Tilemaster Randy Orr

Diamonds are forever

Well, geometric diamonds are forever, especially when they are made of Tadelakt plaster on your walls.
Here is what I have been working on this week from 9 to 5, and continuing from my post on Oct 24. I have almost finished my lime plaster wall creation. As with most creative projects the outcome is different from the original design with the designer. Mostly due to the age of the home, it was built in 1910, therefore as time has moved, so have the walls - what joy when you are trying to layout a diamond grid point-to-point!
Laying on my top coat over my diamond grid relief stencil, every diamond had to have it's own custom measurement. Excellent!
      

Once the plaster dried out (over night) I came back to glaze in the accent glaze with olive oil.
   

Of course you don't have to place plaster on walls alone, why not try a journal? Much like these three I found on Granville street today. Plaster, diamond grids and a journal - brilliant! Funny how when you start a creative journey there are many coincidences.

Halloween Party Time

It is scary days ahead of us, especially with Halloween on a Friday

We started off the week just right with a little party on the weekend, we had costume dress up with the little ones that turned into a crazy fun time! Just look at them, it would appears that sugar works!

Then we had a marble coaster making class with the older kids. It was good fun and funny how it always leads to creative conversations and outcomes with everyone's photo transfers.  The girls had a blast at making their coasters for the very first time and now they will have some great gifts to share for the holiday season, at a very reasonable price.

No matter how you look at it, coming together with friends and family - doing something creative... is always a good thing!

   

Their 4"x4" marble creations in action.

Work or Play?

setting up shop for another project

This is my desk top.
It might look like work to some - but I feel 'I'm paid to play' - this is when you know work is a labour of love. I'm invited into homes to help create custom interior finishes that reflect the desires of the home owners. The most common phrase I hear is "I would like my room to feel..." and that's how the creative journey starts. We create a custom wall finish together.

 
For this project, I'm creating three different wall finishes. Venetian Plaster for the living room, Tadelakt walls for the dining room and a very cool Tadelakt finish in the powder room. I can't wait to see how this one turns out. By the way, these are all true organic fresco finishes, there are no finer lime plasters in the world - and of course they come from Italy. Eccellente!

I really enjoy the challenge to create something from nothing. There is no reference, just discussions with the designer and the home owners, and then the rest is up to me, yikes! I will keep you posted to the progress in the week ahead.

Maybe Tilano should look at some of these lime plasters.

Tadelakt drying

Plants, Art and Fresco Tiles

When I was at the home show this past weekend and met Abby from Kermodi, it reminded me of how much people generally love and enjoy plants. Of course there are plenty of advantages to going green at home and in the work place. You may have a favorite photo or painting of a flower in just the right setting. But what would it look like on a fresco tile or a marble coaster? Hmm...

Make a Masterpiece
1. Choose an image that you would like to transfer.
2. In this case, I used a great old world painting of a plant (it was written in Latin, thus I don't know the name ;)
3. I used 12 8"x8" fresco tiles by Tilano to create the larger than life work of art.

 

Make a smaller Masterpiece
1. Choose an image that you would like to transfer.
2. I used the same image the old world painting of a plant (it was written in Latin, thus I don't know the name - STILL ;)
3. I used 4 4"x4" marble coasters by Tilano to create the larger than life work of art.

Plants & Art

A room full of potential

I was at the Vancouver Home & Interior Design Show this past weekend and as always I was on the look out for great small creative entrepreneurial businesses. Well look what I found: someone working with something green, and really making it happen!
  -
This creative company is called Kermodi - Living Art. Abby is the owner of this very contemporary and fast-growing business (pardon the pun). Abby and her team specialize in unique plant arrangements that are high in design and low maintenance. To me, that means plants that look great and are hard to kill, perfect for my green thumb prowess. Keep up the great work Kermodi!

Tilano Boards How-To

What do you see in this picture?

What I see is not my wife and son! (but of course,I do.) I see the wall behind them and the potential to create something that speaks to home decor and family. You can use the elements in your home to help create different ways of expressing your photos while adding your own personal touch to your home decor. This is why Tilano and the blog exists, to share in your creativity.

Tilano Boards How-To:

1. For this project, I used left-over cedar from a room we renovated in our house.

2. I then created a framing surface. In this case I nailed 3 1X6 boards together and painted them with Tilano Chalkboard paint, White Confetti.

3. I made a stencil using the Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter.

4. I assembled all of my materials - to plan a layout.

5. I applied the vinyl stencil by pressing it down firmly using the spreader to adhere it to the surface. I then removed the mask and pounced in the color for the stencil (I picked Captain Brown from the Tilano Chalk paints). I removed the stencil once I had achieved the desired look.

6. I followed the instructions in the Tilano Image Transfer Kit to transfer my photograph. Just a side note on the image: I used Photoshop for my photo editing to make a 2x2 grid for the image layout.

7. I taped out the area where I wanted the transfer to be placed. This helps to ensure clean transfer lines, and prevents the medium from spreading to the rest of your project. Once the transfer was dry, I removed the tape and brushed on water to the surface of the transfer and peeled it off.

8. On my last step, I picked my final destination for the rocks and sand. I used the Tilano Medium for adhering them to the surface - not only is it a great medium for transfers, it's a great glue too. Plus it dries clear, that way you do not see the excess.

What I found

One of the best things about trying something new is that it is usually different from your original assumption. That is what I discovered by experimenting with chalk paint and the boards for transferring. It helped generate another idea, and for my next project I will incorporate some Tim Holtz Grungeboard.

Surf, Sand and Tilano Board?

Well, sort of! This is what came to mind. The before...

...the after
One of the bonuses of living next to a beach is that it's a great place to relax and reflect - and then be inspired to create. After a summer of picnics and barbeques with the family at the beach, I thought about trying to incorporate some of the natural elements from our beach time into making the most of all those summer photos.

Here is what I came up with using scrap cedar boards left over from renos, Tilano Chalk Paint, and the Tilano Image Transfer Kit. I also went a little into the scrap-booking world using a cool tool called the Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter to make a custom vinyl stencil.

Next up: I will show you how to make your own Tilano Board.

Did you know?
I'm asked quite often: "How can I use your transfers to make something contemporary?"
Well, that's easy, just use the Tilano Image Transfer Kit. It comes with 3 sheets of Tilano Transfer paper, the Tilano Medium, a spreader and a brush. With this kit you are empowered to transfer onto any paintable surface. Just find a surface on which to place your image and transfer to it!
I think I will take on a few more 'contemporary' projects to show you what I see as the most versatile kit from Tilano (and it's very affordable too!)

x marks the spot!

Remember that today is voting day in Canada - get out there and make a choice.
It is your right!

 

Picture this = ?

Funny that as this long weekend zipped by, there were lots of pictures taken.

From the pumpkin patch to the gatherings with friends and the warm family dinners, cameras were plenty, which means plenty of pictures.
But what do you do with all of those pictures?

A Happy Thanksgiving

It's that season of the year again, it's our Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. Plenty of turkey and great times for family gatherings - may yours be filled with the goodness of what the weekend brings.

We started ours off with a fun day at the pumpkin patch, in preparation for the big harvest!

Then the big feast!

Before Summer Falls

Before Summer Falls... completely away from my recent memory, I think I need to make a little project that captures some of its moments. I will use some of our left-over home reno materials, some Tilano Chalk Paints and the Tilano ITK. There, I made a goal, now I must do it! Stay tuned...

Things Are Changing...

These are important days no matter where you live in North America. To be off the creative corner a little bit... remember to vote! In Canada, we have the National Election coming up on October 14th and the United States has the Presidential Election November 4th. Good Luck!

It's a long road... may it rise to greet you!

Here we go... the conclusion to making the Wine Coasters and Wine Journal. This is almost making me feel 50. Enough already!

Wine Label Coasters

1.  I simply followed the instructions to the 'T' for making the coasters in the Tilano Marble Coaster Kit - maybe even better, since I wrote them! The instructions are quite simple - watch one of our videos to see just how easy it is.

Tip:  In terms of peeling the labels off the Road 13 bottles, I have heard of several different ways. But here is what worked for me: just fill the bottle with hot water and let stand for 5 minutes, letting the heat warm and soften the adhesive so you can gently peel the labels right off. Piece of cake!

Wine Journal

1.  It doesn't get much easier than this. I bought a drawing journal from a local art shop. The cost for this journal (8"x10") was $20.00. There are a variety of styles to choose from. Pick what you see fit, just make sure it has a hard cover since it needs to support your 4"x4" Tilano Marble Coaster.

2.  One of the fortunate discoveries about our Tilano Medium is that is makes for a very strong adhesive. I just painted a square inch of the medium on the back of the coaster and placed it on top of the journal cover. Make sure you have it straight, then place a light weight (I used two of the other coasters) on top of the coaster to make for a good bond and let it dry over night.

3.  Write the title. I simply used a gold felt pen to craft the message... and you're done!

And you might even get a reaction like this with your custom gift!

Turning 50 - Mission Accomplished

This weekend I was able to complete and deliver the "Turning 50" gift for my brother-in-law John. It was truly a unique success!

     After all, by the time you reach 50, you would think you have just about everything you need in life - but there's always room for some custom gifts with a little Tilano.

I already showed the how-to for the Wine stopper. Now with that checked off the 'to do' list, I decided to use a little technique from the scrap booking world and jazz up the carry case for the occasion.

Part 1: Embellishing the Wine box

1. I used Grunge Board from Tim Holtz, some pretty versatile and very cool paper board. It feels very much like the labels on jean tags - that paper/leathery feel. It comes in a variety of styles from fonts to stencil shapes and there are dozens to choose from. I picked John's 3 initials(JRD) for the wine box and distressed them using sand paper (120 grit) and Modern Masters Metallic (English Brown). I have used Modern Master Metallics for many of the decorative wall finishes I've created over the years and it works great for this little project too. It is water based and user friendly by the way.

Tomorrow...

Road 13 Wine logo & labels. They make perfect coasters using the Tilano Marble Coaster Kit and are great for distinguishing a wine journal with a signature touch.

Hope?

Well that can mean a lot of different things these days, especially seeing what is, or perhaps what is not going on in the American economy. Let's just keep HOPE alive!

Maybe Tilano can help with some positive decorating. We have gone back to our roots and started a line of custom hand crafted tiles called 'decor tiles'. These tiles are 8"x8" and 1" thick and are ready to mount on the wall. We have limited variety for your decorating ideas, so take a look before they are gone for the season.

Very Scary - Halloween is in...... AAH!

Just in time, here is a very creative project by Jessica Acs. Jess helps out at Tilano in the studio and is a very talented scrapbooker and a published one at that!

Jess shares the how-to.

"I made a collage of photos with photoshop, added a border to them and printed them on out onto the transfer paper. I had a bunch of Halloween photos from last year that I wanted to use, plus I had some cool Halloween scrapbooking embellishments and with Halloween just around the corner, it seemed appropriate to use that theme :)
Once the photo was transferred onto the canvas, I added the embellishments: buttons, clear embellishments (the bat, star and fence), and the words at the bottom is a rub-on transfer (that worked beautifully on the canvas I was thrilled to find out!). I glued all the stuff down with the Tilano medium and that worked great too.

For the sides (Michelle has some photos that I took during the process, so there are photos of the sides of the canvas and close ups of the embellishments) - on the sides I covered them with 3 layers of different ribbons (gluing each one down with the medium, letting it dry, then adding the next layer. (The top layer is ric rak ribbon). Once all the ribbon was glued on, I wrapped 2 layers of thin twine around it. Then to cover the paces where the ribbon ends met, I glued a large button overtop. I also added a couple other buttons around the edges. These buttons helped hold the twine in place.

That's about it I think, It actually turned out better then I thought it would :)

Nice work Jess! You can check more pics and how to make it here!

Here is a PDF link too.