Christmas Record Bowl

Materials:

12" vinyl record (Christmas recordings are great)
spray primer for plastic
acrylic paints: Cobalt Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Iridescent Gold, Titanium White, Permanent Green Middle, Cadmium Orange Hue and Carbon Black
natural sand medium
pencil
spray polyurethane
paper towels
palette paper
water mister bottle
palette knife
paper cup
size #10 and #2 paintbrushes
12" diameter stainless steel mixing bowl
conventional kitchen oven
oven mitts
pink soap (artists' brush cleaner)

Steps:

1. Spray the vinyl record with a coat of the white primer for plastic and let dry.

2. Use the palette knife to mix natural sand medium with white acrylic paint on the palette paper.

3. Using the center circle of the record as the middle circle (main body) of the snowman, dip the #10 paintbrush into water and blot it on a paper towel. Dip the brush into the sandy white paint. Paint the circle, laying it on thickly. Continue using sandy white paint to form a larger circle beneath the first one for the base and a smaller circle on top for the head. The head should overlap the body slightly, and the body should overlap the base. Thoroughly clean the paintbrush with warm water and pink soap. Let the paint dry.

4. Sketch the outline of the snowman's hat with a pencil. To begin painting the first coat of the striped background, squirt yellow, green, crimson and blue paint onto the palette paper in separate sections. Lightly mist the paint with water from the misting bottle. Continue to mist the paint to keep it from drying out on the palette. Work from the lightest color to the darkest.

6. Rinse and blot the brush. Paint the green curved stripes in between the yellow ones, leaving room for the next two colors of stripes (figure B). Let dry.

7. Next, working in the same way, paint the red stripes (figure B). Let dry. Next, paint the blue stripes and the blue hill that the snowman is standing on. Let dry. Thoroughly clean out the brush with warm water and pink soap. Condition and reshape the brush.

8. Squirt iridescent gold onto the palette paper. When the first coat of the striped background is dry, add a second coat exactly as you did the first, with one change: Add iridescent gold to the yellow paint for the second coat. It doesn't have to be mixed in perfectly, just brushed on with the yellow. Allow the second coat to dry. Thoroughly clean and condition the brush.

9. Paint a triangle in the center of the snowman's head to form the carrot nose with a tiny bit of orange paint and the #2 paintbrush.

11. Paint three black buttons down the middle of the center circle with black paint. Paint an outline around the record's spindle hole first - this will be the middle button. Paint one dot above and one dot below the spindle hole. Allow to dry. Thoroughly clean, condition, and reshape the brush.

12. Spray the entire holiday record bowl with a coat of polyurethane and allow to dry.

13. Preheat the kitchen oven to 250 degrees. Place the painted record bowl face up on top of the 12-inch stainless steel mixing bowl. Place the bowl, with the record on top of it onto the center oven rack. Open a window. Wait a couple of minutes. Check it. The time it takes to slump varies with the record's thickness. You can usually tell it is ready to shape if it starts falling into the bowl on one side. It should only take a couple of minutes. Wearing oven mitts poke the record a bit to see if it feels flexible. If it is, push the record down into the bowl and pinch or squeeze the edges into the desired shape. Work around the bowl constantly and work quickly (figure D). The record will harden up. If it does, place it back in the oven and reheat it. Take it out of the bowl and let it cool.

Hang your holiday record bowl on the wall with a nail through the center hole or use it as a festive candy dish.