Planning ahead for family Christmas presents 送給家人的聖誕禮物

去年我開始流體畫這個玩意。 流體畫是用亞克力顏料倒到物件上，創造出隨意的設計。 我本身沒有半點藝術細胞，所以這個玩意能夠發揮我有限的創意。 我曾經做過項鏈的鏈咀和書籤，還有杯墊，而且帶到曼谷SteemFest 送給朋友。

Last year I started doing acrylic pour, a form of abstract art where you pour acrylic paint onto objects. I love it because I don't have a single creative cell within me. Yet with acrylic pour I can make stunning (in my eyes) creations that are full of surprises. You will never know how a pour will turn out, and what you see when you finish may be different when the object has dried a few days later. Last year, I made some pendants, book marks, and of course a bunch of coasters which I took to SteemFest in Bangkok as gifts.

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回到英國已經差不多一整年沒有玩流體畫， 實在有點懷念這個創作過程。 還有兩個多月就到聖誕節，所以我在想不如用流體畫創造一些小禮物給家人。 這樣我又可以重拾我喜愛的嗜好，實在是一舉兩得。

上星期我買了一些亞克力顏料和兩盒磁磚用來做杯墊。 另外我循環再用家中一些塑膠器皿， 和舊的湯匙筷子用來攪拌顏料，這樣就不用買太多新工具， 既環保又省錢。

萬事俱備，隨時可以開始！

I haven't poured for nearly a whole year, since I've returned to UK in February. You need a whole bunch of paint and accessories, and since originally I didn't know how long I would be in UK for, I didn't want to kit out everything again in case I would be leaving soon. I mean how would I have known in February that I'd still be here in October??!! There's still no sight of me returning to Taiwan yet, and with Christmas coming up in two months time, I began thinking of Christmas presents for my family recently. I really miss pouring, so I figured what better way than to kill two birds with one stone and make some coasters for my family!!! Genius!!!

Here's what I got for my 2020 Christmas project last week. Two boxes of acryclic paint. The box on the left has 8 tubes of various colours, the one on the right has 5 tubes of metalic colours. I bought an extra large tube of white paint as I need a lot of that. White is used as a primer before I pour. The PVA bond is glue. I mix that with water to make it into a medium, and then mix the medium with the acrylic paint. Adding a medium to the acrylic paint make it easier to pour otherwise the paint will be too thick and won't flow.

Last year I used wood for my coasters. This year I'm using ceremic tiles. That because I couldn't find any affordable wooden coasters in UK, and these ceremics ones are easy to get from the local DIY shop. These are 10cm x 10cm, perfect for coasters. I've never poured on ceramic before, so I'm really looking forward to see how they turn out.

Next are plastic bottles for the paint which I pre mix to save time. Back in Taiwan I have a lot of squeezie bottles, like these.

I didn't want to buy too much stuff and this whole lockdown has made me a lot more ethical and environmental friendly. I try to reuse and recycle as much as possible. I've saved my shower gel and shampoo bottles, as well as a large washing up liquid bottle. These should do fine as paint bottles.

These scraps, are quite important for my acyrlic pour coasters. They are little stands for the tiles, it will allow the paint to drip off the tiles and it makes it easier to move the tiles around and dry without sticking on a flat surface. They're the tops from plastic bottles and milk cartons, another of my reuse and recycle intiative. The red lines are the guide to cut the tops off to ensure they're of even height.

Last and not the least, these are tools I use to mix the paint and pour. They're old utensils lying around in the kitchen, a pouring jug, spoons and chopsticks to stir the paint. And I found a little sieve that will be really handy in case there are bits in the paint which I need to remove before I pour.

Now I'm all set to go. Acrylic pour takes a while to dry and cure, normally two to three weeks. After that, I need to varnish or resin them to make them safe and heat resistance for the hot mugs. That takes another three or four weeks to fully cure. And by that time, I should be well in time for Christmas. Isn't it great when you're so well prepared!!

Oh! I forgot about the resin. I haven't even thought about the resin part yet as I've never done it before. Once I finish the pour and they're waiting to dry, I'll source the resin and practise that, I hear its quite a tricky process. Hopefully it will go well. We'll see.

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By the way, my October Hive PUD guessing game is due to finish in two days time. I made some black garlic a few weeks ago, you just have to guess how many bulbs I have. To save you going back to my original post, the tip is 30 +/- % and I'm 90% sure it's below 30.

All you need to do is drop your guess as a comment to this post here by 12th October. The prize is 20 Hive and I'll upvote your entry guess as well!