TrueBlood GumBall Machine

Do you remember making these Gumball Machines in the 80's.  Well after lots of thought I was and trying to think of a teacher gift idea for Valentine's day I decide to revive this craft.  It is still as cheap to make as it was in the 1980's.

This is my personal gumball machine.  I will post the teachers gifts later...  I used the Trueblood stencils by the talented Andy Swist.  Please see Andy's webpage, his stensils are for personal use.  I love his paper dolls as well...you have to check them out....  He is so talented!  And so funny...if you get a chance check out his videos.

Materials for this craft.
stensil
clay pot (cost about $1.50)
clay pot tray ($.75cents)
glass bowl ($1.00 at the $1 store)
E600 glue (I already had from several other projects)
Acrilic paint( I already had from other projects but they are super cheap about .50-$1 a color)
Clear sealer (I already had)
Paint brushes (already had)
Wooden bead for the top...$.79 cents
CANDY....I am using lindor truffles because I love chocolate.

This craft was about less than $4

Instructions.
1.  Paint your clay pot.  For this one I painted the bottom black and the top white.  watch your paint strokes.  I went in an up and down brush strokes...the brush strokes show up.

2.  Find a stencil or pattern you like.  Using a pencil trace your design on your clay pot.
I used a pair of sharp small scissors but it would have been easier to cut with a craft knife.  This stensil was only 3x3.  I used some painters tape to keep the stencil in place.

Once the tracing was done I began to paint.  I painted the red lips, and tongue first.  Let that dry and began the rest of the painting.  I am not a talented painter....but this was pretty easy....I had to go back and touch up some shaking lines with white paint but I was really happy with how this came out...

4.  Once your paint has dried add a clear acrylic gloss over you work to preserve it....Once that was dry I used the E6000 glue to attach the little globe at the top of the clay pot.  I then attached the painted wooden bead to the top of the clay tray to make a handle and added a drop of red paint to look like blood.  I then added a clear gloss to the lid as well.

This project was really easy.  It was just time consuming, because of the time it took for everything to dry.  I painted the pot on the inside and outside....and the tray once day and let it dry...  The stencil I did the next dry allowing an hour to dry between the red and black.  I then added the clear overcoat and then let that dry.  The good news Is I am doing 5 gumball machines at the same time.  I am doing 2 teachers gifts, and 2 other Vampire or Gothic Inspired Gumball machines. It was alot easier to more at once...than one at a time...I am still working on the others.... I will post the rest soon.

I love how you can really VAMP out any craft....These things usually look cheesy.  Stuck in the 1980's
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