On Assignment

It's probably not newsworthy, but this week's assignment takes me to a program that creates vector graphics. Vector graphics use math to create a high quality picture that can be enlarged or shrunk down with little to no distortion. I developed a couple of logo ideas with a program called raven. I played with the curves to get an elegant form with some gem-like accents in the graphic that bears my blog name, "Kohns Kreations." A more angular form is featured atop of a ring form to simulate a brilliant stone and features my blog name as well. Which one do you like? Feel free to post your comments. I welcome your feedback.

Letters and Words

This week's adventure has been to work with words. Using some free applications online, I was able to create a completely new work or alter other pictures with text to make it fresh and new.

GlassGiant allowed me to make a picture of the family pet into a retro computer ASCII image made with letters, numbers, or symbols just like back in the day...back in the day of the Commodore computer.

black on white

white on black

The Text-Image version created a tighter, more sharp picture of the family dog. So... I wanted to try it out on a picture of a bronze cast squash.

Text-Image created a nice black and white image, but the color squash has nice tones and highlights and is more vibrant. With the text on top, it is like three levels of art-a cast of an actual squash, the picture of the cast squash, and the text of the word "squash" on the picture of the cast squash. Look closely...can you see the word squash? It's there, on the color version.

Black and White

"Squash"

Tagxedo allowed me to start from scratch in creating a word-based typographic form. This piece is a star with information about the blue star sapphire gemstone.

"Star Sapphire"

"Blog Gem" was created using words directly from my blog in the Tagxedo program. I chose the oval shape as it was reminiscent of an actual gem shape.

Textorizer takes words and layers them over pictures. This work features words related to the four rings from a picture previously posted of sterling silver rings that I created.

Textorizer 2 let me more clearly showcase the words that I chose to use. Using a print that I made of the symbols for estrogen, I wrote what it means to be a woman over the picture.

Excofizz was a little more subtle and used more lines and waves. A picture of a sterling silver cocktail ring that I made was artfully enhanced with this program.

I hope that you enjoyed my letters, words...and my work!

Never Too Old to Scribble

You are never too old to scribble and this week I am posting pictures of drawings I made on scribbler. Once I figured out how to work it, which wasn't too difficult, it was fun. It was like a virtual Spirograph, but you could walk away and let it work for a while, comeback and then readjust the settings. The process was a little slow, but definitely interesting. The green piece is in honor of St.Patrick's Day. Enjoy!

Moving onto the the more advanced scribbler too, I was able to have more creative control and do more fun things. My scribbler too pictures have more volume and I uploaded a photo of a ring that I made as a backdrop to make an original drawing. The red, pink, and black picture is specifically about volume and has a biological feel to it. With the softer, curvy scribble lines, it appears to be more like a sketch. This was an effect I really liked. Being able to control the color and the dispersion of lines was also a plus for me with the advanced scribbler.

On to an even more advanced type of scribble, I tried my hand at flame painter. This process was more complex and required much more trial and error, but it was worth the extra effort. Using color and light, I was able to create some beautiful pictures. The two posted represent emotions.

"Pain"

"Joy"

Stuck?

So you have a gold ring stuck on your finger and it just needs a little something to make it slide off so the jeweler can re-size it for you...wait! Do not be that person that stands at the counter of the jewelery store and licks their finger to lubricate a stuck ring, then pulls and tugs. After finally being able to remove the jammed gem, hands the slobber coated treasure over to the professionals. This gruesome scene can be avoided, in some cases, by using Windex. Yes, window cleaner can help get that gold ring off and will help a diamond shine in the process. Keep in mind that this should never be done with any antique rings or with soft or delicate stones. Be sure to rinse your hand and the ring off with water and dry with a soft cloth. If the Windex method fails, most jewelers will be willing to remove a stuck ring with a special tool.

Shine On

Diamonds and frogs. Two of my favorite things. Both created from ooze and both very important. They can be plain or very beautiful. I have taken video clips of diamonds and clips of frogs and created a mash up along with music I made on aviary.com. This is my first mash up using filelab and it was kind of fun...shine on!