Tuesday, June 2, 2009

スイカ : suika, meaning "watermelon"

Booyaga, let's get this summer thing started. :D

Painting a Watermelon Pot


This is a short, easy craft you can do with minimal supplies and/or skill, thus making it a good option for kids. これは子供が簡単にできるクラフトです。

What you need:
必要な物:
A plain terra-cotta pot 普通なテラコッタ鉢
Some paintbrushes 絵筆
Acrylic paint in red, green, white, and black アクリル絵の具:赤、緑、白、と黒

Most hobby stores will have all this. You don't need expensive "artist-grade" acrylic paints; there should be little bottles of acrylic craft paint available for not much more than a dollar. If you plan to put your pots outside, I’d suggest DecoArt's “Patio Paint".

こちらから、すべては英語でしまいます。簡単なクラフトのに、実は写真だけ見れば、すぐ分かると思います。(^_^)'

What you do:



Start with the white paint and make a ring all around your pot, just below the collar. This is going to be the white stripe between the green rind and red watermelon parts. Make the ring much wider than the actual white stripe you plan on showing. (It might take a few coats to get it really white.)



Next, take your green paint. If it’s a really bright green, add just a little black to darken it. Paint the collar of your pot with this dark green color. Paint over a little bit of the white area from before, taking care to get a clean line between the green and the white. You can use masking tape to protect the white that you don’t want to get green, or you can just go slow and pay attention.

Okay, now the red paint. Paint the rest of your pot red from the bottom up to the white stripe, going over the uneven edges of the white and making a clean line where the red stops. Now your white area should be as narrow as you want it.



Final touches now. Add some green paint to a blob of white paint and adjust the ratio between the two until you get a lighter green for the stripes on your watermelon rind. Now you just have to paint stripes on the darker green collar of the pot. You can make them wiggly or straight, or however you’d like. Be careful not to paint into the white band.



Lastly, get some black paint on your brush and paint little drop-shaped “seeds” at intervals around the red part of your pot. If you leave heavy dollops of paint for each seed, it’ll dry into a tiny paint lump that looks especially seed-like. You can add a few smaller white seeds here and there if you want a more realistic watermelon slice.


Done!
出来上がり!

Hopefully the scraggly basil plant likes its new home... make lots of leaves, little guy.

Yey summer~ :3

10 comments:

A.D said...

I love your crafts :) Your watermelon pot is a wonderful idea and I plan on trying with my 2yr old cousin.

Please keep sharing your ideas with the rest of us!

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

This is so cute! I can't wait for warmer weather here. I'll be linking to this.

Nikki said...

Got some clay pots of my own what needs paintin' :3 Did a goddess-motif on one already, but the other two are still bare.

I'm also trying to grow my herbs from seed, which is REALLY frustrating since the baby sprouts tend not to like it when I leave them over the weekend... And the farm store down the road is all sold out of bitty-plants, so it's this or nothing. Pray to the herb-kamisama for my little tykes, plz XP

David said...

Yay - it makes we want to take a bite out of it and spit the seeds out! ^_^

Unknown said...

Haha, I stumbled upon your page from...someone on an adoptables site I'm on, I think, and I really love all your crafts. x3 I've been thinking about trying plushie making lately, and your softies looked like the perfect start. ^^ I really like all the different little crafts you do, so I'm definitely going to be trying them.
My Mom recently took up gardening, so this would be a perfect gift for her. :3

Thanks for sharing!~

Anonymous said...

Great design...evocative of the watermelon experience. I especially like including the white part. It has a distinct flavor. Actually the white part is critical to the watermelon shark which is making the rounds of pool parties this year. (soon you will know of pool parties)
http://www.watermelon.org/recipe_detail.asp?recipeDisp=300
auntieM

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Uda Rino said...

Works very good, I am very happy with the results of your work.