Coolest Project EVER!!!

Welcome to the Club Scrap Graffiti Blog Hop.  I hope Debby had something awesome on your last stop...but you are in the right place now.  Gather your friends and neighbors folks, hang onto your hats and glasses because this might be a bumpy ride...

Ok well not really but we are going to go back...back...back to a project that first floated around the old yahoo groups in I think 2003 and then later I have seen one off and on but it's been awhile.  

When I think of Graffiti I think of a mix of images, blended together to create a piece of art.  Now that might mean art on the side of a building, which my property manager friends don't take too very kindly so I decided to scale my art down a bit and thus we have...the Domino Graffiti Project!

Ok admit it, it's pretty cool isn't it?  Even I was a little impressed with myself when I finshed.  But the great thing is, this project is SUPER easy!  And once I show you exactly what to do (and a couple things not to do) you can whip your own project out in a heartbeat!

Step one is to find a tray or frame and some dominoes (I like this brand in the photo below.)  You'll also need some stayz-on ink.

It would be helpful if before you paint your frame you check to be sure dominoes fit perfectly in it.
  
Don't be like me...

If you look in the photo below you will see the painted tray with the dominoes in as a test run and the red paper underneath shows that this tray doesn't work well with these dominoes.  It leaves too much space at each side.

So then I selected a 12x12 scrapbooking frame instead and did a test run.

A MUCH better fit.  So the next step is to paint your frame.  I picked black because I wanted an all black and white theme but you could go with any color frame and inks that you would like.  Just remember it needs to be solvent ink so it doesn't come off the dominoes.  I used spray paint but you could use any paint you would like.

By using spray paint you feel more like a criminal actually creating graffiti.  So get it all painted and let it dry.  Then take your dominoes and figure out exactly how many you will need by doing a full test placement in the frame.  Next up take all the dominoes and edge them with the stayz-on ink.  I used a little make up sponge and wore a glove.  It was kind of boring so I did it in front of the tv.  You just need to do the top blank edge as shown below, but go all the way around.

(This was my first one, you don't actually have to go all the way down the sides, just do it like these below.)

You might want to ink up a couple extras in case you might happen to have some stamping "oopsies" later.  Not that I would know anything about this...

Ok so now comes the fun part.  You just start stamping.  You can do one domino at a time or in groups.  Just pick whatever stamps you like.  You could pick a theme, or not.  

I started with some of the text unmounted stamps from this month's Graffiti kit.  Once you stamp them you can start placing them into the frame (don't glue them down.)  This just helps you pick out what stamps and what directions you want the domino groupings to go in.

Just keep stamping and placing until you have it just like you want it!

Ta-da!  Now walk away for awhile and let the ink on the dominoes dry before you come back to glue them down.  (Go watch an episode of Breaking Bad or go pet the cat or make dinner or something.)

Next get some glue, I would use something like this...

My bottle was kind of old and the glue was like a thick paste and I had to dig it out of the bottle with my finger but I wasn't going to run out for more so I just dealt with it.  You'll probably want to use fresh glue.  One by one take the dominoes out of the tray, smear glue on the back and then mash it back down.  I'd start in one corner and work out.  If you do them one at a time you won't lose placement and forget where they all go.  Not that that happened.

Let it dry.  Then have your cats tell you which stamp is their favorite one.  It seems they like the Bookshelves stamp the best!

One more note, you might want to be sure your frame has a sturdy "hanger upper thingy" on the back before you start if you plan to hang your work.  If you choose a tray you can put a seal coat of clear spray paint or any other kind of sealer. I wouldn't use it to actually serve food though-just a disclaimer.

And with that you are done...sit back and admire your finished piece!

Oh and for those wondering I used a total of 56 stamps from the following 33 Kits.

Graffiti-4

Tribal-6

Aspen-3

Short sleeved pants

Adobe-3

Journeys

Seashore

Architecture

Old south

Take wing-5

Big city

Expressions

Bon appetite

Games-2

Tie dye

Equestrian

Bookshelves

Blossom

Fire and ice

Lock and key-4

Tiny treasures

Polynesian

Cape cod-3

All that jazz

Mirror mirror

Aromatherapy

Papillion

Peacock-2

Destinations

Sorrento

Bold blooms

Spring chorus

Wild flowers

Oh and I did find a photo of the older one I did (which I gave away as a gift.)  

See that little hole on the bottom right?  Someone had to cut a domino in half with a saw finally to finish the project-yikes.

Well I hope you enjoyed this (slightly lengthy) stop on the Hop today.  If you want to view all of the stops for today you can head over to the start at  Club Scrap Creates.  Your next stop is with Tiare at iclassygirl.

Thanks everyone!  (I can't wait to see some of you try it!)

Love, Janet, AJ and MaryAnne