Faux mercury glass: fake it when you make it

Finally, a dry spring day on one of my days off! Time to try out the faux-mercury glass tutorial I found via Pinterest.

Anna of Take the Side Street beautifully lays out each step, so I'll leave the details to her. I tried out the technique first on some vases, to get the hang of it before I attempted it on glasses.

Kids, if you're an impatient person, this game is not for you. You'll have to wait a few minutes between spray paint applications -- the agony! -- otherwise the paint runs. Oh, and you'll also need gloves.

No, really. Your aim is not as good as you think it is.

Also: gloves when you're wiping away the diluted vinegar spray to create the aged look. You could forget the gloves off, but if you like your manicure... well, take a look.

Whoops.

Still working to get things the way I want them. When I have another dry day to spray, I'll do more show & tell.

Have we been introduced?

Just thought I'd give a shout-out to a few new friends I met at Artfest:

Hey, it's the tutu lady! When Carrie Clayden isn't taking photos of people whirling in the tutus she makes, she's running Hip Chick Designs, and teaching at Art Is... in Benicia, California. Did I get everything?

You might've seen Jennifer Blevins being tortured by me and a few other friends at Sirens in Port Townsend. Don't worry, she's recovered enough to continue blogging at the Trend Spot (she gets to hunt for trends in our alterna-arts world).

And Emily Cline, whose new secret name I am honor-bound not to reveal. (Hint: it kinda makes her sound like a gunslinger.) Besides being ridiculously beautiful, she also helps women reconnect with their inner craftiness at Doodlebugheart.

Why it's Pinteresting to me

I get that Pinterest's appeal is a mystery to some. Click on the image and then what?

Well, here's the main reason why I use Pinterest: for the same reason most artists have a Stash. Something about the image (or the idea behind it) appeals to me, and I want to put it in a virtual pocket to use later.

Also, pins take up a lot less room than my real-world paper stash.

Other reasons:

• rifling through other people's brains boards. Kind of like when you're a kid visiting a friend's house and you get to see what their room looks like.
• as a low-key Look What I Made billboard for friends I haven't met yet. And if I'm lucky, they'll say "hey! That's really cool!" And "Can I have one of those you made?"
• finding thought-provoking quotes styled in eye-catching typography -- pretty and smart

Things I've Learned While Pinning:

• wow, does Pinterest ever slow down around 5pm (in any time zone). Quittin' time must be pinnin' time!
• spammers like to use "bit.ly" as an pin image source. Also, they don't seem to realize randomly-titled boards, with less than five pins each, featuring a scantily-clad girl in the profile photo, are red flags.
• some people think "my style" means "my products for sale" and "crediting sources" means "plastering my business URL in every image description." Yeah... no.

Seductive little hits of dopamine for our brains, and some of us are more vulnerable to it than others. "I can stop whenever I want to. I just don't want to."

Why do you -- or don't you -- use Pinterest? Tell me in the comments.