stripe Rite White
       Stripe Rite Black
       Stripe Rite Cream
       Stripe Right Pink
       Maybelline Color Show Fierce N Tangy
       Maybelline Color Show Go Go Green
       Loreal Roalty Reinvented
       Loreal Club Prive
       Orly Watch It Glitter
       Orly  Mini Glitter(0125112)
       Revlon Multi-Care Base+Top Coat
       Folk Art Acrylic Paint Baby Pink
       Folk Art Acrylic Paint White ?