Wagner Smart Roller Review

Recently we've had a few house updates. Both boys needed a room update. 

Mica's always been the type that just has never cared if anything is updated. Reason...he knows it requires work. Can we say, "LAZY"? I think most kidadults would skip out on making things look better if they knew it required work. 

Mica wanted a space theme that's graphic. We struggled because I pictured a galaxy, or star star wall. He wanted an exploding earth. Then I got him a starry bed spread. I'm thinking of getting him a starry blanket to cover his chair too.

Main Color: Red-Orange

Now that Travis and I basically have opposite working schedules, it was hard getting Mica's room done. We had most of Mica's room in our living room, for three weeks.  

I taught Mica how to roll, so we had three people working on this project. You can tell he was oh so excited to start rolling. Ha!

A good way to get a home project going, is having the right tools to do it. 

List of Products to Help With This Job:

• We had three gallons of paint: Navaho White, Red Orange, and Teal
• We mixed up two more colors with the three
• Rollers
• Paint Brushes
• Painter's Tape

Process:

• Paint with a base - We used Navaho White
• Tape with painter's tape - We free formed it
• Burnish the tape
• Roll base color on
• Use a brush to edge the colors
• Roll on the colors
• Take away the tape
• Fix up bleeding paint with a brush

Setting up the Wagner Smart Roller:

The Wagner Smart Roller came in pieces. Travis had the roller set up in minutes.

Where to Get the Wagner Smart Roller:

You can get it here: https://www.wagnerspraytech.com/products/paint-rollers/smart-roller/, for $19.99.

 

The roller was fairly easy to use. We picked to use the Wagner Smart Roller, for the biggest area of paint that we needed to cover. 

We did feel like the paint got in the parts, and was a pain to clean. I think I'd want to use this, for a room that's all the same color. 

How to Use:

The paint gets pumped up into the gigantic syringe AKA a fill tube.

Mica at first didn't think it was working, but it was.

There's a release, to work the paint into the roller. We did it over a paint tray; to not make a mess on the floor.

Start to roll. It puts mini dots all over. I know the dots are meant to roll on, and mesh a solid uniform coating. I happen to like them. I could see the dots in a pop art room. 

We were all hoping the paint would cover more area. It didn't seem like it lasted long. I know it's a bright color. With bright colors you do need a lot of coats. It still seemed like with all the work of getting the paint up into the fill tube it would cover a more massive area. 

The mess was less. There was no paint tray really needed. We had one just in case. It was more of a pain to clean the roller out. Way harder than a typical roller. 

The results were great though. Mica's happy with it. This is his biggest gift, for his birthday. 

What was the last room in your house, that you painted? What color did you paint it? 

Disclaimer: I got the Wagner Smart Roller for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

WW: Mr Creator {Linky}

My 9 year old Isaak is always creating something. I find him amusing. 

An image on a program when we were at a children's theater:

A painting he did in an art club he attended:

He plays a lot on his cheap keyboard that he got for Christmas. He's big into playing the theme song to Beverly Hills Cop, which was also on Monster's Vs Aliens. When we get sick of it, and ask him to play something else, he plays the same song in a different keyboard mode.

He also likes to play his made up didgeridoo. 

Pour Painting Demo

I love learning new techniques. I watched several online Pour Painting demos with Isaak. We were hooked. We watched 10 to 15 videos that day.

Things to Use for a Pour Painting:

• A Trash Bag or Tarp
• A Stretched Canvas
• 4 or 5 Different Acrylic Paint Colors
• The Same Number of Disposable Cups as Paint Colors That You Have
• Any Kind of Liquid Dish Soap
• Liquid Silicone {Optional}
• Crackle {Optional}
• Elmer's Glue
• Popsicle Sticks for Stirring
• A Foam Roller or Paint Brush
• A Blow Dryer {Optional}

Set Up:

You'll want to prime a canvas with acrylic paint, house paint, or Gesso. You can use a stretched canvas, or a hard back canvas. Isaak painted his black. We repurposed an old canvas I had laying around. He painted it on a trash bag, so paint didn't get on the floor. A blow dryer was used, so we could move right along to the fun part.

Disposable Cups:

Isaak picked 6 colors. You can pick more or less than that. Make sure you use white for sure. Each color went into a cup with some water, a squirt of liquid dish soap, a squirt of Elmer's Glue, and crackle paint. Isaak mixed them up with a popsicle stick.

Keep all this stuff out during the process in case you have to make more.

All the colors:

We put the base of a disposable water bottle down to pour on top of. It really didn't have any effect on what was done. It just gave us a focal point to know where to pour.

Start the Pouring:

Pour more and more of the colors down.

After about the fourth color it starts to look pretty cool.

You could stop there, or continue to pour more and more paint.

Because I added the crackle in there, it dried with cracks. If silicone was added it would dry with bubbles.

End Result:

Have you ever tried or even heard of a pour painting before?

Acrylic Color Set Review

I love reviewing art supplies! I recently got an Acrylic Paint Set.

Who Can Use These Paints?

It can be used for beginners, pros and anyone in between. It's for kids and adults. These paints are non-toxic. Kids will need help opening up the paints. They have a metal that needs to be punched with each tube. Luckily the cap has a point on one side that is meant to punch the tube.

24 Colors!

I love the variety of colors! You wouldn't NEED this many colors, but having them is awesome. They are in smaller tubes. If you do nothing, but acrylic paintings you'll run out of paint fast. I do a lot of mixed media pieces, so I don't mind the smaller tubes. I look at this this way - if they are small tubes they won't dry out like bigger tubes. I can never use all the paint fast enough with the bigger tubes.

Colors includes: Zinc White, Titanium White, Lemon Yellow, Yellow Mid, Orange Yellow, Scarlet Lake, Vermilion, Orange, Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue, Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue, Green Light, Emerald Green, Viridian, Sap Green, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Red Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Vandyke Brown, Black

Benefits: 

• Images will be vivid
• Sharp colors
• Lots of colors to choose from
• Can be used on different surfaces
• Can be used for arts, and crafts 

Cost:

$31.97, it was knocked down to $27.97 and again to $17.97

What I Used Them For:

I started a mixed media piece. It's not done yet! It took a bit to get it done enough to put up on this review. It's a girl with a hoop skirt. Inside the skirt is going to be a bird cage with a mocking bird in it. On the wall there will be a cuckoo clock. It's a piece about captivity.

I did a transfer technique for the wallpaper, glue for the ground/molding with acrylics and colored pencil lines, paint and fabric for the girl. Her hair has a lot of sewing lines in it. I'll take better and more pictures of it when I'm done.

What would you paint if you had these acrylics?

Disclaimer: I received this acrylic set to assist with this review. I wrote this post, and was not influenced at all with an opinion. I only review things that I find interesting, or that would benefit my readers or family.

CubeCraft 12 x 27ml Acrylic Paint Set {Review}

Acrylics are my favorite paint medium. I like to mix things with them, and with other paint mediums I find what you can mix with them to be limited.

I got an Acrylic Paint Set from CubeCraft to review. 

I really like the variety of colors! 
These colors are featured in order starting with white and going counter clockwise.

• Chinese White
• Primary Lemon Yellow
• Yellow Ochre 
• Burnt Sienna
• Burnt Umber
• Ivory Black
• Cobalt Violet
• Cobalt Blue 
• Cerulean Blue
• English Light Green
• Alizarin Crimson 
• Primary Red Cadmium

The paint is ASTM D-4236 certified, which means it's independently certified as non-toxic, and safe for use and it is odorless. This would be a great set for kids, or people that suffer from allergies or asthma.

It doesn't say, but the paints seem student grade. They are not heavy bodied acrylics. I like this type of paint to make washes, and to mix in with my other mediums. You can see how easily the paint squirts out.

They are pretty big tubes of paint. They are 27ml, with is more than most tubes.

I'm pretty hesitant to show 1/2 done work, but I've been working on a painting. I'm trying out something new. I put different kinds of salt down on a layer of Elmer's glue. Painted with washes on top, and now I'm sewing in the lines. I still have a lot to do, but here's a start after using some of these paints:

As you can see I have to sew the vertical lines into the igloo. I didn't even show all of it. The igloo is sitting on polar icecaps that are melting. I have yet to decide if I want to include a polar bear in the background, on top of the igloo, or trying to swim amongst the melted water. Decisions! How would you finish it up?

The white in the painting is the glue and salt. The rest is paint.

The cost of the acrylic set:

$26.95 and it's on sale for $16.95. You can get the set on Amazon. It comes with 12 tubes of colored paint, and 1 small pallet. 

Disclaimer: I received this paint set at a discount for the purpose of this review. The opinions are 100% mine.

Polly Plastics Moldable Plastic & Color Pellet Kit Review

I knew Travis would love Polly Plastics Moldable Plastic & Color Pellet Kit Review. He's always making molds for sculpture, rings, and teeth for his full time job.

One thing I love about this set of moldable plastics is that is comes in some fun colors!

• White
• Red
• Blue
• Yellow
• More White
• Black
• Silver
• Gold

I'm not sure why some bags are colored, while other bags are clear. I would think it would be cheaper to package all their plastic pellets in the same small clear bags. 

I love how it has a chart on how to mix the colors to get other colors.

Here are the primaries:

Black and White:

Silver and Gold:

The big tub of White:

Like I said in the previous post my husband wanted a cast of a fossil lepidodendron. He found a few of them when he was younger. He loves the texture on them. He plans to use the texture in some of his sculptures. First he sprayed it with a mold release. Then he used Polly Plastics Silicon Molding Putty to put on the the lepidodendron. After that he wanted to use Polly Plastics Moldable Plastic to make the mold more durable.

In order to make it moldable you have to heat water up. Travis used the microwave. Make it so hot that it almost boils over.

Add the plastic in the water.

You can see it starts to turn more transparent when it's melting down.

When it's played with it reminds me of Flubber. Keep in mind that this is the stage you have to work fast. If you don't work fast enough it's not the end of the world. This stuff can be melted down again and again.

Lay it into, or onto your mold (whatever you are using it for).

You can tell when it's ready to lift up. It turns opaque. Mica said, "It feels like coconut oil."

It was used to harden this mold.

Cost: $29.95 $18.95

Made in the USA

What would you use this for? I think I want to try dripping it on a painted canvas. Much like an encaustic painting.

Disclaimer: I received the product above in exchange for a review. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.