SPIRITUAL MEDITATIVE RAIN STICKS ( With Continuing Step by Step Additions)

This rainstick is done externally.....now all I have left to do is the inside tinfoil tree, add the dry beans and rice......and cap the bottom.  The top is an antique bobeche ...... a bottle cap with a collage dream paper inside cut to fit and resin to preserve which I glued to the cap top.  I have used twine and silk yarn randomly wrapped around the stick and added some handmade lamp work beads to the top twine area.  The picture is a Citra Solv decomposed photo which was glued on.  I finish sprayed with a sealer.  My personal opinion is that a round mailing tube MIGHT  be the better substrate to use for this project...but since I have several more pieces of the PVC pipe I will continue with that I have in stock and I question the sound of the rice and beans on cardboard vs the PVC pipe.... A non transparent heavy body paint works much better than the spray paint that I used.... the spray paint seems to chip easily which I don't like.  I also sprayed the sealer and then added some of the Glamour Dust glitter for just a bit of bling.

****  I have discovered that you should tip gently and even roll the rainstick for a more gentle, longer lasting rain sound....

****  I am in the process of making a shorter one....I will let you know how that works.  The 3 foot one is a bit heavy but the sound is magnificent and longer lasting and I am wondering about the shorter one.....might be good, might not be.....LOL....    I have the shorter one painted with a burnt red, rust oxide acrylic paint, one cap is glued on and I am ready to do the outside embellishments, painting and make the tinfoil tree, add my rice and beans and then "seal up".  Stay tuned for the results.

My smaller test rain stick.  Endcaps and PVC pipe spray painted black.

3 inch diameter 3 foot long PVC Pipe.

Tinfoil Tree Insert

****The tinfoil inner tree is one long strip slightly longer than the inside of your pipe....crumpled and twisty.  I then took additional steps and twisted them around the "trunk" long piece and angled in different directions, opening the ends of some but angling downward .  Then I just inserted the tree up into the inside of the tube gently, added my rice and beans, tested the sound and glued on the bottom end cap....

****Rice and beans.  I used about 1 1/4 cup of rice and about 3/4 cup of beans..

The bottoms of the sticks  I glued on but if you purchase the snap on you wouldn't need to glue on.  The ones I purchased were less expensive, less bulky.  I would add your rice and beans and hold the 2nd end on before you glue and turn the stick to determine if you want more or less of either item.   

*******IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS AS YOU PROGRESS WITH YOURS....CONTACT ME @                      dianaputnam555@gmail.com

 In one of the Facebook spiritual groups I belong to they showed a step by step of a RainStick that a woman was making and I immediately knew it was something I had to do .....  I have 2 June friend birthdays coming up so they will each be getting one.  I will also be adding the steps with photos and info as I progress with mine.  The one you are seeing that I just finished spray painting black is going to be my "test" stick.....

Dry beans,  rice and tin foil are added to the inside of the tubing so that when tipped you will get the musical sound of rain drops .....  soothing, calming, meditative, sound therapy, spiritual, etc.   I will provide more information regarding this as I progress with my test pipe.

I purchased mine in a 20' length from a local Pipe store.  I also purchased the less expensive tube ends which will get glued on.   You could use either PVC Glue or Super Glue.

To Make yours you will need:
1.       3' PVC Pipe 3" diameter
2.       Dry Rice
3.       Dry Beans
4.       Spray or Acrylic Paint
5.       Tin Foil
              I am using spray paint for:
                 a.  Better, more even coverage
                 b.  Speed of spray vs acrylic
6.  Embellishments
     Ideas:
     1.  Lampwork beads
     2.  Material (Cloth, Leather, Suede)
     3.  Lace
     4.  Tassels, twigs, tree bark, moss. leaves
     5.  Cording, leather, hemp, nylon, plastic, yarn, thread, twine
     6.  Decals  /  Transfers
     7.  Charms
     8.  Gemstones, crystals
     9.  Handmade polymer clay pendants
    10.  Written Verse
    11.  Feathers

Great places to look for embellishments would be thrift sores, antique stores, garage sales, nature walks,  craft stores, bead stores, and Etsy, etc.  

***  I am going to try adding a couple of jingle bells...inside mine and because of the size and weight of the PVC pipe I am thinking of adding a handle of some type...

         Select a theme and then search for embellishments to correlate with your theme
         
 THEME IDEAS:
               1.  Primitive
               2.  Ancient Times
               3.  Spiritual
               4.  Seasonal  (Summer, Winter, Fall)
               5.  Floral
               6.  Nature
               7.  Animal Spirit
               8.  Masculine
                    a.  Cowboy
                    b.  Indian
               9.  Glitzy
              10.  Wind, earth, water, fire
              11.  Gothic  
              12.  Country
     
***I also have considered leather, suede, decorative material cut in a circle (try with paper first to get the circle large enough) to add over the caps to look more like a drum which would be neat for a masculine stick.
You could use a grommet punch around the outside and lace through or just tightly wrap twine, cord, yarn, etc around the leather to hold in place.***

Northwest Delight

I just finished this faux stained glass piece for my daughter .... she loves our NW scenery....
Done on an 8" x 12" curved and beveled piece of glass.......

Total Peace

The inspiration for this was a photo I found on the internet.  I have painted it using Liquitex Gold and Burnt Umber paints (as well as Black for shading around the design) and a 4" x 6" portrait grade canvas.  Next I have to go through my stash and see what I have for matting and possibly framing this. I am pretty sure I will double or triple mat this painting.   It is so much fun to watch "people" develop as I paint and take on a personality.

I purchased some of the Liquitex Basic paints and they are MUCH better than the other craft paints....I also use the soft and heavy body liquitex paints but wanted to try these "Basics" and I think they have become ones I will use a lot of in my painting journey.  The coverage is great for base coating....you only need one coat which is a great time saver....I hate the base coating stage of a painting and with these paints you hardly notice you are doing it.....

I decided that I wanted to triple mat this because the painting was so small to add more interest and draw you into the picture itself.....

I am working on another one that is bigger and done in blues and silver.  I want to set up a small alter in my home and this will be one of the focal pieces.

Gallery Glass by Plaid Faux stained glass

I am back working on some faux stained glass pieces, working up to a 6 paned vintage window to hang on my porch this summer for some visual privacy from a yard of stored campers that are pretty unsightly.  I have several small pieces "in process" on these curved beveled glass pieces that stand ever so nicely in a window....and I have done several on flat pieces then framed and hang by a chain in a window (which is how the vintage window I am going to do will be displayed.)  They are fun, easy,  and allow me to totally go within myself.    Since I have last worked with these paints they have come out with a lot of new colors (mainly shimmers) which are going to be fun trying and working with.  I prefer the thin rubberized leading vs the liquid but it is all a matter of preference and probably as I work forward; design lineage.  In both pieces I have used the glass beads which I purchased a long time ago from Plaid....but are no longer available.  I am dealing with macular denerative disease so working these pieces is acting as a type of therapy with the disease and learning to see differently....

DragonVein Necklace Shades of Purple / Green and Black Crystal Druzy

This is another Dragon Vein necklace (gemstone)  done in shades of purple....and another different one one of a kind necklace.  Perfect for the purple people....  Handmade Lamp Work beads adorn the piece and I have used matt seed beads.

This is one of my favorite gemstones.  They are called Crystal Druzy and come in different colors as well as designs.  This was created using Ebony Swarowski crystals and variegated green seed beads.

Both will be available soon on my Etsy site:  www.artisticrenderings.etsy.com

Intuitive Art

I have always been a cloud watcher and loved to find things "hidden" within the cloud shapes
 ( photos in the sky)  and watch them stretch and change shape, form and sometimes even color.  That no one else saw what I saw didn't bother me...just made it more special.......so this has to be why intuitive art has come to appeal to me.

I took a class in Touch Drawing more as a favor and support for the teacher because I was unknowing and this always makes me nervous and stressful.  I am not in control and the outcome which is the important thing is in my hands to handle ... but I walked away with a lot of different beliefs ...  or maybe it was more a realization that there were others who had some of the same thoughts I had.  The process was amazing...

Next was an intuitive painting class (online).  Once again I had no idea what was going to transpire, what to look for,  etc. etc. etc.  and I ended up with a big black blob..... but I am not a quitter....this was a challenge now so I made a few changes to adapt to my style of painting.  I downsized my canvas considerably, I used brushes vs my hands and fingers but I knew it would be OK,,,, changed the gold background to silver, and chose the colors I wanted to use.  I used the different techniques that I had learned from the class or had "picked up" along the way and began.   What you see here has been accomplished just by adding colors of paint here and there, dripping paint down the canvas, glazing mediums, sealer, more colors, etc. etc.  I think that what I have shown here is about 4-5 layers of paint applications added randomly with no "planning" whatsoever ....  In the class we were to be geared toward a gypsy or woman and I guess my stubborness jumped out and said no....I want to paint what comes out.....I can hope I get what you want but I just didn't want to commit to something that was going to be out of my control....so I would do the class but it was going to have to be done my way which was what was comfortable to me...leaving everything pretty much to the process...and not bring anything out until I could "see it"....and if it wasn't what was expected it meant that was not in me to do......

I have also discovered that you have to continually turn the canvas to look for something happening....and it depends on if you are close to or away from the canvas viewing what you see or don't see, and light plays a big part into the visual aspect.    I have to make myself a cheat sheet of whether a color is transparent or opaque so I don't have to continually "test" the colors.

I am pretty sure I am now ready to bring out the design that has been formed...I can pretty much "see it" so I need to begin bringing it out.....and pushing behind....  I will take photos as I progress in the hopes that this is going to "work" and you will be able to see what I see.....

Next fear stage.  Can I bring it out?  Oeewwww boyyee.....

It is an interesting process....and is most definitely about "letting go"... and that is a tough spiritual concept to grasp let along apply to life events.    Letting go and allowing .....  with faith that everything will work out the way it should...  I have been procrastinating the next stage of the painting but I have to make a commitment and "go for it" or I will just remain stuck in the muck.  Any change (right or wrong) is at least going to get me unstuck....and I will learn or achieve and either has to be better than where things are right now....  (This has also strongly applied to my personal life situations.   I was stuck and I had to make a change one way or the other to move on.)
I also have learned that the mind and the heart have to be in agreement .....  this is when you know you are headed in the right direction....you can feel the rightness.  It may just be the first of many moves of progression but at least it is a move...a change.

I am using Liquitex paints because they are so much thicker than the craft paints,  some Golden colors,  alcohol,  glazing medium and sealer between some of the layers and silver dust.
I am using greens, blues,  soft white,  purples and teals in paint colors so far but I am sure that other colors will be brought in somewhere along the line.  If you are going to try some intuitive painting and are a decorative painter  I would definitely advise using Folk Art paints as they are thicker and richer in color.  (Ceramcoat and Americana.... just do not work well when doing this type of painting... and to use them could very easily result in the process failure).

With intuitive painting; if you pay attention, you will discover a lot about yourself....good and bad.. and it is really beneficial to journal during the panting process....in fact I would say it is almost imperative to journal or recount what you learn as you paint because it goes much deeper than paint on canvas.

Dragon Vein Gemstone and Lampwork Handmade Necklace

I have been working on necklaces and adding them into my Etsy store.  This is one of my favorites.  It is a Dragon Vein gemstone and the lamp work is handmade by Etsy artisans......I don't buy the Chinese lamp work......mine will always be by SRA's Self Representing Artists who use quality Italian glass and anneal for durability.  There are also 2 pieces of hand pulled furnace glass in the aqua green color.  I love designing jewelry...watching it develop pretty much on its own.