Iron Craft 2016: Fork Art for the 5th Anniversary

Nearly 2 years ago Kilani, a fabulous Pinstrosity reader and submitter, introduced us to the Iron Craft challenge. I was instantly intrigued. It sounded like something right up my alley! 

It's a challenge where the only competition is against yourself. Every two weeks a new prompt is given and then you have that time frame to create something that fits the prompt. Be still my heart. It was perfect! I joined up right away. 

Since then I think I have been able to hit between 1/3 and half of the challenges. This year though my goal is at least 10! I thought it would be great accountability to post up my attempts here on the blog. See, now you all know what my goal is, I've got to follow through. And, I know there will be Pinstrosities along the way. There have been a number of them in my past Iron Craft challenge attempts! 

The first challenge of the year ends today with the very first 2016 Reveal Day where we all get to share our projects. This round's theme was centered around the 5th anniversary gifts of wood, silverware, or daisies.

Let me tell you, I was stumped. I couldn't think of anything to do that I just really loved! I wandered the craft aisle (singular here...sigh) and found a wood cut out in the shape of Arizona and bought that for $3, thinking I could do something fun with it. And came up with nothing until three days ago. But by that time I was out of time to get the other supplies for it (we're going to turn it into a fun clock for Cameron's biology classroom, which desperately needs some happiness and cheer in that dark brick room).

So I thought, "Well, I'll just scrap this first one and join in next round." But my head wouldn't let me truly give up. While browsing Pinterest I came across a really cute idea...and it was one I knew I could at least attempt without spending much. 

via

Supplies I used: 

2 four-packs of dinner forks (well...1 and a half...but by accident...read on...)

Needle nose pliers

Pliers

Wooden drawing board (to protect my counter/kitchen island)

Propane Stove Burner

Hammer

Canvas (from stash)

Upholstery Fabric Sample (from stash)

E-6000 Glue

As I didn't know really if this would turn out or not, I decided to go with the cheapest forks Walmart had (as it was past closing time run and see if the thrift store had what I wanted) and picked up a pack of the $0.88 four-pack of forks during my grocery run last night. I totally went against my own advice from 2 1/2 years ago and bought stainless steel. But hey...when it's $0.88 it's worth a shot. 

As soon as I got home and the groceries were put away, I dove into the project. I read a tutorial online for the general idea of making fork art and then just ran with it from there crossing my fingers that this would work.

Step one: Flatten the forks. I held the forks with the pliers and then held the top end in the burner flame until it was hot. How long? maybe 30 seconds?

The first one I didn't hold in real long, but the others I held in till they were glowing because it was must faster and easier to flatten that way. As soon as the fork was hot (and glowing) I removed it from the flame and, still holding the end with the pliers (DO NOT TOUCH THE FORK!!!) and laid the pronged end on the wooden art board. It burned the art board. This is why I used the art board...I didn't want tine marks on my island top. I then used the hammer to pound the tines and the head of the fork flat.  The fire did darken the fork (as you can see below with the fork on the right), but I figured I could worry about that later if I didn't like the look).

Step 2: Bend the tines into shape. Easier said than done. With the first one I started on the outside and worked inwards, holding the pliers perpendicular to the tines (making a T). That didn't work so well and I ended up with various heights of bent tines. Cameron tried to help me fix it and even them out and one of the tines snapped off.

Without looking at the picture to see what I was going for he picked up the next fork to try and help and make up for breaking the other tine and started bending the tines down, but started bending at the bottom of the tine rather than the middle and we ended up with a weird fork. Poor guy. He just wanted to help, and I appreciated that! But, now we were down two forks as bending the tines back would weaken them and we'd probably have another broken fork. 

So, since Walmart isn't that far away and I wanted this done that night I flew back down for another pack of $0.88 forks. If you want to try this and your end result needs 4 forks, you might just get you a 2nd pack as your just-in-case back up plan. 

But anyway. We found the best way to get consistent bends and heights was to bend the tines from the top. So, (holding the fork with the pliers, not in your hand!!) heat up the tines of the fork again, and then with the needle nose pliers held parallel to the tine, bend it down pivoting at the point of the pliers. This gives you an even bend and you can control where each tine bends much easier!  

And, if you want the design on the handle of the fork to show when you curve it around, make sure to bend the tines to the back of the fork!

The hardest one was the curved heart fork. That took some patience. Don't rush the curves! Heat as needed and just work it slowly. I found it worked best to start from the bottom up, that way I could get the curves starting at roughly the same height on either side.

Step 3: Bend the handle of the fork.

This was probably the hardest step of creating the fork art. It is thicker and doesn't bend as uniformly. Again, start by heating it up (I didn't ever get it glowing, but I know it was plenty hot because I accidently brushed my knuckle against one and have a nice blister now). Hold the fork with the needlenose pliers where you want the curve to start. Lay the head/tined end of the fork down on the board and then with the regular pliers bend the handle up. Often I would twist the two pliers in opposite directions to give more force to the bend. As it slowly bent and curved I would have to move the needlenose pliers further down the handle to get more of a curve and not just a V shaped bend.

And then I had my forks done! I really would have loved the look of them against a piece of barn wood, but by now it was dark and I didn't care to dig through the pile in the back yard for the right piece, clean it off, cut it to size with a hack saw, and then figure out how to mount the forks. So I went with plan B: dig through the craft supplies and see what I could come up with.

I found a narrow canvas I'd gotten at Walmart over a year ago and knew that would be great! It would be easy to hang on the wall and I could attach the forks with relative ease. Done.

Next I dug through my fabric stash to find something to color the canvas. I'm way into sage green and orange right now and trying to get more of that combo up in my house. As I got the cutest orange pot holders and dish cloths from my Mother in Law for Christmas, I dug until I found a sage green piece of upholstery fabric that was the perfect color and size to wrap around the canvas. It was like it was planned for this. I glued the fabric to the canvas and let it dry. Then I used E6000 glue to attach the forks to the fabric/canvas. I don't want those forks going anywhere and wasn't sure how hot glue would do.

And that was it! I hung up the canvas over my stove to hold my hot pads and I love it!

Visible in the background is Bernie the Bread Machine (a new favorite kitchen appliance!) and The Cookie Hog. Not visible just barely out of frame is the stack of pots and dishes from dinner. Trust me, they are there! Now, to see if we have the guts to try and paint those cabinets...they sure need something!

I really like how these turned out! They aren't completely uniform, but they aren't glaringly off either. Not too bad for last minute and running on the cheap. Even if I had needed to buy the canvas and a fat quarter of fabric this project would be less than $10! Hit the right store and it could be less than $5! 

Want to see everyone else's 5th Anniversary Gift inspired projects? Check out the Flickr group here! 

The Kett-Files: Keeping Up Appearances, Day 7

**For 1 Week (and only one week, thank goodness!) Emilee and Marquette attempted to live a life that matched up to Social Media Standards, mostly just to show what that could look like in real life and how ridiculous the idea is. Click Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, or Day 6 to see how the week went so far.**

It's the final day!! I can't tell you what a relief that thought was when I went to sleep on Day 6. The guilt I have felt each day as I haven't accomplished what I planned on has been dumb. It's just guilt I feel towards myself and Emilee. I'm not letting anyone down. This was an experiment. And yet I feel anxiety and guilt I didn't expect.

However, with it being the last day, I was bound and determined to make it good! We'd all wake up happy and ready to go!

Darrow woke up at 5:15 ready to be awake for the day. 

So we were all up and dressed (not beautifully, but I wasn't embarrassed to be seen in what we were wearing) by 6:15ish. I knew today could be long or it could be okay. Eek. 

Darrow and I took Cameron to work so I could have the car. We were out of milk, eggs, and I wanted supplies to make something for the front door (trying to designate it as the front door). And we needed a new phone. Darrow takes after me in his love of donuts and knows that if he's really good in Walmart that a donut is a possibility. We were there for nearly 40 minute while I went up and down the very limited craft aisle (there's only 1 here for the non fabric/yarn craft supplies...I'm used to 3 in Silver City!), and went back and forth on the phones. But Darrow got his donut (and I did too...I was good and happy in Walmart too!), and we headed back home to do our cleaning chores for the day and get started.

My littler sister and her family (her husband/Cameron's brother, and their two kids) were coming that evening, so I knew we had to get things done early. We got the kitchen cleaned up, the floors swept, and the house put in order. I skipped over the squat challenge. I'd only done it two days, what was the point now I figured (gee...why exercise, hmmm...because it's good for you?! I'm a dork.). I wanted to wait until Darrow was down for his nap to do laundry and get my DIY projects done, but it was another battle day to keep him in bed. Finally around noon (after refusing lunch), he fell asleep. I started scrambling! I didn't have much time left!

This wasn't a project I planned on doing, but I saw the stuff in Walmart and decided it would make the front door look good better and add an autumn touch to the house. So I pulled out the wire wreath form I got for $2.96 (much cheaper than the grapevine wreaths I discovered!), and the sets of autumn plants (two bunches of oak leaves and a floral arrangement) I got for $3 each (ouch! I remember the leave bunches being $0.99 two years ago!). I dismantled the leaves, clipping them into singles leaves rather than pairs.

I pulled out the hot glue gun and just started gluing them on with no rhyme or reason.

And, I found a great use for the Bumbo (Darrow still loves this thing and it comes in handy when we have two toddlers in the house needing somewhere to sit during mealtime). It makes quite the handy little holder for the glue gun between leaves!

I got all the leaves on and decided I did want to put the items from the floral bunch on, so I clipped those off and glued them on as well. I love how it turned out! I probably could have only bought one bunch of oak leaves as I had a ton left over, but I didn't know that before.

I've had a pin saved for forever about using a command hook to hang wreaths (especially on cabinet doors, or if you just don't like the metal over the door hangers). I didn't have a wreath hanger (and didn't want to buy one), but I did remember that pin. So I used some twine out of the craft drawer and secured the wreath to the back of the screen door, only I did this redneck style. You know the little hydraulic thing on top of screen doors that keeps the door from flinging open or slamming shut? This door is missing that I discovered. I was going to use a command hook, but using that bracket meant that there wouldn't be the back of the command hook visible through the glass. So I tied the twine to that and hung the wreath. At least this way I know the command hook isn't going to give out.

It adds some cheer and color to the front. This picture made me realize just how badly the house is in need of a paint trim job. I'll put that on the list. Sigh.

But now I wanted to get to the other project I actually had planned, which coincidently also was for the front porch to try and dress it up and designate the front door as the door to come to. The other door opens into my kitchen...which inst' always clean. Neither is the living room, but the living room is usually just Darrow's toys, not dishes or food. Anyway. I saw an idea for spray painting welcome onto the porch in front of the door. I definitely wanted to do that here! I almost pulled out my coral spray paint but decided to go with something more neutral for whoever moves in after us.

But first I had to figure out stencils. I didn't have time nor the inclination to part with the money to order a stencil, so I knew I had to make my own. I almost decided to draw it by hand until I realized the printer would be way easier. I pulled up Microsoft Publisher (but Word would work great as well!) and found a font I liked that would work well to turn into a stencil. I put each letter on a separate page and printed them out. This next bit was the slow part (but not horribly slow, just more than I wanted). I cut the letters out with an exacto knife, saving the little pieces to go in the inner parts of some of the letters (like the e). Next, I gathered my paint, some boxes to use to protect the rest of the porch, spray adhesive, and went to work.

I used my quilting basting spray as my adhesive because it would be gentle and not leave a residue for dirt to stick to on the porch step. I sprayed the back of the paper and stuck it to the step (lining up the bottom of the paper on the bottom of the step so the letters would all be the same height).

I then did a quick coat of gray, and a quick coat of nickel to make it shiny and stand out better. I was nervous when I pulled off the paper, but it worked great!

On to the next letters. This font has the letters all connected (cursive), so I made sure the e overlapped a little onto the edge of the w when I stuck it to the step.

That worked great. I followed the same steps with each letter, being careful to not get paint beyond the edge of the paper. It turned out just right!

It doesn't stick out huge, but it's a fun little touch on the steps. I might try doing another layer maybe with gold, I think that'd stick out just a little better. But for now I love how this looks!

(update: It rained a week later and man the words stuck out so pretty on the wet concrete! Now...how to get it to look like this all the time..."

And since I was already on a spray paint kick, I decided to give the table from days 1 & 2 it's final coat. I LOVE how it turned out! It's the perfect color pop in the living room.

 Here's the before and after:

Doesn't that make that table much more fun and happy?! I love it!

It was shortly after putting everything away from these projects that Darrow woke up from his nap. I got my craft projects done, but not the laundry. Oh well. It wasn't too long after that that our siblings showed up. I had a new recipe planned to try out on them, but in the end we decided to take them to our favorite Mexian place here in town (their Horchata is amazing, and the Mole Enchiladas are my favorite!). It sits right on the airport runway, so the kids were pretty excited to get to see 2 planes while we were there.

Beyond that we spent the evening visiting (minus the short time I took to transfer all the new design from the "fake" blog to the real one for the relaunch in the morning). I felt like I'd been productive with the day! I love how the projects all turned out, the blog relaunch was set and ready to go live in the morning, and we were there with family. The end of the Keeping Up Appearances week was so much better and happier than the beginning!

And there's my "Pinterest Perfect" week! I can't believe I survived! I didn't know if I would after that first day. 

Come back to the blog tomorrow for our recap of what we learned, what we liked, what we didn't like, and if we'll ever do this again (bahaha...right). 

Oreo Truffle Tutorial

Some submissions that are sent to us require us to test out the pin, do research online, or call in "experts". Okay, most submissions do. We don't pretend to know how to fix everything. But sometimes we do get a submission in that we actually do know how to do, and that makes us feel super excited, like we actually do know something and aren't great big phonies.

I'm pretty excited to get to tell you about Oreo Truffles. Alexa, "a teen who loves Pinterest", came across these while surfing Pinterest before Easter. "I'm not a baker, actually I'm not very good at crafty-diy kinda projects but I still take on the 'easier' ones, just for fun. Last week, I was looking on Pinterest for something sweet to make with an Easter theme, and came across this AMAZING looking treat for Easter."

The Original Pin

photo by Gimme Some Oven

Mmmm, yum yum yum!! "It seemed easy enough, and plus, I mean how hard could it be? So I went and bought the ingredients for these delicious-looking Oreo truffles. I got home and started to read the directions, it said that I needed to put the Oreos in the food processor. Ours broke earlier this week, so, I settled for a hand mixer (there would just be chunkier pieces of Oreo right?). After I had 'blended' the Oreos and cream cheese, I just assumed that it 'was supposed to look like that' and made the eggs. Finally I chilled them and TRIED to dip them in chocolate."

The Pinstrosity

"Of course, I ran into all sorts of problems. For example:

1. Dropping the egg into the chocolate and unsuccessfully taking it out before it had taken almost all of the chocolate. 

2. Running out of chocolate because I had wasted a bunch of it.  

3. Transferring the already scary Oreo eggs onto a smaller pan because it wouldn't fit in the fridge, therefore making them look 100x worse

Unfortunately, all attempts failed to make them. And I ended up with delicious (but hideously ugly) Oreo eggs. So, lesson learned: I don't know how to dip Oreo eggs or how to follow directions-- if you do, then, I think they would turn out beautiful AND delicious!!"

These Oreo Truffles are one of my favorite things to make, especially at Christmas time. One batch makes a TON!

As luck has it, I actually wrote up a tutorial post for this recipe 5 1/2 years ago! I've perfected it a little more now, so I'll include my current commentary here in italics (the original post can be found here).

Oreo Truffles

Supplies you will need:

• 1 pkg oreos (I prefer double stuff)
• 1 pkg cream cheese
• 1 pkg chocolate candy coating (I usually use Almond Bark, but the store I went to for this particular time didn't have any, they just had Kroger Candy Coating, which works, but it doesn't taste as good in my opinion)
• 1 pkg vanilla (or any white) Candy Coating
• 2 pots
• 1 bowl
• baking pans
• wax paper
• 4 spoons
• 2 butterknifes
• Shortening 

Smash the oreos. I use a cool little blender thing-a-ma-jigger...I can't think of what it's called right now, but it's in the picture below (uh...6 years ago me...that could be called a mini food processor or a food chopper). I've used a ziploc bag and my fist before, but it doesn't work as good. In Alexa's case here, a ziploc bag and a rolling pin, a bowl and a heavy duty cup, or something would also work.)

You don't want there to be any big cookie chunks. You want it to look like potting soil. MMMmm, yummy! 

One package of oreos will yield this many crumbs (below).

Step 2: Add the whole block of cream cheese.

I suggest removing any rings or bracelets for this next part.

Step 3: Mix the crumbs and the cream cheese together. I have tried a few different things and have found that using my hands is the most effective way to get this stuff mixed together.

It was after seeing the above shot that I decided I needed to put make up on and brush my hair again...so now my cute little side ponytail is smooth, I have cute dangly earrings on and my makeup is subtle but present (this was just at the start of deciding that it is okay to be girly and feminine..."subtle but present" makeup was me saying "I'm wearing makeup and that makes me feel silly so I'll downplay it." I can be a bit of a goob sometimes).

It'll look like this when you're done (below is actually a double batch mixed up).

Step 4: Put the bowl with the goop in the fridge or freezer to harden up a little. Meanwhile, get out a casserole dish or a cookie sheet. After just a minute or two (or about 5 or 10), take the goop back out and then start rolling it into little balls about this big:

When I got my double batch all rolled out, I had 194 oreo balls (but then I ate two, so I ended up with an even 16 dozen...so a single batch will yield about 8 dozen candies...depending on big/small you roll the balls and how many you eat in the process). Once the balls are rolled, stick the pans in the freezer.

Step 5: Melt half of the chocolate in a saucepan (there'll be instructions on the packet if you need them). Once the chocolate is melted, take the balls out of the freezer and plop a few in the pan (I usually do about 3 at a time). As the balls warm up, they will try to come apart, so don't throw too many in the pot at one time.

I've done the chocolate in the microwave and on the stove and still the stove gives me the best results. Keep the heat on low and be patient. Stir the chocolate occasionally to keep it from scorching, and keep water out to keep it from seizing up. I will typically now add a tablespoon or two of shortening to my pot of melted chocolate to make it more smooth and so I don't get as thick of coats on the truffles. 

Cover the ball in chocolate and fish out with a spoon, or whatever device you have chosen for the job. My preferred device these days is a fork. You can scoop up the truffle and the excess chocolate runs through the tines. Don't stab the truffle, scoop. 

Dip half of the balls in the chocolate, adding more chocolate to the pot to melt as you go. I used to melt all the chocolate at once, but then it started to get lumpy and not as smooth (seizing and scorching). I found that it works better to add chocolate as you go. Once half the balls are dipped in chocolate, set the chocolate pan aside (with any remaining chocolate...you'll use it later).

Step 6: Melt half of the white chocolate in a different pan and dip the remaining half of the oreo balls. Usually I end up using a little more of the white chocolate than I do the reg. chocolate because it takes more white to cover the oreoness. 

Step 7: After you have dipped all the oreo balls, put the white ones aside and bring back the chocolate ones, but keep the white chocolate in the pot warm and runny. At this point I added a little bit of shortening (anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon or two, depending on how much chocolate is left and how runny I want it, just add 1 tsp at a time and stir it in), to make the chocolate a little more runny. Dip a butter knife (or a fork) in the white chocolate and drizzle it over the chocolate oreo balls, as seen below.

Once you have drizzled white chocolate on the brown balls, heat up the chocolate (again adding shortening if extra fluidity is needed...it also makes drizzling a little easier and as long as you don't add huge amounts of shortening, the flavor will be fine too) and then drizzle chocolate over the white balls. In the end it'll look something like this:

It took me about 2 1/2 hours to do a double batch from beginning to end. If you don't want to do it all in one shot, you can make the balls, and leave them in the fridge or freezer for a bit before you dip them. These are quite easy and they look nice (well...mine look like blobs, but you can make them look nice) and they taste great!

Seriously, these are so yummy. Give them a try!